Statement from Ed Snowden Regarding Attempted False Flag Smear in the Independent

"I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent. The journalists I have worked with have, at my request, been judicious and careful in ensuring that the only things disclosed are what the public should know but that does not place any person in danger. People at all levels of society up to and including the President of the United States have recognized the contribution of these careful disclosures to a necessary public debate, and we are proud of this record.

"It appears that the UK government is now seeking to create an appearance that the Guardian and Washington Post's disclosures are harmful, and they are doing so by intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others. The UK government should explain the reasoning behind this decision to disclose information that, were it released by a private citizen, they would argue is a criminal act."

- Ed Snowden, August 23 2013

'Snowden, Manning, Assange victims of morally bankrupt system'

Спасибо России!!! Snowden leaves airport after Russia grants asylum

Note to CIA spies and murder drone pilots - if you kill Snowden the data will come for you.

MOSCOW (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden left the transit zone of a Moscow airport and entered Russia after authorities granted him asylum for one year, his lawyer said Thursday.

Anatoly Kucherena said that Snowden's whereabouts will be kept secret for security reasons. The former NSA systems analyst was stuck at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23.

"He now is one of the most sought after men in the world," Kucherena told reporters at the airport. "The issue of security is very important for him."

Fox News claims that Ed Snowden "has the potential to do further damage to the country". Fox News of course intentionally and deceptively confusing "US Government" for "Country"

Brainwashing is an art, and Fox News is an artist.

Note to Fox News - bringing light to an American government who is exercising illegal and unconstitutional behavior in an attempt to stop said illegal and unconstitutional behavior may indeed be causing that current GOVERNMENT harm, but in no way, shape or form is it harming the American people, or America.

Please note the difference.  

But of course you won't be doing that. It doesn't fit your developing Snowden "narrative"

Here are the artists at Fox News painting their masterpiece:

"Glenn Greenwald, a columnist for The Guardian newspaper who first reported on the intelligence leaks, told Argentinian newspaper La Nacion that the U.S. government should exercise extreme care with Snowden because he has the potential to do further damage to the country."

Meanwhile, here's what Greenwald ACTUALLY said:

"I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed,

Ed Snowden - Dissident, Human Rights Activist, Patriot, Whistleblower, Refugee, Hero. Oh, wait, here's Obama's muppet Jay Carney: "Snowden is not a human rights activist or a dissident".

DISSIDENT
disagreeing especially with an established religious or political system, organization, or belief

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect some variation of human rights, typically acting peacefully in the process

PATRIOT
one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests

WHISTLEBLOWER
one who reveals something covert or who informs against another

REFUGEE
one that flees; especially : a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution

HEROISM
heroic conduct especially as exhibited in fulfilling a high purpose or attaining a noble end

MUPPETS
a group of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy.

FLASH: Statement and Video by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport

 Hello. My name is Ed Snowden.

A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.

It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.

That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.

Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.

Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.

I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela’s President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.

This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.

If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.

Thank you.

Edward Snowden

FLASH - ED SNOWDEN RENEWING BID FOR ASYLUM IN RUSSIA BEFORE HEADING TO LATIN AMERICA

Ed Snowden asking Russia for asylum, will be on temporary basis until he can secure safe transit to a brave host nation

According to Tanya Lokshina, a Human Rights Watch representative who attended the meeting, Snowden "wants our assistance in getting guarantees of safe passage to Latin America and safety guarantees to stay in Russia until he can travel to Latin America.”

Memo to Ed- enjoy your time in Russia.  Beautiful country and people. Stay safe.

Full statement from Snowden coming soon...

US Government, acting against the wishes of the American public, continuing to pressure, extort and bribe nations in futile attempt to imprison the whistleblower Ed Snowden

Isn't this how the Mafia works?

Memo to Obama, Biden, et al - THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO NOT SUPPORT YOU, AND YOUR ATTMPTS TO SILENCE AND IMPRISON A HEROIC AMERICAN WHISTLEBLOWER.

YOU HAVE LOST.

U.S. Is Pressing Latin Americans to Reject Snowden

CARACAS, Venezuela — The United States is conducting a diplomatic full-court press to try to block Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American intelligence contractor, from finding refuge in Latin America, where three left-leaning governments that make defying Washington a hallmark of their foreign policies have publicly vowed to take him in.

FLASH: Ed Snowden to meet with human rights groups in Moscow today at 16:30 Moscow Time - invite letter here, statement expected after meeting

I have been extremely fortunate to enjoy and accept many offers of support
and asylum from brave countries around the world. These nations have my
gratitude, and I hope to travel to each of them to extend my personal
thanks to their people and leaders. By refusing to compromise their
principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of
the world.

Unfortunately, in recent weeks we have witnessed an unlawful campaign by
officials in the U.S. Government to deny my right to seek and enjoy this
asylum under Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The
scale of threatening behavior is without precedent: never before in
history have states conspired to force to the ground a sovereign
President's plane to effect a search for a political refugee. This
dangerous escalation represents a threat not just to the dignity of Latin
America or my own personal security, but to the basic right shared by
every living person to live free from persecution.

I invite the Human Rights organizations and other respected individuals
addressed to join me on 12 July at 5:00PM at Sheremetyevo Airport in
Moscow for a brief statement and discussion regarding the next steps
forward in my situation. Your cooperation and support will be greatly
appreciated in this matter.

Sincerely,
Edward Joseph Snowden

MEETING DETAILS:
Please meet at 4.30pm at Sheremetyevo airport in Terminal F, in the centre
of the arrival hall. Someone from airport staff will be waiting there to
receive you with a sign labelled "G9". Please bring a copy of this invite
and ID to show that you work for your organization as security will likely
be tight at this meeting. A maximum of three people are able to attend
from each organization. For any questions please contact the airport
administration on +8 916-816-4335


UPDATE - SCENE FROM AIRPORT:

UPDATE - SCENE FROM MEETING

FLASH: 54% OF AMERICANS CONSIDER ED SNOWDEN A WHISTLEBLOWER, 34% SAY TRAITOR. AND IN RELATED NEWS, 34% OF AMERICANS ARE SHOWN TO BE UNTHINKING BRAINWASHED STOOGES.

Snowden Seen as Whistle-Blower by Majority in New Poll

A majority of U.S. registered voters consider Edward Snowden a whistle-blower, not a traitor, and a plurality says government anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far in restricting civil liberties, a poll released today shows.

Fifty-five percent said Snowden was a whistle-blower in leaking details about top-secret U.S. programs that collect telephone and Internet data, in the survey from Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University. Thirty-four percent said he’s a traitor.

Ed Snowden Interview Part 2: "I don't want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded. And that's not something I'm willing to support, it's not something I'm willing to build and it's not something I'm willing to live under"

"I think they are going to say I have committed grave crimes, I have violated the Espionage Act. They are going to say I have aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. But this argument can be made against anyone who reveals information that points out mass survellience systems,"

Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.

For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.
"In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

Edward Joseph Snowden

Stanford and Virginia Law Professors in the NY Times - "It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal."

Mass surveillance.

Warantless eavesdropping.

Global intrusion of privacy.

This is what America has signed up for.  This is what Americans are allowing.  Taking it lying down.  No protest.  Limited outrage.  Constitution smonstitution. 

Wake the f*ck up America.  

Seriously, wake the f*ck up.

What the Obama regime is doing is a crime.  

The Criminal N.S.A.
By JENNIFER STISA GRANICK and CHRISTOPHER JON SPRIGMAN
Published: June 27, 201

THE twin revelations that telecom carriers have been secretly giving the National Security Agency information about Americans’ phone calls, and that the N.S.A. has been capturing e-mail and other private communications from Internet companies as part of a secret program called Prism, have not enraged most Americans. Lulled, perhaps, by the Obama administration’s claims that these “modest encroachments on privacy” were approved by Congress and by federal judges, public opinion quickly migrated from shock to “meh.”

We may never know all the details of the mass surveillance programs, but we know this: The administration has justified them through abuse of language, intentional evasion of statutory protections, secret, unreviewable investigative procedures and constitutional arguments that make a mockery of the government’s professed concern with protecting Americans’ privacy. It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal.

Steve Wozniak on Edward Snowden - "I think he's a hero. He's a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work". ARE YOU LISTENING OBAMA?

Oh, yeah, I forgot.  Obama IS listening.

Not to us.

Not to the Founders.

No, he's listening.  He's listening to your intimate, private, constitutionally protected calls.  

Shame.

“I think he’s a hero,” said the 62-year-old Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and invented the Apple I and Apple II personal computers that launched a technological revolution. “He’s a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work. I don’t think the NSA has done one thing valuable for us, in this whole ‘Prism’ regard, that couldn’t have been done by following the Constitution and doing it the old way.”

Putin Does the Right Thing - Allows Edward Snowden Free Transit from Russia. "I'd prefer not to deal with this issue at all—it's like shearing a pig—too much squeaking, too little wool"

If the shoe was on the other foot, and a Russian whistleblower had fled to America while exposing illegal activity of the Russian government, would America send him back on a plane to Russia?  To face certain prosecution, maybe even death?

No f*cking way.

So we're shocked, SHOCKED, that Putin did what he did today?

Bravo, Putin.  Bravo Russia.  And now for our hero Ed Snowden it's on to Ecuador!

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he'd rather not intervene in the case of Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the U.S. on charges of espionage for leaking National Security Agency secrets, and likened navigating the diplomacy of the situation to "shearing a pig."

"I'd prefer not to deal with this issue at all—it's like shearing a pig—too much squeaking, too little wool," Putin said during a news conference in Turku, Finland, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Putin announced Snowden was free to transit out of Russia, adding "the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it will be for us and for him."

Julian Assange Statement Defending Ed Snowden - "By trying to crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the U.S. government is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose."

One day, the Snowdens of the world are going to run America. A generation raised on the internet, with freedom of speech and assembly and the right to privacy deep in their veins. That day can't come soon enough.

I hope all of those demanding Ed Snowden's arrest are still alive. So we can show them how terribly, historically, incredibly wrong they were. They were the traitors, not Snowden.  And they will be shamed.

 Here's Assange, laying it down.

The U.S. government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off. Let’s be very careful about who we call "traitor." Edward Snowden is one of us. Bradley Manning is one of us. They are young, technically minded people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the generation that grew up on the internet, and were shaped by it.

 The U.S. government is always going to need intelligence analysts and systems administrators, and they are going to have to hire them from this generation and the ones that follow it. One day, their generation will run the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI. This isn’t a phenomenon that is going away. This is inevitable. And by trying to crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the U.S. government is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose.

Putin to Obama - You Want Snowden? Come Get Him! (or something like that)

Hmmm... let's see, a hero from America, a whistleblower on the illegal, evil and shady undertakings of the American government, a beacon of human rights and freedom of speech, a person awaiting jail and possibly something like waterboarding, and the Americans want Russia to hand him over?

No chance.

Bravo Putin.  Bravo Russia.  The world (including most Americans) is on your side.

The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged "strong objections" to Hong Kong and China for letting him go.

But the Russian government ignored the appeal and President Vladimir Putin's press secretary denied any knowledge of Snowden's movements.

Asked if Snowden had spoken to the Russian authorities, Peskov said: "Overall, we have no information about him."

UPDATE - US warns Moscow not to let Edward Snowden escape Russia

Ecuador Foreign Minister bitch slaps the US Security Industrial Complex, defends Ed Snowden - “It should be asked, who betrayed whom? Is this betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?"

This, I believe, would be called a 'smack down'.

Here's Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino pointing out the blatent hypocracy of the Obama administration and their masters in the US Security Industrial Complex.  

Ed Snowden hasn't betrayed America, or the American people.  He is an American hero, and will be celebrated for decades to come.  No, he hasn't betrayed us.  

He has honored us.

Has Edward Snowden betrayed people of the world or certain elites in a particular country, asked Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as he confirmed that the whistleblower was in Russia following the asylum bid the South American country.

Patino said on Monday that human rights principles were the most important consideration in the case of former CIA contractor.

Ecuador has been in contact with the Russian government over Edward Snowden and has informed Russia that it is considering him asylum appeal, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister said at a press conference in Hanoi on Monday.

He stressed that the Ecuadorian government puts human rights above any other party’s interests. Patino also said it is “paradoxical” the person who revealed alleged rights violations is being “persecuted.” 

“It should be asked, who betrayed whom,” Patino stressed as he questioned the correctness of calling Snowden’s leak a “treason.”

“Is this betraying the citizens of the world, or betraying some elites that are in power in a certain country?” the Minister asked.

Ed Snowden - Hero, Patriot, Whistleblower - and now Fugitive

Ed Snowden, the hero of our story, is now officially on the run.  In America we used to celebrate and protect whistleblowers.  Now we chase them down, maybe even drop a drone on their ass.  

Seriously.  What's become of us?

Snowden has ticket to Cuba, may go to Venezuela: Russian reports

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is booked on a flight from Moscow to Cuba on Monday, Russian news agencies Interfax and Itar-Tass cited sources at Russian airline Aeroflot as saying on Sunday.

Itar-Tass cited its source as saying Snowden w

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things".

Here's Ed talking to the Guardian, with the full transcript here. 

This is what courage looks like folks.  

"But over time that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about. And the more you talk about the more you're ignored. The more you're told its not a problem until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public and not by somebody who was simply hired by the government."

"Any analyst at any time can target anyone, any selector, anywhere. Where those communications will be picked up depends on the range of the sensor networks and the authorities that analyst is empowered with. Not all analysts have the ability to target everything. But I sitting at my desk certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a Federal judge to even the President if I had a personal e-mail."

"You can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk because they're such powerful adversaries. No one can meaningfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they'll get you in time."

"The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change."

Ed Snowden does live chat with the Guardian. " All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Truth.  Is.  Coming.

And it cannot be stopped.

One more time - attention President Obama.  Attention John Boehner.  Attention Dick Cheney.  Attention Diane Feinstein.  Attention all the traitors who are attempting to silence this whistleblower.

Truth is coming.  And it cannot be stopped.

It cannot be stopped.

It cannot be stopped.

Suck on that for awhile.

The US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it.

Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is meaningless.

All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.