14 DAY TRIAL // Edward Snowden has been under Russia’s protection for a year now and his asylum is about to expire soon, although he has asked for an extension he is most likely going to get.
That’s because the asylum law indicates that a country that has decided to offer protection to an individual can only deny the extension if the situation that person feared has changed or is no longer an issue.
In the whistleblower’s case nothing has changed in the past year. The US government doesn’t seem to have any intention to see his actions of sharing information with the American people as anything but an effort to cause damage to the country.
Chances are not any better now than they were then for him to be treated fairly within the US legal system, where he is quite likely to be banned from talking to the media or anyone else about the things he’s going through. Snowden fears he would be tortured and maybe even killed, or that he could end up in the notorious Guantanamo Bay, which, again, are valid points.
Even though he may like to return to the United States, now is not the time. After all, the United States government hasn’t made any headway in putting a stop to the blatant effort to spy on everyone just for the sake of it while masking the actions behind words like “national security” and “war on terrorism.”
Under these circumstances, how could Snowden, one individual, be treated fairly when there’s no desire to mend the great injustice done against millions upon millions of innocent individuals who are silly enough to think that the biggest threat they face online are hackers trying to get their passwords.
Given the situation, it is quite likely that the Russian officials will extend Snowden’s asylum. It is also likely that Snowden will continue to stay in Russia for a rather long time; much longer than he himself would like, that’s for sure.
And that’s because the world fears the United States’ actions if they dare stand up for Edward Snowden, if they offer him the protection he needs.
Several South American nations have expressed their willingness to welcome Snowden, but traveling there is downright impossible. If you’re wondering why, then you should remember that following a visit of the Bolivian president to Moscow, his plane was grounded after several European nations denied access to their air space because the White House said that Snowden might be on the plane as well.
In what ended up as being a large diplomatic scandal, authorities then asked to search the presidential aircraft, were denied access, but snuck in anyway only to find that Snowden was still in Russia.
With all the talk about how upset the world’s governments are with the United States, including those in Europe, there’s been very little action to back it up.
The question is, however, how long it will pass before one of these nations, maybe even Germany, is sick enough of being spied on and decides to offer Snowden asylum? He could easily go to the embassy of that country in Russia upon hearing about its willingness to offer him protection, file a request, and then get transported to said country in what would hopefully be a safe manner.
It will likely only take a few more reports based on the leaked files that have us all torn between incredulously saying we can’t believe the NSA did “that” and admitting that anything is possible at this point.