The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
On June 28th, the Washington Examiner headlined “Pence pressed Ecuadorian president on country’s protection of Julian Assange” and reported that “Vice President Mike Pence discussed the asylum status of Julian Assange during a meeting with Ecuador’s leader on Thursday, following pressure from Senate Democrats who have voiced concerns over the country’s protection of the WikiLeaks founder.” Pence had been given this assignment by U.S. President Donald Trump. The following day, the Examiner bannered “Mike Pence raises Julian Assange case with Ecuadorean president, White House confirms” and reported that the White House had told the newspaper, “They agreed to remain in close coordination on potential next steps going forward.”
On August 24th, a court-filing by Kellen S. Dwyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia, stated: “Due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure [than sealing the case, hiding it from the public] is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged. … This motion and the proposed order would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter.” That filing was discovered by Seamus Hughes, a terrorism expert at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. On November 15th, he posted an excerpt of it on Twitter, just hours after the Wall Street Journal had reported on the same day that the Justice Department was preparing to prosecute Assange. However, now that we know “the fact that Assange has been charged” and that the U.S. Government is simply waiting “until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter,” it is clear and public that the arrangements which were secretly made between Trump’s agent Pence and the current President of Ecuador are expected to deliver Assange into U.S. custody for criminal prosecution, if Assange doesn’t die at the Ecuadorean Embassy first.
On November 3rd (which, of course, preceded the disclosures on November 15th), Julian Assange’s mother, Christine Ann Hawkins, described in detail what has happened to her son since the time of Pence’s meeting with Ecuador’s President. She said:
“He is, right now, alone, sick, in pain, silenced in solitary confinement, cut off from all contact, and being tortured in the heart of London. … He has been detained nearly eight years, without trial, without charge. For the past six years, the UK Government has refused his requests to exit for basic health needs, … [even for] vitamin D. … As a result, his health has seriously deteriorated. … A slow and cruel assassination is taking place before our very eyes. … They will stop at nothing. … When U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recently visited Ecuador, a deal was done to hand Julian over to the U.S. He said that because the political cost of expelling Julian from the Embassy was too high, the plan was to break him down mentally… to such a point that he will break and be forced to leave. … The extradition warrant is held in secret, four prosecutors but no defense, and no judge, … without a prima-facie case. [Under the U.S. system, the result nonetheless can be] indefinite detention without trial. Julian could be held in Guantanamo Bay and tortured, sentenced to 45 years in a maximum security prison, or face the death penalty,” for “espionage,” in such secret proceedings.
Her phrase, “because the political cost of expelling Julian from the Embassy was too high” refers to the worry that this new President of Ecuador has, of his cooperating with the U.S. regime’s demands and thereby basically ceding sovereignty to those foreigners (the rulers of the U.S.), regarding the Ecuadorian citizen, Assange.
This conservative new President of Ecuador, who has replaced the progressive President who had granted Assange protection, is obviously doing all that he can to comply with U.S. President Trump and the U.S. Congress’s demand for Assange either to die soon inside the Embassy or else be transferred to the U.S. and basically just disappear, at Guantanamo or elsewhere. Ecuador’s President wants to do this in such a way that Ecuador’s voters won’t blame him for it, and that he’ll thus be able to be re-elected. This is the type of deal he apparently has reached with Trump’s agent, Pence. It’s all secret, but the evidence on this much of what was secretly agreed-to seems clear. There are likely other details of the agreement that cannot, as yet, be conclusively inferred from the subsequent events, but this much can.
Basically, Trump has arranged for Assange to be eliminated either by illness that’s imposed by his Ecuadorean agent, or else by Assange’s own suicide resulting from that “torture,” or else by America’s own criminal-justice system. If this elimination happens inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, then that would be optimal for America’s President and Congress; but, if it instead happens on U.S. soil, then that would be optimal for Ecuador’s President. Apparently, America’s President thinks that his subjects, the American people, will become sufficiently hostile toward Assange so that even if Assange disappears or is executed inside the United States, this President will be able to retain his supporters. Trump, of course, needs his supporters, but this is a gamble that he has now clearly taken. This much is clear, even though the rest of the secret agreement that was reached between Pence and Ecuador’s President is not.
Scooter Libby, who had arranged for the smearing of Valerie Plame who had tried to prevent the illegal and deceit-based 2003 invasion of Iraq, was sentenced to 30 months but never spent even a day in prison, and U.S. President Trump finally went so far as to grant him a complete pardon, on 13 April 2018. (The carefully researched docudrama “Fair Game” covered well the Plame-incident.) Libby had overseen the career-destruction of a courageous CIA agent, Plame, who had done the right thing and gotten fired for it; and Trump pardoned Libby, thus retroactively endorsing the lie-based invasion of Iraq in 2003. By contrast, Trump is determined to get Julian Assange killed or otherwise eliminated, and even Democrats in Congress are pushing for him to get that done. The new President of Ecuador is doing their bidding. Without pressure from the U.S. Government, Assange would already be a free man. Thus, either Assange will die (be murdered) soon inside the Embassy, or else he will disappear and be smeared in the press under U.S. control. And, of course, this is being done in such a way that no one will be prosecuted for the murder or false-imprisonment. Trump had promised to “clean the swamp,” but as soon as he was elected, he abandoned that pretense; and, as President, he has been bipartisan on that matter, to hide the crimes of the bipartisan U.S. Government, and he is remarkably similar in policy to his immediate predecessors, whom he had severely criticized while he was running for the Presidency.
In any event, the destruction of Assange has clearly been arranged for, at the highest levels of the U.S. Government, just as the destruction of Jamal Khashoggi was by Saudi Arabia’s Government; and, just like in Khashoggi’s case, the nation’s ruler controls the prosecutors and can therefore do whatever he chooses to do that the rest of the nation’s aristocracy consider to be acceptable.
The assault against truth isn’t only against Assange, but it is instead also closing down many of the best, most courageous, independent news sites, such as washingtonsblog. However, in Assange’s case, the penalty for having a firm commitment to truth has been especially excruciating and will almost certainly end in his premature death. This is simply the reality. Because of the system under which we live, a 100% commitment to truth is now a clear pathway to oblivion. Assange is experiencing this reality to the fullest. That’s what’s happening here.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Typical of “Western Values” don’t cross the “elite” powers that be.
And these Western ‘values’ are…1)….2)….3)…
Only Western??? Truth, the world over, comes with a death sentence!!!
That has been true in the past in many cases but NOT with Trump. The article is wrong about him. He isn’t a ruthless killer like Obama was. He is an honest caring and compassionate man. Don’t be fooled by mainstream media, including FOX news. Turn backwards what ever they say if you want to know the truth. Trump loves the country and her people and he’s also a very brilliant man. His IQ is only 4 points below the level of Einsteins IQ.
Yes i don’t believe a word of this reporting, Seems more like a pre-hit piece for Clinton to have Julian whacked and blame Trump.
Julian made a fatal mistake seeking asylum in the UK considering that he had privy to information that would have strongly suggested to stay away from the UK and seek another state like Russia, Iran or Syria, at least they wouldn’t extradite him.
Assange had no choice. He did not seek extradition in the UK, he happened to be there when the CIA arranged for him to be charged in Sweden on a trumped up rape accusation. Ecuador offered asylum and he thought it would buy him time. No one anticipated the sheer vindictiveness of the deep state. My guess is that Trump has been blackmailed by these people into compliance. I will not speculate how as I have no inside knowledge. Given the situation, I suspect that Assange is hoping that Corbyn takes power and releases him. I fear it’s a folorn… Read more »
I thought Assange was a national hero? Now they have made him into an international hero.
Apparently, Vice President Pence was urged by Democrat Senators (specifically, Sen. Bob Menendez) to discuss the Assange case with Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno. According to the Washington Examiner article, Menendez convinced Pence that, “WikiLeaks continues its efforts to undermine democratic processes globally,” and therefore Assange should be held accountable. If it’s the Democrats who wanted Assange gone, why would Pence take it upon himself to take the matter up with Moreno, and what’s more – to relay the Democrat’s suggestion to President Trump that Assange “be eliminated?” I can’t believe Trump would do that, given it’s the Democrats who wanted… Read more »
Assange exposed tons of Democrat corruption. For example he exposed emails between Hillary and a reporter to say Trump grabbed women’s private parts when in fact what Trump said was women chase him to such extremes that he believed he could do it without complaint. And that disgusted Trump. Assange IS thought to be an American hero for exposing Hillary and Podesto as child abusers and more. BUT Assange also released planned US military maneuvers against the enemy in Afghanistan so he did himself no favors there.
He has done his job as a journalist and should not be treated as a “traitor” because he is australian, not amerikkkan.
How many operatives were killed because Libby’s revelations on Valerie Plame .
And yet, a true traitor goes scotfree and an international hero will die at the hands of a nation of cowards and hypocrites, Amerikkka, that claims to be part of the forces of good ; Effing liars, all of them on the left and on the right .
Thanks for informing us that the Vice President doesn’t take his orders from his boss, the President, but instead from his and his boss’s opponents, Democrats. Wow, and his boss not only isn’t dumping Pence but isn’t complaining at all that his V.P is doing the bidding of their political opponents/
You must have heard of keeping your enemies close right. That is why Trump keeps Pence there. Pence is a Democrat operative i have no doubt on that.
There is a lot of truth to the saying…birds of a feather flock together. US, Saudi Arabia and a few other ‘birds’. How many more suitcases needed to transport the human chopped-up remains?
How terribly misinformed and indoctrinated with TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is this author…Julian Assange has been and is being persecuted at the behest of the American left; the clintonistas…as is the ‘closing down of many courageous news sites’ by the fascists at google, fakebook, apple and amazon in order to interfere with the mid-term (and all future) elections…President Trump is attempting to halt this assault…
Are you saying that the clintonistas are part of the “American left”?….When it comes to war and corporatism, they are as Right-Wing as most Republicans….Nevertheless, I certainly agree that they are part of the same witch hunt against our hero, Julian Assange.
Exactly. Assange is a non-partisan truth teller. Honest people from all over the political spectrum support him. Those who target him are criminals who don’t want their deeds exposed. But Pompeo has called Wikileaks a “hostile intelligence service” and it is not clear what Trump’s intentions are at this point.
The Clinton crime family is as evil as you can imagine a family could be! The Clinton’s despise him as much as they hate the right wing party nd our wonderful President Trump in America. They are drug smugglers murderers, extortionists, treasonists and every other criminal you can think of.
Please inform the clintons that are “as Right-Wing as any Republicans” I’m pretty sure they didn’t get that message yet.!!:-))..they are as Right-Wing as Stalin and Hitler were…that is to say they will exploit capitalism and Republicanism to further their fascist/communist agenda and swell their bank accounts…but are dyed in the wool totalitarians.
I agree.
America’s right supports Assange while the left hates him and Trump. I believe Trump is trying to protect Assange as h would be useful in indicting the globalists in America. Trump promised to drain the swamp full of criminals and he’s doing that.
The site won’t let me vote up here. No surprise there.
I can’t see any difference in the criminals that have been running the US for the last fifty years both from left or right.
The only honest president that I can remember was a warrior named “IKE”, an honest man that warned his fellow citizens of the danger of fascism if MIC, msm and wall street joined forces. It has happened, deal with it !
Thanks for telling us that only the Democratic Party side of the Deep State is anti-Assange, and that the Republican component defends Assange.
If this is true, then Trump will lose much of his support that got him elected.
Very sad…
Trump is an idiot. The only person who can definitively refute the “Russiagate” basic event that started the issue – i.e., the alleged Russian “hack” of the DNC, which is at least fifty percent of the basis for “Russiagate” – is Assange. The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked Assange to testify on what he knows about the leak to Wikileaks of the DNC emails. He can prove that Russia had nothing to do with it. This would be enormously beneficial to Trump. This is why the neocons around Trump are pressing to get Assange evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy and… Read more »
Trump is not an idiot, and he has many advisers who can tell him this, including Roger Stone and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.
So why is he doing the opposite of what they tell him?
Sure: All blame must go downward; all praise must go upward.
The author of this article is the idiot.
Not at all. Trump is brilliant. While Democrats play checkers, Trump plays 4 dimensional Chess. His IQ is only 4 points below Einsteins IQ. I believe Trump wants to save Assange on the pretense of indicting him. If the Democrats believe he is going to be executed, they will lower their guard then Assange can lower the boom on the criminal Democrats.
Trump is cleaning up our country, indicting criminals. 65,000 sealed indictments are being opened in recent days. It’s very exciting. From school boards to ex presidents, he is draining the USA swamp.
This is what I call “Pro-Trump Derangement Syndrome”. Save Assange by indicting him and sending him to Guantanamo? Seriously?
Trump is not an idiot…the author of this article – an obviously partisan never-Trumper – is totally wrong in his guesstimates…for the reasons you describe. It is the clintons, the ohbummers and the rest of the democrat sewer that want to eliminate Assange…again, for the reasons you stated.
The author of this article voted for Trump as the lesser of two evils. But as soon as Trump won, he hired a neocon team and negated all of his anti-neocon pronouncements.
Speculation not facts. And not even close.
If he did “order Assange’s elimination”…hope he is ready for the backlash from ALL his non US supporters and many at home also that are aware of what this man stands for…”the truth”….
I can’t believe Assange doesn’t have backup insurance.
Nobody has “backup insurance” against the Deep State. And though most of the reader-comments here are ignorant of the fact, the Deep State is bipartisan: it’s not Democratic or Republican — both Parties are controlled by the Deep State.
Nothing will stop the vultures from getting their prey, Assange.
Assange is a non-partisan truth teller.
Swamp-Chump should be the one on death row for all his recent sick crimes against humanity.
‘sick’…you sound a tad mentally defective your own self…
‘crimes against humanity’? You need help in the worst way…
Literally, a crime against humanity, i.e. a genocide, has long been under way in YEMEN, encouraged and supported to this day by the Empire. It is still being committed as I write…
Exactly ~ and the ongoing sick crimes against humanity in sovereign Syria and Palestine (and Afghanistan) that Zio-liar Swamp-Chump is still slyly supporting.
If you cannot give a reasonable answer – write nothing. Get help yourself – seriously.
This is war, total war, a long merciless war to the finish, against Julian Assange, by the most criminal Empire in History, conducted from Washington to Canberra via Sweden and London. “A slow and cruel assassination is taking place before our very eyes in the embassy in London”, the doctor says. In this Orwellian world, Julian Assange is guilty of exposing the dehumanized Empire’s innumerable, horrendous crimes against friends, foes and its own citizens alike. For said Empire corrupt to the core, Assange’s crime of speaking up in face of the unbearably barbaric is both irredeemable and unforgivable: Assange must… Read more »
Fake news. Scooter Libby did not expose the identity of an under cover agent (Plame). She was no longer working under cover and I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump is secretly attempting to save Assange. We’ll see
your article is full of outright distortions of the truth. SC smeared Valerie Plame? Really. I think we all know that is not the truth.
This is BS.
There are any number of scenarios that could occur regarding JA, and this one seems fake, false and a mere piece of propaganda.
You’ll see. But you won’t learn. Judging by the reader-comments here, the readers are totally ignorant of how the Deep State functions and of whom it represents. Once Assange gets trapped or killed, you will still remain in the dark, just like you are now.
It is simple to figure out, because you/they/no one can argue with truth, truth is divine, eternal and immortal —the truth is so precious, that it needs a bodyguard of lies to guard it!
Ordered by Pence is not necessarily ordered by Trump.
The US State wants to eliminate Julian Assange; for the same reason it ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. In both cases, the gains are for the expediency of US interests. The US attempt to link the Khashoggi murder to MBS, had all the hallmarks of “Regime change.” When King Salman visited Moscow in October 2017; it was in fact an attempt to get out from under the foot of the US. To date, the US and the West have solely been responsible for; forcing Saudi Arabia to prosecute the war in Yemen and take the barrage of Western criticism… Read more »