WIKILEAKS (2)

I said yesterday that the authorities were likely to launch a ferocious assault on the person who leaked thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables to the website Wikileaks, a number of which are embarrassing to some of the world's leaders. I should also have said that they would try to hand out the same treatment to Julian Assange, the founder of the website.

That assault has already started. The former U.S. ambassador to Denmark has said that Mr. Assange should be tried for treason, a crime which carries the death penalty in America (though how an Australian citizen can be convicted of treason in the U.S. is not explained). A member of the U.S. House of Representatives has called for Wikileaks to be branded a terrorist organisation (which, if enacted, would have serious consequences). Other Republicans have simply called for him to be shot, or otherwise liquidated.

This is just the beginning. Expect more attacks during the next few months.

Walter Blotscher