Julian Assange Given Asylum in Ecuador

Well, I know this will piss off at least half of those who occasionally read me, but I am delighted that Ecuador has taken the rather stick-in-the-eye position regarding America's relentless pursuit of Julian Assange. Unfortunately, Ecuador doesn't have all that shiny a reputation in its own recent civil rights history, but any port in a storm.

The world as we know it (or have come to know it in recent decades) is closing off dissent of any kind and, as we see the free exchange of information narrowing to a mere sliver, it's vitally important to maintain what few cracks remain in the solid wall between citizens and those who purport to represent them. The absolute secrecy blanketing TPP is but a recent example. Cracks are, as Leonard Cohen tells us, how the light gets in.

Assange's crime has been to take information provided to him from others and disseminate it through Wikileaks. The executive editors of the New York Times and Britian's Guardian have done exactly the same thing by publishing the Wikileaks documents. Thus, should Asange stand before an American court, charged with espionage or treason, the editors of these world renowned newspapers must as well stand charged at his side in the dock.

America and, indeed, the world can hardly further indulge this relentless hectoring and continue to call themselves free societies. Surely such a loss of the freedom to know is intolerable.