 |
| Comrade, do us all a favor and shut the hell up! |
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told fugitive former CIA-analyst Edward Snowden to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to remain in the country.
He said Moscow had never extradited anyone before and "has no intention to do so", adding Mr Snowden was free to go if granted asylum elsewhere.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel.
That might be a moot point as it appears that Snowden has already handed journalists all of the secrets they would possibly want and they are releasing them as they see fit.
While all of that is going on Snowden is trying to find SOMEBODY who will take him and provide him with asylum.
This from the LA Times:
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked U.S. security secrets and is now a fugitive, met Monday morning with Russian diplomatic officials and handed them an appeal to 15 countries for political asylum, a Russian Foreign Ministry official told The Times.
“It was a desperate measure on his part after Ecuador disavowed his political protection credentials,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ”In the document Snowden reiterated once again that he is not a traitor and explained his actions only by a desire to open the world’s eyes on the flagrant violations by U.S. special services not only of American citizens but also citizens of European Union including their NATO allies.”
The official didn’t disclose the countries that were on the list. The meeting took place at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, where Snowden has apparently holed up in a transit lounge since fleeing from Hong Kong while seeking a route to Ecuador or somewhere else that might grant him asylum.
At this point Snowden is a hot potato for which nobody is wiling to risk a burn.
Anybody who takes him will attract the wrath of not only the United States, but also every other country whose secretes are now being disseminated around the world.
At this point it seems it would just be better fro Snowden to return to America and face the consequences. There is a lot of support for him here, and with his day in court he will have the opportunity to make his case and get out even more information.
"....with his day in court...." Are you sure about that Gryphen? National Security trials have a tendency to be held behind closed doors with any jurors sworn against revealing anything.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since The Patriot Act was passed!
+1
DeleteAnd ask Bradley Manning about fair treatment our gov dishes out to whistle blowers.
"That's to be expected when we have a *laxidaisical* President who is, if you didn't know, a community organizer (black man)."
Delete--- Sarah Palin, National Security Expert
Where does Snowden get off claiming he needs political asylum? There's nothing political about his case, he broke the law and he needs to be prosecuted. He's not being persecuted, he's being prosecuted!
ReplyDeleteEvery day, around the world, people who REALLY need it, fail to get asylum. When compared with girls who face genital mutilation or people who face genocide, you know, people with REAL problems, Snowden comes off like a whiny, little BITCH. There's no difference between him and say...Mark Rich or Roman Polansky.
+++++
DeleteI agree completely. Snowden is a coward in addition to being a criminal. Not a great combination. I must say, though, that there is a certain irony in his having chosen Russia as a place of asylum. Not really very smart of him.
DeleteBeaglemom
I see Snowden, eventually, being forced to decide between Siberia and an isolated, lock-down cell in America. Wearing either orange or rags.
DeleteJust another chickenshit traitor! He is so fucked.
DeleteDear Putie, show 'im the ring! Please?
ReplyDeleteI'm ex Navy. He's a fucking traitor IMO.
ReplyDeletePutin isn't a traitor (article is mainly about Putin).
DeleteAnd there's been no debate about Putin as a traitor or not. Willful ignorance is a choice that Peebots make that you shouldn't emulate. It's clear who ex-Navy was referring to.
DeleteYOU and many GRYPHENBOOTS assume too much, methinks.
DeleteThis is not a Palyn story. It's more evolved.
He faces time in federal spa clubs, with three squares, health care, internet and cable.
ReplyDeleteIt's not like he's going to get whacked by our government (the drone would have been used long before now : ) like a Mexican journalist or a West African refugee.
Drone used in Hong Kong or Moscow?\
DeleteAre you aware of the treatment Bradley Manning is getting? If Snowden was incarcerated he would be kept in an isolation cell in conditions considered torture. It would cause mental health problems. Then the government would never allow him to have a fair trial. His communications with his lawyers would be monitored. The mythology surrounding what actually happens in the prisons in this country is widespread.
DeleteTelling Snowden to stop leaking things is just as useful as telling Saarah Palin to stop lying.
ReplyDeleteYES, but Putin has ways of telling!!
DeleteWonder if Snowden has any clue about Putin's billionaire enemies who live in other countries and who were knocked off by him (just by putting 'a little something extra' in their tea). Nah, doubt Snowden knows a thing about it: he's been far too busy preparing his own personal case of overblown messianic importance.
DeleteYes, let's all feel for those flighty Russian Billionaries.
DeleteAt least they got asyl in democratic nations.
Wonder why?
The disdain is obvious. Snowden had nothing the Russians didn’t already know. They’ll certainly come down in favor of good relations with the USA over that little nobody. Putin will probably let him sit out a Russian summer and even winter in a transit lounge, but then he WILL be ready to come home. At this point he’s a Man Without a Country.
ReplyDeleteYour'e right.
DeleteBut what a cheap way of Mr. Super Spy Putin to poke fun at US.
A true to life black spy vs. white spy story.
Seems the industrial military complex has to fight back at any cost.
DeleteI got s copy of Ed's letter
ReplyDelete"Dear Mr. President:
I need asylum and a new pole dancer. Can you provide?
Thank you, Ed"
Number one---there is nothing to stop leaking. Putin has everything. He knows how to swing propaganda and try to make himself look above it all. Plus, since he is ex KGB he loves that he's got the info---but he thinks Snowden is disgusting. Number two, Snowden has now become Idiot Boy number one. I have a feeling Snowden got a bit snowed by Assange and a happy ending on the equator. Then Assange pissed the Ecuadorian Prez off by trying to jump his play. What a mess!
ReplyDeleteWell, to be fair--there are some very beautiful places in Russia. Snowden may be very happy there.
In the meantime, he's restricted to the Novotel hotel in the transit area of the airport, which I understand is $300/night. Food is super-expensive too. I wonder what he'll do when his credit card maxes out!
ReplyDeleteYes, he is staying in a lovely place. He has Assange girlfriend to keep him warm.
DeleteYou two commenters sure have a ton of information for the rest of us know nothings. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI don't believe any of this shit. Everybody except Snowden is talking about Snowden did this, Snowden did that ... yet when you ask where he is, nobody knows...
ReplyDelete100% hearsay is not going to convince me of anything, especially not if it's coming from the mainstream media. GMAB
Yes.
DeleteAnd don't forget the NYT, the ; for the 1%.
Snowdon is a low level IT tech who got a case of wannabe's and violated his oath, stole information that he was not cleared to have access to, and then ran with it - right out of the country.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for him.
Snowy was sure stirring up a hornets nest.
DeleteIs Putin the scariest looking dude to lead Russia?
ReplyDeleteThis includes Stalin.
Snowden May Wish He'd Gone To Jail In America If He Accepts Putin’s Offer Of Russian Exile
ReplyDeleteSix months after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, the American defector Victor Norris Hamilton surfaced in a Russian mental hospital. He had been missing for more than 20 years. The 75-year-old former cryptologist for the National Security Agency had defected to the Soviet Union in 1963. His family was shocked to learn of his whereabouts, noting that they had last had contact with him in 1973. They were equally surprised to learn that Hamilton was committed to hospital in a Moscow suburb in 1971 where he disappeared for 20 years.
Hamilton’s unfortunate ordeal is once again relevant. It provides context for the news that NSA leaker Edward Snowden has been effectively offered sanctuary by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the condition that he renounce his especially unhelpful habit of revealing American intelligence gathering secrets to the press (and instead reveal them only to the Federal Security Service). Putin said that, provided he provide Washington with some perfunctory assurances that he will no longer regularly embarrass the American intelligence community, Snowden can leave the international limbo of Sheremetyevo airport and work peacefully in the Russian Federation. If Snowden takes Putin up on his generous offer, history suggests he will wish he had not.
Foreign Policy magazine has a compiled a list of cases of American defectors who provided the Soviets with troves of secrets about American intelligence gathering techniques and methods. Their stories are less than heartening for would-be defectors.
FP details the stories of agents like William Martin and Bernon Mitchell; NSA cryptologists who defected to Moscow in the 1960s where they married and worked for a time, but had trouble adjusting. “According to the NSA’s in-house report on the incident, both men asked to leave Russia within a year of their defection, ‘but no country would accept them,’” writes FP’s J. Dana Stuster. “Mitchell died in Moscow, but in time Martin made it as far as Tijuana, where he died in 1987.”
The story of CIA defector Edward Lee Howard, as told by the KGB agent who knew him before his death, described a similar inability to adjust. In spite of the Soviet Union’s efforts to provide Howard with a comfortable life in exile, the KGB agent told the New York Times after his death that “life was not sweet for him here.”
Glenn Michael Souther, a U.S. Navy photographer, disappeared from the United States in 1986 and resurfaced in the Soviet Union in 1988. It was soon discovered that Souther was immediately embraced by Soviet military authorities and made a counter-intelligence agent. Initially suspected of being a CIA double agent sent to Russia to spy for the Americans, he was later determined to be a genuine defector and earned the rank of Major in the KGB. Souther settled down near Moscow and married a Russian woman who taught English at a Moscow University. They had a child together. The outwardly comfortable appearance of the life that Souther built for himself in the Soviet Union made the news that the 32-year-old suffocated himself in 1989 with his own car’s exhaust even more difficult to accept.
“His nervous system could not stand the pressure” of life in the U.S.S.R.,”KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov told People Magazine. “The Soviets “probably took away the only thing that made him really special—his crazy free spirit,” a college friend of Souther’s recalled.
more...
http://www.mediaite.com/online/snowden-may-wish-he-went-to-jail-in-america-if-he-accepts-putins-offer-of-russian-exile/
TWITTER BRAWL!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/online/mediaites-tommy-christopher-and-glenn-greenwald-in-tense-twitter-brawl-over-snowden/
WATCH: American English Teacher Stars In Hong Kong’s Instant Edward Snowden Biopic Film
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-american-english-teacher-stars-in-hong-kongs-instant-edward-snowden-biopic-film/
Fox Legal Analyst Jabs Greenwald: ‘Almost Kind Of A Flak’ For Snowden
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-legal-analyst-jabs-greenwald-almost-kind-of-a-flak-for-snowden-needs-to-be-more-transparent/
Snowden’s Asylum Requests Hit Roadblocks
ReplyDeletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/snowdens-asylum-requests-hit-roadblocks.php?ref=fpb
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/brazil-turns-down-snowdens-asylum-request
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/india-rejects-snowdens-asylum-request
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/george-w-bush-snowden-damaged-security-of-country
WikiLeaks Publishes Statement From Snowden
ReplyDeletehttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/wikileaks-publishes-statement-from-snowden
The Washington Post's editorial board drew catcalls on Tuesday for calling for the leaks from Edward Snowden to be stopped--even though the Post itself had benefited from those leaks.
ReplyDeleteThe editorial board, which is run independently of the news division, allowed that the scoops published by the Post and other outlets had "shed useful light on some NSA programs and raised questions that deserve debate." But, the board said, "The first U.S. priority should be to prevent Mr. Snowden from leaking information that harms efforts to fight terrorism and conduct legitimate intelligence operations ... The best solution for both Mr. Snowden and the Obama administration would be his surrender to U.S. authorities, followed by a plea negotiation."
The piece didn't mention that the Post had happily published some of Snowden's materials. Clearly, the thirst for those materials did not extend to every corner of the paper.
Gawker's Hamilton Nolan took the board to task, and noted the editorial's inherent irony:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/02/washington-post-edward-snowden-editorial_n_3535146.html
Snowden Emerges with Bizarre New Remarks, Implies that He Might Be Assassinated
ReplyDeletehttp://thedailybanter.com/2013/07/snowden-emerges-with-new-remarks-implies-that-he-might-be-assassinated/
Via Wikileaks, NSA leaker Edward Snowden has just released a list of countries where he has applied for asylum. Snowden laughably claims that he risks “persecution” in the United States. You know, because he released classified information, some of it worthy of revelation, much of it done to shame the country and reveal national security strategy.
Among the countries Snowden seeks relief from are Russia, China and… Cuba.
Yes, three of the most repressive states in the world are apparently superior to Fortress America for Snowden. In all three countries dissidents have been jailed and executed for much milder offenses than Snowden has committed.
The worst of course is Cuba, known for its consistent policies of silencing anyone who dares to oppose its leadership. And this clown thinks that is somehow superior to the United States, where he might face punishment for the crime he committed.
I’d ask if he was kidding, but this child obviously isn’t.
So yeah, Eddie, go to Cuba. Go hug Fidel, or Putin, or Jinping. Make sure you tell them how much you value freedom of expression, and wait for them to laugh in your face.
You moron.
Little Eddie Snowden Doesn’t Wanna Play Whistleblower No More
Edward Snowden’s statement by way of Wikileaks is hilarious and sad. I don’t know if it was Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange, the Russian government or someone else who whispered sweet nothings in his ear as he went undercover to leak national security secrets to the world, but he sounds like he’s all tuckered out.
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/07/little-eddie-snowden-doesnt-wanna-play-whistleblower-no-more/
Snowden Asylum Applications Reveal More Stupidity
ReplyDeletehttp://thedailybanter.com/2013/07/snowden-asylum-applications-reveal-more-stupidity/
Listen to the whiny little crybaby when things didn't turn out quite how he thought they would:
ReplyDeleteFormer U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, currently in a transit zone at a Moscow airport, has broken his silence for the first time since fleeing to Russia eight days ago to say he remains free to make new disclosures about U.S. spying activity.
Following is the English translation of an undated letter from Snowden to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, written in Spanish, and shown to Reuters:
"There are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world. I must express my deep respect for your principles and sincere thanks for your government's action in considering my request for political asylum.
"The Government of the United States of America has built the world's largest system of surveillance. This global system affects every human life touched by technology; recording, analyzing, and passing secret judgment over each member of the international public. It is a grave violation of our universal human rights when a political system perpetuates automatic, pervasive, and unwarranted spying against innocent people. In accordance with this belief, I revealed this program to my country and the world. While the public has cried out support of my shining a light on this secret system of injustice, the Government of the United States of America responded with an extrajudicial man-hunt costing me my family, my freedom to travel, and my right to live peacefully without fear of illegal aggression.
"As I face this persecution, there has been silence from governments afraid of the United States Government and their threats. Ecuador, however, rose to stand and defend the human right to seek asylum. The decisive action of your Consul in London, Fidel Narvaez, guaranteed my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong - I could never have risked travel without that. Now, as a result, and through the continued support of your government, I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest.
"No matter how many more days my life contains, I remain dedicated to the fight for justice in this unequal world. If any of those days ahead realize a contribution to the common good, the world will have the principles of Ecuador to thank.
"Please accept my gratitude on behalf of your government and the people of the Republic of Ecuador, as well as my great personal admiration of your commitment to doing what is right rather than what is rewarding.
"Edward Joseph Snowden"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-security-snowden-text-idUSBRE9601AP20130701
Will Someone Please Get Edward Snowden Some Cheese To Go With His Whine?
ReplyDeleteAny smidgen of respect or sympathy I might have had for NSA leaker Edward Snowden (which, admittedly, was very little to begin with) dried up a long time ago, but his most recent statement, via Wikileaks, must surely be testing the patience of even his admirers. Assuming he wrote the statement himself, the letter is so full of willful misinformation and self-pity that President Obama has vowed to keep the jets, and scramble a squadron of Wahhhmbulances to pick Snowden up.
Whether you agree with Edward Snowden’s actions or not, the American tradition of dissent requires that you acknowledge his intent, which he and Guardian Glenn Greenwald compare to the spirit of civil disobedience embodied by the likes of Henry David Thoreau. Before fleeing to Russia, Snowden acknowledged that tradition by claiming that he did not intend to hide from justice. Fine, he pivoted from that promise to a quest for “asylum” because he and Greenwald didn’t like the form that justice was taking, which was a criminal indictment. Now, in his statement via Wikileaks, Snowden whines anew about the form that justice is taking:
On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic “wheeling and dealing” over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.
This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.
For decades the United States of America has been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.
Once again, I have no problem with Snowden rationalizing his flight from justice as “asylum-seeking,” but his infantile screed relies on the United States adopting his delusion as well. This is really simple. Revoking Ed Snowden’s passport isn’t “wheeling and dealing,” it’s the law. It’s how we deal with fugitives. Edward Snowden is a hero to Edward Snowden, but legally, he’s a fugitive. The President isn’t “rejecting the human right to seek asylum,” he is following the law concerning fugitives. Snowden is still free to seek asylum, but the President has no duty to assist that effort, he has a duty to oppose it.
more...
http://www.mediaite.com/online/will-someone-please-get-edward-snowden-some-cheese-to-go-with-his-whine/
"Snowden’s proven himself since the very beginning to be a painfully
ReplyDeletenarcissistic political nihilist whose early cloak of righteous
indignation is crap. At first he claimed to be against the illegal — but
really not — data-mining of U.S. citizens but that morphed into just
hating the entire system for its own sake. And anyone who cries about
civil liberties and then runs to China, Russia and so on is entirely
full of sh*t and not worthy of being taken seriously. The info he’s
released, while interesting, isn’t anywhere near the massive deal he’d
like us to believe, so, yeah, f*ck him."
- Chez Pazienza
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/06/this-weeks-mail-bag-we-talk-about-texas-senate-cheaters-snowden-hero-worship-and-the-return-of-crossfire/
Wow, it's a shame that people aren't focusing on the invasion of our privacy and the disdain our government has post 9/11 for the Bill of Rights (4th Amendment, anyone?). Please think about that on Independence Day.
ReplyDeleteWow. The Constitution that you flail about provides a remedy for your concerns. If you dislike the Patriot Act, urge your representatives to initiate repeal. No? Then don't vote for them. No? Then stop whining. Please think about that on Independence Day.
DeleteOn Chris Hayes‘ show tonight, Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald reacted to tonight’s news that Edward Snowden may have been on a plane where his fellow passenger was Bolivian president Evo Morales. Greenwald told Hayes that it’s “extraordinary” that France and Portugal actually prevented the Bolivian plane from entering its airspace because they thought Snowden was on board. He marveled at the “rogue nation behavior” from these two nations for denying Snowden’s legal ability to seek asylum.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/greenwald-fired-up-over-snowden-bolivia-news-rogue-nation-behavior-to-deny-his-right-to-asylum/
Snowden
ReplyDeleteThe father of NSA whistleblower/leaker Edward Snowden has published an open letter to his son.
Lon Snowden's message — co-written by Washington, D.C., lawyer Bruce Fein — compares Edward Snowden to American revolutionaries Thomas Paine and Paul Revere while denouncing the U.S. government's global spying practices.
Snowden has now been stuck in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for nine days after his U.S. passport was revoked. He's seeking asylum in 20 countries, but his prospects don't look great.
http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowdens-fathers-open-letter-read-2013-7
ReplyDeleteEdward Snowden asylum: countries approached and their responses
The NSA whistleblower has made 21 applications for asylum worldwide as he flees the US – with little success
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/02/edward-snowden-nsa-asylum-application-list-countries
Edward Snowden's options dwindle after political asylum rejections
ReplyDeleteSeveral countries have denied whistleblower's request to seek asylum and others say he must be on their territory to apply
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/02/edward-snowden-asylum-rejections
ReplyDeleteTry "delusional".
He's neither naive, nor idealistic.
He's a paranoid ("my days are numbered") delusional ("why is my country blocking my passport?") very disturbed and lonely young man who felt a nobody who wanted to do something to become a somebody.
The Guardian and Ass-Strange obliged and conspired to ruin this kid's life for their own gain and agenda.
He conspired with The Guardian before the fact to select which job offers to seek and to accept where he would be able to do the most damage to the US.
He first said here in the US that his concern was privacy of Americans... then in China he leaked about US hacking of China and then in Moscow about US bugging of the EU.... none of which have anything to do with privacy rights of American citizens.
So he is more interested in embarrassing the US than protecting the rights of its citizens.... which is okay, I guess. People embarrass Obama and criticize him terribly right here in the good old USA... how many people get away with openly criticizing their leaders in China or Russia?
What you can't do is lie and steal things that don't belong to you because you think you're smarter than everyone else or have some special insight or dispensation from God, The Guardian or Ass-Strange. That is what you cannot do and call yourself a balanced, respectful human being.
The kid has emotional problems as anyone can see.... unfortunately for him, The Guardian and Ass-Strange became his father figures before his own father cared enough to be involved I guess. Now his dad is a little late trying to compete with Ass-Strange for his own son's sanity. He'll continue to think he's "special" and he'll be right.
There's a special place for Glenn Grunwald and Ass-Strange for their part in this kid's demise. They can blame America all they want; but if he had stayed here and gone public he would have had a lot of support... he still does, but it's wasting away daily the more he opens his mouth and shows his wounded heart and unbalanced state of mind. And don't blame his unbalanced mind on the situation.... no, his unbalanced mind has created the situation that he is in.
Not Putin, not Grunwald, not even Ass-Strange.... they just all recognized it and took advantage of the opportunity before any caregivers could get to him. Now he has no choice but to keep blaming America for abandoning him when he slapped us, took property that didn't belong to him, beat us up in the press, filed for divorce, and now wants alimony, child support and an apology.
D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-A-L
without a shred of dignity or sense of personal responsibility for his actions.