Assange is an opportunistic hypocrite, stop making a martyr of him.

Over-reactions are the greatest treat for rabble-rousers such as Julian Assange. Watching everyone go mental - over revelations that the diplomatic corps uses common sense and pragmatism - must be enjoyable with a bucket of popcorn and CNN blaring from the widescreen TV.

Is Assange a terrorist? If he were, he would have attempted to extort plenty of concessions from the governments concerned. Blackmail is effective as long as it is hidden from the public eye. Ergo he isn't. He is better described as a token sociology student on a liberal campus who hasn't grown up; the sole improvement on his campus utopianism is an acute opportunism.

He won't tackle Russia, China, North Korea, Iran or Syria for one, very important reason: he wants to stay alive. The shadiest regimes place little value on human life or foreign image. Were they to feel threatened, Assange would be stiff the next morning, and his staff with him.

Nor will Wikileaks ever get major scoops on these regimes either. Little value on life means, inevitably, the leaker's entire family and cohort of drinking buddies shot, or interned.

Wikileaks, and Julian Assange, know their victims will not harm them when push comes to shove. He is no freedom activist or world-changer. He will not stand up to the real bullies and will never knowingly place his life on the line. He is a voyeur whose fetish is watching - from a safe distance - "it" hit the fan and splatter.

Dear politicians: stop making a terrorist of who is - in reality - a hypocritical, opportunistic weakling. Just catch him, try him for what he is guilty of and give him what's coming to leakers.