Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has written in "an open letter to the Brazilian people" that he would be willing to help Brazil's government investigate US spying on its soil, but that he could do so only if granted political asylum.

In a letter obtained and published early on Tuesday by the Folha de S Paulo newspaper, Snowden said he was impressed by the Brazilian government's strong criticism of the NSA spy programme targeting internet and telecommunications worldwide, including monitoring the mobile phone of the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.

Brazilian senators have asked for Snowden's help during hearings about the NSA programme's aggressive targeting of Brazil, an important transit hub for transatlantic fibre-optic cables.

"I've expressed my willingness to assist where it's appropriate and legal, but, unfortunately, the US government has been working hard to limit my ability to do so," Snowden says in the letter, translated into Portuguese by the newspaper. It did not make the English original available online.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/17/edward-snowden-brazil-spying-asylum

[hack89]

1. Russian winters can be brutal

I can certainly understand the attraction of Brazil right now.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

2. Brazil. Home to some of the most dangerous cities on Earth.

Home to some of the highest murder per 100K rates in the world.

Have fun, Edward.

[former9thward]

33. They are not dangerous to people with money.

Only for the poor. Tourists go to Brazil all the time and there is no problems.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. ROFL

"I will also help out the people of Tahiti in exchange for a timeshare. One of those houses on stilts in a lagoon should do."

[VanillaRhapsody]

54. Me too! I want to be your neighbor!

[BeyondGeography]

3. What a fucking dunce

[carla]

23. What a good little

robot. I'm sure you agree with every word the NSA sxays about a man who is more ethical, honest and serious about human rights than you..."What a fucking dunce" mirror for you. Thank you Mr. Edward Snowden for revealing to the sheep what is actually going on. Edward Snowden, a true American, who thought for himself, found evil and stood against it. You? probably not, your BeyongGeography anyway.

[BeyondGeography]

29. Are you saying his position on Social Security has evolved?

[fujiyama]

35. What does his position on social security

have to do with the surveillance state?

[BeyondGeography]

37. He's a "true American who thinks for himself"

I thought we could explore that comment a little.

[frylock]

45. what is his position on Social Security?

have you heard him state his position, or are you basing this on what you have read on the internet?

[Drale]

77. I think the poster means

the Security of Society not Social Security the Federal Program.

[JackRiddler]

88. What's his position on Japanese monetary policy?

It's about as relevant as this nonsense you're trying (very badly) to use as a distraction.

The total surveillance practiced on human beings by a criminal organization that purports to be a legitimate agency of the government. That is the issue here.

[BeyondGeography]

89. I just yawned

Thank you for that.

Btw, if you're so nervous about all this, why are you protesting on the Internet?

[JackRiddler]

91. The smart, it just keeps coming.

I am on the Internet because it's my fucking Internet as well as yours, and criminal extraconstitutional organizations have no business monitoring what I post here or anywhere else on behalf of a fictional "national security," even if disguised as legitimate government agencies. Why are they on the Internet?

[BeyondGeography]

93. See, you just keep throwing punches at the bad guys

because they profoundly don't give a shit. At some level, even you know that.

Happy Holdiays.

[treestar]

48. I think for myself

and also think Snowjob is a "fucking dunce."

It's called disagreeing with you, and it's going to happen a lot.

[BlueCaliDem]

27. No. Just an opportunist as all Libertarians really are in heart and soul.

I guess when he went on the vicious rant that "leakers to the press" should be "shot in the balls", and in typical Libertarian fashion, he doesn't believe his own rule applies to him.

[frylock]

47. as reported by "the blaze"

the fucking blaze.

[BlueCaliDem]

52. How about the Washington Post?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/four-years-ago-ed-snowden-thought-leakers-should-be-shot/

Or how about ARS Technica where you can see the actual chat?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one/

These are the facts, frylock. Please don't dismiss them.

Since we're still at war, I don't know if what Snowden did was right or wrong at this time, nor do I know what his true motive is for doing this since, just four years before, he was all for defending the U.S.'s right under Bush to wiretap and spy, and against leakers leaking to newspapers.

But it's generated discussion, and that's always a good thing in a democracy.

[fujiyama]

75. Maybe his position "evolved" like it did for the President on gay marriage

and besides, I doubt he had this sort of access five or more years ago.

Either way, I'm glad he revealed what he revealed.

[MADem]

62. Yes, he also was annoyed that McDonald's workers made more than him.

He didn't speak the language(s) apparently so didn't know he could get tap water in a restaurant, but he was enthused about legal prostitution in Switzerland. He didn't like intermissions at movies (something I always liked).

http://www.thelocal.ch/galleries/news/snowdens-alleged-comments-about-the-swiss/0/

I guess he asked the Swiss for asylum too, but seeing as he called them a buncha racists, they may not be inclined to leap through their own butts to accommodate him....

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Brazil is near Equador

just a short trip up the Amazon, then through northern Peru.... and he's where he wanted to go.

[MADem]

20. Maybe he could become a tourist attraction--they could use the money.

We're not providing them aid anymore:

(Reuters) - The United States has cancelled aid to Ecuador worth $32 million (19.6 million pounds) over the coming years after long-running disputes with the government of socialist President Rafael Correa, according to U.S. officials.

Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, has often been at odds with Washington since winning power in 2007. He accuses the U.S. government of trying to undermine him and this year Ecuador renounced U.S. trade benefits dating from the early 1990s.

According to a U.S. State Department spokesperson, Ecuador recently informed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) it could not undertake new activities or extend existing ones without an accord governing bilateral assistance. This led to the U.S. decision to cancel the aid.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. Meanwhile we give aid to Israel

your point is?

Oh, I see your point....LOL

[MADem]

53. I didn't have a point, I was simply pointing out a fact.

Didn't see that story covered on DU but haven't been around a great deal lately and I might have missed it.

Not sure why you're talking to me about Israel. I disagree with their policy towards Palestine. Maybe you're confusing me with someone else?

[Laelth]

7. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[TBF]

8. Snowden nails it: "They're about power"

This excerpt is beautiful. He lays it out. Further I would opine that this type of thing has been going at least since Eisenhower warned us about the developing military-industrial complex, and that the technology has just improved. Ed Snowden will go down as a hero historically for his truth on this matter - maybe not in US propaganda but certainly amongst the rest of the world.

In his letter, Snowden dismissed U.S. explanations to the Brazilian government and others that the bulk metadata gathered on billions of emails and calls was more "data collection" than surveillance.

"There is a huge difference between legal programs, legitimate spying ... and these programs of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire populations under an all-seeing eye and save copies forever," he wrote. "These programs were never about terrorism: they're about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're about power."

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20131217/933e41e1-a101-4e00-90c8-739bfacd549b

[GoneFishin]

11. +1000. ^^^^^

[harun]

12. +1

[Pholus]

25. Strangely, no NSA apologist is taking that last quote about power on...

Strange and stranger! Not.

[TBF]

40. Nope, it's all obfuscation and "but Brazil does it too" -

they can't argue against it because it's true. And it started long before the current president.

[VanillaRhapsody]

55. Why is anyone who opposes the hero worship of this hypocrite Libertarian....

an NSA Apologist?...on the contrary. I think anyone who supports him is a Libertarian hypocrite apologist... and that's verifiable.

[Pholus]

81. Personalities again? Unsurprising.

Of course you can't defend it. The surveillance is shocking and un-American.
Five year retention of as much info as they can hoover? Cool with you,
I guess. Why? Because the President is cool with it, and no other reason.

Consider the irony of what this "Libertarian hypocrite apologist" is about to
tell you.

Think like a damned Democrat for a change. Here we are in the midst of another
budgetary crisis where the safety net, the NSF, the NIH, the DOE and everything
else that makes this country great will be on the block. Wrap it around your
skull that "intelligence" takes up 10 percent of the DoD budget and realize that
dollar per dollar discretionary spending (EVERYTHING THAT MAKES THIS COUNTRY
ACTUALLY WORTH LIVING IN) doesn't even add up to close to that.

Oh, but we need those goddamned whooshing starship doors.
Certainly, the country will CEASE TO EXIST without those "Captain's
Chairs" and "Command Centers with floor to ceiling monitors."

The NSA's dragnet surveillance is expensive but these programs have demonstrated very
few actual successes. Certainly their "fifty four thwarted plots" assertion
didn't stand up to scrutiny.

https://www.propublica.org/article/claim-on-attacks-thwarted-by-nsa-spreads-despite-lack-of-evidence

Yup, there is bin Laden laughing again. They spend a few thousand
bucks and make us outspend them a million to one. Mostly on wasted shit
like those command centers. Basically because
the corporations have to get paid and for no other reason. Oh, and incidentlly
we clamp down on the society with its freedoms that bin Laden hated so much.

You claim to be a Democrat but you CERTAINLY are f'ing clueless about the actual
threat of this system to progressive causes.

Sure, I trust President Obama. But I don't trust President Cruz or President Palin
and you can DAMNED well bet the Republicans that President Obama left in charge
of this crap will roll right over when some extra-Constitutional tea partier demands
the dirt on their political opponents or the newest list of Quakers to punish for
protesting their next dumbassed war.

Oh yes, we'll be in agreement again at that point. But by then it's too late Sparky.

So take your "hero worship" accusations and shove it in the drawer of "Failed Talking Points"
and actually try to stop me on the basis of the merits of what this program actually
does for national security.

Seriously, why not make an argument that the country simply cannot survive without
the program, regardless of the cost and potential for abuse. I think it would be a positive
thing to hear one of those that didn't contain the statement "We'd tell you, but it's CLASSIFIED."

[treestar]

49. NO, he's the one who wants power

And his attempts to get it over and above our system is pathetic. He has so little respect for us - he thinks WE are wrong in electing our government rather than letting him decide.

[TBF]

51. ...

[VanillaRhapsody]

56. EXACTLY!

ONLY HE knows what is good for us! The nerve of this hypocrite Libertarian!

[jmowreader]

71. Since Snowden has no experience in intelligence collection, how would he know?

I really wonder: if Snowden had gone to intelligence school and learned what legitimate spying actually is, would he have made all these revelations? Unless his true intention was to fuck Obama any way he could or to sell out his country, I don't think he would have.

I see through different eyes than most of you on this matter: NSA isn't spying on the American people as a whole, just the ones known to be hanging around with Alkaheeda terrorists. And they have to get permission to spy on the terrorist supporters. (I know about the analysts who spied on their girlfriends. I also know those analysts are almost done painting the north side of the building and will start on the other side next week - they take this shit seriously there. And those analysts look pretty good in prison denim.) What would be the point? You're not a terrorist. You're not a criminal. You're not trying to overthrow the government except on the first Tuesday in November, and then we let you. And you're not conspiring with Bad Brown Men With Thick Accents to do any of those things. NSA does not give two shits about your letter to mom, your grocery list, your Christmas plans or your cat pictures. Nor does anyone else in the government.

The whole metadata thing is total fear mongering anyway - simply because of the sheer volume of calls We The People make. There are three billion phone calls made in the United States...as in, if you had $1.25 for each of those phone calls you could buy an aircraft carrier every day. Each phone call has at least two numbers associated with it, so they have to compare six billion phone numbers to a database of thousands of phone numbers proven to be associated with BBMs. Yes, they COULD stick your phone number in that database and do all sorts of terrible things with it. Have they? Unless you've been proven to be associated with Bad Brown Men With Thick Accents, you're not worth the effort.

[TBF]

73. "Don't worry your pretty little head about that" -

Would that be a fair summation of your comment because that is what I took from it.

[JackRiddler]

86. "intelligence school"

If only he'd majored in overthrowing democracies and minored in torture, he'd understand how important the NSA and Co. are to our Security!

Your racism is charming as well. Refreshing I suppose when one of the lovers of authoritarian and the total surveillance state lets it all hang out like that.

[jmowreader]

96. I must have been on sick call the day they taught those two subjects

Actually, no, no I wasn't. Because I never went on sick call the entire time I was in intelligence school (I went to the US Army Intelligence School, Fort Devens, MA, and the US Army Intelligence Training Brigade, Goodfellow AFB, TX), and they didn't teach us a damn thing about torture or overthrowing democracies...not that we would have used that teaching, but the torture class could have come in handy when dealing with the cook in the mess hall who put five pounds of raw cranberries on the salad bar because we were complaining about there not being any fresh fruit at breakfast, or who made potato soup by mixing a gallon of cooking oil, a gallon of water and ten pounds of potato flakes. (I'm not kidding. The worst part is, after they caught the guy making potato-flavored laxative they promoted him to shift leader and put him on the mid shift breakfast crew, where he went on to introduce eggs with grease, bacon with grease, sausage with grease, potatoes with grease, waffles with grease, grits with grease, milk with grease, grease with grease, and a pot of grease at the end of the serving line in case you needed more. Having said that, it turns out bacon dipped in melted butter is really good.) They don't even teach foreign-language obscenities anymore.

The school you're thinking of is the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, and during the Reagan Junta they did teach those things. The only people who went there were officers from Latin American banana republics. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation.

[JackRiddler]

97. You just keep believing that.

That it's restricted to Reagan when it's been this way since the post-WWII founding of the empire's agencies. It's happened under every presidency.

Not that the history doesn't reach further back, to the Indians and the Philippines war. But from the 1940s forward, Greeks, Guatemalans, Iranians and people of many other nations can tell you a radically different story than that Americans kept their hands clean and only their proxies did the killing, and only out of the School of the Americas. It's been systemic and constant.

The majority of U.S. military and intel people get the kind of training you got, no doubt. And I'm sure you're a good person. In their honest belief that they are good people doing good, they are indispensable to keeping the murder and torture machinery running.

The NSA is not there to defend the people of the United States. The CIA is definitely not there to do so.

[msanthrope]

10. As if the World Cup and Olympics-holder Brazil isn't 'spying' left and right

to maintain security for those events...

As if Brazil isn't reaching out to every security service worldwide for help...as if they haven't already accepted international help for airport security and athlete security.

If Snowden thinks he can push Brazil into helping him...he might want to consider what willl happen once Brazilians realize no one wants to come to a country that isn't spying...

Anybody on this board want to attend the World Cup and Olympics where security is dictated by Snowden and Greenwald?

[hueymahl]

14. Congratulations!

A post worthy of some of the finest NSA talking points available. Fear Mongering at its best! Well done!!!

P.s. I hear 60 Minutes is hiring creative writers - you should apply!!!

[RC]

16. And there is this from the link in the OP.

Brazilian senators have asked for Snowden's help during hearings about the NSA programme's aggressive targeting of Brazil, an important transit hub for transatlantic fibre-optic cables.

[msanthrope]

30. And? You think that's proof of what...precisely? nt

[RC]

38. The opposite of what you posted.

[msanthrope]

59. Um, no. A few Senators don't control the security services of Brazil.

Nor do they have anything to do with the World Cup or Olympic security. If you think Dilma andher government are spying every chance they get I have a delightful property for you. Expansive great views of Manhattan and Brooklyn....

[treestar]

50. Now do you not understand there are no bad people in this world?

No one else spies and no one would spy on us! So we should be good little boys and girls and never let OUR country spy on anyone!

[Cha]

80. You're right, msanthrope.. they don't the bit Leaker's generous offer..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024191386

[rtracey]

15. little by little

Little by little, this guy seems less of an AMERICAN HERO, and more of someone who is out just to fuck America. He has a lot of support on here, and I disagree with the support he is getting, but that is my right to do so, just as it is your right to defend him, but he (imo) is really out to hurt America, which can be a dangerous game....

[toby jo]

19. I see a guy with a conscious.

And the originator of the fucking over would be...?

[bhikkhu]

26. I see a guy who is acting in his own self interest

with little concern for how his "image" might be spun. That's perfectly normal, and admirable in a way. I can't say I like him, but he does begin to make sense.

What if people acted as free individuals, and weren't cowed by their loyalty oaths, flags, and governments? What if we were only answerable to others like ourselves, and all the hierarchies of power were at our service, rather than the other way around?

[DeSwiss]

17. Not only do I think that she should grant him political asylum....

...but she should also offer the position of Minister of Cybersecurity. There's no one better qualified in the world.

- Even the NSA says so......

K&R

[VanillaRhapsody]

57. You think ANY govt entity would trust him with their cyber security now?

You obviously know nothing about the I.T. industry!

[treestar]

84. Yeah what a joke

No government or company would. Even Wikileaks may want control over what gets out!

[Beacool]

18. Yeah, this guy is such a patriot.......

Funny how the countries that screamed the loudest turned out to be the ones spying on their own people and providing the information to the Americans.

Oops.....

[DeSwiss]

63. Yeah, well we're also the ones......

...who invade countries that we don't like. The words ''Regime-Change'' ring any bells? Not to mention being the holder of the most goddamned nukes in the world? And a penchant for electing fools and asshats whose fingers sit on the button and who will lie their fucking asses off? And bomb the shit out of innocent people including our own citizens? For oil and rare earths?

They'd be a fool not to cooperate, now wouldn't they? Or, maybe some might just be sick and tired of the US's shit. I know I am.

- Wake. Up. Or stay asleep, if you can't handle the TRUTH.



Waste of time, I know.......

[TwilightGardener]

22. What a fucking weasel.

[DeSwiss]

64. No, I think that person you're referring to.....

...lives in Washington DC.

- He murders children and their mothers for oil and rare earths. That's the fucking weasel.

[boomersense]

24. Good luck to you, Edward. I donated

money on your site last night and will continue to do so as I can afford it. I understand the
Brazil strategy. Dilma can use someone like you during her transition. She may have to hedge
now with Mother Drone ready to attack everyone. Still, good you are creating opportunities.

[MyNameGoesHere]

28. Yes let's point out how bad Brazil is

and a horrible country and it deserves Snowden. Because that's reality right? What depths will this new breed of democrat go to lend aid and support to a government trying to destroy any decent sense of privacy we have a right to?
Brazil isn't a horrible country, it isn't a prison sentence. Stop interjecting horseshit into the fray just because you don't like the guy.

[fujiyama]

76. The sycophants to the security state will attack any country

before admitting the wrong doing of the NSA.

They're cries are predictable and tedious. Russia is our enemy. China is our enemy. Brazil is our enemy. Germany, pshh. Everyone spies on everyone. On and on it goes...

[wildbilln864]

31. Good luck Mr. Snowden! eom

[Blue_Tires]

32. I thought everyone had been telling me all this time

Snowden *wasn't* trying to leverage the info into an asylum deal??

Of course the question I have to keep coming back to is what was the original agreement with Russia?? (The first condition of the 'deal' is increasingly obvious, but I'm interested to know what other 'extras' were thrown in...)

[BlueCaliDem]

39. Yeah, but only the most diehard pro-Snowden people

who share the same fears of our government that Republicans do, believe that to be the case.

I'd trust our gov't any day over some anti-gov't Libertarian who in January 2009 stated that leakers to the press "should be shot in the balls". And he stated this after eight years of tyranny by pResident Cheney - I mean, GW Bush.

I guess Snowden believes that it was a-ok for America to spy on other countries and wiretap American citizens just as long a war-mongering Republican President was in the WH.

And then a Black man and a Democrat won the presidency in 2008, and in January 2009 Snowden's "views" changed: (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/four-years-ago-ed-snowden-thought-leakers-should-be-shot/)

Snowden says he got "hardened" later in 2009 as he "watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in." He now believes the government's spying programs pose "an existential threat to democracy."

I wonder what really "hardened" him. I mean, under the Bush Admin, he didn't seem to have a problem with a secretive government, did he? In fact, he defended them.

But he did a 180 since that Marxist, Socialist, Communist Muslim Black guy won the White House and became our president.

I know he's seen as some unblemished hero by some on this site, but I don't, I can't, and I won't. Ever. Despite his seemingly noble mission, he's a hypocrite of the first order and I can't help but wonder what his agenda really is.

[jaysunb]

41. +1 n/t

[VanillaRhapsody]

58. I think you got the point....

its not the spying that bothers him....it's WHO is doing the spying that he objects to.

[BlueCaliDem]

67. That's what I take away from it, too. eom

[undiegrinder]

74. Answer to your question

Thank you providing sources for your views.

They reveal that Snowden's "shoot 'em in the balls" comments were posted in January of 2009 -- months BEFORE he went to work for NSA contractor Dell.

The quote you've provided explains what hardened him.

It does not, however, in any way suggest either racism or Bush derangement syndrome were the cause. In fact, it provides no basis whatsoever for your highly speculative interpretation.

IMHO his timeline is far more indicative of someone motivated by "evolution" than mendacity.

No suggestion of curtailing your freedom of speech intended but ... attempting to vilify him with such vivid and lurid notions serves only to distract from the FAR more vital issue of what he's revealed.

P.S. History contains no proven case of an "unblemished hero."

[randome]

83. The fact that he won't ever explain what he means when he said he "saw things" makes me doubt...

...much of anything he says. He was a computer technician, not a spy, so I doubt he really 'saw' anything at all.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[DeSwiss]

66. Of course he is.

Because he's not a goddamned fool!

You can't trust anyone in this government!

Not one that kills its own citizens who have violated no laws!

They're the fucking villains here. And don't forget it!

- Why would anyone be so stupid as to trust these slimy bastards? How can anyone learn what these assholes have been doing to us, and then go after the person who exposed them? I'll never understand this shit!

Ungrateful as hell I call it.



In answer to the issue of the press and others attacking Edward Snowden instead of the NSA: ''It's like blaming the guy who turned the light on while ignoring the roaches he exposed.'' ~Tierra_y_Libertad

[davidpdx]

99. What was it that you called President Obama in another post?

Come on, have the balls to say it.

[randome]

34. Not that this will ever occur, but imagine if he did get to Brazil.

He would probably say something like: "I am not here to hide from justice" again!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[SoapBox]

36. Putin must be done with Comrade Eddie the Traitor and Lapdog.

First he was gonna be Chinese...then Russian...now he wants to be a Brazilian like his partner in crime Greenwad. Anything but an American!

Oh! My head is just spinning! Choices, choices Eddie must be thinking.

Hey Eddie, how about GITMO!

... maybe Somalia or Syria!

[Comrade Grumpy]

42. It's always refreshing to see a display of McCarthyite sentiments. Thanks.

[Lenomsky]

44. +1

Well spoken.

[VanillaRhapsody]

60. Somalia suits his little Libertarian sensibilities!

no govt interference into his activities there!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

78. 1973 called and they'd like Archie Bunker returned to them post haste. nt

[treestar]

85. And all of them such bastions of transparency

Like they would even give him a fair trial for breaking THEIR secrets out.

[Lenomsky]

43. Well done Snowden I wish you luck ..

Snowden has done nothing wrong the wrong is being done by US Government and Agencies including our GCHQ spying on us as a means to control us. If he gets a nice country to live in by sharing some data fair play I say.

You don't want something leaked then tighten security it's not complex you can get those little ONE TIME PASSCODE calculator devices that Banks give out.

I've worked extensively in the IT/Telco market and the lax security was shocking. $250k Switches with a unchanging easy to remember pass-phrase even so basic some I've known to be r00t, adm1n etc. Technically I could log in right now via VPN but would not obviously unless it contained crimes

[randome]

46. Funny Snowden didn't mention GCHQ, which I admit is a more worrisome aspect.

He just stole as much as he could and passed it along while on the run. He said he "saw things" but he won't ever say what that means.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[JackRiddler]

98. The documents make it abundantly clear "what that means."

And they will continue to be released for a while.

[Eugene]

61. Brazil says not considering Snowden asylum

Source: Reuters

Brazil says not considering Snowden asylum

BRASILIA Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:23pm EST

(Reuters) - Brazil says it is not considering granting asylum to Edward Snowden even after the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor offered on Tuesday to help investigate revelations that the NSA has spied on Brazilians and their president.

The Brazilian government has received no official request from Snowden since he arrived in Moscow in June, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Without a formal request, asylum will not be considered, the spokesman said.

In a letter published Tuesday by the Folha de S. Paulo, a Brazilian newspaper, and by social media, Snowden offered to collaborate with a Brazilian investigation into the NSA Internet surveillance program he revealed earlier this year.

Simultaneously, Avaaz, a website for public petitions, launched an online signature campaign to press President Dilma Rousseff to grant Snowden asylum.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/17/us-usa-security-snowden-brazil-idUSBRE9BG15920131217

[BeyondGeography]

65. Of course not

Normally, I'd say if he isn't happy with Russia, he might as well try to cut a deal and come home, but he has antagonized the government at every step (including this one) and he lost all leverage when he gave his stolen files away to others. He's best off persevering in Russia, IMO.

[Luminous Animal]

68. And Snowden hasn't asked

“@ggreenwald: 1) Snowden doesn't request asylum; 2) Braz Govt; we're not considering it because no formal request; 3) US MEDIA: Brazil rejects asylum!!!”

[Blue_Tires]

82. The funny part is it's Greenwald's former employer saying Snowden is pushing a deal...

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2013, 12:53 PM - Edit history (1)

so someone here is being less than truthful...

And a bit of advice to @ggreenwald: Please stop picking/continuing/refuting arguments through twitter...For someone claiming to be a 'journalist', it's *really* fucking lazy...

[baldguy]

69. I guess Snowden approves of spying - just as long as the target is the US govt.

[JI7]

72. so he wont help them unless he can get something for himself ?

is this why he doesn't care about what russia does with it's spying and how they treat people there ?

only thing that matters is that he got something out of it ?

[CFLDem]

79. Snowden's now just realizing what he gave up.

Russian winters tend to do that to people. Especially those who lived the good life in a tropical paradise.

[JackRiddler]

87. Oh hooray!

He's suffering, ha ha ha!

This totally Proves Him Wrong.

He could have continued to take good money from a criminal organization pretending to be a legitimate part of the government, participated in crime, and lived in Hawaii!

What a fool! Ha ha ha !

[CFLDem]

90. I'm glad we agree!

Seriously who gives up that kind of life?
Certainly not a sane person and definitely not someone I would trust.

[JackRiddler]

92. The moral void.

Thanks for illustrating it, and other concepts like the banality of evil.

Who cares what you do! As long as it pays well in Hawaii! Only an insane person would decide to stop doing it, whatever it is.

[CFLDem]

95. That's the spirit!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

94. Who gives up that kind of life?

A very brave person who knew exactly what he was doing.

"I shared with the world evidence proving some governments are building a world-wide surveillance system to secretly track how we live, who we talk to, and what we say. I went in front of that camera with open eyes, knowing that the decision would cost me family and my home, and would risk my life."

You're free to continue your Frist-esque long-distance mental evaluation, but Edward Snowden has already made his bones, and then some.