As for myself, I fully expect a repeat of the previous scenario: the message, the betrayal, the persecution, and a torturous death.

They isolated Julian in the days before they hauled him out for the public display of his martyrdom. No crucifix this time. No crown of thorns. Just a penumbra of the deepest silence, which grips the very air: yet still he remains unbowed, his head held high.

The liberals who claim to be sympathetic to his cause seem more concerned about his persecution's effect on their careers, that is on their ability to publish, than on Assange personally. Seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy, pursued around the globe by governments eager to win Washington's favor, denounced by leading Clintonite apologist Neera Tandem as a "fascist," and excoriated by conservatives as a "traitor." He is a man alone.

One day these spoiled children of the oligarchy are going to have to face down some real fascists, and it isn't going to be pretty.