IN London courtroom stowed tae the gunnels wi WikiLeaks and journalist supporters, Julian Assange wis jyled fir the near-maximum year’s term ahint baurs fir breachin his bail condeetions. Thae supporters branded the sentence as “shocking” and “vindictive” – an wi guid raison.

A hauntle o weeks hae passed nou syne thae scary pictures o the WikiLeaks founder an whistleblower bein cairtit awa bi a bunch o thugs tae a van ootside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ony journalist wha cares anent freedom o speech, truth an justice must hae bin horrified at these eemages. Gin they can dae that him then they can dae it tae you.

Ah postit that verra day oan Facebook that gin this wis a dissident Russian bein cairtit awa bi Russian secret polis, an wha (athin three hours!) hud bin convictit oan a poleetical charge bi a judge (wi nae jury!), then there wid hae bin a front-page outcry the likes ye’ve ne’er seen in the British media – as there wis ower the Skripal/Novichock pussionin case that wis headline news fir weeks oan end…

We hae lang kiddit oorsels oan in the UK that sic things widnae heppen here – in the bosom o democracy … Aye, richt! Weel it heppent richt in front o yer een oan national TV a few weeks syne!

Ah’m byordnar delichtit that the SNP First Meenister Nicola Sturgeon haes fired the stairtin gun fir Indie 2. Lang socht fir hus cam at last! An ah firmly believe in ma ain mind that gin Assange hud socht asylum in an independent Scotland he wid hae foun sauf bield frae the richt-wing daurk forces that ettle tae lock him awa fir a verra lang time.

Assange an the US whistleblower Chelsea Manning are nou baith agane in jyle. Keep mind, this is fir the “crime” o tellin the warld the truth ower US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. The deliberate state murder o innocent indiveeduals – includin journalists. Nae maitter whit ye micht read, an white’er state propaganda appears tae be pumpin oot, thon’s the simple truth o the maitter.

Ah believe that whit these brave fowk hae duin wis morally an ethically justified gin we are tae hae an apen an transparent global news service. Keep mind, WikiLeaks in its hale history hae ne’er hud tae retract ony o its stories as “fake news” – unlike some ithers we micht ken … An they hae won evri single coort case that challenged ony o their information. Nae ither single mainstream media network can mak that claim.

The peerless journalistic scriever John Pilger wrote ane o the maist searin an passionate indictments o these raicent events in his airticle Julian Assange:

A Warning From History (an thair is a deleeberate nod in that title tae the laundmark documentary series anent the rise o the Nazis) check it oot here; johnpilger.com/articles/the-assange-arrest-is-a-warning-from-history is weel warth a read!!

Here’s ae braw comparison Pilger maks anent the Assange arrest: “Imagine Tony Blair was dragged from his multi-million pound Georgian home

in Connaught Square, London, in handcuffs, for onward dispatch to the dock in The Hague. By the standard of Nuremberg, Blair’s ‘paramount crime’ is the deaths of a million Iraqis. Assange’s crime is journalism: holding the rapacious to account, exposing their lies and empowering people all over the world with truth.”

Wha in their richt mind cuid disagree wi that statement?

Then we hae this fly an sleekit poleetical manoeuvring anent packin Assange aff tae Sweden. Ah think we maun debunk that nonsense! Gin this wis gaun tae heppen then whaur are the chairges!? The Swedish authorities hae hud months an years tae prepare an sairve an arrest warrant. Sae whaur is it? The rape allegation is still weel athin time leemits tae chairge him.

Sae whit’s gaun oan?

Ye hae tae keep a close ee oan the fine prent an semantics o aa this. Assange wis ne’er chairged wi onything in Sweden – he wis anely wantit fir questionin. Thon’s no a message that’s e’er made clear in the UK media. They wid hae ye think the man wis a serial killer … !

This leas aa thae Labour MPs wha rump an stump backed the Swedish extradition, an wha’d raither duck the rael issues oan the freedom o wir media.

And thair an uncanny seelence frae Sweden oan aa this the nou …

The Swedish extradition (lik Theresa May’s Brexit deal) is a deid deuk! The US dinnae need it an Westmonster wull jimp tae Trump’s tune. They ayewis did. Ye’d be a gey saft loon nae tae see the CIA dabs aa ower this.

Gangin back tae John Pilger, in the 1970s, he met wi the film makar Leni Riefenstahl, confidant o Hitler, whaes wark helped tae brainwash the German fowk intae Nazism.

She telt Pilger that the message in her films, the propaganda, lippent no oan the “orders from above” but oan whit she cried the “submissive void” o the public.

“Did this submissive void include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie?” Pilger askit her.

“Of course,” she said, “especially the intelligentsia .... When people no longer ask serious questions, they are submissive and malleable. Anything can happen.”

An in Germany it did.

Wauk yersels up ma friens afore it heppens here.