The Time the U.S. Gave Asylum to a Guy Who Leaked Classified Documents

[Bonobo]

http://gawker.com/the-time-the-u-s-gave-asylum-to-a-guy-who-leaked-class-790116614



Political asylum is a weird idea: One country gets to tell another country: We think your criminal is actually a hero and he can come live here, so buzz off. Pretty annoying if you're the country trying to get the criminal, and the U.S. is really pissed that some countries and human rights groups are helping out NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden, currently holed up in Moscow's airport, in his quest for asylum. After all, the U.S. would never think of shielding someone accused of illegally leaking another country's classified information, right?

Ha ha, of course we would. Take the case of Swiss whistleblower Michel Christopher Meili, highlighted recently by the blog Document Exploitation. In 1997, Meili, then a 29-year-old security guard at UBS bank, pilfered documents that contained account information related to assets stolen by the Nazis in the Holocaust. The documents were slated to be destroyed, but Meili gave them to a Jewish organization instead; the revelations ultimately led to a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and Holocaust victims.

The Swiss government was not thrilled. They began investigating Meili for violating banking secrecy laws, alleging that the documents he'd taken were classified. Meili fled to the U.S. (a move known as the "Reverse Snowden&quot . There he was welcomed as a hero, and Congress even wrote a special law granting Meili and his family permanent residency.

About Ed Snowden, Sen. Chuck Grassley has made this case for his prosecution:

I believe that whatever the law requires, just like anybody that breaks the law, [Snowden] needs to be prosecuted... I suppose it gets down to - did he break a law? - I think it's pretty obvious he did.
But back in 1997 Grassley had this to say about Meili, whose residency bill he co-sponsored:

The situation we have here with Mr. Meili, albeit everything that he has brought to our attention has worldwide implications, but a person like him acted out of bravery, or maybe the bravery comes after he has acted because he has had to withstand the mental torture of what has gone on since then. But it reminds me of a lot of things that happen in our own Government, and I realize his is a private sector situation, but I like to think that we keep our Federal Government honest when we have people in our Government who, when something is wrong, will be willing to come forward and say what is wrong.

We speak of these people in our Government as whistleblowers. Maybe, originally, that was to denigrate them, but as far as I am concerned the word "whistleblower" is a description of somebody who wants to seek the truth, who wants to make sure that all of the facts and circumstances are known so that a wrong can be corrected.

[HardTimes99]

1. Bonobo, you obviously did not get the memo from the New

American Imperium:

"Do as we say, not as we do."

Thanks for posting. Hope this gets some serious play here.

And fuck that hypocritical gas-bag Grassley.

[Electric Monk]

2. Grassley is a hypocrite? Who coulda guessed?

[KoKo]

26. Remember when whistleblower Sibol Edmunds went to Grassley with her info?

She thought he was one she could trust. Look how that turned out.

Some on this thread probably still think that Snowden should have gone to Congress even when they know that that wasn't an option.

[cascadiance]

56. Yep, Grassley and Patrick Leahy were the two senators that Sibel Edmonds was talking to earlier...

Methinks that perhaps blackmail is probably being used in ways a lot more so that we probably know, which might explain Grassley's "change of attitude"...

[RobertEarl]

3. Hoo boy

There's gonna be some serious choking on this one. Hard for the Pro NSA, pro-cheneyites to swallow this simple helping of truth.

[warrant46]

28. Never hear of them refrerred to as

"Pro NSA, pro-cheneyites"

[CakeGrrl]

49. There's a lot of work to be done

for the name-calling crowd to think up new stuff to call people who don't march in 100% lockstep with their opinions.

[randome]

53. I don't recall rooting for the NSA. Did you?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[struggle4progress]

4. Good for him. For decades after the Shoah, Swiss banking authorities refused to cooperate

with the estates of Nazi victims, presumably because there were literally billions of dollars in unclaimed assets shielded by Swiss banking laws

[Cleita]

5. ...

K&R

[JaneyVee]

6. Hoy shit! America stood up to a private sector corporation?!

[Blue_Tires]

35. Once upon a time our leaders in Washington used to break up monopolies, too

I'm pretty sure that isn't even mentioned in U.S. History classes anymore...

[Jenoch]

7. Comparing someone who exposed Swiss banking

that stole milliions of dollars from Jewish people to Snowden is ridiculous.

[Bonobo]

9. Of course it is.

It always seem to be that way when it is your country vs another. Just doesn't apply.

Right.

[Jenoch]

10. Huh?

I must be dense. Will you explain your position without sarcasim?

[Bonobo]

12. All countries (and people) think their shit doesn't stink.

Yes, nazi whistle blowing is a big deal. But so is the US spying on innocent people ALL over the world with no justification or true oversight.

That shit stinks and saying that the other guy's shit stinks worse doesn't change the essential fact that it is a whistle blowing issue.

When a person blows the whistle on his own country, there is ALWAYS a segment that calls him/her a traitor instead of looking at what was revealed.

Does that help?

[Civilization2]

62. lolz no reply,. . guess they got it?

Thanks for posting the clear truth,. nicely. I have trouble being so nice. I angers me that people can be so dense, patriotism is at the best of times evil,. and it is being used to terrible effect in this case. The nationalistic blinders on some folks are truly frightening.

[Marr]

14. How so?

I don't see the absurdity. Can you articulate your position with something more substantial than 'nuh-uh'?

[Jenoch]

15. See "Godwin's Law".

[Bonobo]

18. Godwin's Law... an internet meme.

Rather fan-boyish and lazy to rely upon an internet meme to do your political arguing.

[Demit]

29. Mentioning Nazis, when the topic itself is Nazi theft of property, wouldn't fall under Godwin's Law.

I think bringing up Godwin's Law inappropriately would be some sort of Godwin's Law corollary, lol.

[Jenoch]

36. Snowdon does not need to be

compared to the plight of the Jewish Holocost. As far as I know, there have not been millions of people tortured and killed by the U.S. government and Snowdens actions have nothing to do with such imaginary atrocities.

[Demit]

37. Meilli's documents had to do with property. Not the plight of the actual people in the Holocaust.

You are making a completely wrong equation. Talking about stolen property is not the same as talking about the deaths of people it was stolen from. I don't know why you are being so stubbornly obtuse, and in the end I don't care, but you are wrong, and now I'm going to leave it alone and go about my day.

[Jenoch]

38. It's a ridiculous comparison.

That is my opinion and you can have yours.

[Civilization2]

63. yours is wrong and clearly silly,.

[Jenoch]

70. I am not a fan of the actions of the NSA.

That being said, comparing the actions of the NSA through the U.S. government to the Holocaust of WWII is like comparing walnuts to whales.

[Civilization2]

79. and that was not the comparison,. Snowden=leaker=Meili,. Meili given asylum in USA.

And yet Snowden is being attacked and called a traitor,. I am sure you understand this and only toll to diver and misdirect, but if anyone is confused by your rhetoric; Snowden=leaker=Meili,. Meili given asylum in USA.

[Jenoch]

84. Are all leakers

on equal footing? Comparing the NSA stuff to getting assets back to the families of Holocaust victims bothers me for some reason. I do not believe it is a comparison that needs to be made.

[Civilization2]

85. The comparison is about the US attitudes towards asylum, both leakers are political.

The leaks are about the wrong actions of secret authority being brought to the public to decide. One about stolen money, the other about stolen privacy. The comparison is legit, and the footing is equal, it is about the US government's reactions to each of these leakers and what that says about the times and the hypocrisy.

[Scootaloo]

76. Nobody's equating the two on a moral level

However, they are legally equal - both involve a person stealing information from a government and distributing it to parties who then utilize that information to cause harm - at least in reputation - to the nation in question.

And the defenders of one, are also the crazed, foam-mouthed, lynch mob coming after the other. It's an interesting disparity and worth noting.

[Democracyinkind]

52. Gowin's law is a predictive, not a normative statement. nt

[sabrina 1]

42. Would you like to see some more examples of foreign 'Whistle Blowers' who have received

asylum in the US? The list is long. From Russia alone I believe asylum has been granted to hundreds of 'dissidents'.

We are such hypocrites, we need to stop embarrassing ourselves around the world. Seriously. The WORLD knows these facts, Americans know so little about their own government because we do not have a free press here.

[Jenoch]

45. If you have a point to make with me with this post,

I am failing to see it.

If you think we do not have a free press, just travel to ANY other foreign country and find out what their press freedoms are.

[sabrina 1]

46. I have traveled and was so pleasatly surprised by real reporters who actually question policitians

intensively that when I return to the US it is so sad to see how 'press conferences' are so managed and how they know who is going to ask what question before they even show up, the differences are amazing.

If you're talking about countries like Somalia or Uzbekistan I don't compare this country, which claims to be a democracy, not a dictatorship, to dictatorships. I compare it to other democracies and we are slipping further and further away from even being able to claim we have a 'free press'. We have a media that is owned totally by six major Corporations. We don't get news, we get propaganda and infotainment, which is why it is now known as the 'Corporate Media'.

If you think we have a 'free press' then I invite you to visit other democracies and compare what passes for 'news' here to real news elsewhere.

[Jenoch]

57. I don't disagree that

politicians try to control the media. President Obama has had fewer actual press conferences than any other president in the television era.

Many countries have government controlled media, think the entire former Soviet Union. Great Britain has government controlled media and does not have their version of the 1st Amendment.

The big media certainly are controlled by corporations. How about the small guys. China controls their internet and does not allow dissent without the possibility of severe punishment.

[sabrina 1]

67. Government FUNDED media is very different from Government CONTROLLED media.

You say that Britain doesn't have a 1st Amendment granting freedom of speech. Do you know how much our Founding Fathers were influenced by British law? Britain has a Bill of Rights, one of which IS freedom of speech and they've had it longer than we have.

Their media puts ours to shame. Funding for the media by the Government prevents private interests from taking over the media and controlling it as has happened here. The Government in a democratic society must represent ALL of the people.

Since Britain's Government is subject to the will of the people, funding for the media by the Government means that the Media MUST represent the interests of the PEOPLE.

This notion that government funding for anything is a bad thing is a right wing idea. The Government here funds Public Broadcasting and as a result it is one of the best media outlets we have although the Right has been trying to privatize even PBS so that it CAN be controlled.

Have you ever heard of the Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus eg? Where do you think our FFs got their ideas for the US Constitution? Centuries of laws from among the world's historic democracies, influenced them. Another Americans appear to know little about and to think that WE are the first democracy or something. On the contrary, we are one of the latest.

And again, you are comparing what is supposed to be a democracy to a country like China which makes no such pretense. Your comparison to Britain was seriously lacking in knowledge of that country's laws and the history of those laws. They were the main guide for the writing of OUR Constitution and they most definitely have Freedom of Speech, backed up the EU's declaration of human rights, which has been enshrined in British law, one of those rights being .... Freedom of Speech.

We are losing our democracy our media IS controlled, it is NOT funded by the Government unfortunately because if it was, we would get to hear more wide-ranging views. Now we just get the Corporate viewpoint.

[Th1onein]

68. DAMN IT! Sabrina1! I like you and I like you ALOT!

You're good. Very good.

[Jenoch]

71. Maybe the BBC was not the best example.

Check out the rest of the world. You may have been a fan of Pravda.

[Civilization2]

64. Wow and excelent post! crushing minds is easy when they are so damn small,. .

[joeybee12]

58. Not at all...but I guess for people who know everything about NSA

spying and are convinced he's lying and our government did nothing wrong, then the comparison falls flat...gotta tow the official party line, ya know.

[Jenoch]

59. What exactly are you saying about me in this post?

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R

- Today, we are all whistleblowers....

[center][font size=5]WHISTLEBLOWER ROLL CALL![/font]

[/center]

[JDPriestly]

11. Excellent post. We give political asylum to all kinds of prisoners

from troubled countries.

[ReRe]

13. Great thread, Bonobo

K&R

[99th_Monkey]

16. We obviously need to be having this ongoing public debate about whistleblowers

Thank you Edward Snowden et. al. for doing your part to make sure it happened
in as timely a way as possible.

[99th_Monkey]

17. K & R ~nt

[HiPointDem]

19. happens pretty frequently that we give asylum to spies & other people who have classified info

from other countries.

SAN DIEGO -- An immigration judge tentatively granted asylum Wednesday to the son of one of Hamas founders who turned his back on his father's and became a spy for Israel.

we give asylum to terrorist murderers too:


Cuban ‘bomber’ seeking U.S. asylum was on CIA payroll

MIAMI (caribbeannetnews/AFP) - Declassified documents recently released link a Cuban terror suspect, seeking U.S. asylum, to a 1976 Cuban airliner bombing, and show he was, for years, on the CIA’s payroll.

The CIA paid Luis Posada Carriles $300 a month in the 1960s, and the anti-Castro Cuban worked for the CIA at least from 1965 until June 1976, according to documents made public May 10 by the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington.An FBI document from November 3, 1976 quotes an informant as saying Mr. Posada Carriles was in a group that discussed the bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane, in which 73 persons died. And another FBI document from October 7, 1976, a day after the attack, cited an informant as practically admitting that Mr. Posada Carriles and another man, Orlando Bosch, planned the Cubana bombing.

In mid-April, an attorney for Mr. Posada Carriles, a staunch foe of Cuban President Fidel Castro, said that his client was seeking asylum in the United States. However, the United States has denied knowledge of his whereabouts, while Cuba and Venezuela said they want him extradited.

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2009.shtml

posada carriles is still in the US. so was bosch, until his death:

Orlando Bosch Ávila (18 August 1926 – 27 April 2011)[1] was a Cuban exile terrorist, former Central Intelligence Agency-backed operative, and head of Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, which the FBI has described as "an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization".[2]

Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called Bosch an "unrepentant terrorist".[3] He was accused of taking part in Operation Condor and several other terrorist attacks, including the 6 October 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in which all 73 people on board were killed, including many young members of a Cuban fencing team and five North Koreans. The bombing is alleged to have been plotted at a 1976 meeting in Washington, D.C. attended by Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, and DINA agent Michael Townley. At the same meeting, the assassination of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier is alleged to have been plotted.

Bosch was given safe haven within the US in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, who in 1976 as head of the CIA had declined an offer by Costa Rica to extradite Bosch.

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


yeah, the posturing is laughable.

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. The bill

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-105s768enr/pdf/BILLS-105s768enr.pdf

US asylum process:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=dab9f067e3183210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f39d3e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Perhaps Mr. Snowden, like Mr. Meili, will one day return to his home country. Until then, I wish him the best of luck in his travels.

[randome]

21. A willful disregard of evidence.

Both Ellsberg and Meili had unassailable proof. Snowden has claims.

Why this desperate need to promote Snowden to the level of real whistleblowers? He has no evidence of his claims! How can anyone simply ignore that glaring omission?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Bonobo]

23. Huh?

Are you saying they would not be interested in prosecuting him if he had more unassailable proof?

[randome]

24. I'm saying we would likely ALL see Snowden as a whistleblower if he had evidence.

But he doesn't. He made some claims, showed some PowerPoint slides (one of which directly refutes his claim of 'direct access') then ran to Hong Kong to announce "I am not here to hide from justice."

Then promptly gave information to Chinese journalists and handed over information to Der Spiegel that they said would endanger agents' lives.

Why anyone cannot see the difference between Snowden and a whistleblower will forever be one of DU's mysteries to me.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Bonobo]

25. How can you NOT see the contradiction in your logic?

IF he is spouting NOTHING but nonsense, why ALL the attention? Why is the world sitting up and listening? Why do YOU act like he has committed treason? Why are the people at the highest levels of the government up in arms?

It is a massive, super-sized contradiction that a blind man could see.

Why can't you?

[randome]

48. He is endangering agents' lives. See my post below.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Pholus]

32. Those "powerpoint slides" authenticity have been already validated....

by our total bed-wetting meltdown about this guy being a traitor and having "national security documents." Someone "without evidence" doesn't have their passport revoked and doesn't have our Secretary of State spending copious amounts our national prestige to try to grab him.

The "evidence" has been validated by our exceptional interest in getting him back.

Unless you're claiming that this is all some kind of long-con on another country of course. I used to think "Colonel Flagg" could only exist on the Neocon/Republican side of our country. The last couple months have shown that supposition to be false.

[randome]

47. You didn't read what else Snowden released?

He gave documents to Der Spiegel that endangered agents' lives. The 'care and responsibility' Greenwald likes to promulgate for his boy in Moscow was not carried out by Snowden. It was Der Spiegel who did the responsible thing and redacted the dangerous information.

He gave information to Chinese journalists including the IP addresses we use to hack their systems.

The American government's desire to stop Snowden from endangering people and our national security is completely understandable, IMO.

Feel free to tell us what the PowerPoint slides proved. (Although how anyone can look at a PowerPoint slide with anything but disgust for bureaucratic toys is beyond me.)
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Civilization2]

65. you contradict yourself over and over,. "he is a liar who has no proof" and "he endangers spies"

So which is is ?

Why not just admit you had a huge hardon for the spy industry, and do not like it when your, er,. I mean, "that" industry get's bad press?

Or just stop hating on an individual, and deal with the truth, that is now public knowledge,. the american government has slipped into a fascist corporate-military non-democracy.

[randome]

75. What kind of cognitive dissonance does it take to not realize he did both?

His claims have no evidence and he stole national security documents and showed them to Chinese journalists and handed some over to Der Spiegel, which was forced to redact what they characterized as 'dangerous information'.

And please stop with the Nazi/fascist comparisons.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Civilization2]

80. Yes, your cognitive dissonance regarding this Snowden issue is most impressive.

I have never once called or compared any one or anything to the Nazi regime. Fascism is the merging of the corporate structure with the state, as we now have here in america. Along with the bloating of the military and intelligence agencies under huge walls of secrecy, while simultaneously privatising and corporatising those agencies, that were once only allowed to be carried out by government for reasons of public control. Unfortunately this has taken place over 50 years incrementally and most people have not taken notice, until now.

[morningfog]

82. Nazi's aren't and weren't the only fascists.

And having some fascist policies does not make everything one does a fascist.

[Pholus]

73. Quite the logical pretzel you got there.

So simultaneously you hold the opinion that:

1) Those powerpoint slides prove "nothing."
2) There are real and specific operational dangers to national security in the information Snowden has.

Let's roast you in order.

1) You obviously haven't followed the story. The Washington post and the Register already did my homework for me as early as LAST MONTH. Yay for me, I can be lazy and just link.

The powerpoint sides proved:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/25/heres-everything-weve-learned-about-how-the-nsas-secret-programs-work/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/12/forget_snowden_what_have_we_learned_about_the_nsa_in_the_last_month/

2) That's your "damage?"

As far as the Speigel quote, your breathless assertions of imminent danger drop the tentative word "could" and substituted "agents" for "NSA workers." Nice attempt to "James Bond" up that that single sentence though.

As far as "IP addresses" cry me a river. Are you seriously claiming that the real scandal is that the NSA is stupid enough to use a static IP address for their hacking computers?

[randome]

74. In your first link:

Early reports suggested that the NSA had unmediated “direct access” to these companies’ servers. But companies have flatly denied this, and more recent reporting suggests that PRISM is a system for expediting the delivery of private information after company lawyers have scrutinized a government request.

IOW, the PowerPoint slides refute Snowden's claim that the NSA uses 'direct access' to monitor the world.

And your 2nd link doesn't even bother to be balanced. The NSA is 'harvesting' the Internet on a daily basis. It's lunacy.

Fine, 'NSA workers' instead of 'agents'. I stand corrected. I guess the lives of 'workers' are less important than that of 'agents'? Der Spiegel characterized the data as 'dangerous'. Their reporting, not mine.

Snowden showed national security documents to Chinese journalists. I do not know all the details on those documents but it has been reported that IP addresses were in the details. Why would either you or I presume to know if that's dangerous or not? He showed national security documents to China and Der Spiegel. You're willing to excuse Snowden because, to the best of your knowledge, it's only a little crime?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Pholus]

77. Don't worry. The NSA is making sure no more "little crimes" will happen...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57594486/officials-say-new-anti-leak-measures-set-at-nsa/

That way, we won't need to talk about the big ones neither.

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/07/19/how-the-nsa-taps-undersea-fiber-optic-cables/

[randome]

78. We need more transparency and less secrecy.

I am 100% on board with that.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Th1onein]

69. Huh is right.

Geez.

[morningfog]

81. Dude, you really really need to drop that bullshit line. It makes you look foolish.

There are pages of evidence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/27/nsa-data-collection-justice-department

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/27/nsa-inspector-general-report-document-data-collection

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/20/exhibit-a-procedures-nsa-document

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/08/boundless-informant-nsa-full-text

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/08/nsa-boundless-informant-data-mining-slides

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/verizon-telephone-data-court-order

[xchrom]

22. Du rec. Nt

[KoKo]

27. Recommend!

[chimpymustgo]

30. Great post - especially for those with weak memories and wobbly moral compasses.

AKA the pro-NSA, pro-Cheneyites.

[malaise]

31. And there are many more examples

Rec

[Sunlei]

33. who knows how many of the other 75k security employees leaked or sold information?

If a 3 month newbie hire could do it, anyone could.

[UTUSN]

34. All causes and motives are not equal. n/t

[Progressive dog]

39. So now we have a reason why the Swiss should give Snowden asylum

Swiss laws are not our laws, I don't get to vote in Switzerland and they don't get to vote here. Twelve jurors can negate any law they choose, simply by voting not guilty. Just one can vote not guilty and hang the jury.
Stay in the airport as long as they'll have you, Eddie.

Edit to add: UBS bank can classify documents now. Switzerland must have more than one bank, so I wonder how many of them can do this classification stuff.

[Democracyinkind]

50. Snowden would land in jail in Switzerland.

He violated Swiss laws by operating undercover in Switzerland without informing local authorities.

[malokvale77]

40. Thanks for posting this Bonobo

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

41. There's no principled stance to be had here.

We should go after the ones that do harm to us and give asylum to those that do harm to our enemies.

Diplomacy 101.

[muriel_volestrangler]

54. Who's "we"? The US government, or the US people?

They appear to be on different sides of this conflict. The government is spying on the people, remember.

[bullwinkle428]

43. All depends on whose hind end is getting embarrassed, I guess.

K&R.

[ohheckyeah]

44. It's different when the U.S. does it,

or something like that......oh, I know, Godwin's Law.

Thanks for the post, Bonobo.

[Democracyinkind]

51. Slight correction.

The classification of the documents was never really disputed. No law allowed Meili to view those documents let alone smuggling them out. His actions were clearly illegal.

And still, he did the right thing. There's a lesson here.

Today Meili is back in Switzerland, the trial against him was never pursued, he feels let down by the US, and he is living on the taxpayer's dole here (among social security systems, he rationally prefers Switzerland) and is living free of harassment and rather incognito. There might be a lesson or two here too.

[Laelth]

55. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[rpannier]

60. Number 100 rec Yea

Thanks for sharing

[Civilization2]

61. Wow! That little bit of history does show the hypocrisy in a BRIGHT LIGHT!!!

Damn,. that has gotta kick the "snowden is a traitor" folks right in the nuts. The hypocrisy is palpable, and since they have lost the ad hominem wars you would think they would cut their losses and stop exposing their sockpuppet accounts as compromised,. and yet they persist. Oh well truth be told they can tell no truth.., sad, and more than a little bit pathetic, but good for a laugh.

[kenny blankenship]

66. Then there was the time the US granted asylum in its embassy to a man in China who was under arrest

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

But that was last year, so it's ancient history and doesn't count.

[DemocratForJustice]

72. K&R

.

[Recursion]

83. Why wouldn't the US give asylum to somebody who gave us info?

I don't understand the hypothetical the author is setting up. Of course we'll give asylum to people who give us information, and ask other countries not to (just like they do with us).