Assange Beats Rape Rap …For Now (Good PR?)

Rhonda Adams, NYC-based entrepreneurSome say all news is good PR. Is there anyone on the planet who believes this more than WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. The world’s most well-known gray hat hacker is just as happy to be hated as he is to be loved. Most of the time his name is in the headlines, half the people are angry, and the other are supportive. Now, though, there’s some news in the headlines that definitely has Assange smiling.According to the Associated Press, Sweden’s top prosecutor has ended an investigation into an allegation of rape against Assange. The investigation into the report dragged on for nearly seven years, and now the authorities have given it up because “there’s no possibility of arresting (Assange) in the foreseeable future. This doesn’t mean he isn’t still considered a suspect, only that the prosecutor, Marianne Ny, has no current plans to pursue further prosecution.And that still doesn’t make Assange a free man. If he lands in the United Kingdom, he’s liable to get picked up on a warrant for jumping bail, and there are many who believe the United States also has a warrant for his arrest.At this point, though, Assange is “hiding out in plain sight” in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he’s been since 2012. Assange made that decision specifically to escape the legal issue in Sweden tied to accusations of sex crimes by two different women. Even though that investigation is indefinitely on hold, should Assange step off the Ecuadorian embassy grounds, he could be snapped up by the Brits and extradited to the US to face charges.And, thanks to his work with WikiLeaks, the United States is far from the only country that wants to go after Assange. He is, in many ways, a man without a country.As entrepreneur Daniel Palmier noted, “Depending on who you ask, he’s either a patriot and friend of humanity or a devil out to create chaos for the sake of anarchy. There’s precious little in between at this point, there is a growing number of people who are beginning to see him as a publicity hound who they wish would just go away.”Regardless of how governments and their citizens feel about WikiLeaks, Assange, through his attorney, has said that Sweden’s choice to stop prosecutorial activities is a victory for what he considers justice. Assange admits to having sex with the women in question, but he says it was consensual … and that he’s “very unhappy” about the long investigation. Now Assange is threatening retribution against the governments he says have held him captive for so many years. What form will that retribution take? Who knows … but Assange says he’s not about to forgive and forget.