It looks like Edward Snowden has decided to create international pressure against the US government’s attempts to block his travel. Although he has offers of political asylum from three Latin American countries (Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua), the determination of the US government to get its hands on him, and the willingness of its client states in western Europe to assist it in doing so, present major difficulties for him to get there. This article by the McClatchy news service discusses the hurdles in his path.
Snowden has said that the US is violating Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that guarantees the right of asylum. He has called a meeting at the Moscow airport with representatives of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, and other groups. The meeting was held at 9:00 am US Eastern time and was closed to the press but it is now over. A statement will be issued later but information is being released already with the Guardian having a liveblog of events.
The latest news is that he is first going to seek asylum in Russia, which will give him some safety and freedom of movement, and then perhaps go to Latin America later. Apparently Ecuador has also offered asylum, making five countries in all.
The US Government is putting the screws to the various governments in South America to convince them that it is not in their interest to give asylum to Snowden. Apparently with some success.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/world/americas/us-is-pressing-latin-americans-to-reject-snowden.html?hp
I wonder if there’s any play to be made along the lines of “y’know… I’m going to just dump the whole lot if you keep f’ing with me. I’ve been playing nice so far.”
Yeah, considering that Snowdon has a bunch of stuff that he’s been traveling out little by little, you’d thunk that the Administration would at least try to negotiate a deal that would include stopping any further disclosures.
Nope. They’re far more interested in stealing Glenn Greenwald’s laptops.
I wonder whether the rumour that led to Morales’ plane being diverted and searched actually came from Snowden’s camp, to see how far the USA and its allies might go. It’s difficult to see this ending well for him, and hard to see what can be done for him by most people -- he has legal advice and press attention, at least. What we can do is act on the knowledge he’s given us.
Here’s a link to a CNN article with extensive quotes from John Pike, no tool of the US Government he. Pike is rather pessimistic about Snowden’s long term prospects.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/12/us/snowden-getaway-options/index.html
the Administration would at least try to negotiate
The administration does not know what is this word “negotiate”
What I don’t get is why it’s Snowden that’s got to “get away” and escape from the “consequences of his actions.” Shouldn’t it be Clapper and Obama and Holder on the lam?
Yes.