Officials in Bolivia tell the AP that a plane carrying Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, was rerouted to Austria when France and Portugal refused to allow it into their airspace over concerns NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board. Earlier in the day, Morales had hinted that Bolivia was ready to offer asylum, and compared Snowden… READ THE REST
Not helping your reputation as surrender monkeys, France.
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I don’t know where to start… Snowden leaked documents that showed that the US government basically spies on EVERYONE. But then that is supposed to be a secret. All of us who think about such things assumed this was the case, anyway. I sincerely hope some place will give him asylum. He probably needs a rest. Poor guy.
But… diverting the plane carrying the President of Bolivia? To search for this one guy? That is horrible.
Seems like international relations have broken down completely. None of these “world leaders”, have internet, or email or whatever? Gaaahhhh!!!
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Everyone is in a race to the bottom for the brownie points they’ll earn from the US if they can nab him. Stay classy western Europe, stay classy…
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Indeed. This is why there is no hypocrisy on him going to China and Russia. The so-called “free world” marches to Washington’s drum. This is a new low for the US’s contempt for international law.
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Seems like they used to have “show trials”. Now they just put people into a dungeon for a couple years, then when they finally decide to have a trial, you have to get a kickstarter to pay for stenographers. What a great country this is.
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Everyone is in a race to the bottom
I don’t get it. What does the US have to offer. Surely they can’t be afraid of us. We’re not going to invade the Aquitaine because Edward Snowden might have gone through French airspace.
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Drugs and guns are all I can come up with off the top of my head.
Oh, and dirt on no telling how many politicians apparently.
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They are probably worried about trade agreements. You wouldn’t think the US would cut off its nose to spite its face, but from the perspective of Europe, I could imagine that the US looks a little unstable. And to be fair, Europe as a whole is bigger than the US, but no individual country is. The US could cause a lot of harm to an individual country in Europe if the rest don’t band together. This has to be in the minds of politicians when they consider whether or not to kiss the US’s ass.
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Obama said he wouldn’t scramble the jets to get him. He will, however, intimidate other countries enough to threaten them to scramble their jets (and yes, Obama is some part to blame. He could have prevented this with a phone call, and surely knew about this before the jet was diverted).
Obama, I used to respect you. I used to defend you. I even used to think that you could, some day, live up to your Nobel peace prize.
I used to be so disappointed that my dear USA, “the greatest country in the world”, didn’t even try to pretend be the best country it could. That was before the Patriot Act. Before Citizens United. This is embarrassing. I am ashamed. Fear has ruined this potentially beautiful country.
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I’m so ashamed for my country (France)… Stockholm syndrome !
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Has it occurred to anyone that the US and Western Europe cooperated on many of these programs after 9/11? The US may not be the only country that views him as a security threat.
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“Security Threat”, what the hell does that even mean these days? Really? I thought we were supposed to be afraid of terrorists and shoe bombers and stuff. Now we have to cower from some computer nerd who spilled the beans on what kind of shitty crap our own government does to us?
Not buying it.
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Don’t get me started on Condoleeza Rice and the 300% tariff on Roquefort.
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“He looked at me funny.”
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Virtually every nation state views leaking their classified data as a security threat. France may have more skin in this game than just keeping the US happy, which has never been high on their list.
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At this rate they may well piss off some country enough that Snowden gets offered asylum.
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My opinion only, but Snowden should be held accountable for his actions. Perhaps I’m from the old school, but oaths are sworn for the very reason that there is risk and you might not have all the information needed to determine why the risk exists. Soldiers swear, among other things, to obey their superiors and are trained to do so without question. Without that discipline there could not have been a D-Day invasion.
While I applaud Snowden for bringing this issue to the forefront, he should also have been prepared to take the consequences for breaking his oath. It appears that he is unwilling and to me that means that he is a coward.
I can’t help but thinking it’s going to take a drone attack on US soil before people start realizing that rule of one’s own law is not just a good idea.
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Whatever the government is doing, it has nothing to do with accountability.
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