There are reports that the government of Ecuador is in negotiations with the UK to evict cyber criminal and Russian cut-out Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks, from their embassy in London, where he's been a fugitive for the past six years. WikiLeaks was Russia's agent in disseminating stolen documents damaging to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats during the 2016 election, and had been the instrument for Chelsea Manning's leak of classified material starting in 2010. If evicted, he faces extradition to the U.S. to face charges of espionage related to the Manning case, and potentially new charges stemming from Special Counsel Mueller's investigation and the recent indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers.
Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy after fleeing Sweden, where he was about to be tried on rape charges. He's developed a following among the racist, far-right in the UK, led by the sinister hack Nigel Farage, the former head of the UK's Independence Party.
Ecuador's new president Lenin Moreno is reported to have grown impatient with Assange's presence, and has called him a "stone in the shoe." The UK's main negotiator with Ecuador, Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, referred to Assange as a "miserable little worm" earlier this year. It looks like he's the right man for the job.
(photo: Rex/Shutterstock. You can run but you can't hide.)
