{"id":51190,"date":"2013-07-18T05:59:40","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T04:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/us-threatens-russia-with-long-term-problems-as-snowden-applies-for-temporary-asylum\/51190\/"},"modified":"2013-07-18T05:59:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T04:59:40","slug":"us-threatens-russia-with-long-term-problems-as-snowden-applies-for-temporary-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/us-threatens-russia-with-long-term-problems-as-snowden-applies-for-temporary-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"US threatens Russia with \u201clong-term problems\u201d as Snowden applies for temporary asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

\n By
\n Eric London
\n
7 June 2014
\n <\/h5>\n

Edward Snowden has formally applied for temporary asylum in Russia, according to statements made by his attorney on Tuesday. The whistleblower has been stranded at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow for weeks after the Obama administration unleashed an international bullying operation to isolate, extradite, and possibly kill the young man.<\/p>\n

He \u201cwill leave [the airport transit area] in the next few days because some legal papers are still required to be formalized,\u201d said his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena. It remains unclear whether Russian officials will accept Snowden\u2019s request, which would allow him to remain in Russia for up to one year. Snowden has indicated that he would use temporary asylum to facilitate travel to countries in Latin America that have offered him asylum.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is surely concerned about what would happen to him if he was denied temporary asylum in Russia,\u201d Kucherena said. \u201cHe is also afraid of torture, and that he could get executed. And what he says sounds quite convincing, because the US still administers capital punishment and torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reports that Russia may grant Snowden temporary asylum have been met with indignation by Democratic and Republican officials in the United States. <\/p>\n

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to the military-intelligence apparatus, was apoplectic. He called Russia\u2019s actions \u201coutrageous\u201d and voicing his support for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them,\u201d he sputtered. \u201cWe certainly haven\u2019t reset our relationship with Russia in a positive way. At the end of the day, if they grant this guy asylum it\u2019s a breach of the rule of law as we know it and is a slap in the face to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s hypocritical references to \u201cthe rule of law\u201d have been echoed on numerous occasions by the Obama administration, which escalated a series of threats directed at Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Russian government has an opportunity here to work with us,\u201d said Press Secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday. \u201cThis should not be something that causes long-term problems for US-Russian relations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Carney indicated that if Russia would turn Snowden over, they could \u201cresolve this situation that they have been dealing with now for three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur interest has always been in seeing him expelled from Russia and returned to the United States,\u201d Carney said. \u201cHe should not be allowed to engage in further international travel except as necessary to the United States,\u201d where he will be \u201cafforded every bit of due process.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a bold-faced lie. The Obama administration has gone further in effacing the constitutional right to due process than any other presidency. Carney speaks for an administration that kills American citizens without a warrant or a trial, has declared the right to indefinitely detain anyone without a warrant or a trial, continues to force-feed prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, has kept Bradley Manning locked up under conditions that constitute cruel and unusual punishment, and has organized an illegal international witch-hunt to prevent Snowden from seeking asylum.<\/p>\n

The treatment awaiting Snowden upon his capture was made clear in Carney\u2019s characterization of the young whistleblower as a spy: \u201cHe is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident. He is accused of leaking classified information, he\u2019s been charged with three felony counts related to the leaking of classified information. And for those reasons he should be returned to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney also alluded to the possibility of canceling upcoming talks between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe president intends to travel to Russia in September for the G-20 Summit, and I don\u2019t have any further announcements with regard to that travel,\u201d Carney said. When pressed on whether this should be taken as an indication of meeting cancellation plans, Carney said that he would speak no more on \u201cprevious announcements on presidential travel\u2026 I don\u2019t have anything to add.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Putin has responded to the American threats by leveling a threat of his own at Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have warned Mr. Snowden that any actions by him connected with harming Russian-American relations are unacceptable,\u201d the Russian president said Wednesday. \u201cBilateral relations, in my opinion, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of the secret services.\u201d<\/p>\n

These comments further show the Putin regime\u2019s hostility to Edward Snowden. To the Russian ruling class, anger over the US government\u2019s assault on democratic rights are mere \u201csquabbles.\u201d In effect, Snowden\u2019s life will be weighed against the benefits and detriments that may come to the Russian ruling class in its relations with American imperialism.<\/p>\n


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Republished with permission from: World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Eric London 7 June 2014 Edward Snowden has formally applied for temporary asylum in Russia, according to statements made by his attorney on Tuesday. The whistleblower has been stranded at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow for weeks after the Obama administration unleashed an international bullying operation to isolate, extradite, and possibly kill the young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}