

Legal, political maneuvering let Snowden flee - Libertatea
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/legal-political-maneuvering-let-snowden-flee/2013/06/23/5643e0b6-dc36-11e2-bd83-e99e43c336ed_story.html

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lukifer
It is deeply shameful that the article can't even spare a sentence to describe
what the documents are and their relevance to the public interest, instead
generically describing them as "documents about top-secret U.S. surveillance
programs". Instead, we see a simplified fugitive-manhunt story, with a
smattering of speculative fear-mongering about China and Russia.

The unsubtlety of the smear campaign against Snowden is exceeded only by its
seeming effectiveness so far. Here's hoping a new document drops soon to force
a shift in the conversation.

~~~
chaz
We're in week 3 of Snowden and the NSA. Even USA Today has it as the top front
page story. After a certain point, it's ok to not expound the details every
single time and focus the story on just what's new.

[http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=USAT&...](http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=USAT&ref_pge=lst)

~~~
verroq
As predicted, the topic is now the Snowden manhunt, rather than the spying.
Snowden needs to release more details to keep the fires burning.

~~~
Uchikoma
Was the same with Dorner and the LAPD.

(not to compare Dorner and Snowden, only about focusing on the man hunt and
person instead of the broader issue)

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CWuestefeld
_a senior [Obama] administration official... warned in unusually direct
language that “if Hong Kong doesn’t act soon, it will complicate our bilateral
relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of
law.”_

Indeed.

 _The rule of law requires the government to exercise its power in accordance
with well-established and clearly written rules, regulations, and legal
principles. A distinction is sometimes drawn between power, will, and force,
on the one hand, and law, on the other. When a government official acts
pursuant to an express provision of a written law, he acts within the rule of
law. But when a government official acts without the imprimatur of any law, he
or she does so by the sheer force of personal will and power. [1]_

It seems that the US government wants other nations on board, in its battle
_against_ the rule of law, and its authority to create secret laws, secret
courts, and so on.

[1] [http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Rule+of+law](http://legal-
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Rule+of+law)

~~~
visarga
Maybe we need something better than the constitution. How can we defend a
constitution from the president, both parties and the judges of the supreme
court?

It's not enough if a few people own weapons. The army is orders of magnitude
more powerful. We need some new sort of system. It's been more than 200 years.
We should go back to the drawing board.

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300bps
I'm a United States citizen that usually roots for my country. In this case
our government is so obviously wrong that it is not surprising to me in the
least that other countries are not bending to our will. The Whitehouse
petition to pardon Snowden surpassed 100,000 signatures in no time. Why is our
government not realizing that this is a big issue and they need to stop what
they're doing?

~~~
CWuestefeld
For Snowden's sake I hope he's able to escape to asylum.

But for our sake, I also hope that he's caught.

If Snowden gets away, the public will forget about this whole issue pretty
quickly (remember, we've known or strongly suspected this whole thing for
quite some time). But if he's prosecuted, he becomes the martyr to spark
dissidence and protest.

If the government lets the story end, they'll probably win. If the story is
continued for additional chapters, _then_ we have some chance to make the
pendulum start to swing back the other way.

~~~
visarga
You can't kill an idea.

Assange showed how it can be done. Now we see other people whistle blowing. It
will go on forever. They can't scare the totality of a population who believes
it's righteous to make the disclosures.

