Saturday, May 12, 2018

WSW - Julian Assange is in danger

Julian Assange is in immense danger. Remarks made this week by Ecuador’s foreign minister suggest that her government may be preparing to renege on the political asylum it granted to the WikiLeaks editor in 2012 and hand him over to British and then American authorities.
On March 28, under immense pressure from the governments in the US, Britain and other powers, Ecuador imposed a complete ban on Assange having any Internet or phone contact with the outside world, and blocked his friends and supporters from physically visiting him. For 45 days, he has not been heard from.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa stated in a Spanish-language interview on Wednesday that her government and Britain “have the intention and the interest that this be resolved.” Moves were underway, she said, to reach a “definite agreement” on Assange.
World Socialist Web

6 comments:

Konrad said...

I am surprised the Ecuador hasn’t thrown Assange to the wolves already.

Lenín Moreno was Rafael Correa’s vice president, and was a strong supporter of the populist “pink tide.”

Rafael Correa supported Lenín Moreno’s run for the presidency in late 2016. During the campaign, Moreno stood against the bankers, the neoliberals, and the Western Empire.

But the instant Lenín Moreno took office (24 May 2017) he did an about-face and went full neoliberal in support of the bankers and the Western Empire. Moreno betrayed his own base, and was consequently expelled from his own political party.

Since Moreno is a neoliberal, it was no surprise that he cut off Assange from the outside world. No phone, no Internet, no visitors, no interviews. (Probably no toilet paper, hygiene items, or solid food either.) Now Moreno is now preparing to throw Assange to the lynch mob.

Why not? Betrayal is routine for Moreno. Having betrayed his own base and his own party, he might as well betray Assange. What difference can one more betrayal make?

Rafael Correa kicked the IMF and most of the U.S. embassy staff out of Ecuador, and closed the U.S. military base at Manta, Ecuador.

Lenín Moreno is begging them all to come back and resume their evil.

The Empire says it will be happy to return, but Moreno must first hand over Assange.

Noah Way said...

CIA director Mike Pompeo, now secretary of state, asserted that WikiLeaks was a “non-state hostile intelligence service.”

Anyone who says anything counter to the propaganda is a hostile intelligence service. See the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a direct assault on free speech.

Ryan Harris said...

Do y'all think Trump will pardon him? I do.

Jeff65 said...

Pardon him for what crime?

Konrad said...

@Jeff65: Exactly. The US has not even formally charged Assange with any crime. But then, neither has the US formally charged any of the inmates at Guantanamo, or any of the endless victims of drone missiles.

Formal charges are only for people of status who annoy other people of status.

For the middle and lower classes, formal charges are a "hindrance to national security."

Konrad said...

The US government never formally charged Osama bin Laden with any crime either.

Formal charges are not necessary for "terrorists."