At least that map illustrates quite well the idiocy that Snowden committed. In green the states that accepted him, and are, interestingly, among the top freedom violators of the world. Venezuela is a major offender as private conversations are routinely taped by the regime and played on state TV, including enough manipulation of the material to perpetrate character assassination. Such playing being also illegal, of course. And there is no way to get a court to accept and process your complaint. And let's not get in all sorts of human rights violations that take place daily here. And Assange and the combo that manipulate Snowden from the start, do they think that going to Venezuela will improve their international standing?
No. What it is all about is a bunch of anti US guys willing to do anything, ANYTHING, to screw America as if this would arrange their own problems in life. Pathetic, from Maduro offering asylum in a country without toilet paper to Snowden looking more idiotic by the minute.
I have a question: do these creeps understand that their show is actually diminishing the US and other countries spying on our private lives? That their antics are totally counterproductive among the people that they seek to convince?
i think this will amuse you Dahttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/snowden-takes-asylum-venezuela-staggering-183848051.htmlniel... Keep writing
ReplyDeleteObama is killing himself laughing. While they worry about what could happen to poor little Snowden, they keep their eye off the ball, the mischief of the NSA.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the NSA, some 10-12 years ago I read an article that surprised me a lot. It said that the NSA which I thought was just another intel agency was in fact the big thing with a budget several times the budget of the CIA and others and that they were recording whatever they could record. Fast forward 10-12 years later and Merkel and Roussef play offended virgins (at their age?) when learning of the mischief of the NSA, what a couple of odd spinsters, gimme a break.
By not pointing out what kinds of countries are those who are offering asylum to Snowdon, and what contradiction that is implied, CNN lacks in its role to inform the public.Many people in the US do not have a clear understanding of these countries.CNN does this so as not to be accused of bias because for journalists it is much worse to be accused of bias than to imply a lie.
ReplyDeletefirepigette
CNN does this to keep their offices open and thus maintain "world coverage".
ReplyDeleteI am no fan of US news channels and I can very much choose from different ones. I don't get your problem with this map. What's the deal? I have seen similar maps on several news sites, the information value is close to none but so is much of the information all of them show.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity the conversation is focused on this guy and not on the very dangerous development of intelligence services AND private contractors and how both groups interact with hear other.
I have over a decade of experience in data mining, Daniel, and not just for "academic" purposes.
I know the scene pretty well and the fact Snowden might be behaving stupidly doesn't make the danger and the actual shameless use of OUR data by these governments and contractors any less real.
I wish there could be an attitude a little bit different from Chavistas, who think that the enemy of my enemy is my friend and vice versa.
And that is my point: instead of talking of NSA and such stuff it is so much fun to talk of where is Snowden. That is why the media seems only too often a mere bunch of idiots and why CNN is one of the major offenders which is why I watch it less, and less ,and less....
DeleteIt seems that Iran was left off the map of possibles.
ReplyDeleteDon't be disingenuous, that was not your point. Your said: "No. What it is all about is a bunch of anti US guys willing to do anything, ANYTHING, to screw America as if this would arrange their own problems in life".
ReplyDeleteYour article does you no credit at all. Read this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/daniel-ellsberg-nsa-leaker-snowden-made-the-right-call/2013/07/07/0b46d96c-e5b7-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html, pay attention to the name of the author, and particularly to this paragraph:
"He would almost certainly be confined in total isolation, even longer than the more than eight months Manning suffered during his three years of imprisonment before his trial began recently. The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Torture described Manning’s conditions as “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” (That realistic prospect, by itself, is grounds for most countries granting Snowden asylum, if they could withstand bullying and bribery from the United States.)"
If Snowden has to seek refuge in the arms of some less than savoury characters, to avoid being tortured into imbecility, that fact alone is sufficient condemnation of his country. What it's about now is saving his life and his sanity, not about some presidents' grandstanding. Get a sense of proportion please.
Your last paragraph is incoherent, you should take the time to rewrite the whole article really.
I love it! A courageous anonymous attacking me! Though at least he admits he did not understand my post as "incoherent". And he probably expects me to correct my incoherence to accommodate his own! Go ahead, hold your breath.
DeleteP.S. By the way, whatever the US would do to Snowden is nothing compared to what Chavez does to Venezuelan prisoners. You are in need of an update on what Venezuela is. Google Afiuni, Simonovis, or pran to get an idea. Jeeeez...
DeleteDaniel, if anonymous posts get on your nerves so much maybe you should deactivate them. It's your blog after all. Perhaps you could at least be logical about this? If you like I can send you my email address directly (but I don't see how to, on this page at least). At any rate you have my IP address.
ReplyDeleteYou presumably didn't read any of WaPo article written by your rather better known and, incidentally, highly respected namesake, or if you did you didn't pay much attention because if you had, you might have chosen to respond to some of the points he made rather than make your facile replies.
I have read your blog with respect and attention until now, and yes, I do expect you to correct not only your incoherence but also the entire thrust of your sneering article. It does you no credit whatever, a bunch of knee-jerk assertions and rhetorical questions. Snowden, with his whistleblowing, because that's what it is, has performed an enormous service, not just to his country, but the the world. What's important now that the whistle has been blown, is to save Snowden from the fate that awaits him if he is rendered to the US: torture as defined by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Torture. Personally, I hope he comes to Brazil, that well-known terrorist hotbed and most spied-upon country after the US.
As to your PS, here are some more constructive criticisms: I fail to see how one injustice should somehow validate another. Perhaps you could explain? And for your information, panita, I am not in need of an update on Venezuela, I lived until recently, and for over two years in Caracas and I have informed myself about the Afiuni and Simonovis cases, the Plan Patria and random shootings, etc. BTW, Chavez is not doing anything to anyone anymore. Jeeeez, as you say... you're writing a public blog, do you think you can get away with that kind of sloppiness.
http://youtu.be/L45Q1_psDqk
DeleteFrank, we can disagree without making such strong determinations for the benefit of ultimate understanding.
firepigette
Frank
DeleteI doubt very much you read my blog regularly and with great care. Had you been doing so you would have discovered that inasmuch as I criticize Snowden personal choices I have not given an opinion on what the NSA does. But such opinion should be a given for readers of a blog that frequently details the abuses of the chavista regime taking, for example, private conversations, editing and manipulating them to be played on state TV for character assassination purposes without the victims ever granted a right of response.
In fact I am willing to go as far as to say that you are a likely chavista that is pretending that Maduro regime is a democratic one, and improvement on the past even though this one is based on electoral fraud, corruption, power abuse, restriction of the basic freedoms of information and expression. As such, that marks you for incoherence. AGAIN, were you a regular reader of this blog you would know that I consider that the regime is an outright dictatorship since late 2010. On this respect, I am coherent and I can sustain my positions in public, with only "tergiversadores" like you pretending otherwise.
A otro con ese cuchillo de palo.
This Snowden stuff is snowballing and getting out of hand, not only on Venezuela News and Views but globally. Just look at this: http://www.noticias24.com/venezuela/noticia/179818/las-victimas-del-espionaje-gringo-deben-demandar-a-ee-uu-vamos-a-quebrar-la-economia-de-usa/
DeleteIn a few words, Iris Varela is asking to destroy the U.S.A economy. This is scary because, those thugs have so well destroyed the Venezuelan economy, I have no doubt they will manage the same up North when they set their mind to it. Oh my goodness, what has the world come to?
"I doubt very much you read my blog regularly and with great care... In fact I am willing to go as far as to say that you are a likely chavista": your words mark you as nothing more than a presumptuous twit. I'm not going to bother anymore, I'll assume you put the same amount of thoughtful analysis in your posts as well as your replies to comments (i.e. zero) and I'll remove your blog from my RSS reader.
ReplyDeleteSince this whole affair has got your knickers (not to mention those of that smart alec sneering about "adolescence") in such a twist, you know, I'd go so far as to ask whose pocket are you in?
Perfect chavista answer. Should I reveal the generous amounts I receive from the NSA? Or.......... (fill in the organization of your choice you dislike the most).
DeleteI am sorry but I have low tolerance for fools. I suggest you point your rss to other blogs who love to discuss the sex of angels standing on a pin head.