General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am getting the odd sense that some don't like Snowden because he made the establishment look bad [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)because it had flown all the way from Moscow to Vienna, had circled around and now needed to tank up a bit before heading out across the Atlantic Ocean. Once over the Atlantic Ocean it could not refuel. France, Italy and Spain and Portugal had all refused Morales the right to land and refuel or made his landing or refueling or even crossing into their air space contingent on allowing local authorities to search Morales plane which enjoyed diplomatic immunity because it was the official plane of the president of Bolivia.
This is confirmed because when Morales landed in Vienna, the American ambassador, Eacho I think his name is, called the Austrian Minister of the Interior and also wrote her saying that he wanted to extradite Snowden.
Snowden was either not on the plane or was not found on the plane. Morales has said that he did not allow an inspection. It is unclear whether perhaps there was an inspection.
Morales stayed in the Vienna airport for 13 hours. The problem with the fuel gauge I would guess was that it showed they were too low on fuel to make it across the Atlantic without refueling. I haven't seen any report that anything else was wrong with it. Have you? Link please if you have.
That is why the organization of South American governments passed a resolution asking for formal apologies from Italy, France, Portugal and Spain and condemning the violation of diplomatic immunity that took place.
So no one needs to make up lies to make Obama look bad. He looks like someone who violated a very old and standard treaty that is vital to peace in the world because it makes diplomacy possible.
Obama made himself look bad. Don't blame anyone else. This was a huge mistake, and our government should eat humble pie and apologize.