Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

How Julian Assange became an unwelcome guest in Ecuador's embassy

"UK threatened to arrest Assange inside embassy, says Ecuadorean minister"

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INSERT:
I think he has Flynn dead to rights.

I think Manafort, Donnie Dumbass Jr and Jared are toast.

You may not believe that Jullian Assange is Russia or that he wasn't working for them, but the US government does, and that includes
the current administration ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/cia-director-brands-wikileaks-a-hostile-intelligence-service )
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146374598

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Ecuador's ex-president Rafael Correa requests asylum in Belgium
Ecuadoran judge demanded Correa return to face charges related to 2012 kidnapping of an opponent
AFP in Brussels
Thu 8 Nov 2018 13.04 EST
Last modified on Thu 8 Nov 2018 13.22 EST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/08/rafael-correa-ecuador-ex-president-asylum-belgium

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Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés (Spanish pronunciation: ... born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who is the President of Ecuador, in office since 2017. He was Vice President from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa.

[...]

Eventa Foundation

After being shot, Moreno created the foundation "Eventa" to promote humor and joy as a way of life based on his personal experiences.

He is the author of numerous books on his theory of humor, including: Filosofía para la vida y el trabajo ("Philosophy for life and work"), Teoría y Práctica del Humor ("Theory and Practice of Comedy"), Ser Feliz es Fácil y Divertido ("Being Happy is Easy and Fun"), Los Mejores Chistes del Mundo ("World's Best Jokes"), Humor de los Famosos ("Humor of the Famous"), Trompabulario, Ríase, no sea enfermo ("Laugh, don’t be sick") and Cuentos no Ecológicos ("Non-Ecological Tales").[9]

Vice Presidency

During his first year in the office of Vice President, Moreno investigated the state of disabled people in Ecuador. At the time the government’s entire budget for disabled services was approximately 100,000 U.S. dollars. Moreno increased the budget for disabled people more than fifty-fold. The state currently assists over 600,000 disabled Ecuadorians, and provides housing and income for 15,000 people and prostheses for another 4,000.[5] .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/19/laughing-ecuador-president-moreno-quits

He also founded the Manuela Espejo Solidarity Mission for the Disabled, which offers rehab, technical help, and psychological support to thousands of disabled Ecuadorians. Between 2009 and 2010 the Solidarity Mission visited over 1.2 million homes around the country and interviewed nearly 300,000 disabled people to find out what needs were most pressing. Many of those people received free medical checkups. And now the Solidarity Mission is spreading to Paraguay, Peru, Guatemala, Chile, El Salvador and Colombia.[10]

Moreno left the vice presidency on 24 May 2013 and was succeeded by Jorge Glas.[11] He was the first vice president to complete his term since 1992.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len%C3%ADn_Moreno
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He has been in the Knightsbridge building for six years, but his departure looks ever more likely

by Luke Harding, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Dan Collyns

Tue 15 May 2018 12.00 EDT
Last modified on Mon 30 Jul 2018 12.57 EDT

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Soon afterwards, the left-leaning then president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, agreed to Assange’s request, precipitating a major diplomatic row with the British government. And a full-blown siege. Metropolitan police officers swarmed outside the building, ready to arrest Assange should he venture out.

It was against this febrile backdrop that Correa authorised a secret programme named “Operation Guest”. It was later renamed “Operation Hotel”. The guest was Assange, politely referred to as el huésped.

The goal, at first, was to stop detectives bursting into the modest ground-floor embassy and dragging Assange away.

But documents seen by the Guardian show it developed into something more complex. The aim seems to have changed from protecting Assange – which propped up WikiLeaks in the process – to spying on him.

[...]

How WikiLeaks got the emails in the first place is an enduring mystery.

Did someone drop them off to Assange on a flash drive? Were the files uploaded on to an encrypted remote server? Or did they come in by some other route?

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the election, is looking for the answer. The secret records seen by the Guardian and the magazine Focus Ecuador may give him important new clues.

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None of this came cheap.

The documents set out how Ecuador’s intelligence agency, known as Senain, hired an international security company. Its bill in 2012 was $55,000 (£40,000) a month, paid from a “special expenses” government budget.

[...]

Assange has refused to say how the emails got to WikiLeaks. He denies they came from a “state actor”. The FBI does not appear to believe him. Giving evidence last year, the agency’s then director, James Comey, told Congress that Moscow was behind the DNC cyber-raid. An “intermediary”, he said, passed the emails to WikiLeaks.

Assange’s relationship with Moscow is certainly longstanding. In 2011, he signed a deal with the Kremlin-owned television network RT. The Julian Assange Show featured 10 guests, including Correa. Weeks after Assange’s interview with Correa was broadcast, the Australian sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy.

The logs record that Assange had more than 80 visitors in one month in 2016. They included the WikiLeaks staff member Sarah Harrison and longtime supporters such as Craig Murray, the UK’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan. Another was the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat.

There were also visits from Assange’s lawyer Gareth Peirce and Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club, who hosted WikiLeaks at his Norfolk mansion for 13 months up until Assange jumped bail. On 23 June 2016, RT broadcast a referendum special from inside the embassy, with the final guests leaving at 4.30am.

[...]

By 2014, it appears tensions over Assange were growing. The documents reveal that Ecuador’s then ambassador to the UK, Juan Falconí Puig, forwarded a complaint to Senain after a bill arrived for unpaid council tax from Kensington and Chelsea. The tax was payable on the agents’ clandestine flat in Basil Mansions. Falconí had no idea it existed. He rang Patiño, demanding to know what was going on, according to sources in Quito.
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That autumn, the security consultants reported that Assange had somehow set up his own secret communications network.

Moreover, they said he had “violated” the embassy’s computers and was apparently reading confidential diplomatic traffic, the company reported. Embassy staff apparently kept their personal files on Assange in a safe – the one place he could not access.

The head of Ecuadorian intelligence, Rommy Vallejo, held a meeting with Patiño to discuss the Assange situation and the “risks” he posed to embassy staff. Over time, Assange came to take up more than one-third of the embassy’s ground-floor space. Initially, he slept in narrow room next to the balcony. He subsequently colonised a back room as a bedroom and occupied half the kitchen. Assange’s unkempt realm was home to WikiLeaks and its computers, and was entirely private. There was no CCTV. It was off limits to diplomats, the rooms only accessible via special codes.

[...]

The logs do not explain how WikiLeaks received the 70,000 Democratic emails that had been hacked.

By the spring of this year, developments in Quito had moved in an ominous direction for Assange. Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, pronounced him a costly “inherited problem” and made it clear that he viewed Assange as an obstacle to better relations with the US.

As a candidate, Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks when it revealed embarrassing Democratic party secrets. When Assange released the email correspondence of the Clinton aide John Podesta, Trump exclaimed: “I love WikiLeaks.” Before and after the election, Donald Trump Jr exchanged a handful of direct Twitter messages .. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/13/donald-trump-jr-communicated-with-wikileaks-during-final-stages-of-election .. with Assange.

Seemingly, the Trump White House changed its view when Wikileaks dumped out classified CIA hacking tools. The agency’s then director, Mike Pompeo, who was later made secretary of state, dubbed WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service”.

In March, Assange’s internet access was cut off. A jammer was installed to prevent him from accessing emails. For more than a month, he has been forbidden visitors. Friends say he is passing the time by reading. They say he is leafing through books on the US election, which WikiLeaks did so much to influence and – its critics allege – subvert. Meanwhile, Correa, Assange’s protector and patron, has moved to Belgium. He has since landed at job at RT.

Last week, the embassy appeared deserted. Nearby, well-heeled passengers emerged from Bentleys and Mercedes outside Harrods. Six supporters held banners that said “Free Assange” and #ReconnectJulian. A violinist serenaded him from the pavement. There was no sign of the guest, but the window next to his balcony was open.

Assange faces a tough choice. If he walks out of the embassy, he can expect arrest and could spend up to a year in prison for breaking his bail conditions.

The US might then seek to extradite him. He would contest any attempt, and might win, but would face a long, uncomfortable spell behind bars while his case is decided.

Ecuadorian government sources say Quito is considering a plan for where Assange might go next. Russia would be an obvious choice, though this would cause problems with the US. Cuba and Venezuela are also said to be under discussion. Since January, Assange has officially been an Ecuadorian diplomat. However, this probably would not stop the UK arresting him if it had the chance.

If Assange remains in the embassy, cut off from the world, WikiLeaks cannot function. Either way, it is clear that Ecuador no longer wants him. His future is more uncertain than ever. The most likely scenario is that he will soon walk out the door.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/julian-assange-ecuador-london-embassy-how-he-became-unwelcome-guest

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