The
Persecution of Julian Assange Proves That
Western Values No Longer Exist
By Paul
Craig Roberts
June
23, 2018 "Information
Clearing House"
- The Western world never ceases to
speak of its “democratic values.” In Western
political theory, the way democracy works is by
free speech and a free press. By speaking out,
citizens and media keep the government
accountable.
This
liberal tradition means that there are no words
or terms that cannot be used because some
designated “victim group” can claim to feel
offended. The inroads into free speech made by
political correctness, now institutionalized in
universities and the public school system, in
the presstitute media, in American corporations
such as Google, and in the enculturated habits
of Americans, demonstrate a decline in the
status of free speech. Governments have also
made inroads, with the “war on terror” becoming
a justification for warrantless spying, mass
surveillance, and a clampdown on dissent.
The
free press has declined even more dramatically
than free speech. The NY Times of the Pentagon
Papers disappeared during George W. Bush’s first
term when the newspaper sat on the story that
the Bush regime was spying without warrants. The
NY Times sat on the story for a year, allowing
Bush to be reelected without controversy and
allowing the government time to legalize the
spying on an ex post facto basis.
Today
the media are a propaganda ministry engaged in
the demonization of Russia and Trump and
justifying the war crimes of Washington and its
vassal states.
This is
why there is no media uproar over the 6-year
incarceration of Julian Assange in the
Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Wikileaks is a news organization and has not
done anything that a free press has not always
done. Julian Assange is a citizen of Australia
and Ecuador. He is not an American and thus
cannot be guilty of treason. Yet Washington is
believed to have used a grand jury to concoct
such a case against him.
The new
president of Ecuador is not the strong and good
man than his predecessor was. Under Washington’s
pressure Moreno is making life in the Ecuadorian
embassy as unbearable as possible for Assange in
an effort to force him out into British hands.
Responding to Washington’s pressure, the British
government will not honor his asylum, which
prevents Assange from being able to leave the
embassy.
There
is no presence of “democratic values” in this
affair.
It is a
repeat of the Soviet Union’s treatment of
Cardinal Mindszenty, only it is Washington, not
Moscow,
who is stamping on the face of freedom.
The
Australian government, also in deference to
Washington, has done nothing to help Assange.
Australia, like every other vassal state, puts
Washington’s interest ahead of both law and the
interest of citizens.
This
week there were protests in Australia in support
of Assange. However, Western governments are now
so far removed from citizens who are today
little more than subjects that it is unlikely
that anything short of revolution can restore
accountability to governments in the West.
“Western democracy” has become an oxymoron.
This
article by Mike Head
shows the distain that the Western elites have
for free speech, freedom of the press, truth,
and the rights of citizens:
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of
the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate
editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was
columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News
Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many
university appointments. His internet columns
have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts'
latest books are
The Failure of Laissez Faire
Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West,
How America Was Lost,
and
The Neoconservative Threat to
World Order.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
