EDITORIAL - Naivete is dangerous

Julian Assange must be a pretty naive person, judging by the way he is screaming now that the screws are being tightened on him. Did the WikiLeaks founder honestly believe that he could just walk away whistling after what he did?

Assange uploaded onto his website tens of thousands of secret communications between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions worldwide, secrets that, once revealed, promised embarrasment at the very least, and actual physical harm or armed conflict at the worst.

To Assange and a smattering of supporters around the world, the disclosures were in pursuit of what he believes to be the right of everyone to freedom of information. What he and his supporters conveniently forget is that no right is deemed so sacred as to be absolute.

To guarantee Assange his right does not entail the assurance that the rights of others will be dismantled. Others have their rights to. As to whose right prevails, that is up to the prevailing judicial systems to determine. One thing for sure, it is not up to Assange alone.

Yet, without regard for the consequences of his actions, Assange went ahead with what he thought was his whistleblowing mission. And there lay precisely the problem: Assange was thinking only of his own interests, without any regard for those of others.

So, when those who cannot take any provocation lying down started the ball rolling toward retribution, Assange ought to be the last person to be surprised at the sudden reversal of fortunes. Surely he did not think he can play the game all by his lonesome.

It is possible the sex abuse charges in Sweden for which he is now jailed in Britain were trumped up. On the other hand, just because he is a marked man does not automatically absolve him of the crime. All things being equal, he could very well be just as guilty as charged.

Stripped of all complexities, this whole episode is rather quite simple. At the heart of this Quixotic tale is a man who played with fire and got burned, which is different from getting what you wish for. You are aware of the consequences in the latter. In the former, you are naive.