What a week it's been! Where would I start? It was one of those weeks where things just kept popping up, one after the other, and I realized that I could write a whole blog about any one of them, but in the end decided to lump them all together and save us all some time. We'll see whether I can actually achieve that or end up getting to over a dozen paragraps just on my first topic, which is usually the case!
First up, there's the Edward Snowden affair. This is the guy who was so infuriated at Amerika Inc.'s (i.e. Washington's ) "architecture of oppression" that he decided to use his position at the NSA to leak classified information to the world. It's somewhat reminiscent of the whole Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks fiasco, where the army private leaked abundant quantities of diplomatic cables to the always hungry jaws of the beast created by a certain Julian Assange.
Given that Mr. Assange remains holed up (i.e. effectively in prison, already) in the Ecuadorean Embassy in good old London town, I guess Snowden felt that the world needed another whistleblower to celebrate. Well, it might be more accurate to say that a lot of the rest of the world celebrates it, but I doubt that North America or Great Britain do. Snowden is riding a wave of attention that derives from and is fed by a larger wave of anti-American sentiment in certain regions of the world.
It's not an exaggeration to say that in spite of (or actually because of?!) America's efforts to stabilize an increasingly volatile Middle East, the perception that they are only interested in oil (which translates in effect as interest only in themselves) pervades the globe and greases the wheels of an international network of anti-Americanism. When Americans, such as an army private (Manning) or an NSA employee (Snowden) defect and spill the beans on Amerika Inc., the reverberations and impact are much greater.
When an American turns on Amerika Inc. the international network rejoices, even while smiling for photo ops and shaking Obama's hand. You don't think Hong Kong, China, Russia, Cuba, Ecuador are all smiling wryly at this story? They appear to be, and that smiling is mild compared to the ribald laughter in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and North Korea, among others. Collectively, this network is rather intimidating and their reach and preach is spreading ever farther afield.
It is very clear that Hong Kong did not expedite the extradition of Snowden as needed, and in fact let China further influence them to let Snowden flee when the noose was tightening. The fact that Moscow was the next safe harbour was hardly surprising, given that Putin is known for getting a kick out of being a thorn in Amerika's side, even while doing business with it. It is highly ironic though that while being a total hardliner on dissidence in his own country (remember the Russian punk band (Pussy Riot) who were jailed for public dissidence?), he is playing hardball with allowing Amerika to get its hands on its most infamous dissident!
But while Russia has allowed Snowden safe harbour from the American authorities, it is a transient one, and Putin clearly wants to do the "hand-off" to another rogue nation, and not actually grant the American dissident refugee status on red Russian soil. So Putin is allowing him airport time for now, while he decides where he is going next. Presumably he will hit Cuba next, en route to Ecuador, which after the Assange affair seems to be his potential final resting place. Maybe.
Inside the protected (and apparently spying) fortress and powers of Amerika Inc., Snowden is essentially already guilty of being a traitor who should be charged with treason, which ex-Vice President Dick Cheney wasn't shy to underline. It's also ironic that many accused ol' Dick of being guilty of more or less a different version of the same accusation (i.e. treason), via lining his own purse at the expense of Amerika Inc. by being a key player in going to war in Iraq on the basis of a supposed arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that they knew didn't actually exist. I wouldn't believe a word the guy says, so him calling someone else a traitor means nothing to me.
However, when you work for a security-related or military-affiliated agency, and you decide to expose what in effect are national secrets (however low on the totem pole of state security they may be) on international TV, then by and large, de facto, you are indeed guilty of treason. Whether it was done in this case for a brief fifteen minutes of fame (Julian Assange he is not) or out of a much publicized sense of "doing what is right" is entirely irrelevant. Whether you commit a crime out of spite or out of your own sense of justice - it doesn't matter - you will always be found guilty as a matter of law.
What happens next remains to be seen, but it's great entertainment and beats the you-know-what out of any other daytime drama on the box. The fact that Snowden has some laptops and hard drives in his possession might be what truly has Amerika Inc. nervously monitoring the channels that Snowden claims are wide open inside the fortress. I guess you only have to say "Julian" and "Edward" and "Ecuador" and "secrets" in the same phone call and lo and behold, you will be paid a sudden visit from Amerika Inc?
Anyway, to begin with, is anyone really surprised that after 911, Amerika Inc. decided to monitor us all? It's no secret for example, that in the recent Boston Marathon bombings, the authorities used the latest facial recognition software to identify suspects. Or that in a few cases of recent interception of teenagers with guns and bombs stashed for use in their schools, it wasn't explained how they had been mariaculously pinpointed. Big Brother of 1984 is alive and well in 2013, and he's only growing and getting stronger every year!
Oh my, it looks like a case of "oops, I did it again!" and in fact I have written an entire blog around just one of my subjects this week, and so I am afraid that Paula Deen, George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin and Aaron Hernandez will all have to wait - my audience is very patient but I will not test that patience with a 3-4 page blog. I can hear the sighs of relief all around the globe already!
On that note, on this particularly grey rainy Friday, I shall procure a mug of my new Palermo Passion Exquisite Dark Roast, retire to my mezzanine study, and ponder on what information I may have access to that could get me my fifteen minutes of fame. But you know, I already get that from my loyal readers in over 20 countries in the world - and at least until today - it comes with no risk of being separated from my beloved dark roast and armchair, in which case I shall simply continue to express my thoughts on the EU blog instead! ;) - Kevin Mc
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