Putin May Be The Only Winner In Snowden Affair
MOSCOW – A worldwide media frenzy has turned the plight of the rogue American intelligence analyst Edward Snowden into something resembling a John le Carré novel, full of suspense and intrigue.
Whose spy is he?
Will he be able to outmaneuver the National Security Agency as it attempts to force him to return to the United States to stand trial on charges of theft and espionage? And what will U.S. President Barack Obama say to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at their scheduled September meeting in Moscow — where Snowden was given a year’s asylum after he was in limbo for more than five weeks at Sheremetyevo Airport?
The real espionage, however, lies not in Snowden’s decision to release NSA secrets, but in the surveillance programs that he exposed. The leaked information highlighted the West’s long-ignored failure to strike an informed balance between security and liberty.
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This is not true only in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, which happen to be entangled in the Snowden scandal. The reluctant responses by Germany and France to evidence that the NSA has been conducting unprecedented surveillance of their officials indicate that Europe’s governments may also be involved.
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/08/05/commentary/putin-may-be-the-only-winner-in-snowden-affair/#.UgGFxjtOZJE