Yeesh. What does that make it now, an outstanding rape/international extradition case, a massive falling out with Domscheit-Berg, the Guardian unredacted document leak and now this. I'm missing a lot more, I'm sure. Agree with him or not, you gotta feel for Julian Assange.<p>I met his biological father once at a party about a year ago. We didn't talk in much detail ("hey, so your son's under house arrest" isn't the best conversation starter) but he seemed cautiously upbeat and if nothing else proud of Julian. It was a strange reminder that despite all this he's still just a guy, like any of us, trying change the world for the better. Except we're not under house arrest with an international funds embargo and lawsuits circling like buzzards. He's still just a guy. I wonder how he's doing?<p>All these troubles can't be unconnected. I wonder if it's a fundamental result of his personality or his methods. That would be a tempting answer, but I'm not sure it's entirely true. Similarly tempting would be to assume that it's all pressure from the remarkable US political machine. But that's not entirely true either. I'd wager there's even some component of "Julian Assange, transnational wounded deer" - no country to back him up, no multi-million dollar board to sit on and nurse his wounds. He is, in that sense, uniquely vulnerable; alone among the infamous.<p>Julian once said that he volunteered to be the lightning rod of WikiLeaks. Well, here's the lightning. WikiLeaks will go on even as he burns, but what of the man? Is it fair to ask one person to be the punching bag for an idea? Is it fair for him to ask that of himself?