The article said the talks are “an attempt to remove Assange” from the embassy and are being conducted at the highest levels of government, with British Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan personally involved… Decades and centuries-long legal protections and democratic rights are being shredded, as governments prepare for police-state repression of mass social struggles against the drive to war, and the onslaught on the social rights of the working class. This makes clear that the defence of Assange is a critical issue for all supporters of democratic rights.