Putin: We’re never giving Snowden to the US

As if the diplomatic confusion over Edward Snowden wasn’t dense enough already, leaders of the two nations most involved both insisted that their security organizations would work together to resolve it — in diametrically opposed fashions. Both Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama ordered their agencies to find a solution to Snowden’s status as a stranded traveler without papers:

And Putin went further, announcing that Russia wouldn’t allow Snowden to stay as long as his leaks kept attacking American interests:

And now Snowden has formally applied for asylum in Russia, according to the New York Times:

High-level talks about what, precisely? The word “never” makes it pretty clear that Russia will find some way to get Snowden out of the airport that doesn’t include a one-way ticket to Washington DC. Perhaps the US can convince the Russians to keep Snowden and force him to curtail the leaks, which right now looks like the only salvageable outcome. The other option would be to force Snowden to travel to a country that will extradite him, such as the UK or another of our NATO allies that didn’t just erupt in anger over the espionage leak du jour.

That may be the only way out for both countries, and might also be Putin’s gambit for the home crowd. Voices in Russia’s Parliament have called for Putin to grant Snowden asylum. If he makes that conditional on stopping the leaks, which Snowden may no longer control, then Putin will have an excuse to kick him out of the airport and into a country that may be more cooperative with the US on extradition. That way, Putin won’t dirty his hands with an extradition that technically wouldn’t be legal while gaining a big IOU from the Obama administration.

Update: Are you waiting for the inevitable Edward Snowden film? Wait no more:

Four days, and a $540 budget. Mel Gibson, eat your heart out. No, I don’t mean that literally, Mel ….

Late yesterday, efforts for Russain Asylum ended. This report is a day old, and itself out of step.

However, the Russians have not at all indicated that they intend to hand Snowden over to Obama...nor should they.

Snowden has applied to numerous countries, and the US is contacting each of them and threatening them should they take Snowden in.

Why?

1st, why would a young man, who had a very good paying job, a very good standard of living, with an apparent very good relationship with a beautiful young woman, throw all of that away? He certainly is not materially, or life-style wise better off. He is now a fugitive and living in a Moscow airport with no passport or "nationality," to fall back on. Why would he do this? Certainly not for personal gain.

Why would the US government go to such measures to track down and try and take down and incarcertae this individual? What he has said is not only true, but now, much higher level and former employees of the NSA (including the former Director of intelligence at the NSA, William Benny, who had 6,000 analysis working for him and on this program) have come forward and verified everything Snowden has said and more.

See the following interview of several of them:

Interview with three high level NSA and other Government whistle blowers

The answer is straight forward.

Snowden saw a horrible violation of the US Constitution and US law taking place before his very eyes. He had taken an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. Apparently he took his oath seriously and so he informed the people of the United States what was happening in such a way that most of them would surely hear about it.

And for that he is paying a price...and may well pay it for the rest of his life.

Would you be willing to do the same?

Many of the people who have vested interests in this PRISM program Snowden called attention to, are angry. They want Snowden arrested and incarcerated. They call him a traitor because he reveled their secret program which was secretly collecting the peronal effect, coommunication, and information on all Americans...without their consent, without any probable cause of crime, and clearly in violation of the Constitution.

So...who is the traitor?

Traitors in espionage and intelligence either hurt the US Constitution and the interests of the nation and the people based on that constitution, or they reveal its secrets to the enemy.

But Snowden revealed the "secrets" he was aware of to the people of the United States. Are we the enemy?

That's a more important question than many of us realize. Apparently, to some within the power structures of our own government...we are.

Compare the activities and actions of these people (Snowden on one hand, and those screaming for his head on the other) to the actions of our founding fathers in 1775-1776.

Which ones back then were called traitors and were sought to be jailed and maybe killed by the ruling authorities of that day? Which ones called for freedom of the people without the ruling governments complete over sight?

The answers to those questions are very revealing.

SNOWDEN, PRISM, AND THE NSA

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