Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks kingpin holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, can reboot his laptop all he wants. But he’ll still get one of those infuriating “no connection to the internet” messages flashing red across his screen.
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks kingpin holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, can reboot his laptop all he wants. But he’ll still get one of those infuriating “no connection to the internet” messages flashing red across his screen.
That’s because the Ecuadorean government, which has been hosting the fugitive Assange for more than four years, cut off his internet privileges.
Why?
Ecuador officials apparently feared they were being played as chumps in a purported WikiLeaks-Russian effort to meddle in the U.S. election via leaked emails involving Hillary Clinton. The U.S. accused Russian intelligence of hacking Democratic emails, possibly to tilt the election in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged BFF, Donald Trump.
Ecuador “does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate,” according to an official government communique.
Bravo, Ecuador. This isn’t about silencing Assange and suppressing his operation. It’s about preventing the Ecuadorean embassy from doubling as headquarters for a Putin-Assange campaign to discredit Clinton.
For the record: Yes, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has said he prefers Clinton “for the good of the United States and the good of the world.”
And now, there’s fresh evidence he might be fed up with his long-term house guest, Assange.
Since 2012, Assange has been sheltered by Ecuador from extradition to Sweden because of allegations that he raped a woman there. Assange also said he fears extradition to the U.S. on potential espionage charges.
Ecuadorean officials took pains to reaffirm their decision to shield Assange even as they cut off his internet privileges. But The Washington Post reports that Correa “is treating Assange like a bad tenant who won’t leave.”
The Ecuador government notes that muzzling Assange “does not prevent the WikiLeaks organization from carrying out its journalistic activities.” Nor is it likely to slow the flow of leaked emails: The bulk of them appear to have come via the hacked email account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman and a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton.
WikiLeaks accuses Secretary of State John Kerry of pressuring Ecuador’s foreign minister to prevent Assange from releasing more Clinton emails. A U.S. State Department spokesman labeled the claim “simply untrue.”
The big question remains: Is WikiLeaks colluding with Russia to tilt the election toward Trump?
Assange himself has minced no words in his preference for None of the Above.
There’s no evidence of Russian-WikiLeaks collusion to influence the U.S election, Nicholas Weaver, a researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, tells The Wall Street Journal. But that doesn’t mean we won’t learn tomorrow of some conspiracy that remains unproven today. “Assange has made it very clear that he’s willing to be a useful idiot for any intelligence service,” Weaver says, “as long as it furthers his own agenda.”
And don’t forget, Assange and Putin have history: Russia Today, the state-controlled propaganda-centric television network, provided Assange airtime for a 10-part talk show series in 2012.
The Useful Idiot is now unplugged. Good.
— Chicago Tribune