I’ve long been a fervent critic of the U.S. but it wasn’t always this way. The fervour came about from a realisation that much of what I was led to believe about America as a child was a lie. I don’t have the same fervour when it comes to abusive powers like China and Russia. I wasn’t constantly barraged with the notion that these countries are the greatest nations ever to have graced the planet with their presence. It’s a high expectations, low outcomes kind of a thing.
And so to the latest example of American hypocrisy. While the U.S. preaches to the world about justice and freedom it is renowned for the opposite:
It’s quite notable that the mere threat of ending up in American custody is considered (at least by Assange’s lawyers) to be a viable basis for contesting extradition on human rights grounds. Indeed, this argument is not unusual.
Indeed, almost every person I’ve spoken who has or had anything to do with WikiLeaks expresses one fear above all others: the possibility that they will end up in American custody and subjected to its lawless War on Terror “justice system.” Americans still like to think of themselves as “leaders of the free world,” but in the eyes of many, it’s exactly the “free world” to which American policies are so antithetical and threatening.