Julian Assange is not a journalist. He's not even a campaigner.

Over the last couple of weeks we have all enjoyed a rare glimpse through the lens of international diplomacy. We've enjoyed looking at candid descriptions of political figures and some of the revelations are pretty interesting. For example, we now know that NATO has contingency plans for a Russian invasion of Eastern Europe. But beyond the news and gossip elements of the Wikileaks dump, there lies a more uncomfortable agenda.

Certain quarters of the media have positively revelled in the unravelling of American statecraft. The tone of Assange's preferred outlet, The Guardian, seems to imply that for a nation state to have any secrets at all is evidence of that country being somehow wicked, too powerful or arrogant. It is the ease with which America is targeted that we should find uncomfortable. Julian Assange is not an investigative journalist. He is the beneficiary and handler of leaked information, nothing more. None of us should be comfortable marching to the tune of a one man self-appointed "truth campaigner." Indeed, if you need any evidence of Assange's state of mind you only need read the Q&A he did with.....you guessed it, The Guardian, last week. One of the questions posed was from a former British diplomat, and it is worth reading his point in full, HERE. I'll quote an extract from him:

"In the course of my former duties I helped to coordinate multilateral action against a brutal regime in the Balkans, impose sanctions on a renegade state threatening ethnic cleansing, and negotiate a debt relief programme for an impoverished nation. None of this would have been possible without the security and secrecy of diplomatic correspondence, and the protection of that correspondence from publication under the laws of the UK and many other liberal and democratic states. An embassy which cannot securely offer advice or pass messages back to London is an embassy which cannot operate."

His main question is simple: "why should we not hold you personally responsible when next an international crisis goes unresolved because diplomats cannot function?"

Assange's reply is illuminating: "If you trim the vast editorial letter to the singular question actually asked, I would be happy to give it my attention."

Extraordinary. Julian Assange, who just dumped 250,000 sensitive files on to the internet, asks a valid questioner to "trim down" his point....and then doesn't answer it. The reason I shared this exchange is because it highlights the underlying principles of Wikileaks; it claims to be "holding governments to account" (though nobody has asked them to do this) and yet Assange is wholly averse to being held to account himself.

Assange, who was today arrested on suspicion of rape, is not an investigative journalist. He is not even a campaigner. He is an irresponsible, most likely criminal, arrogant individual who seems to have no interest beyond undermining America and the West. What happens to him next is anyone's guess. Al Capone was finally brought down for tax evasion. Maybe this "e-terrorist" will be brought down for failing to understand that "no means no."