ReutersBill Keller called him “elusive, manipulative and volatile” in his recent cover story for the magazine. Now we can add “cat hater” to Julian Assange’s biography. More negative news about Assange comes from the new book “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website,” written by the former WikiLeaks spokesman, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. In an excerpt published by Vanity Fair in February, one of the many accusations Domscheit-Berg makes against Assange is cruelty to cats.
Domscheit-Berg writes:
Julian was engaged in a constant battle for dominance—even with my cat, Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schmitt is a lovable, lazy creature, a bit shy, with gray-and-white fur and an extremely laid-back way of walking. Unfortunately he also has a neurosis stemming from the time when Julian lived with me in Wiesbaden. Julian was always attacking the poor animal. He would spread his fingers into a fork shape and pounce on the cat’s neck. It was a game to see who was quicker. Either Julian would succeed in getting his fingers around the cat and pinning it to the floor, or the cat would drive Julian off with a swipe of its claws. It must have been a nightmare for the poor thing. No sooner would Mr. Schmitt lie down to relax than the crazy Australian would be upon him. Julian preferred to attack at times when Mr. Schmitt was tired.
“It’s about training vigilance,” Julian explained.
Assange worries that the U.S. government is out to get him. Now he can add PETA to his list of problems.