Julian Assange is arguably the most famous and even the most impactful journalist of my generation. There have been some famous ones including people like Christopher Hitchens but none has been as popular globally as Mr.Assange. He has got politicians after his life, bureaucrats running for cover and progressive activists waiting for his next revelation. However, his behaviour recently has been clouded with mystery. There is a suspicious tie up between him and Trump campaign. It is fine for him to support anyone but he is too well respected amongst progressive circles to support a candidate like Trump. Then, Nigel Farage visited Assange and had a brain fade on why he did so. It was a pretty weird case. I want to break down my feel of why people feel differently about Julian Assange and why I feel his recent behaviours have been suspicious.
Timing of the DNC email leaks
This is arguably the first item which shook the US Primaries. While most of the progressive media were supporting Bernie Sanders, there was massive corruption in the primaries to ensure Hillary Clinton wins. It was kind of an open secret to people who were following it closely. However, there was no concrete weapon to fight. Wikileaks, on the other hand, was silently collecting these weapons. They could have released them any day. That could have ensured that the progressives rally to ensure Hillary did not get selected.
Wikileaks decided to release the documents on the day of the convention. It exposed the inherent bias of DNC and its chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I was happy that they released it but I wanted it to be released sooner. When asked Julian’s response wasn’t convincing. There seems to be a clear plan here against Bernie Sanders and ensuring that he doesn’t get elected. This is not free, fair and unbiased media. This feels like fair but controlled media.
Subsequent interviews on the US election
After the primaries and right through the General Election process, there was a youtube channel which hosted all the Julian Assange interviews. He continuously kept mentioning points on the establishments plotting against Trump. I could get hold of a couple for now. I agree to all the accusations on Hillary Clinton and the CIA. The surprising thread to the story was him denying knowing anything about Donald Trump. It feels like there is a deeper connection here. Did Assange decide Trump was the lesser of the two evils? If it is, does that account for unbiased journalism?
Meeting with Nigel Farage
There is something really crazy about the secret meeting between Julian Assange and Nigel Farage. I can’t think of anything common between the two. Nigel is a poster child of horrible ideas. Julian wants to carry the mantle of the free press and progressive ideas. What is the connection? What makes it worse is Nigel cannot remember the conversation right outside Ecuador’s embassy where he met Julian.
For people who don’t know Nigel Farage, please go through his Wikipedia link here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Farage
Trump talks about Obama wiretapping a day before Wikileaks releases the documents
This is another surprising coincidence. Donald Trump sends tweets about Obama wiretapping him exactly a days before Wikileaks released documents on wiretapping. There was no evidence of Obama wiretapping Trump in that and I definitely want WikiLeaks to release those documents. However, there is a strange connection in terms of timing. I am not sure how it is playing out.
In conclusion, I was and still am in favour of the free press movement of Julian Assange. They have instilled fear in the hearts of the political establishments by exposing corruption. However, it is becoming increasingly unclear to me if it is still a free press. There are a lot of questions in my head on what is brooding under the surface.
Demystifying a skeptic's world 