King of controversy
30 March 2018 3:49 PM GMT
Although WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, possesses an unusual brain, he has persistently used it for the wrong reasons ultimately coming to be at the mercy of Ecuador. He has been holed up in their London Embassy long enough but his habit of meddling in the affairs of other countries via the social media is baffling. He has shown no gratitude for the mercy shown to him and is now a liability. Matters have reached a point where patience has been tested to such an extent that Ecuador has snapped his communication channels with the world outside. The decision was made because Assange had broken a 2017 promise to not interfere in other countries' affairs while on the mission. He took refuge in the diplomatic mission in 2012 after a British judge ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there. Assange had pledged to not send messages that could be construed as interference in the relations with other countries. The exasperated Embassy officials have said that they could take other, unspecified measures if he persisted.
The move to cut him off came after he used Twitter last Monday to challenge Britain's accusation that Russia was responsible for the March 4 nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent in Salisbury. He also questioned the decision by Britain and more than 20 other countries to retaliate against the poisoning by expelling Russian diplomats who were deemed as spies. The comments naturally prompted a British Foreign Office minister, Alan Duncan, to brand him as a "miserable little worm" who should turn himself over to the British authorities. In another tweet-storm on Tuesday, Assange attacked the arrest in Germany of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont under an EU warrant issued by Spain over Puigdemont's failed bid last year to declare the independence of his Spanish region. Assange's "behaviour, with his messages on social networks, puts at risk our good relations" with Britain and the European Union, the Ecuadoran government said in a statement. Assange, 46, has spent much of his time in his small room in the embassy tweeting and at times contributing to RT, a Russian state-owned television channel that broadcasts Kremlin messaging. In 2016, he had even interfered in the US Presidential elections. Ecuador then briefly suspended his internet connection. In May 2017, Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno asked Assange to refrain from commenting on the separatist crisis in Spain's Catalonia region. Assange had earlier claimed accusations against him were politically motivated and could lead to him being extradited to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but British authorities now want him sooner than later.
Next Story
