General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn Moscow Layover, Snowden Finds No Friend in Putin (info squeeze in Moscow and Havana hmm)
My predictions:
- Putin will squeeze info out of Snowdon before granting him exit
- Cuba will not accept his transit through Jose Marti Airport in Havana
** After noting that all flights to Ecuador make stopovers I'm concluding that
he may stop in Caracas or Havana but only if they also get something out of
the deal .. as in more secret information or a payoff of another kind. In both
cases their relationship with the US will take a hit so they'll need incentive
The suspense did not last long: Soon after his flight from Hong Kong landed in Moscow, we were told that National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden had applied for political asylum in Ecuador.
It was in Hong Kong that Snowden publicly disclosed the existence of Prism, a top-secret U.S. National Security Agency program providing the NSA with access to the servers of top Internet companies like Miscrosoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo! Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., where Snowden is sought for revealing classified information. Though the region's parliament left it for the mainland Chinese authorities to decide whether or not to hand Snowden over, his situation was too uncertain to stay on. Hong Kong officials facing pressure both from the U.S. and from Beijing, which is reluctant to take orders from Washington, must have heaved a big sigh of relief as Snowden boarded an Aeroflot flight to Moscow.
It was hardly a random destination: Russia has no extradition treaty with the U.S. Since Snowden had not made his plans known before skipping Hong Kong, some politicians in Moscow believed he might seek asylum here, and welcomed the opportunity to stick it to Uncle Sam. "Some are already saying that granting Snowden political asylum would be an act of cold war," tweeted Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. "But if wig-wearing spies are not committing one, granting asylum is not such an act, either."
Pushkov was referring to the recent apprehension of a U.S. diplomat in Moscow as he walked to an alleged rendezvous with a potential Russian asset. The diplomat was apparently wearing a blond wig, and the whole episode was more comical than cloak-and-dagger.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/on-moscow-layover-snowden-finds-no-friend-in-putin.html
Putin practicing the squeeeeze technique he'll apply to Snowden
Harmony Blue
(3,978 posts)as he doesn't have a super bowl ring.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)and the marriage will be short lived.
Just enough to get the info that Putin believes he has in that 'puter of his!
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Jesus Christ. This story is a week old, and journalists still can't get basic stuff right.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)agree
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)and facts matter little to MSM and the journalists of today IMO.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)flamingdem
(39,380 posts)ooops that sounds a little too racy
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font]
[hr]
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)Wikileaks said so! He da man. No way can he resist putting on the squeeze with this american boy
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)BOG PERSON
(2,916 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font]
[hr]
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)and I mean Putin
I mean the story and this is not sexual to those who would alert over such an "offense"
chillfactor
(7,608 posts)is just that .... speculation.....
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)flamingdem
(39,380 posts)Ecuador may be smarter than I thought.
Why would they take him when they get so little out of it.
Plus: Putin wants to squeeze him tight
darkangel218
(13,985 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Not all politics are American.
Tweaking the Monroe doctrine.
This is junior high material really.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And tweaking the former imperial power. Yup, all this drama revealed that too.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)I don't think they need to help Snowden to burnish their credibility with the Latin American left.
I just see them as too smart to get involved, Ecuador has less to lose.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And it s not about the Latin left either.
The us is revealing itself to be quite weak on this footnote of history
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)for sure we know that but I don't think the US has been that far reduced in the region yet.
Time will tell.
Elections can go both ways in Latam and things can swing right as quickly as left.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)I think we might want to find a few nails for the Monroe Doctrine.
Now off to read some Latin press.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for revealing a highly classified surveillance program that allegedly monitored phone and electronic conversations of millions of Americans, has arrived in Moscow and has been examined by an Ecuadorian Embassy doctor, the Ecuadorian newspaper Hoy reported Sunday.
Snowden, 30, left Hong Kong on Sunday, a day after the United States formally requested his extradition. A passenger who was on an Aeroflot flight that Snowden is believed to have taken to Moscow told RIA Novosti that Snowden had gotten into a car with diplomatic plates on the tarmac at Sheremetyevo Airport.
However, media reports cited airport officials as saying that Snowden would not be allowed to leave the premises because he did not have a Russian visa and would therefore only be able to fly to a third destination.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)He has a Russian "guide" no doubt, along with the Ecuadorian diplomatic staff.
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)If he stops in Havana then there will have been incentives for Cuba as well.
They will take a hit in US Cuba relations and will want something back.
Squeeze again
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)I think he's going elsewhere. Miami righties trying to get some anti-Cuba hate in before the real route is announced. (Disclaimer: I could be wrong but will be disappointed and was hoping that Cuba could put aside the feud for this one time)
The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/23/3466238_plane-believed-to-be-carrying.html#storylink=cpy
WestStar
(202 posts)Don't already know what Snowden knows?
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)if you know what I mean.
And they may want to intimidate him as to his future intelligence gathering.
Putin knows how to do these things, in fact it's second nature to him, like a sport, a hobby!
flamingdem
(39,380 posts)they might, because he's working for them perhaps!?!