The man whose self-righteousness has shaken the world is, as I write this, in jail in England. His future legally hangs on a thread involving crude sex crime allegations and history-making espionage.
Why is it that such activities always have a sexual element?
There are shades of every spy novel every written! Except in the books, it's always a bit more classy and the main character is the epitome of cool.
That does not describe Julian Assange. You couldn't find a more milquetoast-appearing individual if you tried. To put him at the center of whistleblowing and espionage involving people and countries worldwide just doesn't fit the image.
No Central Casting here.
But despite that, Assange is making history in ways I suspect he never imagined. Yes, he's the guy behind WikiLeaks. He's the guy who doesn't deny he's responsible for the release of hundreds of thousands of highly classified business, military and diplomatic documents that jeopardize wars, the economy and politics.
So what is he being charged with at this point? Sex crimes – assault and rape – in Sweden. There's an arrest warrant out for him, and the Swedes want him remanded to their custody to pursue the charges.
In this case, judging by what's been revealed about the incidents that led to the charges, Julian Assange had more on his mind than collecting more classified leaks when he was involved in sexual escapades – allegedly – with at least two women in Sweden.
Even if only part of those accusations are true, all it shows is that Assange is a typical, alley-cat male who gets what he can, as often as he can and with anyone who's willing.
In this case, the charge is that the female(s) was/were not "willing," and that's the crux of the issue, as I understand it.
Quite frankly, it sounds like a pretty, run-of-the-mill, crude sex case. Not nice, but not unusual.
So while his lawyers are devising ways to fend off the ramifications of those charges, there is also that pesky WikiLeaks issue.
One wonders where Assange experienced the most thrills – from his sexual escapades or from dropping the dime on governments, politicians and businesses.
While he's awaiting the decisions that will partially determine his legal future, he's also threatened that if charges are pursued against him because of WikiLeaks, he will release the neutron bomb of leaks, which, he says, will not only be revelatory of international government issues but will also blow the whistle on at least one major bank and an insurance company. Maybe more.
So, what's a guy to do? What Assange is doing is biding his time in solitary confinement in London's Wandsworth prison as legal experts worldwide try to figure out how to deal with this 21st century outlaw. At the same time, cyber experts try to scope out how to stop the next document dump and prevent any new ones from being devised.
Of course, Assange didn't work alone so he has people who could dump the docs any time they want. From all we've heard from him, that's exactly what will happen.
Interestingly enough, there are also thousands of WikiLeak wannabes who are planning their own snooping and leaking and whistleblowing. They're furious Assange faces legal charges and are taking revenge by attacking websites they consider the enemy. There were reports that MasterCard, Visa and PayPal would be attacked and Amazon was allegedly another possible target.
There are many who consider Wikileaks "the knight in shining armor," riding in on a white horse to save the world from the evils of modern civilization, politics as usual, government, politicians, big business, profits, capitalism, democracy and freedom.
So whether or not Assange faces other charges, he's opened the door to hackers worldwide who consider themselves saviors of the world from the evil corruption of life as usual.
On the other hand, some might call it anarchy.
That would be an apt description.
The only difference between the chaos caused by WikiLeaks' document dumps of classified documents and the violence in London by the so-called students allegedly protesting higher tuition is that the Brits are actually destroying and burning property.
Both involve destruction; it's just a matter of degree and type. Both can bring down the establishment – which is exactly the point of anarchy. And it's exactly the goal of Julian Assange. He knows what he's doing and has no intention of stopping because he's so narcissistic that he knows he's right.
But there's that little issue of espionage, and, like it or not, it appears that the U.S. Justice Department is about to pursue such charges against him. The Espionage Act would apply because such release of documents has put the security of the United States and all Americans at great risk. That he is an Australian citizen has nothing to do with it. Assange would have to stop the document release and return documents to the government. If he were to destroy them, he could face the death penalty.
While young hackers see themselves as heroes, they're playing with the very security of the free world. Julian Assange has unleashed a whirlwind of disaster in which the ultimate outcome isn't known. He needs to be charged and face the ultimate punishment.
As I said last week, there is justice in a firing squad.