Putin Accomplice Julian Assange Arrested in London

Julian Assange, an ally of Vladimir Putin and seemingly Donald Trump as well has at long last been booted from the Ecuador embassy in London and was promptly arrested and carried away by London Metropolitan police (see the image at the end of this post). Unless one has been living under a rock - or watching only Fox News - it is common knowledge that Assange and his Wikileaks organization was the vehicle through which emails and documents stolen by Russian intelligence officers were released to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump associate Roger Stone remains under federal indictment for lying to Congress about his communications with Assange and Russian intelligence operatives.  The Guardian looks at Assange arrest while the New York Times looks at the larger implications.  First highlights from The Guardian: 

Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, after the South American country withdrew asylum from the WikiLeaks founder.  Assange had been granted refuge at the embassy while on bail in the UK over sexual assault allegations against him in Sweden.

The Metropolitan police said: “He has been taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster magistrates court as soon as is possible.  “The MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster magistrates court, and was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.”

Assange was shouting and gesticulating as he was carried out of the embassy in handcuffs by seven men and put into a waiting Met police van, video footage showed. He appeared to be carrying a book.

Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, said on Twitter: “In a sovereign decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.”

The British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted: “Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law. He has hidden from the truth for years. Thank you Ecuador and President Lenín Moreno for your cooperation with the Foreign Office to ensure Assange faces justice.”

Assange claimed that if he was extradited to Sweden he might be arrested by the US and face charges relating to the publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.

US authorities have never officially confirmed that they have charged Assange, but in November 2018 a mistake in a document filed in an unrelated case hinted that criminal charges might have been prepared in secret.

The piece in the New York Times looks at the wider picture.  Here are excerpts:

The United States Justice Department has filed criminal charges against Mr. Assange, 47, related to the publication of classified documents, a fact that prosecutors accidentally made public in November.  He also faces a charge in a British court of jumping bail, . . .

Mr. Assange is also suspected of aiding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election by releasing material stolen from the computers of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party. In July, the Justice Department charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking those computers, and the indictment contends that at least one of them was in contact with WikiLeaks.

During the 2016 campaign, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails stolen from the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee, leading to a series of revelations that embarrassed the party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. United States investigators have said that the systems were hacked by Russian agents.

Mr. Assange made no secret of his intent to damage Mrs. Clinton, but he has insisted that he did not get the emails from Russia.

Gays in Latin America - Growing Rights

While the gay rights movement in Latin America started to emerge later than in other parts of the world, the progress made to date has been steady and seems to be accelerating - actually making some parts of Latin America much more gay friendly than areas of the USA - Utah and Virginia being but two examples of states hostile towards LGBT citizens. Foreign Policy magazine has an article that examines the emergence of gay rights and anti-discrimination policies in Latin America. Some of the statistics are surprising and if the trend continues, the USA may become increasingly out of step in the way it treats its LGBT citizens compared to other modern societies. Here are some highlights:

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Most analysts haven't noticed, but a major social revolution is taking place in Latin America. The region is becoming gayer. It's not that there are more gays and lesbians living in Latin America (we would never know). Rather, the region is becoming more gay-friendly.

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Despite being democratic and kind-of-Western, Latin America lagged behind. Then, in the late 1990s, legislation started to change. In 1998, Ecuador's new constitution introduced protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 1999, Chile decriminalized same-sex intercourse. Rio de Janeiro's state legislature banned sexual-orientation discrimination in public and private establishments in 2000. In 2002, Buenos Aires guaranteed all couples, regardless of gender, the right to register civil unions.

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The policy changes just kept coming. In 2003, Mexico passed a federal antidiscrimination law that included sexual orientation. In 2006, Mexico City approved the Societal Cohabitation Law, granting same-sex couples marital rights identical to those for common-law relationships between a man and a woman. Uruguay passed a 2007 law granting access to health benefits, inheritance, parenting, and pension rights to all couples who have cohabited for at least five years. In 2008, Nicaragua reformed its penal code to decriminalize same-sex relations.

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Change hasn't simply come on paper. Latin American cities are also becoming increasingly gay-friendly. The number of gay-owned or gay-friendly establishments (e.g., bars, support groups, services) per capita in Latin American cities is on the rise, with some cities outperforming even the most liberal Western capitals. Nobody really ever thought the region was a gay desert, but there is plenty of evidence now that Latin America -- at least legally and in urban centers -- is coming out.

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Latin American LGBT movements have overcome their political handicaps by adopting smart tactics. Rather than turning radical and desperate, they have forged pragmatic alliances with larger, more-influential social movements. . . . LGBT movements have also made smart use of the tools afforded by globalization. They have promoted gay tourism, worked with the media to change cultural tastes, and used the Internet and academic forums to learn about tactics that have successfully yielded change abroad.

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Clear challenges, of course, remain. Gay rights are still timid where they exist, and absent in many parts of the region, especially outside large cities. The most obvious reason is lingering homophobia. A recent survey in Brazil, the country with the largest gay-pride parades in the world, showed that 58 percent of respondents still agree with the statement, "Homosexuality is a sin against the laws of God," and 41 percent with "Homosexuality is an illness that should be treated." This is the paradox of advancing gay rights.

New Ecuador Constitution Approved - Allows Gay Marriage

Despite the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church to interfere with the civil laws, voters in Ecuador have approved a new constitution that among other things grants civil marriage rights to gay couples. It is sad that as the rest of the world, including nations that do not have good civil rights records, is moving steady towards marriage equality, the religious extremists in the USA are seeking to write discrimination and bigotry into state constitutions. Here are highlights from the BBC:
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With most ballots counted, results show 64% of voters backed the charter, an outcome President Rafael Correa hailed as a "historic win". He has said the new constitution will help bring about a more just society and tackle instability in Ecuador. . . . . The package contains some of the most wide-ranging proposals the country - or any country in the region - has seen, says the BBC's Daniel Schweimler.

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President Correa is offering more say in the running of the country to women, the poor and Ecuador's large indigenous community. He says he is trying to reduce the power and influence of the business and land-owning elite which has always run the country.

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KEY POINTS:

* Tightening controls of vital industries and reducing monopolies
* Declaring some foreign loans illegitimate
* Expropriating and redistributing idle farm land
* Allowing the president to stand for a second four-year term in office
* Giving free health care for older citizens
* Allowing civil marriage for gay partners

Catholic Church Again Seeks to Interfer with Civil Laws

The Nazi Pope and his corrupt and scandal tainted cardinals and bishops continue to act as if it is the early Medieval era when the Roman Catholic Church's power had totally permeated the civil laws. Time and time again they endeavor to interfere with the CIVIL secular laws in their effort to intertwine religion and secular life. Sadly, there are always some sheeple who will be led by these falsely pious hypocrites. This time Church is endeavoring to subvert a new constitution under consideration in Ecuador which - gasp - would give some civil legal rights to same sex couples. Oh the horror!! Cardinals and bishops who facilitated or covered up the sexual abuse of children and minors are fine. Meager civil legal rights for gays is unconscionable. As for "sacrificing innocent lives," how many gays have had their lives ruined because of the Church's homophobia? And people ask me what I left the Roman Catholic Church. Here are some highlights from PageOne Q:

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QUITO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Catholics Sunday celebrated mass on the streets of Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, following a call by local church leaders to challenge a new constitution up for vote later this month. Some church leaders in the deeply Catholic nation have repeatedly clashed with President Rafael Correa over a government-proposed constitution they say could pave the way for abortion and same-sex marriage.

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"We ask for the recognition of God's creation of men and women to complement each other and be the source of new families," Monsignor Antonio Arregui told the crowd during mass. "We will never accept that innocent lives be sacrificed."

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Pollsters say the charismatic ex-college professor should win the Sept. 28 referendum to pass a new constitution that would expand his authority over the oil-producing nation. However, experts warn his feud with the church could cost him some votes at the polls. Television images showed hundreds of faithful, some on their knees and others holding images of saints, attending mass on the main boulevards of Guayaquil, considered one of the last strongholds of a weakening opposition.

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If approved, the new constitution would allow gay couples similar inheritance and property rights as opposite-sex married couples.