Who is Paying Edward Snowden’s Bills?

[riqster]

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/who-is-paying-edward-snowdens-bills-2/

I have been wondering this for some time. He has been confined to an expensive hotel for weeks, eating, drinking, and doing all the things one pays a hotel for. He's also been getting legal advice, access to communications, etc. None of that is cheap, and savings will only last for so long. I haven't been able to tie any of the crowd-funded legal defense funds to his current situation, and no one can say with precision who is coughing up the cash for this rather surreal odyssey of his.

When we know who is paying his bills, we can possibly understand what they want from him, and maybe then we'll know why an apparently intelligent man would act as he is acting. Very few organizations act without a profit motive. The "profit" may be financial, political, spiritual, or emotional, but when someone gives out money, they expect a return on their investment (in one of these "currencies" or another). So when we know who is paying his bills, we'll know the ultimate agenda.

As a dear friend one said, "follow the money". Anybody been able to do so?


More at the link.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. I just assumed it was the same folks who are sponsoring Assange, but it's a really great question.

Perhaps Greenwald could give us some insight. He loves transparency, maybe we can prevail upon him to connect the dots for us?

[riqster]

4. I assumed it was Wikileaks, or the crowd-funded legal defense funds, or both

But I haven't been able to find a money trail, much less follow it. But then, that's not my field of expertise (not outside of my own business types, anyway).

[polichick]

2. Maybe all those voters who cheered at Obama's transparency speeches...

have taken up a collection. The list shouldn't be hard to get.

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

3. Coming from the same money pile that funds Wikileaks, probably.

All of their financial backers, whether they donated $1 or $1,000,000 should have all assets frozen.

[whttevrr]

5. huh?

why?

[RC]

14. Yeah, let's keep all the information from and about our government's spying secret. It's the law

anyway because they say so, backed up by their secret court proceeding, that we are not allowed to know about because they are secret, because they say so.
Yeah, secrecy in government is good, especially when it is against its own people, to keep us under control.
And DU is the correct site to be on to push that American is great ,raa-raa, isn't it?

[djean111]

6. Are you assuming that he is on the same footing as a vacationer?

If the hotel at the Russian airport is not always 100% full, it doesn't really cost anything for him to be there. Or giving him a room can be listed as a deduction or something.
Legal advice can be donated, and there is no reason to let you or anyone else know about that.
And I imagine most countries have a budget item for asylum seekers. I bet we put up people seeking or gaining asylum all the time.
Maybe all other countries are not like the United States, where you can die out on the sidewalk if you have no money, and everyone will just shake their heads and say oh, you should have planned for that.

[pnwmom]

7. In other words, you think it's the Russian government. I think that's a good bet, too.n/t

[djean111]

10. Yes, I doubt it is some big conspiracy or mystery.

Anyway, Snowden has actually not made very many flights; I think the imaginary ones were free.
Likely, more money was spent looking for him on the Brazilian airplane.

[riqster]

12. Two flights that we know of.

To Hong Kong and to Moscow. The lodging bills are probably a lot higher. And yeah, no CT is required. I expect there's a straightforward explanation. Just trying to figure out what it is.

[riqster]

8. I'm trying to get past assumptions.

Data is needed. You could be right, but it would be helpful to not have to guess.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The High Commissioner for refugees spoke of qualifying for it

That triggered a whole slew of treaty law (and covering some of this)

[riqster]

11. Interesting!

Hadn't heard that.

[djean111]

13. Who needs the data and who wants the data for a conspiracy theory are two different things.

It looks like the United States has a refugee sign an interest-free promissory note for travel. They start making payments 6 months after they are settled.
I think there is nothing nearly as important about Snowden as there is about what he revealed. Worrying about his room service bills is a waste of time - the real point is revealing the extent of surveillance in this country.