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Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President's trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities.
Moreno's itinerary also notably includes a trip to Madrid, where he will meet with Spanish officials still seething over Assange's denunciation of human rights abuses perpetrated by Spain's central government against protesters marching for Catalonia independence. Almost three months ago, Ecuador blocked Assange from accessing the internet, and Assange has not been able to communicate with the outside world ever since. The primary factor in Ecuador's decision to silence him was Spanish anger over Assange's tweets about Catalonia. A source close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the President's office, unauthorized to speak publicly, has confirmed to the Intercept that Moreno is close to finalizing, if he has not already finalized, an agreement to hand over Assange to the UK within the next several weeks. The withdrawal of asylum and physical ejection of Assange could come as early as this week. On Friday, RT reported that Ecuador was preparing to enter into such an agreement.
[...] The central oddity of Assange's case – that he has been effectively imprisoned for eight years despite never having been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime – is virtually certain to be prolonged once Ecuador hands him over to the U.K. Even under the best-case scenario, it appears highly likely that Assange will continue to be imprisoned by British authorities. The only known criminal proceeding Assange currently faces is a pending 2012 arrest warrant for "failure to surrender" – basically a minor bail violation that arose when he obtained asylum from Ecuador rather than complying with bail conditions by returning to court for a hearing on his attempt to resist extradition to Sweden. That offense carries a prison term of three months and a fine, though it is possible that the time Assange has already spent in prison in the UK could be counted against that sentence. In 2010, Assange was imprisoned in Wandsworth Prison, kept in isolation, for 10 days until he was released on bail; he was then under house arrest for 550 days at the home of a supporter.
Assange's lawyer, Jen Robinson, told the Intercept that he would argue that all of that prison time already served should count toward (and thus completely fulfill) any prison term imposed on the "failure to surrender" charge, though British prosecutors would almost certainly contest that claim. Assange would also argue that he had a reasonable, valid basis for seeking asylum rather than submitting to UK authorities: namely, well-grounded fear that he would be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution for the act of publishing documents.
(Score: 3, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 23 2018, @09:06AM (34 children)
There is almost nothing certain about this whole thing. Is the US going to demand extradition? Will any other country? Will the UK make public some other charges, that have been kept secret all these years?
The one thing that IS certain: The UK won't permit Assange anywhere close to any physical or legal exit from the UK until they have finally disposed of any and all cases they might dream up.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @09:17AM (3 children)
Translation: Runaway know nothing about what is going on, but cannot help but say something ignorant about it. Thanks, again, Runaway! Your ignorance and lack of knowledge are a valuable contribution to SoylentNews.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:01PM (1 child)
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @06:56PM
I don't know about that . . .
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @05:50PM
That is the secret to influencing people, just state things like you absolutely know every detail and can safely make predictions about the future!
I do hope that one day humanity evolves to the point where critical thinking is the norm and statements without factual backing are distrusted and/or dismissed by default.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @10:22AM (28 children)
Is the US going to demand extradition
If they can present evidence of him breaking US law serious enough to trigger UK-US extradition treatment, then a judge will decide if there is enough evidence, if he will get a fair trial, etc, same as anyone else the US wants to extradite.
The only legitimate thing he has to be afraid of is if Trump orders one of those famous US kidnap/renditions, say like Khalid El-Masri. There are thousands of innocent people at risk from the whims of a U.S president over the last 17 years.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday July 23 2018, @10:45AM (13 children)
I don't think Trump would order that done. My reading of the pulse of the deplorables is that they're favorably disposed toward Assange for publishing the Hillary/Podesta email dump detailing her rigging of the Democratic primary.
The NSA/CIA/FBI might order it anyway, since they don't much bother with rules or laws anymore.
If Assange does wind up disappearing then we'll have a good idea who's really running the show in DC.
My favorite scenario for Assange is Trump pardons him and throws a parade in his honor as an international hero of democracy, freedom, and transparency in government. The gnashing of teeth among the Establishment would be delicious.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @11:18AM (1 child)
> Trump pardons him
Pardons him for what? Allegedly breaking Swedish law? Breaking British bail conditions?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday July 23 2018, @04:37PM
If they were knowingly conspiring with Russian election interference they could face some charges (and a possible pardon).
That relies on proving intent, which is always tricky. And, they haven't been indicted yet and we don't know if they ever will be.
Merely publishing the information, without participating in the crime of getting it in the first place, is probably not illegal.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday July 23 2018, @11:33AM (10 children)
I doubt that your dream scenario would happen. If there's one thing that's consistent about Trump, Trump cares most about helping Trump, and pardoning Assange doesn't do that.
There are two possibilities:
1. Assange is indeed completely innocent in the whole Trump-Russia stuff. That's possible. If so, Trump has no reason whatsoever to help Assange, so he'll let the "deep state" claim his scalp to make them feel better.
2. Assange is, as the DNC has been claiming all along, part of a criminal conspiracy to aid the Trump campaign. If so, Trump has every reason to shut him up as quickly as possible, which means killing him. And the "deep state" will surely support that effort.
Assange's problem amounts to the fact that the very nature of what he does means he pisses off powerful people. During the George W Bush administration, he pissed off the Republican establishment and the US military. During the 2016 campaign, he pissed off the Democratic establishment. So that means there's nobody with political power to defend his treatment, no matter how unjust. As in, I wouldn't be all that surprised if the moment he leaves the Ecuador embassy, he's shot and killed by somebody who is never caught.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @01:46PM (1 child)
He could become "The man in the iron mask" of Gitmo.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday July 23 2018, @02:48PM
That's what you do to somebody that you want to say what a torturer wants them to say. It's not what you do to someone you want to never talk.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday July 23 2018, @02:50PM (3 children)
You sound scarily detached, like it won't matter to you, or most people, how this goes down.
Whistleblowers need lots and lots of protection. It's possible Assange slipped with the women in Sweden, and his enemies merely seized upon the mistake as a means to arrest and silence him. But it seems more likely that they are part of a dirty plot, twisted or even planted to discredit him, same way that cops plant guns on dead victims of excessive police force. If you think that doesn't happen in this day and age, consider what happened to Greg Palast: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1108/S00143/how-morgans-fabricated-story-almost-ruined-this-reporter.htm [scoop.co.nz]
We the people are their last line of defense. People need to step up. Let the powerful know that we won't stand for it when they try to harass, intimidate, discredit, and silence whistleblowers. Remind them, over and over, that Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and Julian Assange are heroes, and we won't swallow their slime that paints them as criminals and traitors.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday July 23 2018, @04:16PM (2 children)
Not detached. More like I can already see where this is going, know full well that there are people with power who want Assange either killed or tortured as an example to others who might dare to do what he did, and will not play by any rules other than their own. What those folks want to do is completely illegal under the EU Conventions on Human Rights, the US Constitution, and UK law, but that doesn't matter in this situation.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday July 23 2018, @11:50PM (1 child)
Cat is out of the bag though. Wikileaks is not the only game in town, and journalists everywhere are extremely interested in those whistleblowing platforms.
Taking out Assange is meaningless. It won't stop Wikileaks from continuing on, and it doesn't stop any other whistleblower platform from operating.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday July 25 2018, @07:52PM
> Taking out Assange is meaningless
I disagree. It would certainly scare and chill other potential whistleblowers and journalists, if he was murdered by a nation state and the people at the levers of power who made that decision get away with it, maybe framing some deranged loner to take the fall. So long as it's a safe bet that if any such agency tries it, the perps will be identified, removed from power, tried, convicted and imprisoned, Assange should be fairly safe from that, or so we hope. And also, we hope they have some morals and a conscience, as well as the sense to realize it's a bad idea.
Think how rare it is for the leaders of a nation to attempt to assassinate the leaders of another nation, or any other public figure. They know if they try that, they put huge targets on their own backs. Might be the target of dozens of plots by a coalition of leaders feeling their own necks, wanting the wild and uncivilized murderers stopped before they can knock off anyone else.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 23 2018, @03:06PM (2 children)
The people he's pissed off most likely recognize that shooting him would make a martyr of him and thus give over power that cannot be taken away. As would an extraordinary rendition. They'll be quite happy if he is put in gaol or tied up civilly for something entirely unrelated to the issue at hand, I'm sure.
And there's a big difference between being a willing pawn knowing one is part of a conspiracy, being manipulated by others but not being a willfully cooperating agent in a conspiracy, and a dupe who's being used without being aware of it. Not in the product, but in the end result. I'm easily wrong but I believe Assange fits into the second category. He might be part of a pattern of conspiracy but he's not having sit downs with Trump's people plotting the DNC's Doom. Thus he doesn't know enough to be worth taking out (other than as above).
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:42AM (1 child)
Perhaps, he could be conveniently poisoned by the President Putin himself using some new scary substance?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:56PM
He could, if he knocks over Russia's dolly or the Trump-Putin bromance is consummated that way. (I wonder, does Russia have the same "problem(s)" with Wikileaks? Never thought about that one before.)
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Monday July 23 2018, @05:34PM
Mueller has been going hard after Roger Stone lately. He recently has called in a lot of his friends and associates to give testimony. The connection that he's trying to make is that Stone colluded with Russians to hack the DNC, then handed the emails to Assange to publish.
So I see this happening:
Get your popcorn ready.
Will Trump issue a pardon at that point? Maybe, but Assange is so hated by the establishment politicians on both sides such a move would almost guarantee a successful impeachment.
I am a crackpot
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:53AM (5 children)
Prffft HAHAHA in the land of extrajudicially killing its own citizens and kidnapping, torturing and indefinitely improsing thousands of foreigners without ever having seen a courtroom or a lawyer, the land of gag orders and secret tribunals...
Yeah, good luck with that fair trial.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @11:14AM (4 children)
Sweden?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @11:20AM (3 children)
Or the UK?
His argument was that by going to Sweden he would be at risk of a U.S. extradition. That would require Sweden to agree to that extradition
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @12:32PM (2 children)
Both these countries have been pretty far up the USA's colon for a long time. Expecting them not to cave to US pressure to extradite seems quite naive.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday July 24 2018, @08:35AM (1 child)
Yet the US could have put in an extradition request at any time while he was in the UK
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @05:18PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_of_deliberate_ambiguity [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:02PM (6 children)
If Trump does?
Bwahahahaha! You owe me a new keyboard! Trump seems to be true neutral, if not a touch of chaotic evil, but not lawful evil.
Trump is not the one who cares that we learned how the DNC fucked over Bernie Sanders! @realDonaldTrump continues to offer his condolences to incel Brony Brogrammer Bernie Bros about the raw deal Bernie got.
---
Though I see that the matrix has him [wsws.org]. Or maybe he's been replaced by a pod person, who knows. In reality, however, it's just the CIA hard at work--makes it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to continue feeling the Bern, because starting world wars is not something Trotskyists (Socialist Equality Party [wikipedia.org]) or (big L) Libertarians (but also small l, because libertarianism is not neoconservatism with a dash of anarcho-capitalism for flavor) are fond of.
Of course, Bernie's endorsement of Hillary Clinton was the foreshadowing. He could have gone Green Party, after all, or given the Socialist Equality Party an infusion of mojo. But no. Democratic Socialists of America: the beta of socialism. Fuck beta.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 23 2018, @02:35PM (5 children)
Bernie may be a beta, but many of the millions of supporters he courted during the primaries were Democrats who were always going to vote for Clinton over Trump. And for good reason, since the Supreme Court picks will be Trump's biggest legacy, and we could easily have a President Pence if the establishment gets its way. Bernie endorsing a third-party or himself as a write-in would have only burned bridges with many of his newfound supporters and made more people blame him for Trump's victory.
More people are paying attention to Senator Bernie today than ever before during his previous terms. Democratic-Socialists and other leftists are taking on establishment Democrats in the primaries. Bernie is likely going to feel too old to run in 2020, but he could use his influence to help suppress the Clintonian scum in the party and annoint a successor. Oh, and Bernie is already using his influence to curb the power of the superdelegates [npr.org].
You call Bernie a beta socialist for endorsing Hillary, but he tried to do exactly what President Trump succeeded at: co-opting the party from the inside. He just had to adjust to a longer-term strategy since he couldn't actually beat Clinton in 2016. President Trump's win has shown many people the light. If you want to be successful, don't run as a third-party candidate even if you look like the ultimate political outsider. Instead, you forcibly take over one of the two parties, energize your fringe supporters, and get the mainstream supporters of that party to reluctantly back you.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @05:57PM
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party turned Bernie into a cuck. [blogspot.com] Ari Rabin-Havt might be controlling him.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @06:04PM (3 children)
I suppose I don't so much as fault him for supporting Hillary. It made sense at the time, for all the reasons you give.
However, I call him and the Democratic Socialists of America wing of the D team beta socialists because they seem to be consumed with the Russia narrative, and the Russia narrative is so imperative, all the things that Bernie was passionate about in 2016 seem to have fallen to the wayside.
And that makes me sad. :-(
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday July 23 2018, @09:28PM (2 children)
Then you aren't paying much attention: The Sanders wing of the party is far less interested in pushing the Russia narrative than the Clinton/MSNBC wing.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:33PM (1 child)
Absolutely, the Russia thing is mostly a way that the establishment Democrats are using to hand wave away their particularly incompetent mismanagement of the party. That way there's probably a few democrats out there that will blame Russia for losing to Trump rather than on their corrupt organization that's more interested in being professional losers than giving the voters what they want.
The voters want medicare for all, free college and various gun regulations, but the Democratic party can't get behind any of those extremely popular positions. It wasn't that long ago that the GOP was more or less on the ropes and had the Democrats not allowed corporate interests to corrupt the party, the GOP would be a thing of the past. Instead what we wound up was the DNC throwing races and allowing itself to be pulled further and further to the right and completely ignoring the wishes of the voters. The end result was huge numbers of seats being lost to a party that should really be a footnote at this point.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday July 24 2018, @02:57AM
This is exactly what Russia has and what differs it from the US. The rest is absolutely the same.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday July 23 2018, @03:53PM
Well, i hear Assange is packing !!WMD!!OMG!!
They have satellite pics and all!!!
I'm sure they can come up with something incriminating, that is unless they just decide to JFK him.
"We caught Edward Snowden with a Carcano rifle while he was watching My Little Pony movies. He's not a patsy, HE killed Assange! Honest!
We wouldn't lie to you: We are the US gubmint!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:43AM
We'll get to see how this plays out.
In the meantime, Assange has managed to sideline Wikileaks by admitting to selectively publishing to fit his own agenda instead of being truly about exposing injustice. He's lost a lot of support and good will and one could argue that Wikileaks is no longer a threat to US interests. Whether that is enough for not still wanting to put him in prison for the rest of his life remains to be seen.