其实要说最近的新闻真的是没什么好消息。国内的经济可以说是一片光明。而国外俄乌战争的结束仍然遥遥无期，巴以之间的冲突也没有结束的迹象。以色列在四次中东战争中树立起来的军事强国形象。也被泥腿子哈马斯多少解构了不少。区区加沙地带打了九个月，还是久攻不下。而以色列政府还准备和北线的黎巴嫩真主党全面开战，内塔利亚胡政府就像一个参加考试的差生，发现加沙这道题解不出来，又跑去解另一道题。等他发现那道题更难的时候，估计又回来解加沙这道题吧？而经济方面，美联储仍然在坚持着高利率政策吸引美元回流。而西方经济体的欧洲和日本都出现了比较严重的货币危机。日元汇率大跌，央行准备干涉，却被美国以操纵货币为由叫停，而欧元的市值已经从世界第二大货币的宝座上跌落，被黄金超过。不过在这些糟心的消息当中，也有一个稍微好一点的消息，就是维基解密的创始人。著名的吹哨人阿桑奇终于获得了自由。不过美中不足的是，这是一场双方都可以各自声称胜利的结果，而不是一场个人权力对抗政府强权的完胜。
阿桑奇，可以说是一位奇人，他创立了维基解密网站。可以让吹哨人匿名地提供爆料资料，与他有关的几次重要事件，包括美国陆军士兵曼宁通过维基网伪解密发布了美军在伊拉克用武装直升机攻击平民和记者的绝密视频文件。另一个就是在2016年大选期间曝光了希拉里的邮件门和她泄露的政府文件。为当年川普暴冷击败希拉里，当选美国总统，发挥了非常重要的作用。阿桑奇的这些事迹导致他成为美国政府的眼中钉肉中刺被长期通缉，躲在第三国大使馆中，多年不曾出门。之所以如此，就是因为他的这些爆料活动对撕下了美国政府所谓民主人权的假面具，暴露出它在侵犯人权和公民权利方面和他口中所谓的邪恶国家如出一辙，甚至有过之而无不及。
其实马克思早就指出，国家就是阶级压迫的暴力的机器，这个定义是放置四海而皆准的。虽然美国实行民主制，但民主选举也只能改变那些在台面上的所谓高级别官员啊，那些真正管理社会和国家的官僚体系是不受选举制度影响的。越来越多的美国人也认识到这一点，关于深层国家的阴谋论，受到越来越多的人们认可。这方面，阿桑奇和斯诺登等吹哨人爆料者也起到了非常重要的作用。
阿桑奇还有一句名言，可以说是揭露了政治人物发动或者推动战争的原因，可以说是一针见血。“战争的目的就是将纳税人的税款变成和政府关联的利益集团，如军工复合体，政府承包商口袋中的私有财产。战争的目的并不是要打赢，而是在于一场长期的战争。”长达二十年最终烂尾的阿富汗战争可以说是非常精辟的诠释了这一观点。而在阿富汗战争结束后，不到半年又爆发了规模更大的俄乌战争，并且持续至今，双方战线僵持已经有长期化的趋势了。
虽然这场战争，俄罗斯被描绘为侵略者，从表面的事实上来看也确实如此，但是随着战争的旷日持久和对这一事情的逐渐了解，我的看法也有些改变。说普京掉进了这个陷阱，也不是完全没有道理。毕竟普京想要的是一场类似冷战期间干涉布拉格之春那样的闪电战，而西方则把它打成了如今的持久战。而且在开战初期，很多亲西方的人士和媒体毫不讳言，希望在这场战争中击败俄罗斯，从而导致俄罗斯的进一步解体。虽然更多的国家政权，更多的碎片化，通常意味着更多的人类自由，但是在现在这种情况下，俄罗斯的解体只是进一步加强美国的强权。想一想和阿桑奇一样被美国政府追杀的斯诺登，如果不是俄罗斯政府收留，还有哪个国家敢收留他呢？他恐怕早就成为美国的阶下囚了。俄罗斯的存在确实是平衡美国霸权的重要因素。尽管这个国家也不是什么自由或者传统价值的典范。
为什么说阿桑奇这次的胜利并不完美呢？因为这是一次美国特色的辩诉交易。阿桑奇是以认罪为代价，并以在英国羁押的时间抵扣刑期为代价获得了自由。没有无罪判决，没有国家赔偿。美国政府仍然达到了它杀鸡儆猴的目的。人类的自由权利并没有得到伸张。不知道以后还会不会出现阿桑奇这样的勇敢的人。
In fact, the recent news is really not good news. The domestic economy is bright. The end of the Russia-Ukraine war abroad is still far from sight, and the conflict between Palestine and Israel shows no sign of ending. Israel's image as a military power built up during four Middle East wars. It's been deconstructed by Hamas. The Gaza Strip has been under siege for nine months and still remains unconquered. While Israel's government is preparing for all-out war with Hizbullah in Lebanon on the northern front, Netanyahu's government is like a poor student taking an exam, finding Gaza impossible to solve, and then trying to solve another. When he finds that one harder, maybe he'll come back to Gaza? On the economic front, the Federal Reserve is still sticking to its policy of high interest rates to attract dollars back. The Western economies of Europe and Japan are experiencing relatively severe currency crises. The yen tumbled, the central bank was ready to intervene, only to be stopped by the United States on the grounds of currency manipulation, and the euro's market value has fallen from its throne as the world's second largest currency, overtaken by gold. But in the midst of all this bad news, there is also a slightly better news: the founder of wikileaks. Assange, the famous whistleblower, is finally free. But the catch is that this is an outcome in which both sides can claim victory, rather than a resounding victory of individual power against government might.
Assange, arguably a strange man, founded the website wikileaks. Whistleblowers can anonymously provide information about several important events related to him, including U.S. Army private Manning's release of top-secret video files via wikileaks of U.S. military attack helicopters attacking civilians and journalists in Iraq. The other was the exposure of Hillary Clinton's emails and her leaked government documents during the 2016 election. He played a very important role in Trump's defeat of Hillary Clinton and election as president of the United States. Assange's exploits have led to him becoming a thorn in the side of the US government and a long wanted man, holed up in a third country's embassy and not leaving the house for years. The reason for this is that these Revelations have torn off the mask of the so-called democracy and human rights of the US government, and exposed that it is just like the so-called evil countries in violating human rights and civil rights, and even worse.
In fact, Marx has long pointed out that the state is a violent machine of class oppression, and this definition is universally applicable. Although the United States is a democracy, democratic elections can only change the so-called high-level officials on the table, and the bureaucracy that actually runs the society and the country is not affected by the election system. More and more Americans are realizing this, too, and conspiracy theories about the deep state are gaining more and more recognition. Whistleblowers such as Assange and Snowden have also played a very important role in this regard.
Assange is also famous for revealing the reasons why political figures start or promote wars, which can be said to hit the nail on the head. "The purpose of war is to turn taxpayer dollars into private property in the pockets of government-linked interests such as the military-industrial complex and government contractors. The purpose of war is not to win, but to be a long war." The war in Afghanistan, which ended two decades ago, exemplifies this view very well. After the end of the war in Afghanistan, a larger Russian-Ukrainian war broke out in less than half a year, and continues to this day, and the stalemate between the two fronts has a long-term trend.
Although Russia was portrayed as the aggressor in the war, and this was true on the surface, my opinion changed somewhat as the war dragged on and I learned more about the matter. It is not entirely unreasonable to say that Mr Putin has fallen into this trap. After all, Putin wanted a blitzkrieg similar to the Prague Spring intervention during the Cold War, and the West made it the protracted war it is today. And in the early days of the war, many pro-Western people and the media made no secret of their hope that Russia would be defeated in the war, which would lead to the further disintegration of Russia. Although more state power, more fragmentation, usually means more human freedom, in this case the disintegration of Russia would only further strengthen American power. Think about Snowden, who is being pursued by the US government like Assange, if not the Russian government, which country would dare to take him in? He would have been a prisoner of the United States by now. Russia's presence is indeed an important counterweight to US hegemony. Although the country is not exactly a paragon of freedom or traditional values.
Why is Assange's victory less than perfect? Because this is an American plea bargain. Mr. Assange was freed in exchange for a guilty plea and time spent in British custody as a deduction for his sentence. No acquittals, no state compensation. The US government has still achieved its aim of making an example of the monkey. Human rights to freedom have not been upheld. I wonder if there will ever be another brave man like Assange.
