
Snowden could be granted asylum in Switzerland in order to testify against NSA - phearme
http://www.rferl.org/content/snowden-switzerland-asylum-russia/26572192.html
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saosebastiao
This is a major political power maneuver. As long as Snowden is in Russia,
Obama can control the messaging. He is, after all, cooperating with an
important physical threat to, if not outright enemy of the United States.
Asylum in Switzerland, along with all the mental associations with its
neutrality and sovereignty, puts Obama in a much trickier position. Probably
not enough to turn the tide, but it forces Obama to address the situation with
a subset of his constituents who are not as easily convinced by "Murica is
Awesome!" style arguments.

~~~
AJ007
Snowden leaving the country would provide good timing for Russia to de-
escalate their Western relations. On the other hand this could be years out. I
suspect Putin may rather cut off the gas while waiting for another major
economic contraction and debt default cycle breaking up at least pieces of the
EU.

Switzerland now has grudges against the US for destroying their bank secrecy.
If Bloomberg news is to be believed, both capital and humans are leaving the
country as a result.

~~~
romanixromanix
>> Switzerland now has grudges against the US for destroying their bank
secrecy.

That's not the way Switerland's politicians think. Swiss politics is dominated
by lawyers, farmers and other lobbyists.

------
marquis
A well-written face-to-face interview with Snowden published recently:
[http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-
snowden/](http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/)

He seems very resigned to his fate of hiding - I hope in his future he may
safely walk outside again.

~~~
cryoshon
It may take a generation, but Snowden will come home, eventually, once we
throw the fascists out. He's a hero.

We seem very far from that right now, but we are getting closer and closer.

------
fh973
Switzerland has a tradition of being a prison of choice.

[http://www.nysun.com/arts/drrenmatts-prison-of-
paradox/48164...](http://www.nysun.com/arts/drrenmatts-prison-of-
paradox/48164/)

~~~
dan_bk
At the same time, no EU country has the courage to do what Switzerland is
discussing now (Germany's Merkel has even publicly refused to even discuss the
matter). This is one reason why it is also a good thing to NOT have every
country join the EU - centralize power and it becomes very interesting as a
target for corruption.

------
spacefight
The swiss gov would need to find a new way to grant asylum first - as since a
couple of months, one needs to apply for asylum directly in Switzerland.

~~~
EthanHeilman
The Swiss embassy in Moscow, Russia[0] is Swiss territory. This is how Julian
Assange got asylum as well.

[0]: [http://www.eda.admin.ch/moscow](http://www.eda.admin.ch/moscow)

~~~
ck2
I saw something recently where British taxpayers have paid millions now in
overtime because the government insists on 24/7 police surrounding the embassy
where Assange has been living.

~~~
m1596
That seems like an unnecessarily spiteful act to me. An expensive game of cat
& mouse. I can't believe that British taxpayers aren't the least bit miffed at
the government taking their tax dollars and wasting it on something as
frivolous as this.

~~~
ibisum
I think the problem is more that there is a large segment of the British
populace who actually _want_ this policing to occur, and thats why its
happening. To some segments of British society, there is nothing more
abhorrent than someone trying to 'take down the state' or 'step out of their
position in line' .. if it were not the case, it wouldn't be happening. The
British people get the government they want ..

------
new_id_123
I know a few people here, American and others, that will gladly buy him a
drink. He's often toasted at parties.

Of course there's the pesky issue of him being an active intelligence agent
when he was stationed in Geneva by the CIA. Some of his claims about bribing
Swiss police seem made up though.

------
hughdbrown
I can see why Snowden is heroic for alerting the American people to the
unconstitutional acts of their government, but I fail to see how other
countries are owed such consideration. In particular, the idea that Snowden
could trade information on foreign intelligence operations for asylum is
puzzling.

~~~
ibisum
>information on foreign intelligence operations

Just so its clear, the USA broke - and continues to break - many international
laws regarding human rights. Snowden would be giving evidence on this fact,
_not_ trading information on intelligence operations.

------
gambiting
I wonder if Russia would let him go if Switzerland did really grant him an
Asylum.

~~~
jacquesm
Of course they will.

How he will get there is another matter, he'll have to cross at least two
other countries and we've already seen a plane ordered down in order for it to
be searched. Whether some nation in the flightpath from Russia to Switzerland
would have the required fortitude to do that to a plane owned by the Swiss
government is another matter entirely.

Pissing off Bolivia is probably a mild '2' in international relationships,
pissing off the Swiss would likely rate a '9' or so.

~~~
saalweachter
Give Russia some time; they're working on reducing the number of countries
between them and Switzerland.

~~~
jacquesm
East-Ukraine is not between Russia and Switzerland on any conceivable flight
path and West-Ukraine barely so. But that was a funny comment.

~~~
lotsofmangos
Depends where in Russia you leave from, Russia is big.

A great circle from Moscow to Zurich passes through Belarus, Poland, Czech
Republic and Germany, however if you went from Volgograd to Zurich you would
go straight through eastern Ukraine.

~~~
jacquesm
I don't think there is currently any commercial carrier that sends its planes
over Eastern Ukraine. Not any commercial carrier that wishes to remain in
business.

~~~
lotsofmangos
Right now, according to Flightradar24, there are airliners from Dniproavia,
Metrojet, Yamal Airlines and Air Moldova flying across eastern Ukraine. They
are mostly going across the north of East Ukraine apart from Dniproavia, which
may yet swing north, but it isn't as though airlines are avoiding the whole of
eastern Ukraine.

~~~
jacquesm
The 'contested' area is completely free from planes right now.

~~~
lotsofmangos
Ok, if by Russia, you mean Moscow and by eastern Ukraine, you mean south-
eastern Ukraine, apart from Crimea, then you are right.

Apart from M99551 from Motor Sich Airlines, which is headed to Kharkiv.

edit - actually it looks as though it is going past Kharkiv as it is still
climbing.

~~~
jacquesm
I thought that Snowden was in Moscow, I could definitely be wrong about that.
And yes, 'eastern Ukraine': the contested area.

~~~
lotsofmangos
That word 'conceivable'. I do not think it means what you think it means. Or
eastern Ukraine for that matter. That is normally anywhere east of the Dnieper
river.

~~~
jacquesm
Either you missed out on the last couple of months news coverage somehow or
you are deliberately being obtuse in order to score 'points'. Not sure which.

Anyway, these days when people are talking about the Eastern Ukraine in terms
of an area that you should not be flying planes over they are not quibbling
over facts of geography but in relation to the ongoing attempt at secession in
the Eastern part of the Ukraine. If you wish to have it specified by google
map coordinates, lists of cities, an animated map of the moving frontier then
I could probably comply with the demand but it isn't worth the trouble.

Currently 'don't fly your civilian aircraft over Eastern Ukraine' is something
that you could take either as person informed about current events or as a
cartographer.

By your standards we don't have a 'middle America', there is no 'eastern
Cyprus' and so on.

It's contested territory at best right now, quite possibly at some point in
the future it won't be called Ukraine at all.

~~~
lotsofmangos
Look, there are still commercial carriers flying across the Karkiv oblast.
Karkiv is where the mayor was shot in the back by a sniper and people are
currently using grenade launchers in town. It is contested.

By my standards, eastern Cyprus is the eastern parts of Cyprus and middle
America is the people in America who share a conservative rural culture,
though where they live is almost incidental, much like middle England.

And I have been reading the news, however I do not rely on it if looking for
actual facts about where commercial carriers are flying.

This is because journalists are generally really lazy and unreliable for
anything other than a broad brush view of things, a view which you are now
regurgitating unprocessed.

------
lukasm
Not sure if this is the right place to go considering Polanski's case.

~~~
jacquesm
Polanski was eventually released and was never granted asylum in Switzerland.

~~~
comrade1
I see him in Gstaad every year. He's a tiny guy.

