Edward Snowden, American Hero

[seemslikeadream]

WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 19m
German representative Peter Gauweiler urges invitation to Snowden to testify in Germany, granting safe passage [de] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/gauw ... -1.1711736 …
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3. Juli 2013 17:01
Gauweiler will Snowden nach Deutschland holen
"Der Mann ist ein zentrales Beweismittel"

Bild vergrößern Regt an, Wistleblower Edward Snowden als Zeugen nach Deutschland zu holen: Peter Gauweiler (Foto: Reuters)
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Zuflucht erhält Edward Snowden in Deutschland nicht. Sicher einreisen könnte er dank des Strafrechts wohl trotzdem, meint Peter Gauweiler. Der CSU-Abgeordnete plädiert für einen Trick: Die deutsche Justiz solle den Whistleblower als Zeugen vorladen - der Politik wären dann die Hände gebunden.

Von Oliver Das Gupta
Edward Snowden würde in Deutschland kein politisches Asyl behalten. Nach Deutschland kommen könnte er wohl trotzdem - meint Peter Gauweiler. Der CSU-Bundestagsabgeordnete hat sich dafür ausgesprochen, dass der amerikanische Whistleblower Edward Snowden mit Hilfe des Strafrechts nach Deutschland einreisen darf. "Offenkundig berichtet Snowden von schweren Straftaten, die auf deutschem Boden begangen wurden und sich sogar gegen deutsche Amtsträger richteten", sagte Gauweiler zu Süddeutsche.de.

Der Christsoziale wies darauf hin, dass der für den strafrechtlichen Schutz von Staatsgeheimnissen zuständige Generalbundesanwalt oder andere Staatsanwaltschaften ohnehin ermitteln müsse. Unter anderem nannte er das gezielte Auskundschaften von Staatsgeheimnissen, massive Straftaten gegen die Vertraulichkeit des Wortes sowie die organisierte Ausspähung von Daten. "Edward Snowden müsste als Zeuge vernommen werden", so Gauweiler. "Der Mann ist ein zentrales Beweismittel."

Die deutsche Justiz könne ihn vorladen und ihm als Zeugen sicheres Geleit zusichern - zumindest für einen bestimmten Zeitraum. Der Bundesregierung, die Snowden kein Asyl gewähren würde, wären dann die Hände gebunden. "Dann läge die Causa nicht mehr im Bereich der Politik, sondern in der kühlen Objektivität eines Strafverfahrens, das von der in Deutschland unabhängigen Justiz geführt wird", sagte der CSU-Querdenker.

Bundesanwaltschaft liegen mehrere Anzeigen vor
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Die Bundesanwaltschaft ist wegen der Spähangriffe bereits seit 27. Juni tätig. "In dem Beobachtungsvorgang strukturiert die Bundesanwaltschaft die aus allgemein zugänglichen Quellen ersichtlichen Sachverhalte", sagte ein Sprecher der Behörde zu Süddeutsche.de. Anschließend wolle die Bundesanwaltschaft in Karlsruhe klären, ob ihre "Ermittlungszuständigkeit berührt sein könnte". Mittlerweile lägen mehrere Strafanzeigen vor, die sich inhaltlich auf die betreffenden Medienberichte über die von Snowden kolportierten Ausspähungen bezögen.

Der Whistleblower könnte unter Umständen auch noch an anderer Stelle aussagen: Für den Fall, dass sich ein Untersuchungsausschuss des Bundestages zu den Ausspähungen konstituieren sollte, obliegt es auch diesem Gremium, Snowden vorzuladen. Gauweiler plädierte allerdings dafür, den Fall der Justiz zu überlassen. "Eine Untersuchung des Vorgangs im Rahmen eines Ermittlungsverfahrens ist aber der Sache angemessener als jedes politische Handeln oder Unterlassen - noch dazu in Wahlkampfzeiten."

Westerwelle bekräftigt Nein zu Asyl für Snowden
Snowden hat die umfangreiche Datensammelei von amerikanischen und britischen Geheimdiensten enthüllt. Seit knapp anderthalb Wochen soll er sich im Transitbereich des Moskauer Flughafens aufhalten. Die USA haben den Reisepass des 30 Jahre alten IT-Spezialisten für ungültig erklärt. Snowden hatte neben Deutschland in 19 anderen Ländern um Asyl gebeten.

Die Bundesregierung und Politiker von CDU und SPD haben ihr Nein zur Aufnahme des von den USA verfolgten Ex-Geheimdienstlers Edward Snowden inzwischen verteidigt: "Die Voraussetzungen für die Aufnahme von Herrn Snowden in Deutschland liegen nicht vor", erklärte Außenminister Guido Westerwelle (FDP). Danach kann der Regierung zufolge nur Asyl beantragen, wer bereits in Deutschland sei. Ferner sei der 30-Jährige in keiner humanitären Notlage.

Mit Material von dpa.

Video
Kritik an deutschem Umgang mit Snowden
"Schande für Demokratie"
Deutsche Politiker haben sich unterschiedlich dazu geäußert, dass dem Whistleblower Edward Snowden in Deutschland kein Asyl gewährt wird. Statements von Bundesinnenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU), Grünen-Spitzenkandidat Jürgen Trittin und dem parlamentarischen Geschäftsführer der SPD, Thomas Oppermann.

[seemslikeadream]

US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and impact on EU citizens'.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/e ... 2862307554

going on now


YES WE SCAN!

WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 10m
Dutch ALDE MEP Sophie Veld says EU has to guarantee Europeans that they are covered by European law, not American law http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/h ... ng-scandal …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 10m
German MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht accuses NSA of "meltdown" and "espionage against democratic countries & institutions" http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 08614.html …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 11m
Former Belgian PM and EU parliementary political party head Guy Verhofstadt condemns "American data collection mania" http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 08614.html …
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German MEP Markus Ferber says US use of "Stasi methods sacrifices all credibility as a moral authority" http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 08614.html …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 12m
Elmar Brok, chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee in European Parliament says NSA spying is "intolerable" http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 08614.html …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 12m
Hans-Peter Martin, Austrian European parliamentarian, says US has become a worldwide spy, targeting friends. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/h ... ng-scandal …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 12m
Cornelia Ernst, German MEP says US/UK spying “is organised crime at behest of nation states” http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/h ... ng-scandal …
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WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 13m
Greek EU parliamentarian Dimitrious Droutsas on NSA spying: "we cannot back down on the rights of European citizens" http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/h ... ng-scandal …
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[seemslikeadream]

Forcing down Evo Morales's plane was an act of air piracy
Denying the Bolivian president air space was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world

John Pilger
The Guardian, Thursday 4 July 2013 14.00 EDT

President Morales arrives back in La Paz, Bolivia. ‘Imagine the response from Paris if the French president's plane was forced down in Latin America.’ Photograph: Zuma/Rex Features
Imagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on "suspicion" that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.

Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the "international community", as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.

The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to "inspect" his aircraft for the "fugitive" Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.

In Moscow, Morales had been asked about Snowden – who remains trapped in the city's airport. "If there were a request [for political asylum]," he said, "of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea." That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. "We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country," said a US state department official.

The French – having squealed about Washington spying on their every move, as revealed by Snowden – were first off the mark, followed by the Portuguese. The Spanish then did their bit by enforcing a flight ban of their airspace, giving the Godfather's Viennese hirelings enough time to find out if Snowden was indeed invoking article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

Those paid to keep the record straight have played their part with a cat-and-mouse media game that reinforces the Godfather's lie that this heroic young man is running from a system of justice, rather than preordained, vindictive incarceration that amounts to torture – ask Bradley Manning and the living ghosts in Guantánamo.

Historians seem to agree that the rise of fascism in Europe might have been averted had the liberal or left political class understood the true nature of its enemy. The parallels today are very different, but the Damocles sword over Snowden, like the casual abduction of Bolivia's president, ought to stir us into recognising the true nature of the enemy.

Snowden's revelations are not merely about privacy, or civil liberty, or even mass spying. They are about the unmentionable: that the democratic facades of the US now barely conceal a systematic gangsterism historically identified with, if not necessarily the same as, fascism. On Tuesday, a US drone killed 16 people in North Waziristan, "where many of the world's most dangerous militants live", said the few paragraphs I read. That by far the world's most dangerous militants had hurled the drones was not a consideration. President Obama personally sends them every Tuesday.

In his acceptance of the 2005 Nobel prize in literature, Harold Pinter referred to "a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed". He asked why "the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities" of the Soviet Union were well known in the west while America's crimes were "superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged". The most enduring silence of the modern era covered the extinction and dispossession of countless human beings by a rampant US and its agents. "But you wouldn't know it," said Pinter. "It never happened. Even while it was happening it never happened."

This hidden history – not really hidden, of course, but excluded from the consciousness of societies drilled in American myths and priorities – has never been more vulnerable to exposure. Snowden's whistleblowing, like that of Manning and Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, threatens to break the silence Pinter described. In revealing a vast Orwellian police state apparatus servicing history's greatest war-making machine, they illuminate the true extremism of the 21st century. Unprecedented, Germany's Der Spiegel has described the Obama administration as "soft totalitarianism". If the penny is falling, we might all look closer to home.

[justdrew]

EU to vote to suspend U.S. data sharing agreements, passenger records amid NSA spying scandal

Summary: The European Parliament will vote — ironically of all days, on U.S. Independence Day on July 4 — whether existing data sharing agreements between the two continents should be suspended, following allegations that U.S. intelligence spied on EU citizens.
Zack Whittaker

By Zack Whittaker for Between the Lines | July 3, 2013 -- 18:12 GMT (11:12 PDT)

The European Parliament will vote on Thursday to adopt a resolution on measures against the U.S. government over the mass surveillance operation conducted by the National Security Agency.

In a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, numerous members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called for the suspension of EU-U.S. trade talks, which are currently under way, until the picture surrounding the activities of the U.S.' intelligence activities becomes clearer.

Also on the cards is the suspension of crucial EU-U.S. agreements, such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) and the Passenger Name Records (PNR), which could see flights suspended between the two continents.

The U.S. government has been embroiled in an international diplomatic crisis over its intelligence agencies' spying on foreign nationals. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on a number of programs the U.S. employs to acquire masses of data on citizens around the world, including those in the European Union.

The U.K. government was embroiled in the NSA spying saga after it's Cheltenham-based listening station GCHQ was found to have tapped under-sea fiber optic cables, in an operation codenamed Tempora.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told the parliament that she had sent U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague a letter seeking clarification on Tempora.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the European Commission is examining if the U.K. broke EU law, which could lead to an infringement procedure against the British government. This could lead to financial sanctions imposed by the European Court of Justice.

British MEP Sarah Ludford warned that other EU member states "also need to look at their cooperation with the NSA," and noted that Westminster had been "deafeningly silent" on the matter, and hoped the U.K.'s parliamentary committee on security and intelligence "did a better job."
PNR suspension could ground flights between EU, U.S.

In the resolution, submitted to the Parliament on Tuesday, more than two-dozen politicians from a range of political parties call the spying "a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," and call on the suspension of the Passenger Name Records (PNR) system.

Prior to leaving the airport, airlines must make passenger data available to the U.S. Names, dates of birth, addresses, credit or debit card details and seat numbers are among the data — though critics say the information has never helped catch a suspected criminal or terrorist before.

Should the PNR system be suspended, it could result in the suspension of flights to the U.S. from European member states.
MEPs mixed on suspension of free trade discussions

One of the options available to the EU is to suspend discussions on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, otherwise known as the TTIP, is thought to be worth billions of dollars for both continents on each side of the Atlantic. It will help to eliminate tariffs on trade, and open up the doors to transatlantic partnerships and a boon to the technology and science industries, among other sectors.

German MEP Axel Voss said the Obama administration should be "adequately explained," demanding that the delegations on the TTIP should be suspended, as did French MEP Marie-Christine Vergiat‎, who was one of two MEPs who called on the EU to give Snowden asylum in the 28 member state bloc.

Spanish MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, who chairs the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee, also called on the suspension of the free trade agreement negotiations.

But other MEPs speaking in the Parliament on Wednesday instead suggested the suspension of exchange of data between the two continents.

"The U.S. systematically comes into our homes, our embassies, and our institutions," said Italian MEP Salvatore Iacolino. "But it would be wrong to block EU-U.S. negotiations which have just gotten under way, as this would penalize EU citizens twice over," he noted, instead pointing the figure at the "exchange of data" with the United States.

His comments were in regard to reports in the German media, which claimed EU institutions and embassies in the U.S. had been bugged by U.S. law enforcement.

Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld, a strong advocate of privacy and data protection rights in the EU, said she was against suspending the trade talks, but said the EU should make it "absolutely clear we cannot sign an agreement with a partner we cannot fully trust."

She told her colleagues: "I do not want to hear the argument of national security anymore," she added. "Sorry, bugging the EU offices in Washington is a matter of 'national security'? Blanket surveillance of millions of innocent citizens is a matter of 'national security'? I do not buy that anymore."

A number of MEPs specifically called on U.S. President Barack Obama to meet with the Parliament to explain his government's actions. PRISM began during President George W. Bush's administration after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
EU justice chief: Citizen redress, or no deal

Reding, in spite of the parliamentary resolution on deck for an upcoming, she will not sign off on an "umbrella agreement" between the U.S. and the EU, a decision that was met with a round of applause for the European vice-president.

The agreement is designed to make it much easier for the U.S. and EU to share data that will cover future transfer arrangements for anti-terror operations between the two continents, from banking data and passenger name records, for instance.

Citing reciprocity between the two continents, "some progress was made on around half of the provisions," she told members on Wednesday.

"But it is now time to address key issues on the equal rights of EU and U.S. citizens, and effective judicial redress," Reding said. "I can not understand why a U.S. citizen has the right to redress in the EU, but an EU citizen does not have the right to redress in the U.S. We continue to negotiate because I keep that on the table. If we had given up that right, we would have already signed the agreement."

"And I will not sign the agreement so long as we do not have the reciprocity. And as long as we have not found the solutions in accordance with EU law on difficult issues, such as data retention."

[Canadian_watcher]

I guess they have to do it officially but I mean come on.
Isn't it a little like trying to get back your virginity? Inviting the vampire in? finishing that whole bag of chips? getting a new bank account after someone already emptied the old one?

it's over, EU. If you want to declare war about it then do it but pretending you can legislate your way out of it is just embarrassing to watch.

[seemslikeadream]

EU Votes To Suspend U.S. Data Sharing Agreements Over NSA Scandal
By: DSWright Thursday July 4, 2013 10:08 am

The fallout from the NSA spying scandal may be just beginning as the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution that would back the European Commission if it decides to suspend data sharing agreements with the U.S.

The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a joint, cross-party resolution to begin investigations into widespread surveillance of Europeans by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

In the vote, 483 voted for the resolution, 98 against, and 65 abstained on a vote that called on the U.S. to suspend and review any laws and surveillance programmes that “violate the fundamental right of EU citizens to privacy and data protection,” as well as Europe’s “sovereignty and jurisdiction. The vote also gave backing to the suspension of data sharing deals between the two continents, should the European Commission take action against its U.S. ally.

This would include the passenger name records system for flights and terrorist finance tracking. In other words, the Obama Administration’s rogue behavior with the NSA could lead to the loss of an ability to get information that actually matters for national security.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in a plenary session in Strasbourg voted in favor of a section of the resolution that called on the Commission to “give consideration to all the instruments at their disposal in discussions and negotiations with the U.S. [...] including the possible suspension of the passenger name record (PNR) and terrorist finance tracking programme (TFTP) agreements.”

Should the Commission decide it necessary to suspend the data sharing agreement of passenger details — including personal and sensitive individual data — it could ultimately lead to the grounding of flights between the EU and the U.S.

Grounding flights and losing access to the terrorist money trail – thanks NSA!

Ultimately it is the European Commission not the European Parliament that is responsible for taking these actions. Though this vote gives the Commission considerable cover should they want to take action. But no matter what happens, America has infuriated some of its longest standing allies. Perhaps given that the Cold War is over it is time to roll back some of the national security state to prevent disasters like we are facing today.

[seemslikeadream]

Could U.S. spying ruin a $127 billion trade deal with the EU? France is threatening to derail a massive pact over the NSA's alleged snooping By Keith Wagstaff | July 3, 2013

Germany and France don't quite see eye to eye on impending trade talks with the U.S. Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images R
ecent allegations that the NSA spied on European Union offices in the United States and Belgium could threaten a massive trans-Atlantic trade deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

France is leading the opposition, arguing that negotiations between Washington and the EU should be stalled for 15 days in light of the information leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The money at stake: $127 billion in additional output for the United States and $159 billion for the EU, according to an EU-commissioned study of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

"We cannot accept this kind of behavior between partners and allies. We ask that this immediately stop," said French President François Hollande. "There can be no negotiations or transactions in all areas until we have obtained these guarantees, for France but also for all of the European Union, for all partners of the United States."

Matthew Yglesias of Slate breaks down just how significant TTIP is:

TTIP would be the biggest trade pact of all time, by far. It creates a trading bloc far larger than NAFTA — extending from California to Romania, and encompassing almost half the world's total economic output. It would reach much deeper "behind the border" into public policy areas people don't think of as pertaining to trade. The $2.8 trillion of GDP generated by our NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada is swamped by the European Union's $16 trillion economy. [Slate]

Could France really scuttle a deal worth so much money to so many countries?

It would have to convince the other 27 EU member states that stalling negotiations is in their best interests. That's not such an easy task.

Germany, which, according to Der Spiegel, was targeted by the NSA more than any other EU nation, hasn't been afraid of criticizing the NSA's actions. Still, Germany won't back out of trade talks, said a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

And France's complaints have struck some observers as being a little rich. "Governments on both sides of the Atlantic (and almost everywhere else) have spied on allies and enemies alike for a long time," says The New York Times in an editorial, which tweaked France, Germany, and other supposedly outraged parties for "playacting."

While EU officials have expressed concern that the NSA's inside information will give Washington a significant advantage at the bargaining table, negotiations are expected to start on July 8 as planned.

The NSA's snooping isn't the only thing that could derail TTIP. France's ruling Socialist Party has already expressed misgivings about the free trade pact, particularly on regards to French cultural and film subsidies. The United States and the EU are also expected to tussle over genetically modified U.S. agriculture.

Indeed, France may simply be trying to gain leverage in talks over a trade pact it's not even sure it wants. Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, tells The Hill that the NSA allegations "gives people who don't want it more ammunition."

[barracuda]

it's over, EU. If you want to declare war about it then do it but pretending you can legislate your way out of it is just embarrassing to watch.

I'm not sure about that. Internet traffic is not required by law to travel through the US. The EU or other national groups could begin construction of their own discrete routes and cordon the United States off from traffic which originates elsewhere. What the NSA has done is already is violation of a great deal of existing national laws in any number of countries. This could conceivably be the start of a reconfiguration of global internet traffic.

[seemslikeadream]

EU parliament motion to suspend negotiations with the US over mass spying passed.

For: 483

Against: 98

Abstentions: 65

Snowden and Assange Targeted by Mysterious Hacker "The Jester"
The hacktivist cyberattacked an Ecuadorean stock exchange on Monday. Wait till you hear his plan to flush the WikiLeaks founder out of the country's embassy.
By Dana Liebelson on Tue. July 2, 2013 3:16 PM PDT


A shadowy, self-described "patriot" hacktivist has launched a series of cyberattacks against Ecuador and says he plans to direct a similar onslaught against any country considering granting asylum to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The hacker, who calls himself the "th3J35t3r" (the Jester) and in the past has identified himself as a former soldier, has also taken aim at Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder has been assisting Snowden in his efforts to seek safe haven.

On Monday, the Jester launched denial-of-service attacks against Ecuador, which is considering an asylum request from Snowden. He targeted the primary email server for the second biggest Ecuadorean stock exchange and the country's official tourism website. Gabrielle Murillo, a spokeswoman for Ecuador's tourism site, could not confirm the attack and said only that "the internet was working," but the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Dave Maass, who follows the Jester, told Mother Jones that he was unable to access the tourism website after the infiltration occurred. Officials at the stock exchange did not respond to questions sent by Mother Jones.

[Spiro C. Thiery]

it's over, EU. If you want to declare war about it then do it but pretending you can legislate your way out of it is just embarrassing to watch.

I'm not sure about that. Internet traffic is not required by law to travel through the US. The EU or other national groups could begin construction of their own discrete routes and cordon the United States off the from traffic which originates elsewhere. What the NSA has done is already is violation of a great deal of existing national laws in any number of countries. This could conceivably be the start of a reconfiguration of global internet traffic.

I think the point is, they don't have the will, even to the extent that members are not just politically grandstanding.

It's clear enough where the political will lies after the events of the past couple of days.

[seemslikeadream]

Bolivia calls for punishment over Evo Morales plane incident

Vice-President Alvaro Garcia (L) was at the La Paz airport to welcome Mr Morales (R)

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca has called on those responsible for banning President Evo Morales's plane from European airspace on Tuesday to be punished.

He said the issue will be discussed later at a South American summit.

The plane was forced to land in Austria after several European nations refused transit through their airspace.

There were unfounded suspicions that fugitive American intelligence analyst Edward Snowden was on board.

"We feel hurt, offended and outraged. This is an aggression against democracy and the peaceful coexistence of nations," Mr Choquehuanca told BBC Mundo.

Mr Morales was returning from a visit to Moscow in the presidential jet.

Mr Snowden is believed to be holed up at the transit area of the airport - and to have been there since he fled Hong Kong.

France has apologised for the incident, blaming it on "conflicting information".

French President Francois Hollande said he granted permission as soon as he knew it was Mr Morales' plane.


Mr Choquehuanca said the the incident in European airspace endangered the president's life
"Statements are not enough. We expect those responsible for these unacceptable, offensive and abusive actions to be identified and punished," said Mr Choquehuanca.

A meeting of the Unasur regional groups is due to take place in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba later on Thursday.

Mr Morales will be joined by the presidents of Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname and representatives of other South American countries.

'Neo-colonial attitude'
Mr Choquehuanca described the incident as an act of aggression by European countries which exhibited what he called neo-colonial attitudes.

"There was a violation of international treaties and the Vienna Convention, as well as of our president's human rights."

"European countries must explain why they continue with a neo-colonial attitude in the 21st Century," Mr Choquehuanca told the BBC.

The episode sparked angry reactions from heads of state across Latin America.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner referred to "not only the humiliation of a sister country, but of the South American continent".
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Twitter: "I reaffirm all our solidarity with Evo [Morales] and from Venezuela, with dignity, we will respond to this dangerous, disproportionate, and unacceptable aggression."
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa tweeted: "We express our solidarity with Evo [Morales] and the brave Bolivian people."
A statement by Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said: "The embarrassment to President Morales hits not only Bolivia, but all of Latin America."
Demonstrators marched on the French embassy in La Paz, burning the French flag and demanding the expulsion of the ambassador to Bolivia.

Austrian officials said the airport authorities had searched the plane, but with Mr Morales' permission.

But the Bolivian government denied any search had taken place.

The plane took off from Vienna on Wednesday morning and it arrived back in La Paz on Wednesday night.

President Morales was received at the airport by a huge crowd.

"I feel they have begun provocative action against our continent. But we will never be intimidated. They will not scare us," Mr Morales said in a speech at the airport.

Security analyst Edward Snowden has requested asylum to many countries.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca confirmed that Bolivia is considering a request from Mr Snowden.

"We are analysing this. But US intelligence is failing. They probably believe he is now on Bolivian territory," said Mr Choquehuanca.

[Hunter]

This is ALCHEMY posting under my new name HUNTER so take note please, its the same old me, Drew helped me change my name.



Ok that said, I am real worried about Snowden, this is not looking good, he should have asylum somewhere by now, seems that every country is scared of the US and the pressure they are being put under. Unreal, I cant believe after all this guy did and NOT JUST FOR THE US but for the WHOLE WORLDm he let the WHOLE WORLD KNOW THEY ARE ALL BEING SPIED ON and where is the thank you, where is the appreciation, where is the effort, people tripping over eachother and fighting eachother to be the first to offer this hero a place to call home.



DEAR ENTIRE WORLD, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES EVERY LAST GOD DAMNED ONE OF YOU/US!

[Hunter]

And that little script kiddie jester can go FUCK HIMSELF, he wants to see some hacking just keep your shit up and he will see what real hacking is, all he knows how to do is run a DDOS attack, he is a pussy and he is no hacker, he is very likely some nerd working for the NSA himself.

[slimmouse]

DEAR ENTIRE WORLD, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES EVERY LAST GOD DAMNED ONE OF YOU/US!

Well apparently Hunter, not quite .......

O

ne day before members of the Icelandic Parliament are due to break for summer vacation, leaders of three political parties have submitted a special piece of legislation which would make NSA whistleblower and fugitive, Edward Snowden, a citizen of Iceland.

The issue was raised this morning by MP and former Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson, which could be decided before the weekend.

Some are worried that this bill could be delayed by a piece of fisheries legislation which is also up for vote this Friday.

Although the bill is being backed by three parties, Brighter Future, Piran (Pirate Party) and the Green Party, there is still a possibility that the Snowden bill could be stopped by the current ruling coalition of the Conservative and Moderate parties.

Many will speculate that if such a veto does occur, whether or not Iceland’s executive would do so under extenuating pressure from Washington DC, who has already been accused my the international community this week of applying political pressure on France and Portugal to deny the Bolivian Presidential Jet access through their airspace over accusations that Ed Snowden was being smuggled on board – a move which forced Evo Morales to ground his flight in Vienna in order to reassess his route back to South America.

Iceland is also the home of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, who have recently taken control of the public media relations, as well as setting up intermediary legal channels for Ed Snowden.

According to Icelandic rules for prospective citizens, the applicant must be present in the country in order to lodge a successful application.

As yet, Snowden is still believed to be stranded in the transit area of Moscow’s International Airport following the cancellation of his US passport by Washington DC.

Link ; http://21stcenturywire.com/2013/07/04/b ... tizenship/

We live in hope

[seemslikeadream]

Oliver Stone Blasts Obama's 'Bush-Style Eavesdropping Techniques'; Says Edward Snowden Is a Hero
The politically-charged filmmaker spoke out during an appearance at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Published: July 04, 2013 @ 7:23 am

By Steve Pond

Edward Snowden is "a hero" and the rest of the world should stand up to the United States and offer asylum to the NSA whistleblower, director Oliver Stone said in a Fourth of July appearance at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Thursday.

"It's a disgrace that Obama is more concerned with hunting down Snowden than reforming these George Bush-style eavesdropping techniques," said the outspoken, politically-charged filmmaker during an afternoon press conference at the Thermal Hotel in Karlovy Vary.

Stone, who won an Oscar for directing "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989, spent his Independence Day in the Czech Republic, showing two episodes from his television series "The Untold History of the United States" and blasting the U.S. for the "global security state" he said it has created.

"To me, Snowden is a hero, because he revealed secrets that we should all know, that the United States has repeatedly violated the Fourth Amendment." Stone said. "He should be welcomed, and offered asylum, but he has no place to hide because every country is intimidated by the United States.

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"This should not be. This is what's wrong with the world today, and it's very important that the world recognizes and gives asylum to Snowden. Everyone in the world is impacted by the United States' Big Brother attitude toward the world."

Throughout the press conference, Stone resisted the moderator's attempts to rein in his long answers, which were full of details from the last 70 years of U.S. foreign policy. "It’s the story of a great country that loses its way when it becomes obsessed with national security," he said.

He also told the room of mostly European journalists that their countries should resist U.S. pressure. "We need countries to say no to the United States," he said.

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"The United States is the dominant power in the universe, with its eavesdropping abilities, cyber abilities … It's what they call in the Pentagon 'full spectrum dominance.'

"And the world is in danger with our tyranny."

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In addition to screening episodes of "Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States" dealing with the atomic bomb and the War on Terror, Karlovy Vary presented the "ultimate" cut of Stone's "Alexander," as well as "Scarface," which he wrote.

"Untold History" debuted at the New York Film Festival last October and aired on Showtime in November. Stone said he and coauthor Richard Kuznick are working to get a book based on the series into high school libraries.

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But he also pointed to "Savages" as proof that he can make apolitical movies, and he insisted that he is now drawn to subjects to make political points.

"I'm a dramatist," he said at one point. "I don't do movies for ideological reasons, I do them because they interest me."

Later, at a public Q&A following the screening of the two episodes of "Untold History," he repeated, "I don't consider myself a political activist, though I've become one in many ways."

Then he drew connections between the two episodes -- one in which Harry Truman said he knew he was doing the right thing when he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, and other in which George W. Bush spoke of good vs. evil.

"America is possessed with a religious conviction," he said. " ... We think we're special, but we're not.

"There seem to be madmen running the country. Mad men. They wear suits, they wear ties, they talk nice like Obama or tough like Bush, but what's the difference? They're mad men."