Edward Snowden’s Mad Dash
June 24, 2013, 12:05 pm
By DAVID FIRESTONE
He may be in Moscow, or perhaps he slipped away already to Cuba, Ecuador or Venezuela. Wherever Edward Snowden winds up on his increasingly desperate flight from American law enforcement, one thing is clear: he will not wind up in a country that cares about civil liberties in the United States.
Any country that takes him in will do so simply to embarrass the United States. China enjoyed the proof that the Obama administration was just as energetic as the Red Army in hacking overseas computer networks and communications. Russia would like some payback for Western spying on its leaders, and the detention of some of its citizens on international criminal charges. Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela love any opportunity to heave a few stones northward.
By taking his flash drives and laptops full of stolen classified material to any of these countries, Mr. Snowden will severely damage his credibility as someone who wants to bring about change back home. His presence in the airports of Moscow or Havana, or in government housing in Caracas, will give American lawmakers the excuse they need to refuse any changes in the laws that have allowed domestic surveillance to go off the rails.
His dash to South American freedom will also wind up focusing attention only on the drama of his flight, rather than the civil liberties issues that he says are his cause ...
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/edward-snowdens-mad-dash/
= new reply since forum marked as read
