Snowden on Board? Bolivian President's Plane Forced to Land in Austria

[Magda Hassan]

But then the US blows up embassies too. When they are Chinese and in Yugoslavia.

http://www.ediplomat.com/nd/treaties/dip...ations.htm

Article 40

• If a diplomatic agent passes through or is in the territory of a third State, which has granted him a passport visa if such visa was necessary, while proceeding to take up or to return to his post, or when returning to his own country, the third State shall accord him inviolability and such other immunities as may be required to ensure his transit or return. The same shall apply in the case of any members of his family enjoying privileges or immunities who are accompanying the diplomatic agent, or traveling separately to join him or to return to their country.
  
• In circumstances similar to those specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, third States shall not hinder the passage of members of the administrative and technical or service staff of a mission, and of members of their families, through their territories.
  
• Third States shall accord to official correspondence and other official communications in transit, including messages in code or cipher, the same freedom and protection as is accorded by the receiving State. They shall accord to diplomatic couriers, who have been granted a passport visa if such visa was necessary, and diplomatic bags in transit the same inviolability and protection as the receiving State is bound to accord.
  
• The obligations of third States under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall also apply to the persons mentioned respectively in those paragraphs, and to official communications and diplomatic bags, whose presence in the territory of the third State is due to force majeure.
  

[Charles Drago]

I'm inclined to believe that Snowden's material is legit, and thus of great value to the world.

But as a committed student of Deep Politics, I'll not dismiss the possibility that Snowden, unwittingly or otherwise, is in possession of disinformation -- the advertised value of which is being enhanced dramatically (in more ways than one) by all this sturm und drang.

[Magda Hassan]

Possibly, but it seems an awful lot of trouble that the US is going to if Snowden just has the combination lock code to the executive toilets.

[Charles Drago]

Possibly, but it seems an awful lot of trouble that the US is going to if Snowden just has the combination lock code to the executive toilets.

The greater the set-up, the greater the pay-off.

Either way, I'm sure that Snowden is in possession of valuable information.

But of terms of its release, the question remains unanswered:

Cui bono?

[Magda Hassan]

At this stage I am sure self preservation comes into play for Snowden at least.

[Charles Drago]

At this stage I am sure self preservation comes into play for Snowden at least.

Indeed.

I refer you to the James Lee Burke quote in my "signature" below.

[David Guyatt]

Apparently according to the US ambassador in Vienna there is an arrest warrant for Snowden about to be handed over to the Austrian authorities.

I also believe there is an international arrest warrant in Spain and France for Henry Kissinger too, but one that is ignored by all and sundry.

This shows without any doubt that the US view the international Rule of Law as non-existant, and shows the world that the US is nothing short of a gangster state imposing it's will on anyone who doesn't do what they demand.

I also would not now be entirely surprised if the US learned that Snowden was on board a commercial airliner heading for safety somewhere, they would divert that aircraft with armed jets, board it and arrest him. Ditto a vessel on the high seas.

This single act is, I suspect, going to have far reaching repercussions, and I shouldn't wonder that some sort of blowback is going to hurt Uncle in the long term.

[Magda Hassan]

From Craig Murray.

All Law is Gone: Naked Power Remains

by craig on July 3, 2013 8:39 am in [URL="http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/category/uncategorized/"]Uncategorized
[/URL]The forcing down of the Bolivian President's jet was a clear breach of the Vienna Convention by Spain and Portugal, which closed their airspace to this Head of State while on a diplomatic mission. It has never been thought necessary to write down in a Treaty that Heads of State enjoy diplomatic immunity while engaged in diplomacy, as their representatives only enjoy diplomatic immunity as cyphers for their Head of State. But it is a hitherto unchallenged precept of customary international law, indeed arguably the oldest provision of international law.To the US and its allies, international law is no longer of any consequence. I can see no evidence that anyone in an official position has even noted the illegality of repeated Israeli air and missile strikes against Syria. Snowden, Manning and Assange all exposed illegality on a massive scale, and no action whatsoever has been taken against any of the criminals they exposed. Instead they are being hounded out of all meaningful life and ability to function in society.
I have repeatedly posted, and have been saying in public speeches for ten years, that under the UK/US intelligence sharing agreements the NSA spies on UK citizens and GCHQ spies on US citizens and they swap the information. As they use a shared technological infrastructure, the division is simply a fiction to get round the law in each country restricting those agencies from spying on their own citizens.
I have also frequently remarked how extraordinary it is that the media keep this "secret", which they have all known for years.
The Guardian published the truth on 29 June:
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]At least six European Union countries in addition to Britain have been colluding withthe US over the mass harvesting of personal communications data, according to aformer contractor to America's National Security Agency, who said the public shouldnot be "kept in the dark".[/TD]
[TD]This article hasbeen takendown pendinganinvestigation.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wayne Madsen, a former US navy lieutenant who first worked for the NSA in 1985 and over the next 12 years held several sensitive positions within the agency, names Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy as having secret deals with the US.[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Madsen said the countries had "formal second and third party status" under signal intelligence (sigint) agreements that compels them to hand over data, including mobile phone and internet information to the NSA if requested.[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Under international intelligence agreements, confirmed by declassified documents, nations are categorised by the US according to their trust level. The US is first party while the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy second party relationships. Germany and France have third party relationships.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The strange script which appears there happens when I try to copy and paste from this site which preserved the article before the Guardian censored all the material about the UK/US intelligence sharing agreement from it.
As you can see from the newssniffer site linked above, for many hours there was just a notice stating that the article was "taken down pending investigation", and then it was replaced on the same URL by the Guardian with a different story which does not mention the whistleblower Wayne Madsen or the intelligence sharing agreements!!
I can give, and I would give on oath, an eye witness guarantee that from my direct personal experience of twenty years as a British diplomat the deleted information from Wayne Madsen was true.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Now, if Morales was the CIA rendering US prisoners to be tortured the EU would have given him flight clearance every where.

:rofl:

Eduardo Rozsa-Flores' flight to Bolivia to assassinate President Morales probably got a jet fighter escort.....

[Jan Klimkowski]

Possibly, but it seems an awful lot of trouble that the US is going to if Snowden just has the combination lock code to the executive toilets.

The greater the set-up, the greater the pay-off.

Either way, I'm sure that Snowden is in possession of valuable information.

But of terms of its release, the question remains unanswered:

Cui bono?

Perhaps the script is dynamic, evolving, fluid.

A nudge here, a wink there, and the chasm opens beneath our feet