Video: RT’s live feed of media scrum at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Rough machine translation of the Russian description at this link: Today, the former CIA officer asked for a meeting at 17:00 Moscow time in the transit area of the airport. Human rights activists and lawyers have expressed willingness to meet with Edward Snowden. Invitations… READ THE REST
I guess he has to play the cards he’s dealt, but the day after Putin’s government announces they’re going to arrest openly gay tourists from other nations, seeing people talk about Russian human rights rankles me.
Right. Snowden should absolutely seek asylum in a nation that has never violated anybody’s rights. Until he finds that Shangri-La of ethical purity, the airport should be good enough for him. I hear they have vending machines.
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Not to mention their long history of punishing or assassinating journalists, whistleblowers, and human rights advocates in general.
As we’ve pointed out with those earlier Boing Boing posts about Venezuela’s awful human rights record, there are no good options for Snowden.
Most of the nations with reasonable human rights records are afraid of pissing off the US, and won’t open doors in this situation.
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America is literally above the law in the world so any petition to assure his safe passage from Russia to the next best America, Latin America, will fall on deaf ears.
I love how Putin has positioned himself as a defender of America: “He must cease his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners.” – Putin is no friend of the US but he knows how to play the game.
High-stakes international intrigue is being played out right before our eyes. Political dramas try and fail to be this thrilling.
Here’s an interesting factoid I read in another article.
Under law in Russia, you’re only allowed to be in the transit zone for 24 hours or less. After that time, Russia is free to deport you. So, while I do have doubts about Russia’s human rights issues, Putin could have put Snowden on a plane weeks ago to New York. So it’s clear the Russian president is definitely playing a game here.
That is shocking. This proves once again Putin is morally impure. We should absolutely reserve our respect for leaders who are always honest and forthcoming about their motives and plans. We should convene a task force to express serious disapproval for him and his ilk.
LOL! We have one, but they have veto power, so 
I’m just saying it was something I had not heard mentioned much here.
Please try to be more interesting/less lame.
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So, what are Snowden’s options for getting to Venezuela? Could a charter plane reach Latin America without flying through US and European-controlled airspace? It’s going to be expensive to charter a plane to take that route, and very obvious if it happens. What other options are there? Travel on the oceans?
Travel by boat is an interesting idea that I haven’t heard mentioned elsewhere. A marine interlude would be a nice twist on the Snowden saga.
Max Fisher did a nice summary of flight options:
Oh I’m trying, but I fail sometimes.
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