In what is clearly a response to US pressure Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet access:

The Ecuadorian government confirmed Tuesday that it cut off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s internet connection because of his anti-secrecy platform’s publication of emails allegedly stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.

“The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states. It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate,” Ecuador said in a statement.

“Accordingly, Ecuador has exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications network within its Embassy in the United Kingdom.”

………

Despite Tuesday’s development, Ecuador will continue to provide asylum to Assange, according to the statement.

The Australian activist has been living in the embassy in London since 2012. He is avoiding a rape charge in Sweden that he claims is political and will lead to his extradition to the U.S. over previous leaks.

Assange’s internet was disconnected on Saturday, according to WikiLeaks. The organization has continued to publish daily batches of emails from Podesta’s account.

Ecuador has not confirmed that US pressure led to this, though Wikileaks has asserted that this is the case, and I’m inclined to agree.

The juxtaposition of ham-handedness, cluelessness, and incompetence is a classic hallmark of the US foreign policy and intelligence apparatus.

Assange was prepared for this, how could he NOT be prepared for this, and so the emails continue to come out, but someone in the US state security apparatus decided to lean on Ecuador, and generated more attention while influencing the flow of information not one whit.

^*Using a Pringles can, you can make a directional Wi-Fi antenna with a much higher gain, getting a point to point range of over a mile.