Julian Assange - WikiLeaks (14 page)

Right away John Young decided to publish on Cryptome all the e-mails he'd received to unburden himself of the responsibility of WikiLeaks' future.

There were internal secrets as well, since the members of the mailing list couldn't check the existence and number of leaks received.

The curtain fell, and John Young left the stage. The team tried to persuade him to stay on, but it was too late. Julian wrote him a personal e-mail to bring him back into the fold, but he was lost to WikiLeaks. Ambition is scary.

Assange and the ladies

Published on
November 30, 2010
by
sophox
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Single for five months, I hesitated signing up for a dating site like Emetic or more locally, Loveday.ch. Five years ago I thought it was stupid, but now that I'm almost in my thirties and work is taking up all my time, dates are getting scarce. It's sad, so enough about that.

In any case, just when I was asking myself this question, just when I'd been spending many nights a week online studying Julian Assange's character, just when allegations have been made against him by two young Swedish women, what do I read on Mashable.com? Julian Assange is on OkCupid, an international dating site.

He's all smiles on his profile. Apparently, it's a real profile, too. He used famous science fiction author Harry Harrison as a nickname. It's entirely probable, as everyone uses nicknames on these sites. [UPDATE: I saw that he quoted this nickname in
examples of the Australian Labour Party in the
WikiLeaks mailing list
in 2006; correlation?] The founder of the site was questioned and the profile was apparently created in 2006, used for the last time in December 2006. Technically, it's quite unlikely that it was created recently. Julian wasn't well known in 2006, so it had to be him that signed up to this dating site. Let's have a closer look.

His summary description and the type of woman he wants are interesting: “Want a regular, down to earth guy? Keep moving. I am not the droid you're looking for. Save us both while you still can. Passionate, and often pig-headed activist intellectual seeks siren for love affair, children and occasional criminal conspiracy. Such a woman should be spirited and playful, of high intelligence, though not necessarily formally educated, have spunk, class & inner strength and be able to think strategically about the world and the people she cares about. I like women from countries that have sustained political turmoil. Western culture seems to forge women that are valueless and inane. OK. Although I am pretty intellectually and physically pugnacious, I am very protective of women and children. I am DANGER, ACHTUNG ??????????!”

But that's me!!! Except for the country. In fact, what does he mean by that? He likes Asian women? Or girls from the former Eastern Bloc? As implied by a female dating expert (I had no idea that was a job!), they are sad and so they're more docile. He consoles them, brings them comfort and
voilà
, it's in the bag. Creep!!!

He goes on to explain that he runs “a consuming, dangerous human rights project.”

Finally, he has that savior soul for widows and orphans: save, defend and fight the internal establishment. You're my hero, Julian, my Robin Hood.

Very smart. Adventurer seeks adventuress! It could work on this type of site.

On OkCupid he was seeking “A spirited, erotic, nonconformist. Non-conformity is not the adoption of some preexisting alternative subculture. I seek innate perceptiveness and spunk.” And further: “Do not write to me if you are timid. I am too busy. Write to me if you are brave.”

That's pretty direct!! He doesn't want a long-term relationship, apparently. It has to be quick. Not surprising when we know his life like we do today. In fact, when travelling he said he preferred to sleep over at sympathizers rather than in hotels. To do that, he would need a lot of connections around the world. Did this profile combine practical and fun considerations?

The expert, who analyzed the profile without knowing it was about Julian, described him as a hurt and arrogant man with an ego, while his profile dissuades ‘good quality' women. Every woman is the same to him. It's someone who lives in his head. He wants a woman who will have an opinion that he'll probably hate.

It seems to match the correspondence I found on
Gawker
, which seems to reflect his touchiness.

In April 2004, he insistently courted a nineteen-year-old girl in a bar. She accepted to answer the online media journalist's questions on the condition of being called Elizabeth.

Back then, Julian and Elizabeth were both students at the University of Melbourne. Julian was thirty-three years old. The young girl spotted him because he looked different. He was too old for her, but his long white hair and confidence made him seem different from the other men she had met in university.

She started talking to him. He seemed kind of quiet and nerdy. She didn't really think he was sexy, just strange and intriguing. Julian flirted a moment with Elizabeth, showing off by explaining complex equations and joking about her mathematical ignorance. They talked until the bar closed. Julian walked her home where
she lived with her parents. Before leaving Julian kissed her. She wasn't really happy about it, but didn't push him away either. He stayed calm and didn't try anything weird. Before he left, they swapped e-mail addresses. Julian gave her his card with his details and the image of a lighthouse, possibly an early symbol of his quest for transparency. They parted company.

A few days later, Julian sent an e-mail to the young girl, inviting her on a date:

Elizabeth didn't remember how she answered him, but she had turned him down. They'd only exchanged e-mail addresses, and she didn't think she'd hear from him again until Julian called her up the next day at her parents' place. Elizabeth was shocked and Julian didn't answer her when she coldly asked how he got her number. The discussion went awry, but Julian wasn't discouraged. He sent another e-mail pointing out her coldness and lack of courtesy on the phone:

This message put Elizabeth more at ease, which she replied nicely. The same day Julian sent her a message in his own unique style:

Here, Julian expressed his view on life. He doesn't participate in someone else's reality; he doesn't want that. He would rather create his own world. He maintains a philosophical fervor in expressing his view of his own experience with this young girl.

A few days later, he tried calling Elizabeth again. She tried to pass herself off as somebody else, because she was scared of his persistence.

After a few other e-mails without any answer from Elizabeth, Julian decided to change his approach. Instead of calling Elizabeth, he tried to get her to call him. However, she thought he picked a really bad way to give her his phone number. He took the number of her car's license plate and made it into a riddle, which once solved would reveal his phone number. He sent her an e-mail
with the riddle. Elizabeth answered that she wouldn't call him because his weird riddle didn't give her his phone number.

One more time Julian decided to call her, and later that day he sent her a message asking what was the best time to call without bothering her parents. It was April 12 2004, about ten days after they first met at the bar.

Tired, Elizabeth said to stop calling her house. Julian, who was humiliated by this affair, sent her this sentence: “If you're lucky you can also find me at
http://iq.org/julian
”. He signed with a ‘–J.'

He eventually gave up, but before that, he sent one last nasty e-mail:

His OkCupid profile reveals a Don Juan style with women and this situation with Elizabeth shows to what extent he didn't appreciate being rejected. Elizabeth told Gawker that she never felt threatened by Assange's behavior, but thought he was socially
awkward in his flirting: “I don't think he's a bad person,” she said. “He's just a funny bugger.”

There's a man who evokes some sort of mystery.

The way he looked at the start of WikiLeaks with platinum hair, made him look like something between a pop singer and a mad scientist. Today he has a new look, field reporter meets modern fighter with leather jacket (what a jacket!!), or politician with a suit like a television news anchor. I also saw him in a tailor-made Italian suit with sunglasses like James Bond. He has many styles like a star in celebrity publications. In fact
Rolling Stone
Italy declared him Rock Star of the Year in 2010!

The man has different facets: sometimes simple and accessible, respectable like a good son-in-law, or a spy ready to score with women. Whether he smiles or not on pictures, he still has a frank and inquisitive look. I feel like he wants to understand, get to the bottom of issues and break open mysteries.
He's a major figure in the history of journalism and information. What will people be saying about Julian in a few years? Julian Assange, the man who redefined journalism in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Will he be quoted like Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press or Ed Bradley, the first black television correspondent to the White House, and his twenty-six years of reporting on CBS?

Julian Assange may be a hero, but he' still a man with flaws, and a personality that is still kind of monomaniac and he only thinks of the secrets of authorities, an obsessive project on which he's focused like a laser ready to pierce hidden information.

He can make girls fall for him like a rock star, so danger,
achtung!,
as he had put it. He's always the charmer. An article in
The First Post
reported the following story:

“A journalist met with Julian in a restaurant in Sweden. The journalist showed up with his girlfriend. After talking for a moment, the girlfriend and Julian went outside to smoke. A few minutes later, the journalist went outside to find out what they were up to. He was surprised to see Assange whispering in his girlfriend's ear. While the journalist got upset, Julian put up his dukes as if he were ready to fight. The young woman admitted that Julian asked her to spend the night with him. The journalist commented that Julian seemed to enjoy humiliating him.”

He likes to play with fire anytime he can. He's convinced of his superiority as well as of his intelligence, culture, charisma, and slickness. Women all say they don't like that kind of man, but many women still fall for him.