US whistleblower Edward Snowden has continued to apply for asylum around the world in an effort to get out of the Moscow Airport. Those requests appear to have finally borne fruit, as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro became the first to officially offer him asylum.
France was the latest nation to turn down an asylum bid, and Iceland’s parliament also rejected an effort to grant him citizenship, but for the first time since fleeing Hong Kong, Snowden finally seems to have options other than staying in the airport.
Venezuela may just be the first of many options, as well, as Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega also said he was willing to offer asylum “if circumstances allow,” though he didn’t specify what those circumstances would be.
Snowden has sought asylum in at least 26 different nations worldwide, though many of those nations have simply been unable to process a request unless Snowden is able to get to their embassy, which so far he has been unable to do.
Getting to Venezuela, or elsewhere, may be a big challenge in itself, as even the rumor that Snowden might be on the plane of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales was enough for EU nations, at the behest of the US, to force Morales’ plane to land and submit to a full search.
If Snowden can’t overfly the EU in a trip, it may be awfully hard to get a plane from Moscow to anywhere in Venezuela without a layover anyplace.
I may be missing something here, but couldn't Venezuela give him citizenship and then appoint him to some position that would include a diplomatic passport? That's not to say that the Empire would honor that, but it would be embarrassing as hell if the Empire violated diplomatic immunity (and could offer justification for some interesting Latin American retaliation).
My contacts in Caracas say they are working on that very thing..stay tuned.. O'bomb.er' will be greatly distressed.lol
VIVA VENEZUELA!
Well said, Mr. Ehling!
Ron Paul is my President. Antiwar.com is my Website. Free Mr. Edward Snowden, Free ALL good people!
Sincerely,
Mr. Berke
(from southern California, U.S.A.)
The world needs more of Bradley Maning, Julian Assange and Snowden. Without them USA and its vulture capitalism system would have many stone age dungeons full of people as in Guantanamo and Abu gharib prison ready to kill everyone of them, without anyone would know anything about it.
Snowden would be welcome in the hearts and homes of almost the entire world population. I want him to know this and be strong.
That is an interesting idea, but Amerika has already had its minions engage in AIR PIRACY based on a “hunch”. The level of contempt for international norms and international law which that action reveals suggests that the Amerikan government has no respect for any law (we already know it has no respect for its own laws and Constitution). In short, the Empire is ruled by sociopathic criminals who only respect the language of force.
The only way that I can see for Snowden to make it to Latin America would be for him to be given safe passage out of Moscow to a free country on board a Russian military convoy. The criminals in Washington are willing to push Bolivia around, but I doubt they would be so brave when faced with a nuclear armed Russian fleet on the high seas.
If I were Putin I’d use this situation to declare a joint military exercise with Venezuela and put Snowden on a nuclear sub or missile destroyer.
-flek
"Getting to Venezuela, or elsewhere, may be a big challenge in itself"
This is indeed an interesting conundrum. A smaller sized private plane is one option, but of course, this type of craft would require many refueling stops. Especially when assuming that it would be avoiding the airspace of US puppet / lapdog counties.
Of course, a huge, transcontinental type aircraft could perhaps make the journey with a single refueling, or no refueling at all, but, what is the chance that Snowden would have access to such a plane? I suppose if he had some very wealthy backers, it might be possible to charter such a plane.
Snowden is a hero and a patriot in my book. We live in an age where the civil liberties our forefathers fought so hard for are being eroded by the day. Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly are mere ghostly images of their original intent. We’ve woken up to an Orwellian Society of Fear where anyone is at the mercy of being labeled a terrorist for standing up for rights we took for granted just over a decade ago. Read about how we’re waging war against ourselves at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/living…