Seems like I've seen this before....
"US presses its influence as Snowden requests asylum" by Nataliya Vasilyeva | Associated Press, July 07, 2013
MOSCOW — Edward Snowden has found supporters in Latin America, including three countries that have offered him asylum. But many obstacles stand in the way of the fugitive National Security Agency leaker from leaving a Russian airport — chief among them the power and influence of the United States.
Because Snowden’s US passport has been revoked, the logistics of him departing are complicated. During the past two days, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have offered him asylum, but the three countries have not indicated they would help Snowden by issuing a travel document, which he would need to leave Russia.
The former NSA systems analyst, who is charged with violating US spy laws, is believed to be stuck in the transit area of Moscow’s main international airport after arriving June 23 from Hong Kong.
Russia does not appear willing to help him leave the airport, with Kremlin spokesman Alexei Pavlov saying Saturday that the issue of Snowden’s travel documents is ‘‘not our business.’’ On Monday, President Vladimir Putin said Snowden would be offered asylum in Russia if he stopped leaking US secrets. Snowden then withdrew his Russian asylum request, a Russian official said.
While President Obama has publicly displayed a relaxed attitude toward Snowden’s movements, indicating last month that he would not be ‘‘scrambling jets’’ to capture him, other senior US officials have said that they want him back.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said China had ‘‘unquestionably’’ damaged its relationship with Washington for not returning Snowden from semiautonomous Hong Kong while he was still there.
‘‘The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust,’’ he said. ‘‘We think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations. . . there is a problem.’’
What a hack! Snowden spills the beans that it is the U.S. that is doing the hacking while hassling China, and Carney comes out with that?
Snowden has sought asylum in more than 20 nations. WikiLeaks, which has been helping Snowden, said he had submitted asylum applications to six new nations, which the secret-spilling website would not identify ‘‘due to attempted US interference.’’
Now I'm suspicious of this whole blizzard of coverage because Wikileaks is a known false front for intelligence collection. The fact that this scandal has overshadowed all others as the behavior continues without change doesn't help my perspective, either.
The asylum offers from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia came after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane over Europe amid reports that the fugitive American was aboard.
Spain says it had been warned along with other European countries that Snowden was aboard the Bolivian presidential plane, an acknowledgment the manhunt for the fugitive leaker had something to do with the plane’s diversion to Austria....
Something to do with it? Wasn't the sole reason, you pos paper?
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