

Ecuador cancels US trade deal & donates $23MM to US for "human rights education" - josephby
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/americas/308167-ecuador-nixes-trade-deal-offers-to-educate-us-on-human-rights-in-showdown-over-snowden

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mbateman
This whole thing is such a farce. Ecuador doesn't care about human rights, and
the US doesn't care that its enemies know that it's spying on them. It's
diplomacy in the service of directing embarrassment.

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medell
I am withholding judgement as I don't know what to think after watching Oliver
Stone's "documentary" South of the Border (free on YouTube) which constrasts
directly with the content of Human Rights Watch:
[http://www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador](http://www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador)

(I spent two months in Ecuador this year)

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1337biz
If you are interested in the South American situation just let me recommend
you "Our brand is crisis". Might give you some further context for the
situation and the role of Morales and it is a fascinating case study on
steering public opinion.

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VandyILL
This reaffirms my belief that the US chasing Snowden is a bad idea solely
because it demonstrates the lack of soft & hard power the US has on the
international stage these days.

While people may not notice this small act I feel it's kinda what the US
deserves in this instance.

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eli_gottlieb
America has spent too much hard power to have that much soft power left.

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VandyILL
Agreed, although they're not mutually exclusive. Just happens the way America
has exercised it's hard power has diminished its soft power. We've been a
hammer since World War II but nobody else has even been using nails.

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tome
I recall there were quite a lot of nails in postwar USSR.

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VandyILL
Fair. I guess my statement was way too generalized, but was meant to be
reflective about a slower shift over time. There's still nails around today
but also many other moving parts & sometimes it feels like the approach hasn't
fully adapted.

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santiagoIT
If Assange or Snowden were Ecuadorian and would have exposed ecuadorian
secrets, they would be in jail. Our government does not pratice what it
preaches!!! Granting asylum to people like Assange and Snowden is just good
publicity for them and distracts attention from what really is going on here.

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antoko
Previous discussion

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5952176](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5952176)

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sold
Title is misleading: Ecuador merely _offers_ to donate $23M.

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SloughFeg
Fun fact: Ecuador is one of the few Latin American countries to use the US
dollar as their standard currency.

