Miranda's rights: how Europe can learn from Latin America's independence

[Judi Lynn]

Miranda's rights: how Europe can learn from Latin America's independence
By Mark Weisbrot
The Guardian
Tuesday, Aug 20, 2013

Brazil's action over the detention of Glenn Greenwald's partner shows South American nations no longer toe Washington's line.

With a few exceptions, most of Europe hasn't had an independent foreign policy for the past 70 years, and the UK stands out as a prime example of this. I remember discussing British foreign policy with a UK member of Parliament a few years ago, and he said to me:

"Do you want to know what the Foreign Office is going to do? Just ask the (US) State Department."

The British government proved its first loyalty once again by detaining Glenn Greenwald's Brazilian partner, David Miranda, under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000 as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on Sunday. He was interrogated for the maximum of 9 hours, and his laptop, cell phone, and other stores of digital information were seized.

It is clear that Miranda was not suspected of any connection to terrorism. To detain and rob Miranda on this pretext is no more legal than to have done so on trumped-up allegations that he was transporting cocaine. The White House has admitted that Washington had advance knowledge of the crime, and so we can infer approval – if not active collaboration.

More:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_65933.shtml

or:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/miranda-rights-europe-latin-america