Statement By Edward Snowden From Moscow

[RANGA+ 1,210]

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-from-Edward-Snowden-in.html?snow

 

Monday July 1, 21:40 UTC

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.

 

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

 

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.

 

For decades the United States of America has been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.

 

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

 

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

 

Edward Joseph Snowden

 

Monday 1st July 2013

 

 

 

 

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Awesomeness. Leave him alone, damn it!

[Guest Phailadelphia]

Snowden is doing a great job of making the NSA surveillance less about the NSA and more about himself.

[JetsFan4Life 542]

Yeah he's making himself out to be a martyr. Not saying he doesn't deserve the right to do it or that I wouldn't but if you don't think he's just trying to make himself out to be a martyr in this letter you're kind of fooling yourself.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

He's basically turning this into a publicity stunt for himself and a political game for the US. No one is even talking about the NSA surveillance anymore.

[NaTaS+ 958]

So now he wants to be compared to the douche Bradley Manning? The guy that put thousands of troops at risk? Yeah, that's the right thing to do. /s

[Jules 98]

How very "V for Vendetta"....

 

No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

 

What has always been in my mimd most from day 1 is the character Snowden and "Catch 22."

 

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/c22/CHR.html

 

 

 

 

And this is new.....

 

http://rt.com/news/bolivia-un-complaint-plane-601/

Edited July 3, 2013 by Jules

[Jules 98]

Awesomeness. Leave him alone, damn it!

 

I am still a tad torn on the Snowden case TBH. I will have more to say maybe later. :grinno: I still think there is much to learn....

 

In the meantime this is funny:

 

Edited July 3, 2013 by Jules

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Yeah he's making himself out to be a martyr. Not saying he doesn't deserve the right to do it or that I wouldn't but if you don't think he's just trying to make himself out to be a martyr in this letter you're kind of fooling yourself.

 

Except if you actually knew the definition of a martyr, you'd realize he is.

 

mar·tyr (märtr)

One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.

 

He gave up a cushy job making $200k a year and his own personal safety in order to make sure people knew of the injustices set forth upon them by the government. He's now living on the run, seeking aid from people he doesn't know to avoid persecution for doing the right thing.

 

Now if you think he is deliberately and wrongly using it to his advantage, that's fine. But try to avoid using words that you don't know the definition(s) of.

[Bucman 891]

Good luck to him. Looks like a lot of countries are already turning down his request for asylum, because he is not already in that said country.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Bolivia has accused European countries of an "act of aggression" for refusing to allow its presidential jet into their airspace, amid suggestions US fugitive Edward Snowden was on board.

 

Bolivia said France, Italy, Spain and Portugal had blocked the plane.

 

President Evo Morales was flying back to Bolivia from Moscow when the plane was forced to stop in Vienna.

 

Meanwhile, France has urged EU-US trade talks be delayed amid the fallout from secrets leaked by Mr Snowden.

 

The talks are due to begin on Monday but claims that the US bugged EU diplomatic offices in the US, and spied on internal computer networks, have upset transatlantic relations.

 

French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Berkacem said the talks should be suspended for 15 days to enable mutual trust to be restored.

 

BBC

 

Apparently they searched the plane and he wasn't on board. Also, European Union not looking thrilled.

[Bucman 891]

Thanks governments, seems like a great idea to bug potential and countries that are already allies with us.

[Jules 98]

More on Snowden and the Catch 22 ties....

 

http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/1/post/2013/06/snowden-catch-22-and-the-dehumanization-of-our-nation.html

[RANGA+ 1,210]

BBC

 

Apparently they searched the plane and he wasn't on board. Also, European Union not looking thrilled.

 

Yeah the EU is pissed off. They are launching an investigation into the extent of the surveillance conducted by the NSA. The way the US government is handling this situation is appalling. They don't seem to give a shit about anybody and continue to defend their actions as being in the best interests of "security". With the way the world is headed right now, the US can't afford to irritate the few allies it has left.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

An Icelandic lawmaker is trying to push through a bill that would give Snowden citizenship to the small country.

[Bucman 891]

Snowden Is Offered Asylum by Venezuela

Maduro Says Country Would Provide 'Humanitarian Asylum' to NSA Leaker

 

Venezuela is offering "humanitarian asylum" to U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, President Nicolás Maduro said Friday, suggesting his country could offer the leaker a way out of his apparent limbo in a Moscow airport but provided no details as to how it could happen.

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578588351612234478.html

 

Looks like he got his wise. Now comes a way to get him out. They could send a private plane to get him and wisk him outta there.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Hernandez should've hooked up with Snowden.

[JetsFan4Life 542]

Except if you actually knew the definition of a martyr, you'd realize he is.

 

mar·tyr (märtr)

One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.

 

He gave up a cushy job making $200k a year and his own personal safety in order to make sure people knew of the injustices set forth upon them by the government. He's now living on the run, seeking aid from people he doesn't know to avoid persecution for doing the right thing.

 

Now if you think he is deliberately and wrongly using it to his advantage, that's fine. But try to avoid using words that you don't know the definition(s) of.

 

Just curious where you're pulling these definitions from? Dictionary.com doesn't have that as any of their entries for the word martyr.

Edited July 8, 2013 by JetsFan4Life

[BucD+ 648]

Just curious where you're pulling these definitions from? Dictionary.com doesn't have that as any of their entries for the word martyr.

 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/martyr

 

It's #2

 

I'm guessing you (JF4L) were using 3b, no?

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/martyr

 

It's #2

 

I'm guessing you (JF4L) were using 3b, no?

 

Except that's a really hard case to make I think. I mean how much of the sacrifices he has made are feigned or even exaggerated? And he doesn't even bring them up, ever. He's given up pretty much everything in his life but his life itself.

 

He talked about the dishonesty of the Obama administration briefly in the OP, but that isn't so much a "feel bad for me" but a "look what's happening" kind of statement.

 

If he were releasing statements every other day talking about only his personal sacrifices, what he lost, and talking about nothing but his own suffering... I think Ricky would have a point. But I simply don't see that right now.

 

The way I look at it... Would any of us be willing to uproot ourselves from our lifestyles in order to out the government for their oppression? Are any of us willing to pick up and forget the life we spent 30+ years setting the foundation for in order to live (for the moment) on the run with any uncertainty that tomorrow will come?

 

I certainly won't be, can't speak for the rest of you.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Favre4Ever

[BucD+ 648]

Except that's a really hard case to make I think. I mean how much of the sacrifices he has made are feigned or even exaggerated? And he doesn't even bring them up, ever. He's given up pretty much everything in his life but his life itself.

 

He talked about the dishonesty of the Obama administration briefly in the OP, but that isn't so much a "feel bad for me" but a "look what's happening" kind of statement.

 

If he were releasing statements every other day talking about only his personal sacrifices, what he lost, and talking about nothing but his own suffering... I think Ricky would have a point. But I simply don't see that right now.

 

The way I look at it... Would any of us be willing to uproot ourselves from our lifestyles in order to out the government for their oppression? Are any of us willing to pick up and forget the life we spent 30+ years setting the foundation for in order to live (for the moment) on the run with any uncertainty that tomorrow will come?

 

I certainly won't be, can't speak for the rest of you.

 

I don't disagree with you really.

 

I think the media (shocking I know lol) is more to blame for the focus shifting more to him than the NSA surveillance as Phail eluded to...

[OSUViking 505]

I'd offer Snowden asylum in my basement, to be honest. He wouldn't last very long, but still.

[Jules 98]

http://rt.com/news/snowden-us-nightmare-greenwald-064/

 

“Snowden has enough information to cause more damage to the US government in a minute alone than anyone else has ever had in the history of the United States,” Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist responsible for publishing some of Snowden’s first leaks, told Argentina-based newspaper La Nación.

 

“But that's not his goal. His objective is to expose software that people around the world use without knowing what they are exposing themselves to, without consciously agreeing to surrender their rights to privacy. He has a huge number of documents that would be very harmful to the US government if they were made public,” Greenwald said.