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It might be wise to consider that knowing your own government is not that strict about the rule of law when it comes to horrible crimes is also in your interest if you live inside of the US. The US is an absolute behemoth of power and utterly unable to police itself. If it was, Assange wouldn't have had to do anything at all.
Now ideally the media of my own state would be doing a good job on all things own government fucks up. But it turns out, sometimes journalists from elsewhere whose news organizations don't have to care so much about getting exclusive access do a better job on that front — especially if they have an incentive to find things. Even if that means I have to now try to figure out what is complete fiction and which grain of truth (of any) can be found.
So yeah, sue me if I differenciate between the Russian state, a news source financed by the Russian state and a whistleblower financed by a news source financed by the Russian state after the news outlet in Western nations with which he first had contact somehow felt they can't report on their own governments involvment in a human rights violation anymore.
I am not a fan of Assange and I don't think he is a sympatic person, but I think we all owe it to the world to differenciate and see the chain of events instead of lumping together everything ins simplistic answers.
Sorry, if you are prosecuted and no other network gives you a show, what will you do? I'm sure he would have taken a CNN show as well.
This was also in 2012, before the whole Euromaidan thing. Many European politicians lined up to be friends with Russia.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/feb/13/russia.poli...
Here is a site that claims that the deals went on well after the Crimea annexation:
https://www.declassifieduk.org/under-putin-mi6-linked-bp-ext...
I do not know the second site, so search and check for yourself. Britain also took gas via the Nordstream network that had a pipeline through Northern Germany to England.
I would direct such criticisms towards Blair and not towards someone who was under tremendous pressure and frankly fearing for his life.
I'm against double standards. It was wrong from both Assange, Blair and other Western leaders and activists who claimed to care about democracy and human rights to deal with Putin's Russia the way they did.
It's no secret he was given a ton of leaked material material on the Kremlin but decided not to publish it.
They're someone elses enemy, not mine.
Hope it helps, because it doesn't to millions of people living in their regimes. Authoritarianism apologia is wild.
Not to mention you sidestepped the entire conversation. It sucks for their own people. Their own govt is their enemy - we should be standing next to them, not going "oh yeah you're oppressors of your own people but in my book you're cool because I dislike my own country/Israel/West" or whatever the new excuse is.
If "we" is taken to include the core HN user base (the USofA) then that horse has bolted given the the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, the U.S.- and British-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh that more or less kick started the arc toward where Iran-West relations are today.
Did that work well? Should the west keep following a similar course of action?
I am also keenly aware that British Empire involvement started with conquering Palestine & The Balfour Declaration, and ended in the Sergeant's Affair. We have spilled more than enough blood for Zionism and (when we were no longer useful) had our blood spilled by Zionism.
Therefore I reiterate - do not make Iran your enemy on behalf of people who have historically used us as tools to get what they want.