NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden appears to be trapped on a semi-permanent basis in the Moscow airport’s “transit” section, with no passport to allow him to leave and no chance of getting his asylum request processed by Ecuador unless he can make it to an embassy.
You can be in the “transit” section of an international airport indefinitely without a passport, and while laws vary from nation to nation very few will allow you to enter the country without one, or fly anyplace else for that matter.
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa confirmed the situation, saying his country’s laws only allow for an asylum request to be submitted on their “soil,” which would include the Moscow embassy. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also confirmed Snowden remains trapped.
Its less than 30 km, but it might as well be a lifetime away for all the good that does Snowden, unless Russia decides to let him leave the airport long enough to stop at the embassy and file the papers.
So far Russia hasn’t tipped their hand on the matter, but leaving him in the airport forever is no permanent solution, and while letting him go to the embassy is likely to irk the US, there appears to be little reason not to do so at this point.
And then.., Jason. So is Julian Assange in London, so is Bradley Maning in a military jail.., and many more political prisoners in USA.., these people's are the heroes of the people, they are in such situation not because of them but because of USA government not being honest nor working for the people.
The US government is presenting the Roman Empire the modernized version of it.., senate is the carrier of such democracy with a emblem of " I am loving it" with the statue of Micky mouse, or if you will the McDonald flag with that joker on it and non give a damn about the constitution.., so the government connection with deceive, illegal acts, fraud and dishonesty becomes a daily matter in such system. For that people are dying all over this world and you ask the question that Snowden is stuck in limbo at Moscow airport.., and then…?
Why go after a dude who all he did was confirm some gossip we were all already suspecting anyway, when serious murdering criminals are roaming free? Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are wanted for war crimes in Kuala Lumpur.
Jason, I should like to recommend a massive campaign of letters to President Putin requesting that he grant asylum to Edward Snowdon! Send your e-mails here: http://eng.letters.kremlin.ru/
Below, a sample which I submitted yesterday: (max:2000 keystrokes)
To the Most Honourable President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin:
Dear Sir,
I am addressing this direct appeal to you in respect to your high Office as Supreme Executive of the Russian Federation, that you might intervene personally on behalf of young Mr. Edward Snowden who through great courage and sacrifice has revealed to the world the overt abuses of global political and industrial espionage committed by the CIA/NSA and the flagrant hypocrisy demonstrated by Mr. Obama and his administration in Washington in seeking to bring criminal charges against him. Mr. Obama has proven himself to be the most dangerous and cynical tool of US Corporate-State interests in recent history. His policy consistently has been to obfuscate and redefine the public interest as that which he and his ruling class cohort have determined it to be. As the continuing exercise in Unlimited Global Electronic Surveillance has developed exponentially, with ever expanding information-gathering to detect hypothetically imagined, real, or potential 'subversion' globally, it has, by virtue of it's very existence and unlimited scope, been allowed to develop autonomously into a vast unaccountable tool and organ of government thought control and intimidation, thus generating the fascistic mechanisms of internalised restraint in order to achieve an acquiescent citizenry willing to accept a total complicity in the highly illegal applications of force and power upon those who have been declared Mr. Obama's enemies, domestic and foreign. It shall remain my highest hope Sir, that you will find it in your heart to welcome Mr. Edward Snowden towards safety and security within Russia, that he might discover the wonders of Russia's great cities,her extraordinarily vibrant culture and her generous and hospitable peoples. And I admire your own courage and rectitude in continued support of the Syrian government and people against the vicious attacks by ruthless Islamist thugs armed and financed by Washington!
How do we know he is really still there?