His behavior since that first revelation also casts suspicion on his motives.
Last week Snowden revealed a practice that would surprise only the most naive, foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted and some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up by British intelligence agencies to read their email traffic, additionally the US was spying on Russian President Mevedev.
What is also probably true (although there is no leak on the other side) is that foreign intelligence service were spying on the American and other western delegations.
The only thing that revelation proved is Snowden isn't really a whistle blower the only reason to release that information is to embarrass the US and to gain his 15-minutes of fame.
His next moves were outlined by Wikileaks:
Mr Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally. He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.What is being done to Snowden and to Assange? Snowden Raped Women? That is the only thing Assange was charged with.
Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives in Ecuador his request will be formally processed.
Former Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange has made the following statement:
"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person. What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".
His tour of repressive countries is another indication Snowden isn't a freedom-loving whistleblower that some describe. His first stop was Hong Kong a territory who takes its orders from China. Next is Russia, no longer the Soviet Union but almost as repressive.
Russian officials said Snowden would remain in the transit area of the Moscow airport until Monday when he is scheduled to fly to Havana another repressive country he has requested Ecuador grant him asylum.
Ecuador is a democracy in name only. Its leftist government recently passed a bill restraining press freedom prohibiting so-called “media lynching” (the publication of information that is “generated in a concerted manner and published repeatedly in one or more media with the objective of smearing a person or harming their public credibility), empowers the government to impose sanctions on the media and most importantly, the bill asserts that it is a crime for a journalist to undermine “the security of the State”. In other words the acts which made Edward Snowden famous.
But Ecuador is no friend of the United States and will probably grant him asylum, the same way they are harboring Julian Assange who is hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in Britain to avoid rape charges.
With his travel plans Snowden adds to the proof that he never intended to be a whistleblower. Freedom-loving whistleblowers protesting big government spying on the public do not flee to China then to Russia and end up in news-media hating Ecuador. And they especially do not do it with the help of a man using "freedom of the press" as a subterfuge to avoid rape charges.
1 comment:
I don't think he did go tao a repressive regime. He was not on the flight to Cuba. A businessman was waiting with his own plane about 3 days before the announcement was going to Russia. He is in Iceland. The press is making him out to be a drop out. He graduated HS 2 years early due to an illness.
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