Abstract: The pigpen between the US and its European allies has opened up, as Snowden’s revelations have rendered them perplexed between covering each other up or confronting each other
Edward Snowden the latest whistle blower on the US government, has given us eye opening insight on the works of NSA, that is constantly spying upon the world.
Snowden’s message was that, ‘ it should be in the hands of the nation to decide whether this type of malevolent crimes should be committed for national security’.
Edward Snowden revealed upon the unalert humanity that a person does not have to have done something wrong, even from a ‘wrong call’ the government has the potential to make anyone a suspect of abuse.
There is a saying “only God can judge us”, but it seems that NSA has now taken the matter into their own hands. We have to understand that the power of systems like PRISM is so enormous that NSA can track and go back in time and make judgments on any person. Edward Snowden has said in an interview , “NSA is focused on getting intelligence from anywhere it can, by any means possible.”
One one hand, Senator Kerry has warned Venezuela over attempting to grant ayslum to Snowden, saying, ‘ Venezuelan officials’ visas were being revoked, and that the US was considering suspending the sale of gasoline and oil byproducts to Venezuela’, abcnews reported, and one the other hand Snowden is found seeking asylum in Russia:
“He is being pursued by the US government – that’s what he wrote, I am quoting – and he fears for his life, safety, that he will be tortured or receive the death penalty,” Kucherena said. Snowden handed over his application to the FMS on Tuesday, 16th July, for seeking asylum in Russia.
Temporary asylum is sort of “humanitarian status” or postponed deportation. In the event that it is approved, the applicant has a right to stay in the country for 12 months and can then extend this term for another year.
Snowden has been staying in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport for more than 25 days. One of the conditions of granting political asylum to Snowden is that he stops harmful actions against the US, said Kucherena.
The pigpen between the US and its European allies has opened up, as Snowden’s revelations have rendered them perplexed between covering each other up or confronting each other:
German Involvement
Cooperation between the NSA and Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, is more intensive than previously known. NSA, for example, provides “analysis tools” for the BND’s signals monitoring of foreign data streams that travel through Germany. Among the BND’s focuses is the Middle East route through which data packets from crisis regions travel.
Germany angry
German chancellor Angela Merkel today warned it would be “unacceptable” for America to spy on the EU as the row over intelligence leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden escalated.
EU angry
In a sign of the anger in European capitals, Berlin also stressed that “mutual trust” was needed to forge a historic EU-US trade deal (TTIP).
France angry
French President Hollande’s condemnation of Edward Snowden-alleged American spying in Europe was dramatically shrill. “We cannot accept”, the President thundered, “…this kind of behaviour between allies and partners”, before going onto suggest that France might now scupper talks on the proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Bolivia angry
Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was forced to land in Austria late Tuesday after flying out of Moscow for inspection if it was carrying American fugitive Edward Snowden.
Austrian authorities did not find Snowden aboard the plane and let it leave Wednesday, but the search and European countries’ refusal to let it land on their territory angered the Bolivian government.
Bolivia said it was an act of “state terrorism” by the United States and its European allies that the four countries banned Morales’ plane from their airspace on suspicions it was carrying the US fugitive to Bolivia in defiance of Washington.
“As experts in international law and human rights have said, this is a massive attack,” Davila said. “It’s the first case of state terrorism against a president, against a nation, against a people. That’s what we’re talking about now.”
Obama’s meek stance
Obama said Monday during his trip to Africa that every intelligence service in Europe, Asia and elsewhere does its best to understand the world better, and that goes beyond what they read in newspapers or watch on TV. It was an attempt to blunt European reaction to new revelations from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden that the U.S. spies on European governments.
The much more likely reality is: Everyone is doing it. And everyone knows that everyone else is doing it. Perhaps not in such a brazen way as to put bugs in embassies and delegations (what were they expecting to find in the EU Delegation anyway?), but the remarkably reluctant reaction from many European capitals shows that no one wants to throw the first stone. Not least because many countries silently benefited from the sort of information the US extracted.
UNHR
The situation of Edward Snowden and alleged large-scale violations of the right of privacy by surveillance programs raise a number of important international human rights issues.
Both Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights state that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with one’s privacy, family, home or correspondence, and that everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
National legal systems must ensure that there are adequate avenues for individuals disclosing violations of human rights to express their concern without fear of reprisals.
