Alexy Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs committee in Russia’s lower house said at the World Economic Forum at Davos that Edward Snowden’s asylum will be extended and that Russia would not hand him over to the USA.
This must come as a disappointment to those in the US who hoped that he would be forced out of Russia and thus more susceptible to capture by agents of the US.
Meanwhile Attorney General Eric Holder has said that they would be willing to make a deal with Snowden through his lawyers provided he pleads guilty. Right.
Snowden has already said that he cannot get a fair trial in the US since as an employee of a contractor he does not qualify for the government whistleblower protections, though the government has abused that too.
“There are so many holes in the laws, the protections they afford are so weak, and the processes for reporting they provide are so ineffective that they appear to be intended to discourage reporting of even the clearest wrongdoing,” [Snowden] wrote. “… My case clearly demonstrates the need for comprehensive whistle-blower protection act reform.”
Meanwhile Attorney General Eric Holder has said that they would be willing to make a deal with Snowden through his lawyers provided he pleads guilty.
Actually, I was a bit worried that the US would get their hands on Snowden by making a deal with Putin. Either Putin’s price is too high, or the Obama administration isn’t as clever as I thought.
If I’ve learned anything about foreign policy over the years, it’s that countries will always act in the most petty, childish way possible for the most arbitrary reasons. Of course Putin isn’t going to hand over Snowden. He wants to go “nya nya nya nya nya!”
These are Russia’s foreign policy priorities. But let’s not judge. Ours are not much better.
Yeah, if you want to know Putin’s likely response to any situation, think, “What would a gorilla that wanted to prove it was the toughest, roughest, bear-rasslinest gorilla around do?”
That’s probably what Putin will do.
So, the US comes around asking for Snowden. “You want my shiny thing? I will beat upon my chest, and make intimidating noises!”
The US says please. “You are showing weakness! I will beat upon my chest, and make intimidating noises!”
The US firmly demands. “You are showing disrespect to my gorilla-masculinity! I will beat upon my chest, and make intimidating noises!”
Actually, you can pretty much skip the other bits, and go straight to “I will beat upon my chest, and make intimidating noises!” as the default Putin answer to anything he can find a way of perceiving as a threat to his manhood, which is apparently as robust as the strongest wet tissue paper, given how hard he works to defend it, and the number of things he finds threatening to it.
Please, Caitie, your characterizations are entirely unfair. Gorillas are far more capable of settling things like adults.