Just let Snowden stay in Russia and leave it at that.

[Ken Burch]

The WH is looking ridiculous by obsessing over arresting the guy.

It's over...they're not ever going to get him back here...just move on already.

[MjolnirTime]

1. He'll be in a cell in the US before the year is done.

[Ken Burch]

2. Not really worth it. n/t.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. What, the CIA will kidnap him?

An act of war...the information is out.

[MjolnirTime]

5. Your buddy is going down. No matter how much you admire him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Let's get this clear

He is not my buddy, he is not my friend...otoh you are revealing a disdain for international law that is just astounding...not surprising to be honest.

USA, USA, USA,

Lemme see, the US brought down a head of state plane, violation of the Vienna convention...check. (Yes, it has been pretty much admitted that CIA personnel and ambassadors did tell governments)

Now you are advocating the further breaking of international law and customs by invading the national territory of a sovereign state to get one man...which is an act of war.

Yup, the hornets nest has not been kicked enough.

So you'd prefer we just send in SEAL team six to kidnap him and forget about national sovereignty?

At this point, if DC has any sense...they will let that one go...cause you know what, even if nuclear armed there are ways to skin this kitty...you should read a tad more on international law and custom and how nations react to shit like this. Maybe we should taste some rogue state status. We are well on our way to that.

Free clue, might does not make right.

Lastly, nationalism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

[MjolnirTime]

7. Edward used his own might to steal National Secrets. You support that.

He broke the Law.

The same Law you claim to respect. But you really don't.
You just want to protect the hero.

It won't work. And when he gets put under the klieg lights, you won't recognize the noble hero anymore. All the facade will be put aside and a desperate man will be left behind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. And...he is not in the US

And as a political asylum seeker there are norms and customs that apply here, which we have advocated when convenient...such as the flight of Russian scientists during the Cold War.

By the logic you are using, spetnatz should have come and taken them back. They did steal state secrets too.

Again, might does not make right, and if DC has any sense they will let this one go...cause this is leading to anger world wide. But hey, I guess in your mind only the US matters...how imperial of you.

As I said he is not my friend, he is not my hero.

Now what I suspect is that deep in your mind you also wish for the suspension of the Bill of Rights, perhaps the whole document.

To be honest...this is disgusting...if the calendar read oh 2007...you would lead the outrage parade...how dare Republicans do that!!!!!

How puerile, to be honest.

[MjolnirTime]

11. Do you believe in the Law?? You claim to. But you want to have it both ways.

You're getting pissed because I am pointing out your hypocrisy. I can understand why you wouldn't want that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. You believe only in national law

Not the law of nations. I am pointing to you that he is outside the reach of US law...which does not, I know shocking, apply outside US Borders, except in extra territorial sites recognized under international law (US bases and diplomatic buildings)

Sorry, but right now what applies are a series of treaties we have also signed and ratified. Go get your constitution and read what it says about ratified treaties with foreign states.

By your logic, SPETNATZ was within their rights to come to the US and remove political asylum seekers as well...wait...that would have been an act of war.

[MjolnirTime]

16. The places where Snowden wants to flee have no treaty with us. That's why he wants to go there.

He will be caught if he tries to go there. He knows that.

Your loyalty seems to be to foreign law over that of the US.
Snowden is a citizen of the US. It was here that he committed felonies. Which he has admitted to.
And he will be tried in the US legal system.

Do you honestly think that someone whose escape plot failed so royally can avoid interception for long?

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Wrong

Venezuela and Ecuador do have extradition treaties. In one case going back to the 1850s.so does Nicaragua.

But political asylum is an exception to those treaties under international law. It is recognized as such, it is a post WW 2 standard, starting with the 1949 Geneva Convention (we pushed for that...irony). And the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Both are signed and ratified by us.

It is very public, the disdain our government is showing for laws and treaties we pushed for in the post WW 2 era...declining empires develop that problem...yet another marker.

And your disdain is obvious. So..since you are all for committing an act of war under international law...when are you joining? I want you in the front lines...in fact, ahead of them.

So what are they afraid off? They are willing to commit an act of war...what is in there that they are willing to do that?

[MjolnirTime]

19. I know Snowden will be brought in. Regardless. Why don't you?

You can bandy about International Law and play abstract rhetorical games the rest of the day.

That doesn't change what's going to happen.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. So we are going to commit an act of war

When are you joining? That is very concrete.

I will drive you to the recruiter.

[Savannahmann]

14. But in breaking that law, he exposed both immoral and illegal actions.

From illegal wiretapping of undersea cables (US NAVY) to violating the 4th Amendment with metadata, and all internet traffic being monitored and collected. The United States has committed far more heinous crimes than Snowden, and we know about it, and are discussing it because of the little man who did what the world appreciates him doing.

So how did we react? Oh we could have treated him like any other criminal on the lamb world wide, and just put out a warrant for him. But no, we had to get clever. We had to thumb our noses, and wave our big stick at the world just like Teddy Roosevelt.

We violated international treaties. Question my friend. What force of law does an international treaty have according to American law?

If you knew that answer, you would be a tad more concerned about what our nation is doing to get this pathetic little man than what he did. When one of us who questions things mentions the phrase act of war, we're not joking. Would you like to know how serious the Vienna Conventions are, even by American Law?

If Snowden had been on the Bolivian Presidential Plane, and it had landed at Washington National Airport. We could not enter the plane to get him. We could not delay the departure of the plane, and we could not deny him the airspace to depart the United States. If Snowden was in the window, and waving at the world's press from the tarmac of Washington National Airport, there is NOTHING WE COULD HAVE DONE except scowl and pitch a fit.

Entry into the Bolivian Presidential Plane would have been an invasion into sovereign Bolivian Territory, an act of war. When we ordered the European Allies to deny President Morales' plane to be ordered to land and be inspected. We violated the Vienna Conventions. Do you realize that violating that means we are a rogue nation now? We flaunt international law in attempting to seize one man. We're willing to piss off an entire Continent to get that one man. Apparently, we're ready to go to war over that one man.

That says two things to me. First, that the CIA/NSA/whoever/DHS have not been properly securing Top Secret information if a tech at Booz Allen could copy all of it.

Second, we're doing things that are so wrong that they will probably lead to war if they are exposed, so it is worth the risk that we might start a war to keep the information secret.

Think it through, we're violating more laws trying to get this guy than he broke in stealing the documents.

[MjolnirTime]

17. He was judge, jury, and executioner. And still has not revealed all. Just tidbits of his choosing.

He will go down. Think it through.

[JaneyVee]

3. I agree. Although it would be nice to have our property back first.

Also, I feel as though the administration is actually not pursuing him all that aggressively except for a couple of phone calls. China let him go and we don't even seem that mad at China.

[arely staircase]

8. He should turn himself in and face the music. nt

[Whisp]

13. Music you say? How about Yellow Snow by Zappa

[treestar]

9. Du may be obsessing but the WH is not

Making a comment on him is not obsessing over him. I have a feeling Ed's fans want the WH to be afraid, but the fact is, it's just not so. That never stops the eternal Ed as Hero movie in his fans' minds, however.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Just give him his passport and call off the dogs. Problem solved.