What Was the Point of Prosecuting Julian Assange?
Julian Assange is not a simple man, for all that people wish otherwise. The WikiLeaks founder is portrayed as a transparency hero, an enemy of the United States, a master tactician, and a thin-skinned narcissist. None of those descriptions quite fits the bill. But whatever you think of him, for the first time in almost 14 years, Assange is set to be a free man.
Assange’s friends and family, alongside his online supporters, are keen to present his release from London’s Belmarsh prison as a victory, a triumph after years of international campaigning for his release.
The reality, as usual, is more complex. Assange has been freed as part of a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, which has been the subject of careful negotiation for months,
