"The persecution of Julian Assange is the conquest of us all: of our independence, our self respect, our intellect, our compassion, our politics, our culture." — John Pilger

The next time an American, Britisher, or Australian goes on about the freedom, democracy, and humanitarianism of his country, show them this:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51204.htm

The Australian government refuses to defend a citizen, Julian Assange, who the United Nations has ruled is held in arbirary detention by the UK and US governments in the absence of any charges for no other reason than to exact revenge on a journalist who told truth that embarrassed Washington.

In effect, Assange has been cast into a dungeon by governments whose behavior is precisely that of a lawless medieval robber baron.

As John Pilger says, the behavior of our governments reflects on our own characters.  What kind of people are we that we accept the lawlessness of our governments? The US, UK, and Australian governments are not worthy of the people's support.  The governments are criminal organizations.  They do criminal things.  They murder vast numbers of peoples on the basis of lies, such as "weapons of mass destruction" and  "use of chemical weapons"  and steal the lands of other peoples. They have imprisoned Assange in one room of the Ecuadorian embassy in London without presenting any charges shown to any judge or jury.  They lie and commit perjury every time they open their mouths.  They steal $21 billion from Venezuela and accuse Maduro, not themselves, of theft and corruption. They spy illegally on their own citizens.  They are their own citizens worst enemy.

While the idiots that comprise Western punditry wring their hands over the offense given by female athletes who protest having to compete against men who claim to be women ( https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/03/no_author/fury-as-ex-olympian-sharron-davies-says-trans-women-should-not-compete-in-womens-sport/ ), a real hero has been incarcerated for 7 years without trial or conviction, and the pundits, who regard themselves as the salt of the earth, cannot find a word with which to protest the injustice.

The Prisoner Says No To Big Brother

By John Pilger

March 04, 2019 "Information Clearing House" –  Whenever I visit Julian Assange, we meet in a room he knows too well. There is a bare table and pictures of Ecuador on the walls. There is a bookcase where the books never change. The curtains are always drawn and there is no natural light. The air is still and fetid.

This is Room 101.

Before I enter Room 101, I must surrender my passport and phone. My pockets and possessions are examined. The food I bring is inspected.