
Ecuador to Expel Assange Within ‘Hours to Days,’ WikiLeaks Says - 1gor
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-05/ecuador-to-expel-assange-within-hours-to-days-wikileaks-says
======
clintonb
> WikiLeaks cited the unidentified person as saying the planned expulsion is a
> response to the organization’s recent tweet linking to a website that
> alleged money laundering and corruption during Ecuadorian President Lenin
> Moreno’s time as United Nations special envoy for the disabled in Geneva.
> Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said last month that the government was “very
> surprised” by that and other actions by Assange and his lawyers.

It's generally a bad idea to insult your hosts, and expect to remain in their
home.

~~~
legitster
There were all sorts of reports that he was a pretty taxing guest as well.
Cleaning, hygiene, etc.

~~~
comboy
As Eric Weinstein put it, "we are standing on shoulders of jerks"[1]. I posted
it already here once, but it is such a valuable insight that I think it's
worth repeating.

1\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMIWVOnbo&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMIWVOnbo&feature=youtu.be&t=553)

~~~
neom
Thanks for posting this, I hadn't given that thought much time and it was
interesting to hear it put so succinctly. In my opinion it's a pretty valid
perspective, however, it does create a very narrow definition of genius. I'd
suggest that the loud stomps unsavory genius in their sensibilities may very
well create a lack of space for the quite, introverted, polite, snowflake
philosophical or artistic genius, and that this to me would be equally
disappointing. I think a good underlying lens is meeting people where they
are, whoever they are.

------
sschueller
Free Manning, free Assange and free Snowden.

These 3 individuals have shown the world the corruption and criminal activity
our governments engage in and no matter how hard they try to silence them,
eventually the truth will show through.

~~~
cm2187
I agree with free Snowden. But Manning and Assange had a history of leaking
unredacted personal information that is indefensible. In the case of Manning,
I might add that the leak didn’t show any major wrong doing. It illustrated
some case of collateral damage, which we always knew (and the US military
keeps public records of). It showed the underbelly of the US diplomacy, which
turns out to be rather clean (some ambassadors commenting that the memos look
generally very insightful and professional). And it caused some red faces of
people who shared thoughts with US diplomats in confidence, and I don’t see
how that could possibly be a good thing. Assange and Manning is really leaking
for the sole purpose of leaking.

~~~
Tepix
Manning revealed war crimes, yet the only person who went to prison was
Manning.

That's all we need to know really. The system is broken und unable to fix
itself.

Edit: Free Reality Winner

~~~
GVIrish
The system is not perfect, but the reason Manning went to jail is because she
made an indiscriminate leak of secrets of which she did not review before she
released them.

Had she only released material on stuff she had thought to be a crime, then
there would have been a much stronger case to be made as a whistle blower.

It would be like if someone working at a hospital exposed a medical fraud
scheme but leaked all the patient records of thousands of people who had
nothing to do with scheme. They'd probably get hit with criminal HIPAA
violations.

The reason Manning is in jail right now is because she refused to testify to a
grand jury about WikiLeaks and got hit with contempt of court. She had been
given immunity to testify so the jail time is purely on her.

~~~
coldtea
> _The system is not perfect, but the reason Manning went to jail is because
> she made an indiscriminate leak of secrets of which she did not review
> before she released them._

And what gives a government a right to have secrets in the first place? Except
itself of course...

~~~
wmil
Normal operation of government is going to require some secrets.

One of the things leaked by Manning was blunt assessments of foreign figures
by diplomatic staff. That's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be kept
secret for international relations to function.

------
fastball
I still can't believe he has been there for 7 years.

~~~
falcrist
If nothing else, his persistence has been fairly impressive.

I'm still bitter that he became so thoroughly partisan, though. Especially
since his organization has or had the motto: "to publish fact-based stories
without fear or favour".

~~~
black-tea
I mean, it's possible that he's lost his mind during the 7 years of
imprisonment without trial.

~~~
idlewords
He lives in a diplomatic compound that he is free to leave at any moment. He's
gone without trial by choice. The real victims here are the poor Ecuadoran
diplomatic staff, and his ex-cat.

Oh, and his victims, of course.

~~~
rishav_sharan
What victims?

~~~
Kiro
His rape victims.

~~~
polotics
This has been disproven, so: citation needed, please...

~~~
rmc
No it hasn't, there hasn't been a trial. That's kinda the whole point of him
being in the embassy.

~~~
dragonwriter
Well, the _recent_ immediate point of him being in the trial is avoiding the
British bail jumping charges from his flight to the embassy to evade the
extradition on the rape charges; the extradition is no longer active.

~~~
gcthomas
But it could become active again very quickly while he is held by the UK
authorities. The rape case is still open afaik.

------
norin
Free Manning, Free Snowden. these two individuals I support whole heatedly.
Snowden needs to come home.

------
imroot
There's a live feed of the Ecuadorian Embassy -- I don't remember this
happening in the last few expel "scares" (for lack of a better word).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6a9fgsTfBk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6a9fgsTfBk)

~~~
JorgeGT
This is the actual live HD feed with audio, helpfully provided by our Russian
friends from Ruptly:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlqmKcPS0I8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlqmKcPS0I8)

------
comex
Haven't there been rumors along these lines published on multiple instances in
the past? I'll believe it when it happens.

~~~
Thorrez
In July 2018 he was going to be kicked out "within the next several weeks".
Now it's "hours to days", so it's closer.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17582652](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17582652)

------
theguppydream
If you're interested in Assange, check out Andrew O'Hagan's piece 'Ghosting'
about being hired to ghost write Assange's autobiography. It's in his
collection 'The Secret Life.'

------
basicplus2
How many years holed up in the embassy?

If he ends up serving jail time he won't get his sentence reduced for time
spent in the embassy..

Perhaps would have been better off going to jail at the start.

~~~
NullPrefix
>his sentence reduced for time spent

You think they do that in gitmo?

------
g-mc
dupe?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19578706](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19578706)

~~~
newnewpdro
Considering the other links express.co.uk, it's probably best to let it die...

------
dstola
So much pro-western sentiment in the comments, a little shocked, but not
surprised

------
cinquemb
Well everyone knows and should accept that you cannot indiscriminately reveal
information, to the public (that pays for it with increasing debt loads and
taxation on income) for all to know, regarding people who empower an
industrial complex that kills and maims people around the world for any
classified reason of the day, because god forbid people working in a back-
office somewhere for the DOD/State Dept/etc get exposed and face some kind of
repercussions for their banal participation in the war circus, the unmourned
innocents killed in the wake are just collateral damage and we as citizens
already know it happens, just the price of democracy.

Might as well put John Kiriakou, Thomas Drake, and William Binney back in a
cell while we're at it.

------
duxup
Of all places I don't expect to get the truth about WikiLeaks from WikiLeaks.

I don't find them credible about much, certainly not their own story.

------
Krasnol
His development from a someone with a idea that could have made whistle
blowing a trend, to a FSB asset and annoying twitter troll is
really...unfortunate. I wonder what his right wing followers in the US will
say when US agents pick him up in the UK.

~~~
antt
The only unfortunate thing is how many people turned on him when he started
exposing people who they liked. Turns out that all the people who I thought
were on the side of truth in the Bush years were just on the side of
Democrats.

~~~
Krasnol
The guy considered himself some kind of anarchist once. I remember some big
speech he had about his independence etc. Now after becoming a cheap tool for
the FSB he turned into just another right-wing conspiracy troll on twitter and
it's not just "US Democrats" who don't bother about him and his platform
anymore. He's just not trustworthy. His platform is not trustworthy. His
independence is broken. So why should Democrats side with him?

~~~
antt
Clinton was predicted to be the next president by everyone. If you had to
choose the target of your limited efforts the person who was projected at
winning with 70% by the most conservative estimates, and had already turned
the middle east into a charnel house, she would have been the one you should
spend all your efforts on by any sane calculus.

There should be a name for the mental disorder where you see one group of
people being behind everything that's gone wrong with the world. It's probably
racism, since s/Russians/Jews/g makes you sound like an anti-semite.

~~~
Krasnol
So you deliberately chose to ignore the personal/conspiracy/bs dirt he was
throwing all over the place even after the Clinton show was over?

I have no idea what you want to say with the second paragraph since even the
4-page summary confirms that the Russians did it.

~~~
antt
The Clinton show isn't over until Sanders gets the Democratic nomination.

~~~
Krasnol
Yeah sure and the kids are down in the Pizzeria.

~~~
antt
That to normal people sounds as ridiculous as the idea that Trump and Assange
are Russian assets.

~~~
Krasnol
Special Counsel found that Russian government actors successfully hacked into
computers and obtained emails from persons affiliated with the Clinton
campaign and Democratic Party organizations, and publicly disseminated those
materials through various intermediaries, including WikiLeaks. Based on these
activities, the Special Counsel brought criminal charges against a number of
Russian military officers for conspiring to hack into computers in the United
States for purposes of influencing the election.

[https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house....](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/AG%20March%2024%202019%20Letter%20to%20House%20and%20Senate%20Judiciary%20Committees.pdf)

------
kmlx
next stop Moscow I assume?

------
Aeolun
Don’t shit where you eat!

------
Mvandenbergh
For the US, the ultimate move at this point would be to do absolutely nothing.
Imagine how much of a prat he would look if he's been sitting in that embassy
for 7 years for absolutely no reason.

------
ttul
Well, I suppose he is learning that the world is a nasty place and that outing
the truth has its share of consequences.

~~~
skilled
What an ignorant and snarky comment.

The World IS a vile place not because there is any truth to learn but because
the system is made with the intention of deception and corruption.

~~~
mekoka
Snarky, maybe, but I wouldn't say it's that ignorant. Truth is just facts. If
you're someone approaching it rationally it should empower you to make more
informed decisions from then on. But I think we can agree that not everybody
react to it or perceive it the same, people sometimes behave in ways
completely unexpected. So there truly are consequences to laying it bare. Are
all truths good to tell? It depends who you ask and it's often only in
hindsight that we figure out that something should better have been disclosed
or kept hidden.

------
smnplk
Could Russia save him ?

~~~
kmlx
they already completed their work with him.

------
proee
When was Assange last actually seen or hear from? Some people think he isn't
actually alive anymore and/or he's been taken away from the embassy for some
time. What evidence do we have that he's actually still at the embassy?

~~~
6nf
He's done this many times, disappeared from the internet for a few weeks. This
is the normal state of things. Nobody seriously thinks he's left the embassy
already.

~~~
proee
This is not a "few weeks." They took away his internet access years ago and
before that he stopped sending his PGP keys. There has been no "proof of life"
for a very long time.

------
geeareyou2019
Keep up the great Wikileaks!

“In one of the messages, sent at 6:35 p.m. on the day of the election,
Wikileaks wrote, "Hi Don if your father ‘loses’ we think it is much more
interesting if he DOES NOT conceed [sic] and spends time CHALLENGING the media
and other types of rigging that occurred—as he has implied that he might do."
Wikileaks reportedly claimed contesting the election could help his father
further delegitimize the mainstream press and build the new media network he
seemingly desired”

Also without Wikileaks no one on planet earth would have never discovered that
diplomats sometimes engage in diplomacy __AND __that wars are terrible

~~~
sschueller
"created: 33 minutes ago" just to post this?

~~~
arminiusreturns
It's not the new accounts to watch out for, they are obvious. Military
industrial congressional academic think tank complex (as Ray McGovern has been
calling it) psyop sockpuppetry is much more subtle and yes, they are here on
HN. Hell, the irony is that their plan to deligitimize Assange was leaked...
but people are still falling for it.

