Hard to predict the weather around here.
"Edward Snowden asks Russia for asylum; If granted, could ease his journey to Latin America" by Ellen Barry and Andrew Roth | New York Times, July 13, 2013
MOSCOW — In a high-profile spectacle that had the hallmarks of a Kremlin-approved event, Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive US intelligence contractor, broke his silence after three weeks of seclusion Friday, telling a handpicked group of Russian public figures that he hoped to receive political asylum in Russia.
Yeah, all right, whatever. When the pot-hollering-kettle AmeriKan press starts it off that way.... sigh.
The guests, several of them closely aligned with President Vladimir Putin, were invited through a mysterious e-mail that many had thought was fake and were then swept past passport control into the restricted border zone where Snowden has been confined since his arrival June 23.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Snowden Stuck at Russian Airport
When they emerged, it appeared more likely that Snowden would be granted his wish and remain in Russia as he waits for conditions that would allow him to travel safely to Latin America, where three countries have offered him asylum.
Russia allowed Snowden to fly into Moscow, and officials have clearly relished the opportunity to embrace a US dissident after weathering years of Western criticism of their human rights record.
Once Snowden was ensconced in the airport, however, the prospect of his long-term presence in Russia apparently seemed less appealing. His first request for asylum two weeks ago was discouraged, and Russia has taken pains to portray itself as neutral. Since then, Snowden’s options have narrowed, and so have the Kremlin’s, said Dmitri V. Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research center in Moscow.
“They cannot keep him here indefinitely, they cannot extradite himself to the US, they cannot send him out of the country so that he can be picked up,” Trenin said. “The government at this stage feels they have to do something to end this stalemate, and the only way to end the stalemate is to go to a default position — that has always been that he stays in Russia and observes certain rules.”
Yeah, he has to “cease his work.”
On Friday evening, President Obama talked to Putin by phone in their first conversation since Snowden arrived in Moscow.
He waited that long to call him? Of course, NSA sucked it up, right?
The White House offered no details about the call, other than to issue a statement saying the two had discussed “the status of Mr. Edward Snowden” as well as issues like counterterrorism and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: No Bunk
Earlier Friday, Putin’s spokesman reiterated the Russian president’s previous offer, and human rights figures who participated in the airport event reported that Snowden said he accepted the conditions. But Snowden has said on numerous occasions that he did not think his disclosures had hurt US interests, and it remained unclear whether he planned to continue leaking classified documents.
The developments precede by just two months Obama’s scheduled visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg, part of an effort to reinvigorate a relationship that has declined sharply over the past year.
Over silly things like Syria and Iran.
The White House complained that the prospect of Russian asylum would violate Moscow’s own stated desire to avoid any further damage to US national security, but it also said that the United States did not want the episode to undercut relations.
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NEXT DAY UPDATE: Edward Snowden’s bid for asylum unclear
Other spy/scandal stories in today's Boston Globe:
"UK refuses inquest on ex-spy’s death" by Jill Lawless | Associated Press, July 13, 2013
LONDON — British officials have refused to hold a public inquiry into the death of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, a coroner said Friday, quashing what he described as the best hope of finding out what lay behind the ex-spy’s radioactive poisoning.
Related:
Russia Says Terrorism Means Tourism
Russian Remnants
Put it together yet?
Litvinenko’s widow, who blames the Kremlin for her husband’s death, accused Britain of putting relations with Russia ahead of uncovering the truth....
Nah, governments never do that!
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Some talk about an inquest, which is just British for cover story cover up.
"New guidelines will protect journalists’ phone records
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder, who was criticized for the Justice Department’s tactics in secretly obtaining phone logs and e-mails of journalists reporters as part of leak investigations, announced guidelines Friday that would narrow the circumstances under which records can be obtained.
Holder outlined changes to the Justice Department’s investigative guidelines that would prevent the FBI from portraying a reporter as a co-conspirator in a criminal leak as a way to get around a legal bar on secret search warrants for reporting materials."
No wonder the corporate pre$$ hasn't given a shit about spying on them or any of the myriad scandals engulfing this administration.
