Waiting For Snowden

Lidia Kelly and Alessandra Prentice (Reuters) report, "Former intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden asked to meet human rights groups at a Moscow airport on Friday to discuss what he called 'threatening behaviour' by the United States to prevent him gaining asylum." Threatening behavior includes, but is not limited to, forcing down the plane of Evo Morales, President of Bolivia.  That was last week and it was risky and it was a violation of international law. Writing at North American Congress on Latin America, Emily Achtenberg notes this morning:

But one thing is certain: if the US government was seeking to intimidate Morales and other Latin American leaders who might consider harboring Snowden, its strategy has completely backfired. Instead, the incident has bolstered Morales’s domestic and international standing, consolidated regional unity, and emboldened the bloc of leftist governments that seeks to counter US dominance in the region. It has also dealt a damaging, and potentially fatal, blow to the future of US –Latin American relations under the Obama administration.

Any meetings are expected to take place at the Moscow airport.  BBC notes, "The American is believed to have been stuck in transit since arriving in Moscow from Hong Kong on 23 June, even though no pictures of his stay there have emerged."

Paul Owen (Guardian)  is live blogging the meet-up.  CBS This Morning has a brief discussion of Ed Snowden here.  Russia Today is carrying live coverage of the airport.





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