Welcome Home Julian Assange
After 5 years of incarceration at HMP Bellmarsh, Julian Assange has struck a plea bargain deal with the Americans, this week. And just like that the long siege was over. The seemingly quiet denouement belied the all-of-government effort Australia put together to work towards the release of Assange.
In the commentary and articles that have come out in the wake of the Saipan court appearance, this one caught my attention. a six MP delegation consisting of a wide spectrum of Australian politics went to lobby the US Department of Justice. One of them was none other than the Fossil Fool himself Barnaby Joyce.
The delegation raised several issues including freedom of speech, shifting public sentiment in Australia, the US-Australia alliance, and jurisdictional rights.
Senator Whish-Wilson says Mr Joyce played an important role.
"He said, 'I was the deputy PM, I've been the acting PM. I have been the deputy head of the National Security Committee for many years, and I don't agree with what Assange has done. But it was not illegal and this extra-territorial overreach [by the US] is a precedent that cannot stand.'"
Dr Ryan said that the US officials pushed back against their arguments, claiming Assange's freedom was purely a legal matter, not a political one.
It was then that Mr Joyce brought Johnny Depp's dogs into it, raising the infamous case in 2015 when the then-minister for agriculture threatened to euthanise the Hollywood star's pooches — Pistol and Boo — due to quarantine breaches.
Dr Ryan said Mr Joyce suggested to the meeting that political considerations inevitably played a role in these sorts of matters.
"Basically, he said there had been pressure placed on him at the time and if it had been left to him, Pistol, Boo, Johnny, and Amber would be behind bars in Australia."
That's pretty funny. I don't much like Barnaby Joyce but if his lousy-loutish-loony-bin argument of bringing up Johnnie Depp, Amber Heard, and their dogs made the point that all of this was a political consideration over a legal one, then I have too say he was a beautiful broken clock that happy day. He's done good, and Lord knows I never thought I'd write that about Barnaby Joyce.
The other bit that was amusing was this observation:
Senator Whish-Wilson believed two main issues cut through during the meeting — public opinion in Australia and the impact on the US's reputation globally.
"I was watching when they were suddenly taking notes on a couple of occasions. Firstly, when we raised the issue that the political situation had shifted [in Australia]," he said.
"And also that the Chinese government had commented around [Australian journalist] Cheng Lei's imprisonment … that they were criticising the US saying, 'How can you point the finger at us when you are going after Assange?'"
Dr Ryan also made the point that at a time when Russia, China and other authoritarian nations were locking up journalists, it was not a good look for the US to continue its prosecution of Assange.
"I'd taken some Chinese newspapers with me. And I said, 'Look, here's evidence in the Chinese press where this case has been used as an example of the US not respecting freedom of the press,'" she said.
"In the Chinese media's perception, there was a degree of hypocrisy in the US accusing China of that sort of action. They were really surprised by that."
You can just picture the DOJ representatives squirming in their chairs. I guess the important thing was to remind the DOJ that at the end of the day they were running point for a political consideration that had run its course. The politics surrounding Julian Assange had simply changed vastly, as had Australian politics.
"It would be fair to say within that hyper-partisan environment, they didn't know what to make of this group of assorted Australian politicians who on paper had so much that divided them, that were all pushing for this same outcome, and all prized Julian's freedom."
"Mate, it's just a point of fairness", I can hear somebody say.
Why Blog About This Today?
Back in the glory days of Julian Assange telling truth to power by telling the world of their misdeeds and before his situation blew up, he made the remark that blogs are useless. Bloggers, are mostly only talking to their friends. They make no impact on the world. And it always stuck with me because by then this blog here was a few years old.
First of all, he's right.
Secondly, he sure made an impact because what he did got the entire US government to come for his head. Yours truly over here's been noting stuff down that amuses him over the decades and here we are - no impact, no substance, no importance - but I don't regret this.
Thirdly, I just wanted to write how, as useless as my blog has been, I'm still here and I have enjoyed my freedom for the last 12 years so go suck on that pal. But I'm delighted he's been released. That much is true.
Where Have I Been For The Last 8 Months?
Hard to say. The usual rabbit holes of Youtube and all that it entails, I would say. Work has been exhausting too. New years came and went and all I did was make a 1/24 scale plastic model of a 1970 Pontiac Firebird. Easter was spent doing things I didn't expect to do and then recovering from it. I haven't managed to do a whole lot of recordings, but my band WhatEva did manage to play a bunch of gigs.
As for the Youtube thing, what have I learned? Putin's Russia is deeply, deeply fucked up. If this war in Ukraine keeps going, Russia may even disintegrate - and then we'll really be in a world of pain.
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