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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:01 AM Oct 2016

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange: Ecuador’s awkward guest who just won’t leave

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
21 OCT 2016 AT 10:38 ET

For Ecuador, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has become the worst kind of guest: he makes messes he doesn’t clean up, he spills secrets, he meddles, and there’s no telling when he will leave.

Four years after Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, the tension between host and guest is plain to see.

Ecuador said Tuesday it has cut Assange’s internet access because of leaks by his anti-secrecy website “impacting on the US election” — a reference to the release of a damaging trove of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The leaks have put Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa’s government in an awkward position.

Back in June 2012, offering Assange refuge was a waggish way for Correa, a radical economist, to thumb his nose at the United States, the domineering neighbor that the Latin American left has long loved to hate. WikiLeaks had infuriated Washington by leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables and secret files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-snip-

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/wikileaks-julian-assange-ecuadors-awkward-guest-who-just-wont-leave/

10 replies

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Highlight:

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange: Ecuador’s awkward guest who just won’t leave (Original Post) DonViejo Oct 2016 OP

Too fucking little, too fucking late. And too fucking bad. Happyhippychick Oct 2016 #1

I think Ecuador ought to think about relocating their embassy. MADem Oct 2016 #2

They could just wall off that area, forget it/he exists and build some stairs outside the balcony snooper2 Oct 2016 #3

I think the balcony is off the front room--he's in a back bedroom MADem Oct 2016 #7

So when he is asleep put a wall up- (Steel) and leave a ladder outside his window. snooper2 Oct 2016 #9

Heh heh.... MADem Oct 2016 #10

Why don't they just ask him to leave? icymist Oct 2016 #4

They don't want to be the bad guys in the eyes of the "alt-left." MADem Oct 2016 #6

This is bullshit angrychair Oct 2016 #5

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. longship Oct 2016 #8

Happyhippychick

(8,379 posts)

1. Too fucking little, too fucking late. And too fucking bad.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:03 AM

Oct 2016

You took him in, you did NOTHING while he screwed with the U.S. elections and now you're stuck with him.

Too bad.

MADem

(135,425 posts)

2. I think Ecuador ought to think about relocating their embassy.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:30 AM

Oct 2016

Hell, USA did it--we're out of those olds digs and in a fancy modern building now.

If they relocate from Knightsbridge, Assange would have to slip out the door on his own and try to escape before the announcement of the move was made.

Another way to get him out might be if there was a major electrical failure in the building--in the dead of winter, when the temperatures are at their lowest.

snooper2

(30,151 posts)

3. They could just wall off that area, forget it/he exists and build some stairs outside the balcony

Reply to MADem (Reply #2)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:34 AM

Oct 2016

Eventually he will run out of M&Ms

MADem

(135,425 posts)

7. I think the balcony is off the front room--he's in a back bedroom

Reply to snooper2 (Reply #3)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 12:21 PM

Oct 2016

that used to be an office for underlings. It's a pretty fancy "prison" - most prisoners would love "cells" that were 13 x 13 feet. He has to kind of stay out of the way during business hours for the most part, I think, but he has been caught at night getting into places where he doesn't belong. He got in a fight with one of the embassy guards for this very reason, IIRC.

snooper2

(30,151 posts)

9. So when he is asleep put a wall up- (Steel) and leave a ladder outside his window.

Reply to MADem (Reply #7)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 12:28 PM

Oct 2016

He'll go eventually

MADem

(135,425 posts)

10. Heh heh....

Reply to snooper2 (Reply #9)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 12:33 PM

Oct 2016

Probably quite soon, as he shares the bathroom with the staff!!! He can't be peeing and pooping out the window terribly comfortably, can he?

icymist

(15,888 posts)

4. Why don't they just ask him to leave?

Reply to MADem (Reply #2)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:38 AM

Oct 2016

eom

MADem

(135,425 posts)

6. They don't want to be the bad guys in the eyes of the "alt-left."

Reply to icymist (Reply #4)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 12:01 PM

Oct 2016

Of course, since Assange is working for Putin, I think they could get away with calling him a spy and giving him the boot, but that's just me.

Correa likes his rep as a USA nose-tweaker, he's gotten lots of cred playing the "truth to power" card, but by the same token he relies on us, and our trade, for his country's economic health (and he NEEDS us way more than we need him these days). Hell, Ecuador, for the last decade and a half, uses US dollar as the nation's official currency.

He knows Clinton is going to win, and he doesn't want to piss her off. He's trying to "split the diff" and rein in Assange (President Clinton approves) while still giving him a roof and a bed (the Anonymous-wiki crowd stays, if not pleased, assuaged).

angrychair

(8,699 posts)

5. This is bullshit

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 11:57 AM

Oct 2016

If Ecuador wanted him out he would be out.

longship

(40,416 posts)

8. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Oct 21, 2016, 12:27 PM

Oct 2016

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...

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