Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Snowden Affair and the Superlies!

The world rejoiced when Barack Obama was made president of the USA!  This was a great moment in the history of the most powerful nation on the earth.  A black man was finally sworn in as president!  Only, he is not black, he is of mixed race, with two ethnically different parents, black and white.  But the lie was allowed to circulate and be celebrated - because it did the image of the USA no harm at  all!  No harm done, but he's not a black man, any more than he is a white man.

When he won the Nobel Peace Prize, it surprised a lot of people.   Ostensibly this was given to him, in the hope that he wouldn't spit on it and start another war like his predecessor had done.  I haven't seen any bloody reason why Barack Obama should have won the Nobel Peace Prize, and I actually love the guy, and I think he makes a cool president.  I don't really love Mahatma Gandhi, but I admire him, and I think he is a much more deserving recipient of such an award, but then, we live in duplicitous times, and I don't give a shit about these awards anyway.

It's the hypocrisy that's at high pitch here.

Now, this guy Edward Snowden is running from the law.  He is a criminal according to the laws of the USA, and he committed some sort of anti national act by exposing the secrets of his nation, and the Obama administration is bound to hound him.  It is their duty, and it is totally "legal" to go after him, bring him to "justice" and all that.

Except, in the noise about the man, and his actions that have caused so many ripples in international relations and media, one central question hasn't been asked loudly enough - "How could Snowden possibly have exposed the illegality of the activities of his government, without breaking the law himself?"

Make no mistake.  If his allegations of the widespread spying, snooping, wiretapping, and such activities are true, then the USA is in violation of Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to which it is a signatory!

The article clearly states - "The premises of a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy, are inviolate and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission. Furthermore, the host country must protect the mission from intrusion or damage. The host country must never search the premises, nor seize its documents or property."

The nature of the spying, with bugs on crypto-fax machines and on communications cables, clearly breaches the protections enshrined in the convention.

If Snowden had been from Venezuela, and wanted to expose some wrongdoings of the Chavez government, the USA would have welcomed him, set up not a refuge, but a sanctuary, and called him a hero!  All the focus would have been on the atrocities committed under a manic dictator who was plotting the downfall of the civilized world, no less!  This hypocrisy is so old, it should be boring now.

If a child escapes from a church where the pastor is raping underaged children, and tells his story to the world, nobody would want to punish him for ruining the reputation of the church.  An abused wife would totally be protected against her abusive husband, and "legally" helped to separate from him, even if she were to be breaking the vows she took in marrying him, wouldn't she?

A grave wrong has been done, not by Snowden, but by the government of the USA, in the first place, and only to expose the fact has Snowden been forced to do something "illegal".  Any conscientious people should be able to honor his actions.

Whistleblowing is nothing new to citizens of the USA.  Many corporations have been forced to accept their illegal deeds and pay the penalty, because of whistleblowers who were clearly violating company policies they signed on to.  Why should the government of the USA be subjected to any less stringent standards, especially when taxpayer dollars have been used to fund many of these programs?

If Snowden is punished in any way, before the law breaking criminals of the USA's intelligence and surveillance spy agencies are made answerable to their despicable actions, then the USA will have proved once again, that it is the indisputable king of hypocrisy, followed by its loyal subjects in the many nations of the world who refuse Snowden asylum!

- BSK