They Blew It Again
Edward Snowden’s father, Lon, was a career Coast Guard officer, and immediately after Snowden identified himself as the one who leaked the NSA documents, the elder Snowden called on his son to return to the US and face the consequences of his actions.
That was then, but as ABC News reports Lon Snowden has turned down an FBI offer of a free trip to Moscow. He then went on to thank the Russian government for its actions on behalf of his son.
Lon Snowden no longer believes that his son will get a fair trial in the US and the FBI probably wanted him to cooperate in the capture of his son in return for the free flight.
The Russian Minister of Justice is also not a believer in American justice, noting that he was ‘not swayed’ by Eric Holder’s letter promising no death penalty or torture.
Update: Russia granted Snowden asylum. It’s only for a year, but it is consistent with a recent trend in Putin’s thinking.
6 comments
The Russian Minister of Justice is sort of a misnomer, though, given that he’s prone to beating men to death then convicting the dead man of bribery for the crime of reporting bribery to the authorities.
Lon Snowden of course is going to thank the Russian government. He may be a blow-hard, but he’s not an idiot. His son is at the mercy of the same government that throws men into jail for the crime of reporting bribery and just accidentally beats them to death while in jail. Of *course* he’s going to say very nice things to the Russian government, if he doesn’t want his own son to go the same way.
Well, for a given definition of “Justice” 😈
I got the feeling that Lon Snowden thanked the Russians because he is so pissed off the FBI. The FBI probably over-played their hand, as they are wont to do, and made him mad. I can hear them talking ‘duty’ to a career Coastie … not a good idea for anyone in a suit to talk about ‘duty’ to anyone in a uniform.
Zero and Holder are busy burning all their bridges with the entire world, which wasn’t exactly thrilled by the way they got treated by the Shrubbery. Given the Manning cables, and now the Snowden revelations, the US is not in a good place internationally. Giving Zero the Peace Prize was an indication of the hopes the world had for the ‘promise’ of Obama, but the reality of Obama really sucks.
Snowden was just handed limited asylum in a major ‘fuck you’ to Zero and Holder by the Russians.
the US is not in a good place internationally
I have a friend from Scotland who has both a Canadian passport and a U.S. passport. Guess which one he uses when he travels now? 😉
That isn’t close. Why would anyone try to travel overseas with anything bearing the seal of the US Imperium? I am so sick of being hated because of the stupid people we elect.
The problem Bryan, it seems to me, is that the system is now so *gamed*, that it doesn’t matter who you elect any more. The Washington Machine will absorb anyone, and make them conform, one way or another. I don’t see how you can change that now, it’s so endemic. You would have to tear down the entire system, and start from scratch. And that would require a majority of consensus and action in the USA.
The vote on defunding NSA hoovering shows that change is possible when people work on issues.
The Senate minority leader is under attack from both sides in his reelection campaign, as the people in Kentucky have figured out that they aren’t getting much from him as he plays politics in Washington.
The good news is that the Tea Party is destroying Republican seniority in Congress. The Republicans have done such a good job decrying the evils of the Federal government, that Republican incumbents are having a hard time keeping their jobs in ‘safe seats’.
The Republicans are probably going to shut down the government in the Fall because they are morons, so that should see a major backlash. If they go through with it, a lot of Republicans will lose their seats in 2014, when historically they should pick up seats.
Who knows, the media might finally decide to report on what the problem is – stranger things have happened.