Did Assange go stir-crazy in embassy?

The conventional wisdom is that Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno booted Julian Assange from Ecuador’s London embassy because of pressure from Washington.

President Moreno agreed to Washington’s demands that he deny asylum to Assange and dropping claims against Chevron for environmental damage to Ecuador’s rain forest.

He then received $10.2 billion in rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, both headquartered in Washington and dominated by the United States.

CNN and Vox reported claims of strange behavior by Assange—behavior characteristic of a prisoner in solitary confinement who has had a mental breakdown.  If true, Assange is in need of psychiatric help.

Now people who defy the powers-that-be are always targets of character assassination.  All this could well be a smear.  It should be noted that neither CNN nor Vox quotes embassy staff or anyone else who personally observed Assange’s behavior, nor shows any effort to get Assange’s side of the story.

But Assange’s friends say he has suffered a deterioration in physical and mental health and has been denied access to care.  I hope he gets whatever care he needs.

The CNN report said that the Ecuadorian government’s main complaint against Assange was that he interfered in Ecuador’s internal affairs and tried to destabilize the country.

Vox also wrote that Moreno’s main complaint against Assange is that he refused to cease political activity, even when embarrassing to his host country.  He wrote that Moreno blames him for a leak of documents to an anonymous web site showing that he and his family may have profited from offshore bank accounts in Panama.

LINKS

WIKILEAKS DEFENSE FUND and WIKILEAKS.

Julian Assange’s behavior.

Debunking All the Assange Smears by Caitlin Johnstone [Added 4/22/2019]

In less than three minutes, the BBC broadcasts seven apparent fabrications about Julian Assange by James Wright for The Canary.  [Added 4/22/2019]

Julian Assange Suffered Severe Psychological and Physical Harm in Ecuadorian Embassy, Doctors Say by James Risen for The Intercept.

‘Everything Was Done to Make Assange Miserable’, an interview with Kristinn Hrafnsson, Wikileaks’ editor-in-chief for Der Spiegel.  [Added 5/3/2019]

Calling Assange a ‘narcissist’ misses the point—without Wikileaks, we would live in darker, less informed times by Patrick Cockburn for The Independent.  [Added 4/13/2019]

Pressures on Ecuador

Ecuadorian President’s Motive for Surrendering Assange: Vengeance and IMF Loan? an interview with Guillaume Long, former foreign minister of Ecuador, on the Real News Network.

How years of U.S. pressure got Ecuador to hand over Julian Assange by Francesca Chambers for The Daily Mail.

With Washington’s Cooperation Bought by IMF Loans, Washington Waxes Optimistic on Assange Extradtion by Whitney Webb for Information Clearing House.

Leaked Wikileaks Doc Reveals US Military Use of IMF, World Bank as “Unconventional Weapons” by Whitney Webb for Mint Press.

Sell Out: How Corruption, Voter Fraud and a Neoliberal Turn Led Educador’s Moreno to Give Up Assange by Denis Royatyuk for The Grey Zone.  [Added 4/19/2019]

Note: I revised this post 4/22/2019 to give greater emphasis to the reasons for doubts of reports of Assange’s aberrant behavior.

 

Tags: Julian Assange, Wikileaks