Edward Snowden Granted Temporary Asylum in Russia

Credit: Laura Poitras / Praxis Films/wikimedia

After more than a month of being stuck in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport Edward Snowden is now free to travel and live anywhere in the world's largest country. Earlier today Snowden's lawyer said that the NSA whistleblower left the airport after being granted temporary asylum in Russia.

According to Reuters Snowden has gone to a secret location.

The move is bound to frustrate American officials, who are trying to have Snowden returned to the U.S. to face charges of espionage and stealing government property. Attorney General Eric Holder recently assured Russian officials that Snowden would not face the death penalty if he was sent back to the U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that he was "determined" that the ongoing dispute over Snowden would not damage Russian ties with the U.S. Now that Snowden is free to travel in Russia that determination will be increasingly tested. Obama's trip to Moscow was recently put on hold because of the ongoing dispute over Snowden.

After arriving in Russia from Hong Kong Snowden applied for and was granted asylum in a few Latin American countries while Iceland, a country where Wikileaks' Julian Assange once stayed and worked on the "Collateral Murder" video, did not grant Snowden citizenship.

The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald recently released more revelations leaked by Snowden, which suggest that American intelligence officials can collect data on almost anything millions of people do on the Internet thanks to a program called XKeyscore.

Read more of Reason.com's coverage of Edward Snowden and the NSA here and here. 

Comments

[Longtorso, Johnny]

According to Reuters Snowden has gone to a secret location.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Jon Lester]

I would suggest Chelyabinsk, a place that frequently has the word "smoke" mentioned in its weather forecasts. It might help to complicate space-borne search efforts.

[Res Publica Americana]

In an ideal world, he'd leak something so awful, so disgusting, that Obama would be impeached and tried for it.

/Pipedream

[Episiarch]

I have the same dream. Unfortunately, it almost assuredly will remain a dream. I think we've seen the last of impeachments. The political class saw the Clinton impeachments and decided it wasn't worth it, because it can also happen to them.

[db]

It has literally come to the point where our government has taken to vacuuming up our private communications for analysis on the off chance that they may catch a terrorist with the resulting data. It has become a well known fact, and yet the President's approval rating has remained steady, and most people can only muster a mild distaste at the idea. Mild distaste is not enough to drive an impeachment.

[Another David]

In an ideal world, he'd leak something so awful, so disgusting, that Obama would be impeached and tried for it.

After what we've seen so far, I'd expect the only way to get him impeached would be to release secret documents showing him trying to dismantle the security state. Or a sex scandal, because incinerating innocent children is nothing compared to putting your penis inside the wrong consenting adult.

[hotsy totsy]

Only thing I can think of as an impeachable offense for Obama would be if he refused to let one of his daughters get an abortion.

They'd call it child abuse or something.

[Rich]

American intelligence officials can collect data on almost anything millions of people do on the Internet

Obviously the solution is to stop doing stuff on the Internet.

At least on "International Don't Use A Computer Day".

[Dave Krueger]

Snowden had no choice but to go to China or Russia. No other country on the planet has the balls or the power to resist U.S. demands to get him back and nothing made that more clear than the comedy of errors resulting from the U.S. panicky attempts to capture him and threaten less powerful countries into turning him over.

Snowden is right when he says that America's war on whistle blowers is doing nothing more than creating better whistle blowers. Snowden looked at the way the U.S. treats people who expose the truth and determined not to make the same mistakes. So far he's been doing pretty well. And the next whistle blower will do even better. The Obama administration is making Snowden into an international folk hero.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Ed!
The man they call Ed!
He robbed from the tyrants and he gave to the poor,
He stood up to the man and he gave him what for.
Our love for him now, can't go unsaid,
The hero of DC, the man they call Ed!
Our Ed saw the 'Mericans boots quakin'
He saw the 'Mericans lament
And he saw that NSA takin'
Every datum and leavin' a fence
So he said, "You can't do that to my people,
You can't crush them under your heel."
Ed strapped on his hat
And in five seconds flat
Stole everything Boss Obama had to steal.
He robbed from the tyrants and he gave to the poor
Stood up to the Man and he gave him what for
Our love for him now can't go unsaid
The Hero of DC, the man they call Ed
Now here is what separates heroes
From common folk like you and I
The man they call Ed
He turned 'round his head
And let that data hit the net
He dropped it onto our houses
He dropped it onto the throngs
And the man they call Ed
He turned 'round his head
And headed out for Hong Kong
He robbed from the tyrants and he gave to the poor
Stood up to the Man and he gave him what for
Our love for him now can't go unsaid
The Hero of DC, the man they call Ed!

[BakedPenguin]

And he didn't even throw anyone off the plane he left the country in.

[WTF]

OT:Google Pressure Cookers and Backpacks, Get a Visit from the Feds.

Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which begs the question: How'd the government know what they were Googling?

[Rich]

All I know is if I'm going to buy a pressure cooker in the near future, I'm not doing it online.

Ahem.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Freaking retarded. All the government knows how to do is react.

[db]

Well, it doesn't really "beg the question," but this story really needs national attention.

[WTF]

Especially since they're "doing this about 100 times a week".

[db]

What happens if you stand on your Constitutional rights and require them to come back with a warrant? Why would anyone consent to a search like this?

[WTF]

Then they likely get a warrant, do a 'dynamic entry' and shoot your dog, and maybe you, too.

[anon]

If I die standing for my rights, then I'm probably better off dead anyways. Fuck these cockmonglers.

[Rich]

The wife's original essay is worth reading.

we have a rice cooker. Can you make a bomb with that? My husband said no, my wife uses it to make quinoa. What the hell is quinoa, they asked.

"Let me Google that for you, asshole."

[db]

If only. The dude allowed them to come in and search his house without a warrant.

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell is quinoa, they asked.

The best and the brightest, folks. The best and the brightest.

[?J?? de ?guila]

Good for Snowden. He can sort of relax for a while. Good for Putin for poking a stick in Stalinist Nazi Barack's eye.

[Sean Higgins]

"Attorney General Eric Holder recently assured Russian officials that Snowden would not face the death penalty if he was sent back to the U.S."

An American official calming Russian fears that a prisoner would treated humanely? Oh, how the world has changed...

[Calm]

I believe that this is all about the huge civil unrest which the Upper Class know full well is on the horizon.
Every protester will be branded as a "Domestic Terrorist".
It stuns me that no one within mainstream media have spoken about this program being implemented as a method of control and as a means of gathering evidence to use in courtrooms as protesters are charged with civil unrest. All information will be used to show a "Pattern" and will be used to track down everyone associated with the arrested protester in an attempt to entice friends and associates of the accused protester to become an informant and to testify against the protester in court.
Every step ..... every court appearance over the past 10 years is not so much to implement justice but to create legal precedents and in preparation for thousands of protesters being arrested as the economy continues to crumble.
The futurists with government recognized as far back as 1980 (when Free Trade was introduced) that there was no way that the U.S. Capitalists could honor the promises made to the working class since the end of WWII. Free Trade allowed the Capitalists the unfettered ability to move all assets and wealth offshore and out of reach to anyone wanting to sue in lieu of broken promises and loss of pensions, etc.
http://www.dotandcalm.com/calm.....Notes.html

I believe that this is the first song about Edward Snowden

Every Call You Make
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCiSTah4Dik

Calm

[Kaptious Kristen]

Cool story, bro.

[WTF]

tl;dr

[db]

That's working 57 hours a week. Sounds like a real easy job.

[anon]

Easier than the 80 I put in on an average week.