Assange is on the same level as Kim Philby.
Similarity very close to zero.
Countries behind the iron curtain had really bad time while being a part of Warsaw treaty but it wasn’t much better in South America where fascist regimes were installed with great US help and under their supervision, overthrowing legally elected governments and killing tens of thousands of people. Or in Vietnam or Middle East under same umbrella.
Edits crossed. I added “moral” 
One could argue that much of the large scale stuff was a US – USSR cold war. Classic communist doctrine mandates continuous territorial expansion because “perfect security” is achieved only when there is nowhere else to escape.
No need for traveling in USA for getting an idea about what´s going on there.
OK, so you haven’t been there recently and get your info from reading the European press, which is even worse than the American press, which is outrageously bad. That explains a lot. Have you ever been to the United States, ever?
Vic, your seemingly bitter perspective is based on distant memory and propaganda. Visit the US yourself in the here and now to fact check the onslaught of relentless propaganda to which you’re been been exposed. I’d suggest doing some flying, I just did. An hour and a half in the air, two landings at two different 5000 foot paved runways with friendly conversation during the stop and no hassles. $57 total cost, the cost of 100LL and nothing else. Under half an hour of my middle class engineer’s wages pays for that. I have seen the big picture and continue to do so, up close and in person.
I’d suggest doing some flying, I just did. An hour and a half in the air, two landings at two different 5000 foot paved runways with friendly conversation during the stop and no hassles. $57 total cost, the cost of 100LL and nothing else. Under half an hour of my middle class engineer’s wages pays for that. I have seen the big picture and continue to do so, up close and in person.
“There are no problems around me as long as I live well” – this is really big picture
I’m certainly very grateful for the greater opportunity given to me by moving to the US and am quite aware of how it compares to that of others worldwide. I left university in the US with literally $100 in the bank, no debt due to working while studying but no other assets. My first paycheck increased my net worth by a factor of 15. I’ve subsequently worked for the same company for almost 35 years, done nothing particularly special professionally except to use the income with some forethought. I know probably hundreds of people who have done the same, or similar, it’s not a very exclusive process. That’s why millions of normal people like it, and don’t obsessively dwell on finding every perceived problem in the system as Europeans do, whether or not there are such problems. They don’t care in the least what day Labor Day is on, they know there’s a way to do well regardless and that the ‘system’ has relatively little to do with it, other than it staying out of the way where it isn’t needed.
When my father arrived in the US from Europe his engineering pay was doubled, and that was way low because that’s why they hired an immigrant. Do you think he complained about the US system? Nope, and his subsequent annual raises averaged 7% because he was good at his job. After ten years that means he was making four times what he’d been making and he’d bought a modest plane. The ability to do so almost shook the angry socialist out of him (but not quite).
I do have friends and relatives in Europe who have done well based on their merit too, better than me in a few cases. But there aren’t so many of them and they are all truly exceptional people. People who might be motivated but who aren’t so super exceptional, employee engineers like me for instance, do not typically earn or accumulate significant assets over a lifetime of work in Europe. That’s the big picture to me: Europe is a better place economically for those who are dumb or lazy. If they’re really dumb or lazy they will probably live better in some European countries. It’s also a pretty entertaining place to live if you have the money that might come with being truly exceptionally talented, or if you live on inherited wealth. Otherwise for those in the middle like me I think Europe’s a great place to vacation twice a year, avoiding tourist areas, meeting different kinds of people, looking and learning. I’ve been doing it since 1988, with one break, sleeping on couches on the one hand and also on the other having a girlfriend who served as an ambassador of a country no so far from where you live. I later met my wife in Germany. I have no idea how many trips. Maybe sixty? I’ve travelled in Europe really quite a lot 
, as well as in the US, and by design have actually seen quite a bit of the big picture.
Peter wrote:
The US is a paragon of freedom and human rights when viewed against the alternative: the USSR.
Indeed, but the USSR is not around anymore, is it? An the interesting thing really is comparing to other “western” countries.
Emir wrote:
“There are no problems around me as long as I live well” – this is really big picture
That’s the thing, isn’t it? And it really makes debate pointless.
Anybody flying GA here would be best advised to copy and paste US aviation in Europe 100%!
