Snowden: Ecuador Laments over US "Blackmail"

Ecuador has said that they're turning down the trade benefits the United States gives them as part of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication trade pact with the United States, claiming it had become an instrument of "blackmail" against them while considering whistleblower Edward Snowden's asylum request.

Despite, voicing support for the former National Security Agency contractor, authorities in Ecuador have said that they won't bow to U.S. pressure even though they are yet to grant Edward Snowden's request for asylum.

The pact, which covers key Ecuadorean exports such as fresh-cut roses, fruits, vegetables and tuna, is set to expire on July 31 unless the US Congress renews it.

In a news conference on Thursday, President Rafael Correa said, "In the face of threats, insolence and arrogance of certain U.S. sectors, which have pressured to remove the preferential tariffs because of the Snowden case, Ecuador tells the world we unilaterally and irrevocably renounce the preferential tariffs."

"You request asylum when you are on a country's territory. Snowden is not on Ecuadorean territory, so technically we cannot even process the asylum request," he said.

"Would he be allowed to arrive on Ecuadorean territory? This is something that, in principle, we haven't considered," he added.

"It is outrageous to try to delegitimize a state for receiving a petition of asylum.We would probably examine it, but for now he is in Russia."

"Ecuador does not accept pressure or threats from anyone, and does not trade on principles or make them contingent on commercial interests, even if those interests are important", Ecuador's Communications Minister Fernando Alvarado announced earlier, adding  that the country "unilaterally and irrevocably renounces preferential customs tariff rights".

Snowden, who is seeking aslyum after he leaked classified information on a widespread secret surveillance programme, faces espionage charges in the United States, and has been slammed as a traitor by critics while being hailed as a hero by his supporters.

The Obama administration has revoked Snowden's passport, after he leaked documents pointing to a widespread US surveillance programme in early June.

Currently, he is believed to be hiding at the Moscow airport, where he arrived from Hong Kong on Sunday.

NSA Leak: UK Urges No-Fly Ban on Snowden

According to the Associated Press news agency, the British government has warned airlines around the world to refuse to fly ex-CIA worker Edward Snowden, who leaked information on top-secret US government surveillance programmes.

The agency, in a report, said that they saw a photograph of the document taken on Friday at a Thai airport of a British travel alert, dated on Monday on a Home Office letterhead, telling carriers to stop Edward Snowden, 29, boarding any flights.

The alert was issued by the Risk and Liaison Overseas Network, part of the UK Border Agency that has staff in several countries identified as major transit points for inadequately documented passengers.

They added that the alert was specific in mentioning that he "is highly likely" to be refused entry to the UK and that such a carrier may "be liable to costs relating to the individual's detention and removal" should they allow him to travel.

A British diplomat confirmed that the document was genuine and was sent out to airlines around the world. Airlines in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore confirmed the alert had been issued.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said such alerts were issued to carriers that flew into Britain and any carrier that brought Snowden would be liable to be fined 2,000 pounds ($3,000)

Reports from the US inidcated that the US government has begun to take steps to prosecute the  who now lives in Hong Kong, for exposing high confidential information on the secret NSA surveillance programme.

Only last Sunday, Snowden revealed that he was the source of top-secret documents about NSA surveillance programmes that were reported earlier by The Guardian newspapers in UK and Washington Post of the US.

Mr Snowden was last seen in Hong Kong. However, Snowden would have few options for seeking refuge if he were not allowed to stay in his preferred sanctuary which is a semiautonomous Chinese territory.

The revelation that the NSA is collecting millions of US phone records along with digital communications stored by nine major Internet companies has incited worldwide protests, majorly in New York and Hong Kong where about 1,000 protesters were expected to march to the US consulate and then the government to urge the administration of the semi-autonomous territory to not extradite him.
 
By using intrusive surveillance methods, the Obama Administration has sparked a national debate between security and invasion of privacy on an extremely large scale.

Guardian- Edward Snowden was NSA Prism Leak Source

UK-owned Guardian newspaper has revealed 29 year old Edward Snowden, a current employee of defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, as a former CIA technical assistant who leaked details of a secret US programme that gathered millions of phone and internet records.

The revelations began on Wednesday night, when a report from Guardian came out indicating that phone company Verizon had been ordered by a US ‘secret’ court to relay millions of phone records on telephone call “metadata” to the National Security Agency (NSA).

The report continued, revealing that the NSA secret surveillance system known as Prism, was undergone, in an effort to track online communication by tapping directly into servers of nine major internet firms.

However, the involved internet companies have denied the allegations, while the papers revealed that the data they (NSA and the FBI) gathered were used to track suspected foreign nationals in terrorism and spying cases.

Although, the ex-CIA man’s identity was revealed by the UK papers with his consent, he claimed that he leaked the information in order to protect “basic liberties for people around the world.”

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, he said, “I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”

Although, he had no intention of hiding, he replied “nothing good” when asked what he believed would happen to him after the information went public.

Snowden has decided to seek asylum in Iceland, explaining that he had gone Hong Kong because of is strong tradition of “free speech”.

US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has condemned the revelations, calling the leaks “literally gut-wrenching”, as the NSA asks the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation.

Former senior NSA executive turned whistleblower Thomas Drake, said that Snowden’s act was an extraordinary act of civil disobedience, adding that the US intelligence community will do whatever it can to prosecute him.

Only on Friday, US President Obama had defended the surveillance programmes of the governnment, calling it a “modest encroachment” on privacy which is of extreme importance in the protection of the country from terrorism.