Russia says US put it in "tough spot" over Snowden

[bemildred]

MOSCOW: Russia on Friday accused the United States of putting it in a "tough spot", claiming Washington never disclosed that it had revoked the travel passport of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor spent Friday holed up in a Moscow airport for a sixth day after arriving by a regular Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong where he had disclosed US surveillance secrets to the press.

A Russian official close to the matter on Friday accused the United States of apparently deliberately putting Moscow in a difficult position by never reporting that Snowden's passport had been revoked, Interfax reported.

The official said Moscow might not have allowed Snowden to fly to Russia had it known about his travel problems.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/russia-says-us-put-it-in/727848.html

[bemildred]

1. Venezuelan president confirms Snowden asylum offer

(very short, no excerpt)

http://www.agi.it/english-version/world/elenco-notizie/201306281203-cro-ren1039-venezuelan_president_confirms_snowden_asylum_offer

[MADem]

6. I wouldn't trust these weasel words!

"If that young man needs humanitarian protection and believes that he can come to Venezuela," then Venezuela "is prepared to protect this brave youth in a humanitarian way and so that humanity can learn the truth," and his ordeal can end, Maduro said.http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=99369&frid=18&seccatid=57&cid=18&fromval=1

And WTF is up with all this "youth" yammering on the part of clueless Maduro? The guy is thirty years old. At thirty, no one called me a "youth." I was responsible for my behavior and I sure as hell didn't expect to be coddled and pardoned and patted on the head.


Here's a possible scenario:

Cuba could very well grab him enroute, and send him back to USA (and VZ will have secretly told them to do that because they don't 'really' want him, either)...it would be a win-win for both of them; VZ doesn't have to deal with sanctions and tariff/trade problems resulting from an untimely sheltering of a fugitive, while still being able to rail against Uncle Sam, and Cuba would get an "Attaboy" and take a big step towards normalizing relations. Everyone wins but Moscow Eddie.

[flamingdem]

19. I don't think Cuba wants to take the heat from extradicting Snowden to the USA

or the heat for letting him pass through to Venezuela or Ecuador.

Good point that Maduro is blowing smoke. Of course I am sad about this having wanted to see photos of Snowden at the Libertarian Re-Education Bootcamp in Caracas.

It's possible Cuba floated the idea of an exchange for the five (now four Cubans languishing in jail for "espionage&quot or lifting aspects of the embargo to the State Dept. Oh to be a fly on the wall to see all the offers that the Snowden debacle has generated

Iceland seems to have done a Moonwalk on this too.

[MADem]

25. Maybe North Korea will take him...? nt

[flamingdem]

26. They prefer nba to nsa!

[MADem]

28. Ha ha ha! About the only other place might be Iran ... or Somalia! nt

[MADem]

2. Don't those assholes read the paper?

Between the assclowns in Hong Kong not "noticing" that the Ecuadorian travel permit wasn't signed, and Pootie's crew pretending they didn't know that the passport was revoked, I'd say our "rivals" are either playing dumb or are the biggest idiots on the planet. Most likely the former--unfortunately.


I think if Pootie Poot really wants to get pissed at anyone, he should get pissed at those smiling basstids in Beijing. They punked his ass but good! Pootie got stuck holding the Hot Potato!

How long before someone in Russkieland tells Snowden that he has to move along? That's the question...

[Recursion]

8. There's an official channel for communicating passport revocations

Either we didn't use it, or Russia isn't admitting that we did and we're letting it go because it lets Putin save face.

[MADem]

9. I think we used it. I think Pootie is engaging in plausible deniability.

I'll bet he's getting sick of Moscow Eddie, too, rather like the officials in Hong Kong tired of the guy.

[Recursion]

10. Just spitballing, that's my guess too (nt)

[MADem]

11. I figured--but hey, we never know with these guys!

This is quite the soap opera, that's for sure.

Someone should write a musical play about it!

[KharmaTrain]

12. It's Let's Make A Deal Time...

...Pootie's a card player. He's got several Russian nationals inside the U.S. he wouldn't mind bringing back to Moscow. I'm thinking Eddie's become a pawn in a game not of his own making. Seems like his only way out of Moscow is if someone flies in a charter and then we're still not sure if VZ or Ecuador or anyone would accept him. I can't imagine sitting for 6 days at Moscow Airport is the "heroes welcome" he envisioned last week.

Cheers...

[relayerbob]

13. He's been a pawn the whole time

[randome]

14. Yes but he's a pawn thinking he's playing a game of checkers.

The real game is way out of his league.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[MADem]

15. That's a good point. I wonder who we'd give up?

That 'capsule hotel' is like a Love Motel -- it rents by the hour and it's quite expensive. I hear they have a "VIP" area, but I imagine that's probably like a "Members" room that some of the airlines have--a less crowded living room-ish area.

[KharmaTrain]

18. Here's One...

...looks like the U.K. and U.S. have several folks Mr. Putin wouldn't mind having back:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyas_Akhmadov

and

http://www.asylumist.com/2013/03/06/russia-angered-by-uk-asylum-grant/

This is all turning into a bad 60's era Cold War trashy novel...

[MADem]

22. Don't we have any of their "caught" spies?

I know we did a trade awhile back, but I'd rather give them someone we had in jail as opposed to someone we've granted asylum to ...

[KharmaTrain]

31. We'll See How Long...

...Putin continues to play this game. The longer Snowden sits the less value he has. Methinks even Putin's stuck here...he can't send Snowden back to China/Hong Kong and he'll getting him to Ecuador will require someone flying in a charter. Tom Morello??

The "advantage" of this situation is its taken the focus and pressure off the escalating US/Russian tensions over Syria...

[MADem]

33. Look at this--there is someone they want, an arms dealer!!

Deputy parliament speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has proposed Snowden be exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer whose jailing in the United States angered Moscow. The United States has refused Russian requests for his repatriation.

Korolkov, and the security service source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia would follow a common international practice in using Snowden in negotiations over Bout. "This is how it is done in the world. It would be in the government's advantage not to give Snowden back," Korolkov said.

The source said: "Russia has some negotiating advantage here."

Some advantage? Ya think?

Of course, they recognize that things can only go so far...

Korolkov predicted the Kremlin will tread carefully. "Russia is not at all interested in entering into a conflict with such a geopolitical opponent and political partner as the United States," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/25/us-usa-security-snowden-russia-idUSBRE95O1DG20130625

[flamingdem]

20. Sarah Harrison is still hanging in there. A DU member said she's been Assange's lover

I found that interesting. Thus, Wikileaks trusts her 100%

Snowden must be noxious at close range, wonder when she will surface.

[MADem]

29. I guess that Snowden tried to hire Assange's lawyer, a judge from Spain.

The judge said "Naaaaah, I don't wanna represent you..."

Things aren't going the way he expected, I don't think...!

[bemildred]

3. White House 'doesn't know' what files NSA leaker Edward Snowden has accessed

Lot's of coverage.

The true extent of the security threat posed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is 'unknown', according to a top government aid, as it is revealed the White House is unsure what secret files he possesses.

The revelation came as a new batch of highly classified documents was made public across the internet yesterday, revealing how the U.S. government has collected online data in bulk.

Fugitive leaker Mr Snowden, who worked as an undercover computer specialist with the CIA before contracting with the National Security Agency, remains in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport, in Moscow. He had been expected to fly to Cuba but has not reportedly left Russia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2350629/Snowden-White-House-doesnt-know-files-NSA-leaker-Edward-Snowden-accessed.html

[bemildred]

4. PRISM: David Davis says UK laws to protect citizens from surveillance are ‘completely useless'

The processes in place to protect UK citizens from surveillance by spy agencies such as GCHQ have been branded ‘completely useless' by former shadow home secretary and MP David Davis.

Speaking in the House of Commons at a session on the PRISM and Tempora revelations of the past few weeks, Davis said that it was clear from the level of data claimed to have been gathered by GCHQ that UK citizens had little protection from data-gathering technologies.

"The supervision procedures are completely useless - not just weak, but completely useless," he said at the committee event, attended by V3. "What Tempora has done is raise a red flag that we have to rethink, from scratch, all the oversight arrangements we have."

Davis said he, like everyone else, was only learning about these issues as they are being brought to light by whistleblowers, and said it was unclear why exactly the UK spy agencies were willing to hand so much data to the US. He laid out two main possibilities.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2278110/prism-david-davis-says-uk-laws-to-protect-citizens-from-surveillance-are-completely-useless

[bemildred]

5. US escalates war of words with Hong Kong over Edward Snowden

Hong Kong: The United States today accused Hong Kong of acting in bad faith over fugitive Edward Snowden and warned of repercussions, after the city's government said US arrest paperwork was riddled with clerical errors.

US envoy Stephen Young also said China was guilty of "misbehaviour" over the former NSA contractor's abrupt departure from Hong Kong last Sunday, but said the territory itself would bear the brunt of Washington's displeasure.

Hong Kong officials say that a US request a week ago asking for Snowden to be detained was woefully deficient, and there was no legal basis to stop him flying to Russia.

But Young, who retires at the end of July, said Washington was busy "dotting the i's and crossing the t's" in what it took to be a normal process of communication under the two sides' extradition agreement.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-escalates-war-of-words-with-hong-kong-over-edward-snowden-385512

[MADem]

7. Amazing how the meticulous clerks in Hong Kong missed the fact that his Ecuadorian travel document

had no frigging signature on it!!

[flamingdem]

21. Assange may have snagged the document while sleepwalking at the London Embassy

He's innocent!

[MADem]

23. You never know...!

Maybe he faxed it to Snowden...!

[flamingdem]

24. Wikileaks spokesperson about to appear on msnbc

if you're near a teevee ...

[MADem]

30. I am--I'll go flip the channel... nt

[flamingdem]

32. Joy Reid said it's up next

they know we'd wait for it!

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. None of this surprises me

[bemildred]

17. Quite. nt

[bemildred]

27. Now this, this, is starting to remind me of the Vietnam era.

I think we are finally there. Only took 12 years or so this time.