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

[Keith Millea]

This is just breaking:

Published on Tuesday, July 2, 2013 by Common Dreams

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


Wikileaks: 'The reported actions of France, Portugal and Spain this night will live in infamy'

- Common Dreams staff

The plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria Wednesday over rumors that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.

While attending an energy conference in Russia this week, Morales said he would consider granting asylum to Snowden if requested.

Portuguese and French authorities wouldn't let the plane land in their territories, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca told reporters.

"We are told that there were some unfounded suspicions that Mr. Snowden was on the plane," Choquehuanca said. "We do not know who has invented this lie. Someone who wants to harm our country. This information that has been circulated is malicious information to harm this country."

"This is a lie, a falsehood," he said. "It was generated by the U.S. government."

Bolivia's air travel rights were violated, he said.

"It is an outrage. It is an abuse. It is a violation of the conventions and agreements of international air transportation," he said.

Choquehuanca said that the move had put the president's life at risk.

"Portugal owes us an explanation. France owes us an explanation," Choquehuanca said.

Bolivian Defense Minister Ruben Saavedra said the U.S. State Department may have been behind the decisions to not allow Morales' plane to land in Portugal or fly over French air space.

"We have the suspicion that they (the two European governments) were used by a foreign power, in this case the United States, as a way of intimidating the Bolivian state and President Evo Morales," he said.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/02-10

[Magda Hassan]

Holy cow! That is some real heavy International Law violations there. This puts a whole new reading of Otto's the other day on Snowden's Ecuador asylum bid.

Snowden and Ecuador
With Edward Snowden now apparently en route to the sunny palm-shaded beaches of Guaya, some thoughts. Yes, we're about to get a ton of snark about press freedom in Ecuador. But more importantly...



1) We're about to find out just how sensitive the information Snowden is carrying might be. Because you can be darned sure that by now the U.S Government has a very good idea of exactly what Snowden knows, what he's downloaded etc and if it's really enough to bring down the whole edifice, he's not going to reach Ecuador. However, if the documents held by Edwards are less than State-threatening, he'll make it ok.

2) Therefore, if you happen to be reading this and have a plane ticket booked for the Moscow/Habana run in the next 24 hours, you may want to consider deferring that flight for a couple of days. Either that or checking that all your insurance papers are in good order. Don't forget to kiss the kids before you leave, either.Read the rest here: http://www.incakolanews.blogspot.com.au/...uador.html

Snowden must have some heavy shit atill to be released by the looks of this.....

(updated) Bolivian Presidential Flight Denial and Spy Stowaway Conspiracy Amusement of the Day


So both France and Portugal suddenly decide to deny air passage of the Bolivian Presidential aircraft, with Evo Morales on board, which then has to turn tail and make (what's being called at least) an emergency landing in Austria because of suspicions that Snowden had hitched a ride with Evo (update: though theaudio of the conversation between the Presidential plane's pilot and Austrian ATC indicates the landing was a precautionary measure only, due to a doubt about exactly how much fuel was on board).


As for the suspicions, Bolivia's Chancellor, David Choquehuanca, said "There's no possibility that there is an extra passenger to those that were indicated in the voyage" and that it was "an injustice (based) on unfounded suspicions".


Fact: Quantum of Solace was set in Bolivia

UPDATE: Evo speaks! And says that he and Snowden did even see each other during his visit to Moscow and when asked when he was on the plane replied "absolutely not". Italy now also denying use of airspace for the PresWagon. Meanwhile, Bolivia is now calling for an energency seesion of Unasur to discuss the matter.

UPDATE 2: Why do we so love Bolivia? Because it employs a Vice-Minister of Communications, one Sebastián Michel, who asks his fellow citizens to go and urinate on (presumably the walls of, but you never know) the French Embassy in La Paz Bolivia in retaliation for the denied airspace thingy today:

That's why we love Bolivia. Oh yes we do.

[Magda Hassan]

According to Russia Today in Spanish section France and Portugal have both allowed Morales airplane to transit but Spain is still holding out.
http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view...vo-morales

[Magda Hassan]

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

[Carsten Wiethoff]

Two things become very clear by this outrageous event:
1. All European governments are completely in the pocket of the US Empire and are willing to break every law to be subservient to the master.
2. Snowden must have some important things in his posession that have not yet become public. We have not heard the full ugly truth yet.

[Magda Hassan]

Two things become very clear by this outrageous event:
1. All European governments are completely in the pocket of the US Empire and are willing to break every law to be subservient to the master.
2. Snowden must have some important things in his posession that have not yet become public. We have not heard the full ugly truth yet.

Agreed on both counts Carsten. I think the media would be covering it very different if Air Force One were stuck in Vienna and air transit denied to it.

[Magda Hassan]

And on your second point Carsten it seems there must be more to Snowden's leaks. Obama lied. Recall: "we're not going to scramble jets for some 29 year old hacker."

[Carsten Wiethoff]

And on your second point Carsten it seems there must be more to Snowden's leaks. Obama lied. Recall: "we're not going to scramble jets for some 29 year old hacker."

Snowden is 30 meanwhile.

Remember: "I have no war plans on my desk" ?

[Magda Hassan]

And on your second point Carsten it seems there must be more to Snowden's leaks. Obama lied. Recall: "we're not going to scramble jets for some 29 year old hacker."

Snowden is 30 meanwhile.

Remember: "I have no war plans on my desk" ?

Ah, yes, the fine print....

[Magda Hassan]

From the Guardian live blog:

Audio has been posted purporting to be of the conversation between a pilot aboard Morales's flight and the control room at Vienna airport. Although the Guardian cannot 100% verify the audio, it comes from a source who has a track record of monitoring aviation communications. (In this 2011 article, Huub, also known online as "BlackBox" and @FMCNL, is described as a former member of the Dutch military who has been monitoring radio frequency scanners, amplifiers, and antennas for more than 25 years.)
Part of the conversation goes:

"Do you need any assistance?"
"Not at this moment. We need to land because we cannot get a correct indication of the fuel indication...we need to land."

This problem might indicate why Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca accused France and Portugal of putting the president's life at risk by cancelling authorisation for the plane. But it is hard to believe that those countries would have refused permission to land if a problem was reported.
A press officer at Vienna airport said she could not confirm whether or not the audio recording was genuine.