Snowden Seeks International Help Against US Espionage Charges

An anonymous reader writes "Edward Snowden is calling for international help to persuade the U.S. to drop its espionage charges against him. Snowden said he would like to testify before the U.S. Congress about National Security Agency surveillance and may be willing to help German officials investigate alleged U.S. spying in Germany. Snowden is quoted as saying that the U.S. government 'continues to treat dissent as defection, and seeks to criminalize political speech with felony charges that provide no defense.' He continues, 'I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behavior.'"

Comments

Too bad Snowden will only be 33 in 2016

[wjcofkc]

Because you have to be 35 to be elected president in the United States.

Re:Too bad Snowden will only be 33 in 2016

[wjcofkc]

The anger toward this man was quick to start from the government, but I have yet to meet a citizen that considers him a traitor. I know a diverse group - many and varied from so many sides of the fence it requires theoretical ultra-dimensional geometry to describe. From right to left, from city dweller to country bumpkin, all I see is a government forcing thoughts and false beliefs on the people through the news, claiming to speak for these people while the majority of them themselves will tell me otherwise. The news is not here to inform you of reality, it exists to teach you that another, fabricated and agenda ridden one exists. Don't believe it. Talk to the people yourself.

Re:Abandon their harmful behavior?

[xevioso]

The problem is that there are a significant amount of people in the U.S> who believe that some of the things Snowden leaked are harmful to the US.
For example, he leaked that the U.S> was spying on specific Chinese Universities, to determine how they were hacking into our military and industrial computers. Now those universities know how to be more careful. It is unlikely they will stop trying to hack into us.

The problem Snowden has is that even if he "started a conversation" about U.S. intelligence, he still leaked a number of things that could easily be found to be harmful to the U.S. Even if 98% of the things he leaked were good things for the world to know, he will ALWAYS be at risk of being charged for the 2% of the things he leaked that are genuinely bad for the world to know.

Re:Abandon their harmful behavior?

[sugar and acid]

The british system works nicely to stop a dictator. At any point, the parliament can elect a new prime-minister, or in effect force a new election. And there is the nuclear option, where the queen can in theory sack a government.

This is never used, as it would create a constitution crisis the monarchy probably wouldn't survive. But if the government was seriously dysfunctional, and was unpopular, the queen could just about politically get away with it. The closest case is sacking of the australian Witlam government in the 70's by the governor general (queen's representative in australia) for the government being in deadlock over a budget and having to shut down functions. So basically the equivalent of the government shutdown the US has just had.

Re:Abandon their harmful behavior?

[Immerman]

Ironically the title "President" was chosen rather than something lofty like "Prime Minister" specifically to try to keep the office humble. A president is (was) that guy who runs the local XYZ club, not someone with real power.