Snowden got stuck in Russia after Cuba blocked entry - newspaper

[Tx4obama]

Snowden got stuck in Russia after Cuba blocked entry - newspaper

(Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden got stuck in the transit zone of a Moscow airport because Havana said it would not let him fly from Russia to Cuba, a Russian newspaper reported on Monday.

Snowden, who is wanted in the United States for leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programmes, had planned to fly to Havana from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport a day after arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.

But Snowden, who eventually accepted a year's asylum in Russia after spending nearly six weeks at Sheremetyevo, did not show up for the flight although he had been allocated a seat.

Citing several sources, including one close to the U.S. State Department, Kommersant newspaper said the reason was that at the last minute Cuba told officials to stop Snowden from boarding the Aeroflot flight.

-snip-

Full article here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/uk-usa-security-snowden-idUKBRE97P05D20130826

[Fearless]

1. Not all that surprising if true

[David Krout]

25. Too bad it wasn't true

Did it ever cross your mind, honestly, that Cuba would do this? Or were you saying it because you wanted to believe it? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/fidel-castro-edward-snowden-cuba-us

[Fearless]

26. What I said was clear enough.

[MADem]

2. Cuba wants to normalize with us, and as soon as Castro dies, they will. They don't want Snowden

to fuck that up.

That's my speculation and I'm sticking to it!

And I, half joking, speculated a while back that Snowden might have gotten a payday from Putin to steal all that stuff. Now I don't think it's quite so funny:

Kommersant also said Snowden had spent a couple of days in the Russian consulate in Hong Kong to declare his intention of flying to Latin America via Moscow.

He was getting Russian government "aid and comfort" way back then?

Incredible.

[caseymoz]

8. I believe it's giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy

that's important. Not only do you have it reversed, but as adversarial and contentious as the US and Russia are, they are not enemies. At least not in the formerly understood terms of being at war.

"Back then" in Hong Kong? After he already blew the whistle? I fail to see what you think that shows. Ever hear of the saying, "Any port in a storm?" You bet he was at the Russian Consulate trying to negotiate any passage he could before he was arrested, or abducted.

[reusrename]

10. Bass-ackwards is not that unusual for this member.

But this one is pretty amusing. Receiving aid and comfort. Uh-huh.

[MADem]

12. Nice name calling, there, Internet Tough Guy!

Whoever smelt it, dealt it, I'd say...you might wanna look behind you!

[snooper2]

22. what will the next username be?

reusereuseusername?

[MADem]

11. You're the one that dragged out that phrase, not me.

You can get "aid and comfort" at a combat clinic--nothing to do with "enemies." I wasn't quoting ART 3 of the Constitution, but I was noting that he ran there pretty frickin' quick. And he was there for DAYS? And you don't find that curious?

If you can't "figure out" that Snowden was kissing up to the Russians while he was still making noise about prancing off to Iceland (which he thought was in perpetual Middle Finger To USA mode--apparently he missed the government change up that way) then I've got a great deal on a bridge.

[caseymoz]

17. I remember him running. And no I don't.

With the shitstorm he caused? He did everything I would have done, (provided I would have been that fast on my feet). Everything. So, no, I don't find that suspicious at all.

Is it likely that he harmed US (corporate) interests? I don't know. He was assigned to spy on Americans. In that division, I don't know that he had information the Russians would find useful. (Except for the technology to allow the Russians to spy on their people. No harm to US interests.)

Even if he did, he had the complete and total right, as far as I'm concerned, to get to safety any way he could. And if our government doesn't like that, it should have thought of that before it decided to spy on its own people, and before it declared that the president could make people disappear and could assassinate and murder people. Can't you think of why he would have been scared? If you don't have that much insight, you're not competent to buy or sell bridges, or anything.

A country that does those things is a despotism. That's not even on the slippery slope anymore. It is a despotism and it deserves a kick in the balls. And so do the people who come up with any justification for it.

About the "aid and comfort" phrase, if you weren't suggesting it in the Article 3 sense, then you need to make better word choices.

[MADem]

18. He had options, and he had to know about them--he would have learned them during his

in-briefing (which is where he stole those powerpoint slides). And if he didn't want to use his own IG chain of command, he should have gone to his buddy Rand Paul--who sits on the oversight committee that has the authority to investigate pretty damn near ANYTHING under Congress's purview. Ranking member on that committee, I believe, is Out-For-Revenge-McCain.

Talk about a perfect storm--he could have raised hell, gotten immunity, testified like an emo John Dean, become the darling of the anti-Obama crowd, written a book, made a fortune.

Instead--unless he already took a huge payday from Putin--he's scrambling, making Greenwald and Poitras rich (I assume they will give him a "cut" of the take from the documentary they are making--but maybe not...?), revived Tired Old Assange's "brand name," and he is living far from Moscow, unable to pop his head up and talk to the press because Putin has him constrained under a gag order.

He's either a mercenary or "too clever by half." I'm starting to think he's not as smart as he thinks he is. He's just smart enough to make a mess, but his long range planning appears to really suck.

I don't feel sorry for him--he'll get the life he deserves, even if he never comes home to face the music.

And Cuba gets a big thumbs up! When Castro dies, their fortunes will increase mightily! I'll bet they know it, too!

[caseymoz]

23. He would have been killed or imprisoned.

About that, I have no doubt. You are simply out of contact with reality if you think he would have been given immunity or anything like it. PRISM and the entire huge infrastructure for it is entirely illegal under the Constitution. No government puts that much money and effort into something like that if they have any intention of it being lawful.

Senators would have been kept out of the loop as the Senators purportedly in charge of oversight already are.

There is no reason now to have any faith in internal procedures. Daniel Ellsberg didn't have a "procedure" to follow when he turned over the Pentagon Papers to the NY Times. There's a reason this government has established a procedure, and it's not to help whistle blowers: it's to protect itself and keep things out of the press. And I'm sorry, if it was good for Ellsberg with Pentagon Papers, it's still good enough for Snowden. The only way you can condemn Snowden is if you condemn Ellsberg, too.

If you think Greenwald is going to become rich off this, you're just crazy. Nuts. Period. He has a book contract because that's what journalists do. That's his trade. This is not going to be a huge money making operation for Greenwald. If you think it's going to bring more than a middle class standard of living for a few years, you don't know the publishing business. If Greenwald has dollar signs in his eyes, there are far more likely ways for a talented person to fulfill that. Meanwhile, he's going to have his share of legal problems for probably the rest of his life.

Talk of lucrative paydays for Assange and Greenwald sound as delusional, or more, than Global Warming deniers talking about how scientists have to tow the liberal line to get grants, and are making out hand-over-fist by doing it. You really don't know who has the money in this society, and which side you don't want to be on if you want to become wealthy.

I've said this to plenty of people over this issue: it's become sadly apparent we don't belong in the same political party. As you try to support your position by sprouting one wrong, unsupported, ad hominem declaration about Snowden, Greenwald and Assange after another, I'm beginning to think it'd be better to have you on ignore.

[MADem]

24. Well, he really should have piped up when he first found something that bothered him.

Instead, he ran around gathering up everything he could get his hands on, and then changed jobs in an effort to gather up more "stuff." Then he ran like hell, and after being in Hong Kong only a few days, he RAN to the Russian Embassy.

Forgive me if I wonder--how dare I be sentient and engage the brain I've had all my life!

Greenwald already tried to sell an interview deal--the network says it was "six figure" and he said fifty grand--but no one said he was doing all this out of the goodness of his heart.

We know that Poitras filmed HOURS of video of Snowden--not just the few minutes we saw...I don't think those were home movies, reports say she's crafting a documentary, and Greenwald brought her in, so he gets a piece of that pie.

Every time he appears on television, he gets an "appearance fee" -- ka ching.

If you seriously think this is all about altruism and truth, justice and the American way, I think you will soon be disabused of that belief when the Big Movie comes out. And this issue has nothing to do with "global warming," but great conflation--when did you start beating your wife, then? See? Not nice to do that kind of stuff, where you try to marry two unrelated issues to paint a person as "The Bad Guy."

I think if you want to have me on IGNORE, go right ahead--but don't make promises you don't intend to keep. I can't help but notice that when people cannot respond to the points I have raised, they go right to the IGNORE option. I guess it's easier than actually having to JUSTIFY one's comments and assertions.

I belong to the Democratic Party, and have since I became a voter many decades ago. That's why I signed up here.

[dipsydoodle]

4. RT News : US pressured Cuba not to let Snowden in – report

Edward Snowden was forced to stay in Russia after the US threatened Cuba with “adverse consequences” should the NSA whistleblower get on board Aeroflot’s Moscow-Havana flight, Kommersant newspaper has learnt.

Under US pressure the Cuban authorities informed Moscow the Aeroflot plane would not be able to land in Havana, a source told the Russian newspaper.

One of the sources close to the US State Department stated that Cuba was one of the countries whose authorities were warned of “adverse consequences” if it helped Snowden.

http://rt.com/news/snowden-us-pressured-cuba-977/

[JI7]

5. rt

[iamthebandfanman]

6. Good ole Putin Television. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

7. In the OP Reuters quote Kommersant - Russia's daily online

What's the difference.

[MattSh]

16. Well then, the USA asked for this outcome.

If their ultimate goal was to get Snowden dead or alive, it would have been easier if he was now somewhere in South America. Now he's more difficult to touch.

I can't believe they really thought that Putin would allow Snowden to be extradited to the USA, so maybe their ultimate goal was not to get Snowden, but to provoke a new cold war. I guess there's a limit to how much profit can be made on "Radical Islam" these days.

[totodeinhere]

9. If this account is true all it shows is that Cuba bowed to US pressure whereas the Russians

did not. Perhaps since Cuba is a small country only 90 miles off from our coast they were not able to withstand the pressure as more powerful Russia was. And this highlights even more the bravery of countries such as Bolivia and Nicaragua that did offer asylum to Mr. Snowden.

[MADem]

19. Russia doesn't help Cuba much anymore.

We make their lives miserable, but we play a carrot/stick game, too. Normalization will change their lives, and they look forward to the day.

[JoePhilly]

13. Shouldn't have booked his trip via Grennwald Travel Inc.

[MADem]

14. The Russians deny it, but there is a report that they INVITED him to come visit their HK consulate.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/us-leaker-edward-snowden-stayed-at-russias-hong-kong-consulate-report/articleshow/22064932.cms

Snowden even celebrated his 30th birthday there, the source was quoted as saying.

A Western source confirmed the information to the newspaper, adding that the West thought it was possible that Russian authorities had invited Snowden to come to Russia.

It is likely that "Russians themselves invited Snowden, passing the invitation on to him via the Chinese who were happy to get rid of him," the Western source was quoted as saying.

A source in the Russian government confirmed to Kommersant that Snowden was at the Russian consulate in Hong Kong for two days until he left for Moscow.

[bunnies]

15. Makes sense. Remember this?

... June 23, 2013: Izvestia, a state-owned Russian newspaper, writes that the Kremlin and its intelligence services collaborated with Wikileaks to help Snowden escape from Hong Kong (Wikileaks did not mention any official involvement in Snowden’s departure from Hong Kong in their press statements) ...

http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-assange-wikileaks-and-russia-2013-8

[MADem]

20. It would appear that early report is indeed confirmed.

How interesting that his Hong Kong hideout, after he left that fancy hotel, was the Russian consulate.

I doubt he stayed awake for the entire two or more days he was hiding out with them.

[bunnies]

21. So much for that whole...

he got "stuck" in Russia thing, eh?

[davidn3600]

29. What did you want him to do?

Did you want Snowden to give himself up to Americans while Lindsay Graham and Diane Feinstein were screaming "TRAITOR!" and demanding severe punishment?

[bunnies]

30. I dont really care what he does.

Honestly.

[Scurrilous]

27. Genius!!

[leftyladyfrommo]

28. I've always felt that some big players

were behind Snowdon from the very beginning. The whole thing was just way too weird.

And the goal: to cause all the trouble and embarrassment it did. It worked.