Litbrit Discusses Edward Snowden on the BBC

Deborah Newell Tornello (aka Litbrit) recently spoke on the BBC show World Have Your Say about Edward Snowden. The subject was is Snowden an American hero. Litbrit staunchly believes Snowden is a hero.

Cat Fight Between New Republic's Julia Ioffe and Lawrence O'Donnell

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New Republic Senior Editor Julia Ioffe tore Lawrence O'Donnell to pieces in her column. Ioffe has reported from Russia for three years. O'Donnell doesn't let Ioffe's superior knowledge in Russia politics get in the way of his narrative of Vladimir Putin having Godlike powers. Ioffe explains in her column.

* Vladimir Putin is not omnipotent. He does not control everything that happens in the Russian Federation, a vast and often inhospitable landmass that spans 10 time zones. * Similarly, Barack Obama does not have total control over the minutiae of the United States of America. * Putin does not orchestrate, he reacts. Putin is no chess player. He is a knee-jerk, short-sighted little tyrant. Don't give him credit where credit isn't due. * Americans, especially Americans who have never been to Russia, overestimate the abilities of both Putin and the Russians. Because, I mean, come on. Tank! * The Russians did not create the Snowden situation; Julian Assange and the U.S. government did. Assange insinuated himself into the situation and sent Snowden to Ecuador (the country granting him asylum) through Russia (his great friend). * The Obama administration trapped Snowden in Russia. The U.S. unsealed the charges before it had Snowden in custody, revoked his passport, then downed the plane of the president of a sovereign state over other sovereign states because it thought Snowden was on board. The only place, by design, where Snowden could go was back to the U.S. Where he was charged with espionage, for which the maximum punishment is death. Russia is a brutal place where whistleblowers are harassed and killed, but Russia, unlike the U.S., has no death penalty. And it is only because the Russians made a stink about it, that Eric Holder was forced to come out and assure the Russians that Edward Snowden won't be put to death. This happened over a month after Snowden's arrival in Moscow, and after the charges of espionage were unsealed. * If a Russian Edward Snowden ended up in JFK Airport, there is no way in hell we'd turn him over to the Russians. Not in a hundred years, and not ever. * You can't back Putin into a corner and leave him no options. If you are a world leader worth your salt, and have a good diplomatic team working for you, you would know that. You would also know that when dealing with thugs like Putin, you know that things like this are better handled quietly. Here's the thing: Putin responds to shows of strength, but only if he has room to maneuver. You can't publicly shame him into doing something, it's not going to get a good response. Just like it would not get a good response out of Obama. * The Obama administration totally fucked this up. I mean, totally. Soup to nuts. Remember the spy exchange in the summer of 2010? Ten Russian sleeper agents—which is not what Snowden is—were uncovered by the FBI in the U.S. Instead of kicking up a massive, public stink over it, the Kremlin and the White House arranged for their silent transfer to Russia in exchange for four people accused in Russia of spying for the U.S. Two planes landed on the tarmac in Vienna, ten people went one way, four people went the other way, the planes flew off, and that was it. That's how this should have been done if the U.S. really wanted Snowden back. * However, the decision to blow off the Moscow summit was a good one. See yesterday's post. * I am not a Putin apologist. I think he and his people do bad things, like kill people and fleece the country for its wealth. But neither do I think he's oppressing the Russian masses. He is their most extreme and natural, their most post-Soviet manifestation. There.

European countries view the death penalty differently than the United States. Putin would have received grief domestically if Snowden was sent back to the United States to be executed. Putin cares more about his poll numbers than the United States justice system. Putin doesn't have a love for whistleblowers. Putin just doesn't need the grief.

Ioffe made an important point of the United States forcing Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane to land in Austria is important. Putin would have looked weak if he gave up Snowden after the Bolivia incident. Vladimir Putin never wants to appear weak. Ioffe pointed out that Putin would only give up Snowden if he could save face. The United States never provided that option. It didn't help with the heavy-handed language coming from members of Congress. Of course, Donnell didn't want to hear nuance, so he yelled over Ioffe. That explains why Ioffe will likely never appear on O'Donnell's show again.

My main beef with O'Donnell is not that he wouldn't let me make these 11 points—because, let's face it, that's not what the TV is for—but that he did exactly the same shit Russians did to me when I was in Russia. They assumed that the U.S. and its government was one sleek, well-functioning monolith, that Obama was omnipotent, and that everyone in the world, including other important (and nuclear!) world leaders, act and must act as Russia demands it should, using Russian foreign policy calculus, and with only Russian interests in mind.

Sound ridiculous? Believe me, it sounds just as insane in reverse. The problem is that this was not in the ranting comments section, but was coming from the host of a prime time, national television show. And if you don't have the good sense and education or, hell, the reporting experience to know better, then just let the guests you invited on speak.

Otherwise, don't waste my fucking evening.

Amen.

Glenn Greenwald Said What?

I have defended Glenn Greenwald in the past. However, this quotes from Greenwald comes off as a threat to the United States.

"Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had," Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro with the Argentinean daily La Nacion.

"The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare."

Greenwald's work getting Snowden to reveal the level of wiretapping is important journalism. Greenwald damages himself when he airs thinny-veiled threats at the U.S. government. It comes off as bullying and may make the public less sympathetic to Snowden's legal status.

Edward Snowden Statement

In Russia, Edward Snowden held a press conference, in the company of Sarah Harrison of Wikileaks. Snowden made this statement to the media.

Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.

It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.

That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.

Wikileaks reports that the US Ambassador to Russia told Human Rights Watch that the United States government does not consider Snowden a whistleblower. The Ambassador asked Human Rights Watch to relay this message to Snowden.The United States government considers Snowden a fugitive.

Quote of the Day

"I'm really sorry, Milissa Harris Perry, that I forced you to talk about Snowden & barred you from discussing our multiple NSA revelations."

Glenn Greenwald, on Melissa Harris Perry's shoot the messenger coverage of Edward Snowden.

Glenn Greenwald Speaks About Edward Snowden

Glenn Greenwald spoke at Socialism 2013 about how he came to meet Edward Snowden. Greenwald goes on to explain the reasoning behind Snowden leaking the information that the NSA was spying on American citizens. Greenwald said that Snowden knew that he would become a fugitive and hunted for the rest of his life. This video is must see for people interested in the Snowden story.

Update: one thing that is mentioned by people that know Greenwald is that is is very funny. Greenwald makes several strong points about the media with fantastic humor. Greenwald is funny.

Update: Greenwald interviewed by Eric Bolling on Fox and Friends. Somewhere Joy-Ann Reid's head is exploding.

Best Edward Snowden Comic Ever

This is a great parody of both the questions of Edward Snowden's whereabouts and the children's show Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego.

David Gregory's Poor Journalism

I have not been a fan of Meet the Press host David Gregory. My long-standing view is that Gregory is a dancing buffoon that publicly admitted on Twitter it is not his job to fact-check the statements of his guests. This past Sunday, Gregory framed a question in a manner that accused Guardian columnist Glenn Greewald of breaking the law.

"To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden, even inhis current movements, why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?" heasked.

Greenwald replied that it was "pretty extraordinary that anybody who would call themselvesa journalist would publicly muse about whether or not other journalists should be charged with felonies," and that there was no evidence to back up Gregory's claim that he had "aided" Snowden.

If this was an Obama administration official saying this to Gregory, the questions he should have asked were is the Justice Department going to indict Greenwald? How exactly did Greenwald aid and abetted Edward Snowden? Are you willing to go on the record with these accusations? If this administration official couldn't answer the first two questions and wad.'t willing to go on the record then he was bullshitting Gregory. Gregory could have checked with other sources. Most likely Gregory recited what his unnamed source told him ithout ever fact-checking his statements.