Streetwise Professor

Lots of Snowden news today.  Starting with Putin, who gave a statement that managed to come down on every side of the matter.  Russia never extradites anybody anywhere no way, no how.   But Snowden “must choose a country of destination and go there.”  He can stay in Russia, but on “one condition”: “He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips.”

So Snowden must go; but Putin won’t make him; and if he doesn’t, he has to avoid harming the US.  Got it.

Thanks for clearing that up for us, Vova.

This seems to me to indicate that Putin has put himself in a box here.  It would be totally humiliating to turn over Snowden to the Americans, so that’s not an option.  But the propaganda and intelligence benefits of Snowden’s presence in Russia (and yes, he’s “in Russia” despite legalistic Russian denials) are depreciating rapidly, and his presence in Moscow is becoming a major headache: as satisfying as it is to tweak the Americans, Putin is enough of a realist to understand he has to deal with the US.  He’s gotten the benefits from the tweak, and from here on out Snowden is a total liability.  From Putin’s perspective, the best thing would be for some other country to grant him asylum, but nobody wants to embrace the tar baby, leaving Putin stuck with him.   I can hear him lamenting: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome geek”?

I interpret Putin’s statement as being intended to keep all options open-except for an outright handover.  I wonder what carrots and sticks are being waved around to persuade/cajole/dragoon some other country to take Snowden off Putin’s mitts.

More news: Snowden, via Assange consort/groupie Sarah Harrison (who is allegedly with Snowden in SVO), applied for asylum in Russia, and 14 other countries.  Except the Russian Immigration Service denies this.

And yet more news: Snowden allegedly sent a manifesto proclaiming his intention to fight on.

One interesting part from his snowflake (the Rumsfeld name for one of his memos from on high) comes at the very top: “I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest.”  Did he write this before or after Putin made his “American partners” remark?  It was released afterwards, which could be interpreted as a major FU to Putin.  Putin: You can stay if you STFU about the Americans.  Snowden: I’ll say what I want.

Or perhaps I should say “if he wrote this” instead of “did he write this.”  The document came “via Wikileaks”, and Reuters obtained a version in Spanish-which Snowden does not speak.  It sounds suspiciously Assange-ish, and contained an interesting verbal slip: it said the “United States have” instead of the “United States has.”  Now, the former usage was quite common prior to the Civil War.  Since 1865, not so much.  No American would write that c. 2013.  Ecuadoran Spanish translated into English via computer software (e.g., Google Translate)?  (The letter sucks up to Ecuador.)  Or do Aussies sometimes say “the United States have”?  Interestingly, after this was pointed out on Twitter, Wikileaks edited the statement to say “United States has.”  Busted.

And why would Snowden route this through Wikileaks, instead of blasting it to many journalists via email, along with some verification that it came from Snowden?

So did Wikileaks/Assange create this out of the whole cloth?  Or did the Russians, who then sent it to Wikileaks?  I go for the former interpretation, because since Snowden is in Russian control they could easily make it look like it came directly from him.  They wouldn’t need Wikileaks as a cutout, and it would appear more credible if it came from him directly.  And if Assange/Wikileaks has in fact created this, with such friends Snowden could use a few enemies.

After initially breatlhelessly running with the “Message from Snowden” story, the media is now backing off, and saying “attributed to Snowden.”  I think that his authorship is the least likely explanation.

Whoever the author was, he is a grandiose narcissist-a category that includes both Snowden and Assange.  It’s mainly self-righteous bloviation, but this sentence stood out: “Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me in a stateless person.” Um, Eddie, you’re a fugitive who has been indicted, and who has fled precisely to avoid conviction, you twat: if conviction is the big deal here, stand trial  (Yeah, yeah, I know you claim you can’t get a fair trial.  But you’ve admitted taking the material.  Hard to walk that back.  “I’m special” isn’t a defense.)  Believe it or not, governments from municipalities to nation states attempt to do things to restrict the ability of fugitives to escape.  And you’re not stateless.  You’re passport-less: precisely because there is a particular state that wants to claim you as its own, at least for the purpose of prosecuting you.  And although I say “Eddie”, Assange has expressed similar things over his years on the run, which could provide another piece of evidence in favor of Assange’s authorship.

What a collection of pathological characters.  Snowden. Assange. Putin.  And to the mix of the pathological, some righties are reveling in the fact that Snowden “unload[ed] on Obama.”  As little regard I have for Obama, it is beyond stupid to embrace such an anti-American idiot who has traipsed from one anti-American country to another, just because he criticizes Obama.  And for things that they would find perfectly copacetic if a president with an R after his name had done them.  To put an exclamation point on this, Glenn Greenwald will appear on Fox tomorrow.

This seems to be one of those very situations where everyone will lose.  Everyone.

Update.  Here’s Snowden’s list of teams to which he’s willing to be traded:

Te Republic of Austria, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of India, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Poland, the Russian Federation, the Kingdom of Spain, the Swiss Confederation and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Good luck with most of those.  But what a rag-bag collection.  I especially like the juxtaposition of Switzerland and Venezuela.  Question: “What do Switzerland and Venezuela have in common?” Answer: “Nothing, except that Edward Snowden wants them to take him in.”  Oh.  And Switzerland is not in the Snowden fan club, given the president of the country has called him out as a liar.  Finland and Cuba is another excellent pairing.  I am at a loss to find any rhyme or reason in this list.  Does he really think France or Germany or Italy would let him in?  Seriously?  Bolivia-Will he play Butch or the Sundance Kid?