Edward Snowden: hunting the source in Moscow (photos of the NSA whistleblower arriving in Russia)
WHEN Edward Snowden landed in Moscow on a flight from Hong, the media was massed.
Some journalists went about showing passengers photos of the wanted man. Have you seen him? What did he drink on the flight? Was he nervous? Did he play Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds? No snippet of information is to trite to relay about the NSA worker who told us all that big US Government co-opts big Internet companies to spy on American and British citizens.
Ben Smith puts the case:
But Snowden’s personal story is interesting only because the new details he revealed are so much more interesting. We know substantially more about domestic surveillance than we did, thanks largely to stories and documents printed by The Guardian. They would have been just as revelatory without Snowden’s name on them. The shakeout has produced more revelatory reporting, notably this new McClatchy piece on the way in which President Obama’s obsession with leaks has manifested itself in the bureaucracy with a new “Insider Threat Program.”
Snowden’s flight and its surrounding geopolitics are a good story; what he made public is a better one. I’m not sure why reporters should care all that much about his personal moral status, the meaning of the phrase “civil disobedience,” or the fate of his eternal soul. And the public who used to be known as “readers” are going to have to get used to making that distinction.
Journalists stand next to the Ecuador’s Ambassador’s car while waiting for the arrival of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who recently leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at Sheremetyevo airport, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor, Snowdon is wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs, but was allowed to leave Hong Kong for a “third country” because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory’s government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)
Journalists stand next to Ecuador’s Ambassador’s car
An unidentified passenger, right, who just arrived from Hong Kong and said to waiting journalists that he had seen former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs Edward Snowden, aboard his flight from Hong Kong.
Journalists show passengers arriving from Hong Kong a tablet with a photo of Edward Snowden
This six-picture combo shows, left to right on first row, American fugitive Robert Lee Vesco, center, leaves a Cuban court in Havana, Cuba, Aug. 2, 1996; Former United States CIA agent Philip Agee presents his travel agency “Cuba Linda,” or “Beautiful Cuba” at a news conference in Havana, Cuba, June 22, 2000; Undated file photo provided by the New Jersey State Police showing Assata Shakur, born Joanne Chesimard, who was put on a U.S. government terrorist watch list on May 2, 2005. Bottom row from left to right, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks speaks to the media and members of the public from a balcony at the Ecuador Embassy in London, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012; Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti is escorted by police officers while leaving court in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009; Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, holds a copy of his newly-released autobiography “Odd Man Out: The Last Straw”, London, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Former NSA analyst Edward Snowden is just one of many people on the run who have sought shelter in Latin America to avoid the reach of authorities back home.
Ecuador’s Foreign Mister Ricardo Patino speaks to reporters at a hotel during his visit to Vietnam Monday, June 24, 2013. Patino said that his government is analyzing an asylum request from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor wanted for revealing classified secrets.
Posted: 24th, June 2013 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
