btw this whole trope of Assange as a pig-headed drama queen "martyring" himself over nothing was very popular in some soft left circles years back. If only he just manned up, came clean and went to Sweden his life would become easier.
It was exemplified in this now infamous Guardian column, written by a dude who's since tried to launder his rep for posterity by writing a big Rolling Stone piece about how unjustly UK & US courts were treating Assange. Another "No Shit Sherlock" moment