Russia Ready to Consider Asylum for NSA Whistleblower Snowden

Well surely this is good news for NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden. Seemingly Russia is willingly to maybe grant Snowden political asylum should he request it. So he now has two different countries as potential sanctuaries. I really hope he gets to one of them sooner rather than later. Considering that the US wants to "prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date". I think Iceland would probably be the safest place for him. I really hope that wherever he is, he is safe and well...

Russia is willing to consider granting political asylum for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who blew the lid on the US PRISM program, Russian media reported. Snowden dropped out of sight Monday after he was last seen checking out of a Hong Kong hotel.

“If we receive such a request, we will consider it,” Kommersant daily quoted President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying.

(A supporter holds a sign at a small rally in support of National Security Administration (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden in Manhattan's Union Square on June 10, 2013 in New York )

rt.com...

Originally posted by fluff007

I think Iceland would probably be the safest place for him.

Iceland. Seriously? Iceland is a NATO member.

www.mfa.is...

Ecuador will most likely offer him asylum.

reply to post by tommyjo

Iceland. Seriously? Iceland is a NATO member.

Do you reckon they would turn him over to the US. Snowden himself had said he was looking to seek asylum in a country with shared values and that the nation of Iceland encompasses this the most. Having stood up for people over internet freedom.. But apparently if he wants to seek asylum in Iceland to start the process he has to be in Iceland first. Hm maybe that is the catch right there. I do not know.

Ecuador will most likely offer him asylum.

Maybe he should make a run for it and go join Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He has been in there nearly a year I am sure he would be happy to have a pal to sit and chat with...

Ahh...

Wikileaks has called Snowden "out of date" on the country, pointing out that the new Prime Minister is a member of the right-leaning Progressive Party. "It’s hard for me to imagine that a country both diplomatically and geographically close to the U.S. would ever offer it," Talking Point Memo's Josh Marshall wrote yesterday.

Even Greenwald seems unconvinced by the Iceland plan. "Would you be comfortable that a country like Iceland would be able/willing to withstand hard-core US pressure?" he tweeted yesterday.

www.businessinsider.com...

In my mind, he wouldn't be getting asylum in China or Russia, he'd be defecting. That would lose my respect for him and cast doubt on everything he's done here. I appreciate the reasoning for using the Special Zone status of Hong Kong for his initial "coming out" location. No problem there and it was clever. Defecting to the Communist Chinese is quite another matter.

Neither of those nations would do it without strings like a rope and may or may not be kind enough to detail all that in advance. However, he was CIA and then a contractor for the NSA. He'd know all this and better than any of us. Hence... Respect now? High. Respect then? Goose Egg.

It's one thing to act in conscience and do what he sees needs done. It's quite another to essentially declare his homeland and nation an enemy. Going to either of them is just a baby step from it, IMO and too close for me.

I know...from previous discussions on here..a good many are simply too young to understand why I and others will feel this way. That's interesting but secondary. It is what it is and he's no babe in the woods. I really hope he doesn't stomp the good feelings so many have directed toward him at the moment. It would be a shame in the worst way.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
In my mind, he wouldn't be getting asylum in China or Russia, he'd be defecting. That would lose my respect for him and cast doubt on everything he's done here.

Exactly. If he were to run to China or Russia then that would prove that he didn't 'whistleblow' but instead just did a dump of US secrets for his own gain. China and Russia are no different than the USA .. maybe even a lot worse ... when it comes to spying on it's citizens and on restricting freedoms. So for him to go to either of those countries would mean that he's full of crap.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

In my mind, he wouldn't be getting asylum in China or Russia, he'd be defecting...It's one thing to act in conscience and do what he sees needs done. It's quite another to essentially declare his homeland and nation an enemy.

Wrabbit you missed the point, if he chooses Iceland he more than likely would end up back in the US. However, should he choose either China or Russia, he's out of reach. It would be easy for Hong Kong to issue him a Hong Kong citizen ID which would allow him to enter China without a visa and stay in China as long as he desired, No defection needed. As for Russia, they may have something similar I do not know. In either case he would be out of reach of the US government.

the US wants to "prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date"

It's the US government that considers him the enemy for blowing the whistle on them. Since he is no longer in the US, I doubt that he will be returning anytime soon of his own free will.

reply to post by pstrron


I think we need to look at the world as we see it today and be realistic. He sure is. China and Russia aren't safe unless he fully flips in a full blown defection. If he goes to hide and shelter and doesn't share what he has in return, he's as safe as the next time the United States has something China or Russia really needs or wants.

Perhaps it's a diplomatic situation they need us to back off on. Give us Snowden and it'll happen. Perhaps it'll be a trade deal or international trading status they really want like Most Favored which China values for economic reasons. Give us Snowden and you'll get it. Then again, maybe it'll just be plain old horse trading. We'll capture one of their people with their paw in the cookie jar and they'll REALLY want that person back for some reason. Well.... They're in luck! We'll be in the trading mood. Give us Snowden and they'll get their man back.

Russia and China have no more honor in this area than the U.S. does and all three world powers operate in their own self interests, as it should be..to be honest about things on the world stage.

It means, this poor guy is without a nation right now. It means he's got almost nowhere on the planet he can hide for very long or every rest comfortably again until either a pardon or amnesty come from a U.S. Government Source. Even Ecuador needs us more than we need them. Assange isn't worth destroying that relationship. Snowden? I wouldn't bet my life on that if I were him. Not even as a consideration ....and I'm sure he has no plans to.

reply to post by FlyersFan

Exactly. If he were to run to China or Russia then that would prove that he didn't 'whistleblow' but instead just did a dump of US secrets for his own gain. China and Russia are no different than the USA .. maybe even a lot worse ... when it comes to spying on it's citizens and on restricting freedoms. So for him to go to either of those countries would mean that he's full of crap.

It would mean nothing of the sort. It is easy to judge. If it was me I would go somewhere I felt safe and remained safe. If this choice happened to be Russia or China then so be it.. That would simply prove he has gone to another country.. OFC you are free to make the assumption that he is full of crap...

Snowden delivered.. have you..?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

China and Russia aren't safe unless he fully flips in a full blown defection. If he goes to hide and shelter and doesn't share what he has in return, he's as safe as the next time the United States has something China or Russia really needs or wants.

Personally I wouldn't count on a defection offering any safety, I concur all three would offer him up with the right situation. If he can get the HK ID and crosses the border, good luck finding him. Standard of living is high in the cities with more basic freedoms than the US. Easy for him to simply vanish as they would be looking for a needle in a very large haystack even being a foreigner.

Asia is his best bet and going to HK was a wise move, the gateway to Asia.

reply to post by pstrron


Look and see how the us gov't has reacted - calling him an enemy - when every us citizen is grateful for the whitleblowing he has done.

He's a bit different than assange - but, even Bradley Manning tried desperately to give his info to the MSM in the US before he went to assange.

It would seem the us gov't is the enemy of the us citizen - along with all the whitleblowing going on with the IRS.

NOW - Can we really have Fast and Furious looked into? To me, that is the worst of all of the scandals this administration has done to the US citizen. Not to mention Benghazi - which I believe incorporates gun running and CIA operations to overthrow ghaddafi - and the rest of the countries in the world that won't deal with the very debtful invasion of the IMF and World Bank.

I am sure that the Russians would like to know more about the capability of the NSA.

reply to post by CosmicCitizen


I would too, as a us citizen.