When all else fails, smear

I was wondering when they were going to sully Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. It didn't take long. Apparently he raped in Sweden (where the Wikileaks server is located), so the news was splashed around the world. Apparently the charges have quietly been downgraded to 'molestation', but you only need to ask Michael Jackson's publicist that even if these accusations are not true, the damage done to image is itself more than enough. The thing I am most surprised is that 'they' didn't try to ping him with a paedophilia charge - a stigma no one can get over.

When I saw this news, it first reminded me of the supposed dirty tactics that those naughty 'un-democratic' countries use when they go after their dissidents. Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, for instance, the former right-hand man to Dr. Mahatir turned leading opposition leader has been facing constant court charges for sodomy, in a case which the Western media (rightfully) portray as a set-up to discredit and destroy the image of Malaysia's number one dissident. I also thought of the likes of former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovskii in Russia who is in jail for tax evasion. The West make him to be a hero of democracy and a victim of trumped-up charges and misjustice when his charges are actually legitimate. The only thing in his case is that if Khodorkovskii is jailed for tax evasion, then so should all the rest of Russia's oligarchs. However, the Russian establishment showed that they have such dirt on all of Russia's rich and powerful so if they do try to rock the boat, it won't be hard to charge them with something. Essentially, what is happening with Assange is something we associate with a place like mean Russia, when yet again, the West does the same. This adds yet another example of malpractice that countries like Russia will use as an example of 'yeah, but we are only doing what you do' when levelled with some Western criticism about its supposed Soviet-style actions.

If this is an elaborate but ultimately poorly managed smear campaign by the CIA, well, they do forget or just plainly cannot see beyond a US political mindset in that what might constitute a career-destroying public humiliation in the US does not necessarily have the same dire consequences elsewhere. Sometimes it is quite the opposite. Case in point was the CIA in the 1960s seeking to destroy Indonesia's anti-imperialist first president Sukarno, at a time when his opposition to the West had earned him massive support at home as well as a budding relationship with the Soviet Union. The CIA thought capturing some images of Sukarno having sex with a woman who was not his wife and then distributing them would attract the scorn of Muslim Indonesia. Well who had egg on their face? The result was a huge disaster for the CIA as rather than creating a mass scandal, Sukarno's prowess as a guy getting the chicks led to his already massive popularity grow to even higher levels. Machismo beats Islam in Indonesia. With Assange's case, just the mere accusation of rape would have destroyed him in US circumstances, but elsewhere, the belief of innocent until proven guilt has a higher chance of prevailing, especially considering the rather murky circumstances these charges have been made and then quickly dropped. Still, I am sure some damage is done, if only the likes of Fox News will probably refer to him as an 'accused rapist' from now on.

The bottom line is that we are quick to judge supposedly repressive societies using dirty tricks and blackmail to control dissent, all in a smug sense of Western moral superiorty, when in actual fact the West uses the same tactics on its dissidents such as Julian Assange. This certainly puts a spotlight on whether we are truly 'free' as they would like us to believe?