NYT editorial: Snowden's "fears do not qualify him for asylum" [View all]

[ProSense]

What’s the Point of a Summit?

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

President Obama is expected to decide soon whether to proceed with a planned summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow next month. At the moment, the answer should be no.

On top of all the other legitimate grievances with Mr. Putin’s policies came his decision to essentially stick a thumb in Mr. Obama’s eye by granting asylum to Edward Snowden, the man who disclosed to the world the National Security Agency sweeps of Americans’ telephone records. The Obama administration had urged Mr. Putin not to grant Mr. Snowden asylum.

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Russia’s decision was provocative. Asylum is for people who are afraid to return to their own country because they fear persecution, unlawful imprisonment or even death because of their race, their ethnicity, their religion, their membership in particular social or political groups, or their political beliefs.

Mr. Snowden undoubtedly fears returning home because he would be arrested and prosecuted. But those fears do not qualify him for asylum. And does he really feel safer in a country where Mr. Putin, an increasingly authoritarian leader, has jailed and persecuted his critics?

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/opinion/whats-the-point-of-a-summit.html