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Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
dr_andus:
Here's some analysis of what might be behind the Russian decision:
The decision is backed by almost twice as many Russians as those against it and those who view Snowden’s role as positive outnumber negative assessments three to one. While the case risks derailing U.S.-Russian relations, it gives Putin a chance to rally support at home and deflect attention from his own human-rights record...
“His main propaganda message domestically will be that things are similar everywhere: the CIA and the FBI violate human rights just like everybody else.”
Putin, who used Russia’s oil-powered wealth accumulation to build support for his 13-year rule, is facing an economy that threatens to slide into recession.
While Russia lacks the economic power that China or the West wield, it strives to be treated as an equal and the Snowden affair gave Putin an opportunity to show that...
Returning Snowden to the U.S. “would undermine Russia’s bid to promote globally an image of a major geopolitical player offering an alternative to the western-dominated world.”
The U.S. refusing to allow Snowden to seek asylum in a third country left Russia with little choice.
While Putin himself was taken hostage by the events to a certain extent and the decision to grant Snowden asylum is “absolutely irrational” from the perspective of international relations, Russia “decided to make use of Snowden” to put pressure on the U.S. “The pressure is to show that we weren’t born yesterday." “That’s the Russian sentiment on everything, whether it’s Iran, Syria or relations with China.”
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dr_andus:
And it's a brilliant move on the Russians' part because there is not all that much the US can do about it. Cancel Obama's visit? It would just call further attention to the cause of that cancellation, which is again the NSA, spying on US citizens etc., etc. Bad PR move.
Plus the US seems to need Russia more than the other way round:
But senior State Department officials said they don't expect the meeting to be canceled because the U.S. wants to address with the leaders a "broad range of topics that are important to U.S. national security interests," including Afghanistan.
Officials say that the U.S. can push Moscow only so far without jeopardizing U.S. interests in other areas. The U.S. needs Russia to help keep pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, including maintaining sanctions, for example. "We can't go overboard," a senior administration official said.
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And this was the most interesting bit to me:
Thursday's development caught many in the administration by surprise, an administration official said.
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Really? Maybe they should start reading some online forums and stuff... I mean what's going on in the State Dept? Or is that the White House that calls the shots in this affair? Either way, there has been some incredible dilettantism on display. If US-Russia relations will suffer as a result of all this, it will be a self-inflicted wound. I'm glad they messed up with apprehending Snowden, but it's alarming to see such lack of strategic and tactical thinking on the part of the word's super power...
Tinman57:
Video to see:
- ECYM
EVERY CALL YOU MAKE
Every call you make
And every thought you take
Every truth you break, every right you take
They are watching you
Every text each day
Every word you say
Every sound you play, and saved this day
They are watching you
Oh, can't you see
You must submit to me?
And make no mistake
With every thought you take
Oh, With every call you make
Every friend you make
Every line you break
Every nick you fake, every name you create
They are watching you
Today, Snowden's gone without a trace
They are busy inventing an espionage case
He's got four LapTops which can't be replaced
They keep begging Snowden, Snowden please
Snowden Please
Oh, can't you see
They belong to me?
Now N. S. A. aches
With every thought he takes
With every call you make
Every point he makes
Every lie he breaks
Every truth he awakes, make no mistake
They are watching you
Every plan you make, every call you make
Oh, they are watching you
They are watching you
They are watching you
They are watching you
--- End quote ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loSlVXtZj8s
Renegade:
The cynic in me (like how I did that renegade?) is screaming that the Russians just wanted to have the hold card in their hand at this point...
-wraith808 (August 01, 2013, 12:32 PM)
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HAHAHA~! ;D :Thmbsup:
Video to see:
- ECYM
EVERY CALL YOU MAKE...
--- End quote ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loSlVXtZj8s
-Tinman57 (August 01, 2013, 08:07 PM)
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That was excellent! :Thmbsup:
I was expecting it to be a bit more "Policey", but it didn't disappoint! ;D
wraith808:
And it's a brilliant move on the Russians' part because there is not all that much the US can do about it. Cancel Obama's visit? It would just call further attention to the cause of that cancellation, which is again the NSA, spying on US citizens etc., etc. Bad PR move.
Plus the US seems to need Russia more than the other way round:
But senior State Department officials said they don't expect the meeting to be canceled because the U.S. wants to address with the leaders a "broad range of topics that are important to U.S. national security interests," including Afghanistan.
Officials say that the U.S. can push Moscow only so far without jeopardizing U.S. interests in other areas. The U.S. needs Russia to help keep pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, including maintaining sanctions, for example. "We can't go overboard," a senior administration official said.
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-dr_andus (August 01, 2013, 07:25 PM)
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It seems that others are looking at it in a totally different way.
The Sheremetyevo chapter may be over, but the saga itself will continue. Already, there have been calls by US congressmen that Russia should be held accountable for granting Snowden asylum. There is also little doubt that US president Barack Obama will now cancel his planned trip to Moscow in September.
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and
With Snowden, the Kremlin did the moral thing – and the moral thing also happened to be the only thing the Kremlin could do in this instance. Essentially denied safe passage to Latin America, Snowden was marooned, and letting him languish in Sheremetyevo indefinitely would have dented the Kremlin's credibility at home and abroad.
In recent years, Moscow has excelled at snubbing Washington over anything it could, but the Snowden situation was different from the start. It prompted unusually cautious words from Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who said that Snowden could remain in Russia provided he would do no more damage to the US government, which Putin referred to as the Russian government's partner.
Other prominent members of the government have pointed out that Russia was left with little choice in the matter. The head of the State Duma committee on international affairs, Alexei Pushkov, said: "Even though Obama said that he wouldn't ground a plane over some '29-year-old hacker', they trapped Snowden after they grounded the Bolivian president's plane."
"Any other decision would have meant that Russia would lose face," deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov told Kommersant. "If we didn't give Snowden asylum, no one would take us seriously – and the Americans would be the first to do this."
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