August 2, 2013 | Quote
Snowden Given Asylum, While Obama Wears the ‘Kick Me’ Sign
The Post reports: “Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. security contractor, left the transit zone at Moscow’s international airport Thursday after Russian authorities granted him temporary asylum.” His asylum is for one year, so don’t be surprised if Russia demands something in exchange for discontinuing his sojourn, but at this point Snowden is about to begin his life in the lap of Putin’s authoritarian state, a fitting image for the man who decided that he, not elected officials in the United States, had the right to open our secrets to the world.
Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, e-mails me: “Everything we need to know about this case is revealed by this: (1) Snowden and his supporters claim it’s all about freedom of the press and opposition to government spying. (2) Snowden has chosen to seek asylum in a country that does not have freedom of the press and where there are no limits on government spying, and indeed the country is ruled by a former KGB lieutenant colonel.”
Soon the call will go out from inside and outside the administration to not let this “interfere” with our relationship with Russia. Poppycock. That’s the equivalent of saying Russia pays no price for humiliating the United States.