Australian “radical transparency” activist Julian Assange got a boost this week in his bid to avoid extradition from the UK to the US to face multiple Espionage Act charges. On Monday, the UK High Court rule Assange can again appeal against the U.S. government’s attempt to extradite him.
U.S. national security bureaucrats and prominent politicians have never forgiven Assange and WikiLeaks for exposing clear war crimes committed by U.S. forces in the United States. Iraq During the George W. Bush administration. The U.S. government uses its own document classification system and policies hide These war crimes include the murder of journalists and Iraqi civilians captured on video by a U.S. Army helicopter.
However, the High Court’s recent ruling in Assange’s favor has been covered by media outlets such as the High Court. British Broadcasting Corporationthis Associated Press, ABCand New York Times There is no mention of that fact. There is no mention of how the “leader of the free world” used patently undemocratic methods not only to cover up the criminal conduct of his military but also to destroy Assange and Chelsea Manning politically and legally – leaking the helicopter murder video to WikiLeaks whistleblower.
Assange and his allies have slowly but surely built support over the years to push the U.S. government to drop the case. One of Assange’s most significant victories came in February 2024, when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined 85 colleagues in parliament in supporting sports Call on the US government to end legal proceedings against Assange “so that Mr Assange can return to his family in Australia”.
While Albanese’s verbal support is helpful, he could do more to quickly resolve the issue. For decades, Australia and the United States have been joint intelligence related base On Australian soil, this is critical to the US national security apparatus. If Albanese said the failure to drop charges against Assange would force Australia to reconsider hosting US intelligence operations, it would send a clear message to the Biden administration that continuing to prosecute Assange would be costly.
Some may argue that this threat could backfire. this dispute In 1985, New Zealand banned U.S. nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships from docking at its ports, causing a serious breakdown in relations between the two countries. However, today the geopolitical situation in the Pacific is very different, as is Australia’s defense and security relationship with the United States.
Australia has threatened to reassess its security cooperation with the United States in light of China’s growing influence in the region unless Assange’s prosecution is dropped, which would send a political shockwave to Washington. only last month The Biden administration has thrown a trial balloon to the media about dropping Assange’s prosecution. Albanese’s not-so-subtle nudge in the wake of this week’s high court ruling may be enough to convince Biden that it’s time to end the Assange affair once and for all.
