A cryptic man !

Many people will have mixed feelings about Julian Assange, the Australian who founded Wikileaks. He has made powerful enemies by leaking confidential American internal dispatches revealing secrets from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - and now embassy cables that often denigrate other world leaders.

To some, this is a breath of fresh air blowing through the secret backwaters of government, releasing information that we have a right to know. To others, it is a form of espionage that puts at risk the lives of foreign citizens who have worked with us in bringing democracy to foreign regimes.

Wikileaks would not be possible without informers - often lowly placed men and women who process documents in the computer world and who for their own reasons disclose confidential information. The vastness of the IT world is such that we may never know their identities.

Julian Assange has no such modesty. He clearly nominates himself as the head of Wikileaks - and as such must be high on the list of enemies in the sights of foreign security departments from many countries. It is quite possible that he could be a target of assassination.

In these circumstances the charge of rape coming from Sweden must be viewed with suspicion. It would be a simple measure to induce someone to lay such a charge to create an arrest warrant - and should that warrant be served and Assange be taken into custody - the charge dropped and he be deported to the United States to face more serious espionage charges.

Perhaps Assange has bitten off more than he can chew with Wikileaks. He has deliberately put himself at the centre of the stage in the murky world in which governments play - and now he finds himself well outside the normal tenets of law.

How this finally plays out will no doubt be the theme of many a novel - and most certainly a television series. It is still to be decided whether he plays the role of hero - or villain !