I say we prosecute Snowden for “breaking his oath” (whatever oath he actually took ? He’s not in the military and doesn’t work for the government.) right after we prosecute the President, Congress, and related courts (FISA) for breaking their oaths to defend the constitution of the United States. The day we impeach these liars for tearing up the Constitution is the day we can punish Snowden for his “crimes”.
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Why is it that everyone is focusing on holding Snowden accountable for his actions, but no one holds the US Government accountable for its much horrendous actions (disguised as benign intentions)?
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Obama won’t scramble jets to catch Snowden, but apparently he will call upon a line of states in western europe to prevent a plane carrying a foreign head of state from getting home on the strength of the barest rumor that Snowden is on board.
It’s almost enough to make one vote libertarian.
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… or Dachau.
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I´ll have you know just recently Austrian foreign minister Michael Spindelegger issued a stern warning to the U.S., stating that, should the U.S. not provide clarity on their EU-spying operations promptly, he would view that as a “serious nuisance”.
I bet you feel real foolish now implying European governments were cowardly brown-nosers.
Now if only there was a person knowledgeable about NSA spying operations and there was a way we could persude him to come to our country and, even in person, provide said clarity … alas, no one comes to mind.
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Maybe blind obedience is just too much of a comfortable position to have.
Just following orders. That’s been deprecated, you know.
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Of course we are. You have bases everywhere, nuclear weapons, you invade smaller countries about every decade or so and control a large part of the economy. If need be, your judges freeze multi-billion accounts of companies with US subsidiaries. Or change the rule afterwards, so a contract goes to Boeing rather than to Airbus.
Plus, in our case, you have lots and lots of armed soldiers right in our country and have physical control about large part of our gold.
Also all the secrets you stole, which can be used to blackmail and for industrial sabotage and espionage.
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No, only when you are the loser. When you are the winner, you get to redefine terms.
If everybody else stuck together, we’d be powerless. Hell, if even France and Germany stuck together, the US wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it.
Here is a secret to all US oaths: they are all to the Constitution, not a king. There is no sworn official in the US that swears to anything other than to the US Constitution. It is actually incredibly brilliant. This means that if you feel that the US Constitution is an ethical document in addition to a legal one, that when you obey the US Constitution in contrast to other orders then you are doing the right thing, whether you are a county dogcatcher or a US Senator.
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Equating what the root poster was talking about with Nazi war crimes was a bit harsh, don’t you think? There can be personal integrity and responsibility in the world. He didn’t oppose the leaks, but merely suggested that Snowden could have performed an act of civil disobedience within the society, instead of fleeing the consequences.
A correction suggestion, Xeni: It seems that it was Snowden’s father that likened him to Paul Revere, not Morales.
Just take a look at all the other whistleblowers and how they’ve been treated: Kiriakou’s life and career ruined and rotting in jail for telling us the CIA was torturing people (the torturers of course got off and are now running the CIA); Binney’s life and career ruined; Drake’s life and career ruined. Manning tortured and imprisoned for years and now subject to a secret trial.
It fascinates me how people who have done NOTHING to defend their own country’s constitution or risked their lives to inform the people of the criminal acts of their government think they can judge those who have.
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See above. You have troops in our country. You control physical access to a large part of our gold and communication infrastructure. Yes, if we’d stick together, US control would be much harder, but you’ve got quite some experience with this divide and conquer thing, including having a 5th column within the EU in the form of the United Kingdom.
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Why the fuck should he? He pissed of organizations which kidnap, forge evidence to “justify” invasions of sovereign nations, extort and murder. Which is okay with many Americans, as long as the victims aren’t Americans or really, really bad guys. Because, right or wrong, my country.
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Almost? I used to see out mainstream parties as salvage, but not anymore. I’m afraid I’ll have to vote far Left - unless the Pirates get their act together - because our deranged socialists would take longer to dismantle our economy than CDU, SPD and FDP will need to dismantle the feeble rest of our freedom.
“a serious nuisance”? Isn’t that the diplomatic equivalent of “sorry, what was the question?”
SOON
If the flight really was denied airways clearance to find Snowden, then this does not bode well for his eventual escape. Access to Russia is heavily controlled by Western Europe and Asia. I can imagine a trajectory which crosses Russia to the east, skirting past the northern borders of China and Japan, but the US does enroute air traffic control of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, so they could deny clearance and force an abort to Hawaii, or the US East Coast. Its still international territory so I suppose the aircraft could choose to have a radio and transponder failure when it leaves Russia.
