The more I find out, the more of a fan of Snowden I become.
This will be good.
From what I’ve read, Germany has its own secret surveillance state and has been cracking down on its own whistleblowers recently. I’m not so sure I’d trust “safe passage” if they offered it. Why don’t they go to him?
But he just got that sweet job in Russia!
I would feel very uneasy for him to go there. He could apply for asylum, in person, as they require, but that doesn’t mean he will get it. Then they say things like he might be a good witness. What if they deem that he isn’t, after all is said and done? Merkel may be back to “full on” chumminess with the US, at that point. Or maybe she is now, and this is a ploy?
Yeah, it could be genuine. Either that or
Don’t I recall stories of the CIA snatching people off the street on foreign soil?
Oh yes, Ströbele the American agent. Deepest cover ever.
It’s the German green party. Part of the opposition at this point. So it’s not an official request by the German authorities. That means it’s probably not a ruse, despite Germany and Merkel’s track record on privacy. It would seem to be quite save, as Merkel is, as far as I know, still trying to assemble a working coalition government, so she wouldn’t want to blow her chances with the liberal/left leaning parties.
The Dutch Socialist Party, currently the biggest opposition party, requested the same thing last week by the way.
Which? I don’t remember anything remotely matching that description.
It’s probably a genuine offer by Ströbele, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe for Snowden to go to Germany. He’d probably be fine, it’s not like the Americans have a giant fucking military base to operate out of or anything.
Nothing new. This man Ströebele is well know for his sympathy to putin and anti-American rhetoric
Snowden is Cory’s personal hero 
Err, no. Seriously, he is a pretty well known and outspoken politician. People will notice if you are just making shit up.
Safe passage? Right! Remember what happened to Jan Hus!
I agree that the article is far too optimistic and there are serious problems with any possible Snowden testimony.
If he testified it would have to be under heavy guard. Of course the Americans could overcome that if they really wanted, but it would still serve as a tripwire. While the US would have no qualms about snatching him off the street in Germany, there probably is an upper limit to the number of dead GSG-9 officers that he is worth politically.
Sure. He has a good practice by Stasi to be very outspoken
To be fair, the people CIA are fond of snatching are not going around with 24h media coverage and a cadre of activists and politicians. Snatching somebody while the world is watching, is not exactly their style.
It’s much more likely that they’d trigger some Interpol malarkey which “forces” local authorities to detain him and ship him over. It would be the sort of price German authorities might be willing to pay in order to be admitted in the 5 Eyes program (which is why they’re going over to the States at the moment – they don’t care about what happened, they want IN the damn thing asap).
… that, or it’s the perfect cover.
And mine, and a lot of people’s. If you’re going to step out on your own like Snowden has, you have to be right. And he was right.
