Reports Snowden asked for Political Asylum in Russia (Russia Denies)
It seems that by cutting all avenues of leaving Moscow and be intercepted by the US and Allies, Moscow will be keeping Snowden. I can’t imagine that would be what the US really wanted as second choice of not getting him in US soil; By plaing hard ball it has push the cub into the bear’s nest.
It’s being reported right now at rt.com/news that Snowden felt he could not travel safely to Latin America and there was no place for him in to go in Europe, so America’s longest standing enemy and now semi-enemy and very much interested in getting to know what America is doing in Tech research which will save them billions of dollars of making the same stuff or to neutralize the stuff that United States is researching and paying to research and develop. If you know what your opponent players’s cards have you have the game.
My question is how can a democratic administration act like they were republicans and play a hard line that only made the right wingers in congress war think tanks happy? I am speechless that I a starving blogger could figure this out along with moderates that wanted to know what was leaked and why? Now the only people that know what was leaked besides Snowden and the people he leaked it to, is the US ( I should hope) and now Russia. My only hope is that RT is wrong and the Reports of the NYTimes today which in plain language says 'Russia doesn’t know Nothing’ ‘We Offer Nothing to Nobody!'
Bot-even-us-believes-snowden-is-at airport ( Last posting on Snowden from Adamfoxie*Shares)
Bot-even-us-believes-snowden-is-at airport ( Last posting on Snowden from Adamfoxie*Shares)
{{Adam}}
The following is coming out of RT Russia:
NSA leaker & former CIA employee Edward Snowden has asked for political asylum in Russia, saying he could not fly to Latin America, according to human rights activists who met the whistleblower at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
According to Tatyana Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, Snowden seeks to stay in Russia as he “can’t fly to Latin America yet.”
When asked if the NSA leaker has any more revelations, Lokshina responded: “He says that his job is done.”
Snowden asked the human rights activists to petition the US and European states not to interfere with his asylum process, she said. The former NSA contractor also asked to intervene with President Putin on his behalf, Lokshina added.
Snowden said he is ready to ask Russia for political asylum and that he “does not intend to harm the US,” according to Russian State Duma MP Vyacheslav Nikonov.
“No actions I take or plan are meant to harm the US... I want the US to succeed,” Snowden said.
Snowden said he does not rule out moving to live in a Latin American country. However, the recent incident in which the Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was grounded in Austria on suspicion that the NSA leaker was on board discourages Snowden from going there now.
“First, he said that he was dissatisfied with European countries after the Bolivian president’s plane was inspected. He wants to seek political asylum, at least temporary shelter, in Russia. But his further actions are unclear,” Nikitin said.
According to human rights lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, the request for political asylum has already been written by Snowden. Kucherena said he will provide legal support for the former NSA contractor seeking asylum.
The Russian authorities should be able to decide on Snowden’s asylum request in two to three weeks’ time, he added.
Meanwhile, Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin suggested that it would be better for Snowden to ask the UN or the ICRC for refugee status instead of seeking asylum in Russia. That way it won’t harm Russian-American relations, he added.
The US Embassy called several rights activists before their meeting with Snowden, asking to deliver the official American stance on his actions.
“It is true that I received a call from the American Embassy in the name of [US Ambassador to Russia Michael] McFaul, in which I was asked to deliver to Snowden the US official stand, which says he is not considered a rights activist, that he broke the law and therefore must be made accountable,” Lokshina confirmed to RIA Novosti.
However, Washington denied that US diplomats asked Human Rights Watch to deliver a message to Snowden.
“We simply explained our position on Snowden to a representative of Human Rights Watch,” a source at the US Department of State told Interfax.
Thirteen Russian and international human rights advocates and lawyers have gathered at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport for a meeting with Snowden. The whistleblower said the living conditions were fine at the airport and he felt safe there, but he knows he can't stay there forever, according to Lokshina.
Rights advocates who received letters from Snowden and agreed to come to the meeting included representatives of Amnesty International, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations, as well as well-known Russian lawyers.
The meeting started behind closed doors in an undisclosed area of Sheremetyevo’s Terminal F.
Meanwhile, several hundred journalists have surrounded a gray ‘staff only’ door guarded by airport security, awaiting for comments from the meeting participants.
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