The argument that Assange operated as a journalist and exercised his right to freedom of speech, has very little gravitas with the western mindset. Whether you love or loathe Julian Assange, the decision by a British court to allow a U.S. extradition process is morally repugnant and wrong on so many levels. Assange will now have approximately four weeks to wait and see whether the British government itself signs off on his extradition or not – at which point he can decide to appeal. But the treatment of the Australian publisher and his fate drives home a fundamental point about how democracy and freedom of speech barely make it to the list of priorities in western countries when governments hijack a political cause for their own tawdry agendas. The second chance is that Biden does something stupid with the UK, in the midst of trade talks – both the U.S. and Britain are negotiating a trade deal – and this could be the basis for Boris to hold Assange in the UK at least until a new president takes office in 2024. We should never forget that democracies like the U.S. and the UK these days are mired by their own self-serving leaders who like to shy away from decisions and when tested as to how much they correspond their actions about freedom of speech from their words, always let us down. Assange is now a hostage to be traded and the saying about “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” would apply, if only we weren’t talking about Biden and Boris. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/04/30/assange-now-hostage-triumph-of-evil-decision-send-him-to-us-jail-but-politics-can-still-save-him
