The Snowden Revelation That Might Start a War [View all]

[sheshe2]

Bob Cesca on January 27, 2014

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Not widely reported in the United States, a November article by The Guardian‘s Ewen MacAskill revealed that in 2009 Australia’s NSA counterpart, the Defense Signals Directorate (DSD), eavesdropped on the cellphone of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as well as his wife Ani.

The timing of the article couldn’t have been worse. Australia and Indonesia have been struggling to curtail what’s known as “people smuggling,” a refugee crisis in which people from the Middle East and South Asia have been using Indonesia as a launching-off point for harrowing journeys across the Banda and Timor Seas to seek asylum in Australia.

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To be clear, Australia/Indonesia tensions didn’t begin with Snowden, but that makes the publishing of this Snowden revelation even more irresponsible and ill-conceived. Consequently, relations have heated up and worsened as a direct result of it. Had it not been for this particular Snowden revelation, it’s very likely that Indonesia would’ve continued to assist Australia in patrolling for refugees, and a shooting war at sea wouldn’t be “imminent.” Indeed, The Guardian‘s article was the inciting incident leading to the current military dilemma.

This might be the clearest example of the recklessness of the Snowden leaks — how the former NSA systems administrator indiscriminately dumped thousands if not more than a million documents to a growing roster of journalists with nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement about making sure the articles were in the public interest. In that regard, it’s unclear how this news fits the ongoing narrative of a rogue, unconstitutional American/British surveillance state.

If the goal of Snowden and his team of reporters has shifted to something broader than alleged NSA and GCHQ trespasses, and will now include the exposing of any and all nations who spy on other nations irrespective of how those revelations might spark military tensions and possible war, we’re looking at a very different and very dangerous new chapter in the Snowden saga.

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http://thedailybanter.com/2014/01/the-snowden-revelation-that-might-start-a-war/