Unlike US Asylees, Snowden didn’t Blow anything Up, just said ‘This is not Right’

[Catherina]

Venezuela’s Maduro: Unlike US Asylees, Snowden didn’t Blow anything Up, just said ‘This is not Right’

Posted on 07/06/2013 by Juan Cole

Globovision reports that President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela on Friday offered asylum to US leaker Edward Snowden, in order, he said, to protect him from “imperial North American persecution,” describing the US government as among the “most oppressive in the world.” He said he hoped Snowden would be able to live “quietly in the free country of Bolívar and Chávez.”

Maduro made the statement on Venezuela’s Independence Day, commemorating that country’s July 5, 1811 declaration of independence. A week and a half ago, Maduro had complained that the US routinely grants asylum to right wing Venezuelans who were guilty of terrorism and killings, and that it was a small thing to give asylum to someone who merely blew the whistle on government surveillance. Maduro pointed to the US allowing Luis Posada Carriles to live freely in Miami, even though he blew up a plane with 73 persons aboard and thereby nearly killed prominent American journalist Stephen Kinzer. It is thought that the US government protects Posada Cariles because he had worked for the CIA and could reveal many unsavory secrets if he were extradited abroad.

...

“Caracas Radio Nacional de Venezuela Online on 26 June reports that President Maduro criticized that the US Government demands that other governments deny political asylum to former national security expert Edward Snowden despite protecting terrorists such as Luis Posada Carriles.

He also rejected that “the United States has granted political asylum to several former Venezuelan military officers who, led by fascist groups, set off bombs at the Colombian Embassy and the Spanish Consulate and who live in Miami with the protection of the US Government.

The United States granted political asylum to an unsavory character named Eligio Cedeno, who launders drug money and was tried in Venezuela on this charge. He has also received protection.”

He condemned that the US Government is demanding Snowden’s arrest and extradition. He added: “This 29-year-old man has not set off bombs, murdered anyone or stolen anything. All he did was look at himself in the mirror one day and say to himself: ‘What I am doing to the world? This is not right’ He rebelled. He (Snowden) belongs to a great rebellion of US youths that is under way, the rebellion of consciences, (and) the rebellion of principles.”

http://www.juancole.com/2013/07/venezuelas-snowden-anything.html

[Warpy]

1. It doesn't matter how many of us are killed

it's considered ordinary, just another imperial business day, nothing to see here, move along.

However, if you embarrass a bunch of bureaucrats they will hound you and hunt you down and silence you, usually by character assassination but sometimes by actual assassination.

The most dangerous job in the world is whistleblower.

[rhett o rick]

7. And what gets to me is that there are those right here that automatically take the

side of the authoritarian state over the individual. Those that do are not Democrats IMO. They are DINO's.

[Warpy]

8. I think most of them are current or former military/law enforcement

I just get that vibe from the posts, "You will despise Snowden because I said so!"

[dtom67]

9. their latest strategy...

Is to say there is no proof of " illegal " spying.
Most of the pushback I have received seems to be purely partisan .
Guess I missed the "move to the Right" memo.....

[rhett o rick]

14. It's clearly the authoritarian mindset. Take the word of the almighty over your neighbor.

The almighty Oligarch Cabal is watching over us and we must be loyal. In lieu of looking for evidence, just have faith.

[Romulus Quirinus]

2. Right? nt

[ProSense]

3. Maybe, there's

<...>

Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA employee, veteran of the failed invasion of Cuba, support operative for the Nicaraguan Contras and the accused mastermind behind the worst terrorist attacks in Latin America and the Caribbean, was acquitted last Friday in a federal court in El Paso, Texas—but only on charges related with lying to immigration authorities, and not for his long history of violence, for which justice authorities in Venezuela and other countries are still seeking his extradition.

After a trial that dragged on for thirteen weeks, and only three hours after beginning deliberations, the jury reached a unanimous “not guilty” verdict on each one of the eleven counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud.

The verdict marks the end of the US government’s prosecution of Posada Carriles, begun four years ago when he was accused of entering the United States illegally, and now all indications are that he will continue living happily in Miami, where he is considered a hero. At the end of the trial, he left the courthouse a free man.

Now the only pending legal action remaining against him is Venezuela’s extradition request to try him on seventy-three counts of murder, as he is accused of organizing the most serious terrorist attack in Latin America: the 1976 bombing of the Cubana de Aviación passenger airliner.

- more -

http://www.thenation.com/article/159919/luis-posada-carriles-acquitted-texas#

...a trade in the offing if Snowden ever makes it to Venezuela.

You never know.

[wildbilln864]

4. k & r! nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. What makes Snowden believe he wouldn't be part of a trade?

[tblue]

6. He threw a spanner in the works

and upset the PTB. That's way worse than a bomb I guess. Worse than starting a war based on lies.

[zeemike]

10. Only the little people die in wars

Cause only the little people fight them...and remember brown people are dispensable.
But fucking with the PTB, now that is a crime.

[Enthusiast]

11. Starting a war based on lies doesn't bother some people one bit.

What is worse is allowing these miscreants to get away with their crimes. Treating them as if they have credibility and are deserving of respect.

So, yeah. What you said. For Dog's sake, don't upset the precious PTB.

What a country.

[DeSwiss]

12. K&R

[reusrename]

13. Snowden also never ordered that Evo Morales' jet be detained.

And yet there's some question as to whether he's going to undermine US-Cuban relations:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023205647

[malaise]

15. And don't look for Rachel Maddow or Tweety or anyone else

on the left to discuss this side of asylum.

This is the truth but who wants to hear it.

[Sheepshank]

16. I'm glad Snowden isn't like McVeigh either...*phew* dodged that bullet, right? n/t