Julian Assange has done the global citizen a service by putting online the US sourced leaks known affectionately as wikileaks. The recent spate which may last another month are being coordinated with the working cooperation of, at least, The Guardian (UK), the New York Times (USA) & Le Monde (France).
In essence what is at stake here is whose information is it? Does it belong to Governments or does it belong to its citizens who elect their representatives? And the answer must be, and it is not just the First Amendment argument, that information belongs to its citizen.s There are a few "ifs" and "buts" and these relate to security issues but in the main the citizen has a right to all of the information held on its behalf by its own government. The fact that this isn't the case ought to be part of the current debate but isn't.
The charges about whether Assange allegedly raped two women in Sweden has nothing to do with his wikileaks but it is something the near and far right in America wants so that they can extradite him to face criminal charges about the elaks thmeselves notwithstanding that the New York Times has provided an offline version on a daily basis (and could be charged any time).