This has been a very disappointing year. President Obama has shown himself to be a giant with feet of clay, with no real muscle or ability to fight. Unemployment is at a record high, with China and the Saudi's owning billions of American assets in the form of purchased US debt....

Campaign promises made to end the Afghan and Iraq conflict never happened, and we now have the longest war in US history. It's quite possible that soldiers who were recruits when the conflict started, will still be fighting this same war when they retire from military service.

US withdrawal from Afghanistan has been moved back to 2014. The assumption being, not many people will remember why we were there in the first place when the troops leave.

START Treaty with Russia was signed, Gays can now serve in the military and 9/11 respondents can now receive health care benefits. Not bad for a lame-duck Congress.

Julian Assange's Wikileaks saga continues. Lawyers at the Justice Department are burning the midnight oil trying to come up with a law which Julian has broken, and of course how to get their hands on him. Other than having a permanent bad hair day, and taking fashion advice from Stevie Wonder, Mr. Assange seems to be squeaky clean as far as US laws are concerned.

Assange can't be charged with treason, as he's a foreigner. He can't be charged with espionage, as he only received the information. So what can the US charge him with? The catch-all crime of course; Being an international terrorist. Julian hardly fits the profile of a Bin Laden or Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, (Carlos the Jackal). The problem with the charge of terrorism is that Wikileaks was merely the recipient of leaked information. The IRA, Black September, Baader Meinhoff Gang and so on, were all terrorists. Just who Wikileaks is terrorizing might be difficult to prove in court. Using the 'terrorism' rationale, then all the major news outlets across Europe and the US are also equally guilty.

Whistleblowers who displease the government, can in the future be labeled 'terrorists'. That's a precedent that worries supporters of free speech and democracy. Today it's Wikileaks, tomorrow it's your daily newspaper.

Assange's only crime is revealing the truth to people who are being misled and duped by their own government. That's not a terrorist, that's a hero.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney must be breathing a sigh of relief now that Nigeria has made an out of court settlement on their corruption charges and withdrawn a request for Interpol detainment for the former VP. Mr. Cheney remains in retirement, living lavishly off the money he made funneling contracts to Halliburton during the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.

War profiteering used to be a crime. If you want to know why we still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, look at the people who make money from the conflict. As the Watergate whistleblower Deep Throat eloquently remarked, 'follow the money'.

Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah 'Tokyo Rose' Palin, spokesperson for the Republican Party, continues to amuse the American audience. Featured on her weekly reality show 'Sarah Palin's Alaska', was Ms. Palin bringing down a caribou with a high powered rifle. I don't like to get in touch with nature, in fact I don't like nature touching me, but shooting a harmless caribou at Christmas was too much for most of the Learning Channel audience. 'That Caribou had it coming' was an amusing statement by one critic.

Alaska has a new Republican senator this year and also one less caribou.

Across the Pond Follow 'Across the Pond' on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fraefife