Meanwhile, Ecuador prepares to extradite a blogger it offered asylum in 2008.

[MADem]

3. Uh-oh...this kind of fucks up the "narrative," doesn't it?

That "cui bono" question gets tricky when it comes down to money-money-money. It benefitted the Ecuadorans to play the contrarians who grant asylum, but when cash got put on the barrelhead, that contrarian shit went out the window.

If Ecuador extradites that guy and he gets put to death, I would imagine Assange would start to opine that there is a price tag on him, too--IF anyone wanted to pay it. Wonder what it might be? A trade agreement? Mil-to-mil arrangements? Armaments?

Assuming (as so many readily are doing here) the US really wanted Assange (instead of simply leaving the Ecuadorans to keep him imprisoned in Knightsbridge), what would Correa's price be, I wonder? What is the price to toss Julian under the bus, if USA even wants the guy after Sweden is through with him? Or, if USA did not want him, and it was simply Sweden who wanted him to answer to their justice system?

If one wants to get even more nefarious, who's to say some third nation (not Belarus, as we aren't getting along terribly well with that repressive police state) isn't acting as the third party bag man and PAYING Ecuador to keep Assange in, what is in effect, a London townhome prison?

The Stand Yer Ground guy who killed Trayvon Martin has more freedom of movement than Assange, these days!

If the USA's goal is to prevent Assange from running his Wikileaks franchise, already they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. For the price of a few coppers on the street, automatic surveillance of public spaces in, and surrounding areas of, the facility housing Ecuador's (and Colombia's) embassy, the guy is, in effect, JAILED. If he runs his business from the Embassy (and I will wager the Brits will know in seconds if he tries), the Brits have cause under their 1987 law to say that the Ecuadorans have breached the diplomatic understanding between the two nations, and they'd jump in and snatch him up.

He's in jail, essentially--and the Ecuadorans are paying the freight.

I'm betting Assange is far less likely to want to run to Quito, after learning of this Ecuadoran imbroglio...