Snowden Drops Russian Asylum Bid, Wikileaks Reveals Other Countries He's Courting

Its not because of the harsh Russian winters or because he hates potato soup, but Edward Snowden has announced doesn't want to stay in Russia anymore. 

Snowden who has been running from the American authorities ever since he released the news the NSA had been collecting phone and computer information from Americans even if they weren't suspected of crime  has been holed up at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport for more than a week. The leaker of secrets made big news yesterday when he asked Russia for asylum.

"Snowden did voice a request to remain in Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to the Russian news agency Ria Novosti. "Then, yesterday, hearing President Putin outline Russia's position regarding the conditions under which he could do this, he withdrew his request for permission to stay in Russia."

Putin's condition was that he stop releasing American secrets. But yesterday in a letter to the President of Ecuador, Snowden indicated there were more leaks coming.

According to a statement by Wikileaks the NSA leaker has applied for asylum from;  Republic of Austria, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of India, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Poland, the Russian Federation, the Kingdom of Spain, the Swiss Confederation and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is visiting Moscow, said Tuesday that Snowden had "done something very important for humanity" and deserved the "world's protection." But Maduro said that Venezuela had not received a request from Snowden for asylum. India has turned down Snowden's request for political asylum on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Poland said it grants asylum if the country's interests are at stake.

"This particular premise would not be met," the foreign ministry said about Snowden's case.

Snowden had already sought asylum in Iceland and in Ecuador, which had said it was considering the request. But recent comments from the Ecuadorian president suggest the South American country's support for Snowden's flight across the globe may be waning.

Thus is the fate of people like Snowden, most applaud him for tweaking the nose of the United States (especially since his latest revelations were all about embarrassing the US), on the other hand most do not want to touch him with a ten-foot-pole.

Where ever he goes, whether he is sent back to the US or granted asylum he will always be a man without a country.