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| UK Guardian: Ed with Green politician |
Besides giving him a website job,
Russian authorities said American exile Edward Snowden is
free to testify in Germany if he is called upon by a German government that is outraged their Chancellor was bugged by the NSA. The Bundestag will hold a special session to discuss US spying on its leader and others on November 18th. There are some German politicians and pundits who are backing calls for Snowden to be invited as a witness before a parliamentary committee. The justice minister Sabine Leuheusser-Schnarrenberger told a newspaper that if an investigation is held, calling Snowden as a witness would be conceivable since it was his leaks that lead to the current uproar. There is also talk in progressive circles of giving Snowden asylum, but for now the whistleblower seems to be adjusting to life in Russia and a new job. Snowden's insider knowlege of NSA spying activities is proving to be deeply embarrassing to the Obamanation, but public testimony by Snowden would have more immense political ramifications back in the USA. Snowden gave a letter addressed to Chancellor Merkle to Hans-Christian Ströbele, a German green politician when the two met in Moscow. Ströbele warned there could be legal complications if Snowden, who is desperately wanted by US authorities, left Russian soil. The Greens and the leftwing Die Linke party support holding a parliamentary investigation into claims, among others, that
Merkle's mobile phone was hacked by the US spy agency for over ten years. Usually Germany grants legal protection and financial support to parliamentary witnesses. Once in Germany Snowden could apply for assylum and meet the legal requirement that assylum seekers make application in person on German soil.
In his letter to Chancellor Merkle which was made public Friday, Snowden says, "the US treats dissent as defection" and "seeks to criminalize political speech". Snowden implied he was willing to travel to Germany if officially requested. He expressed optimism that international pressure would lead to dropping of felony criminal charges that led him to flee the United States via Hong Kong. However, given the Obamanator's current record of prosecutions against leakers under the Espionage Act of 1917--characterized as the most aggressive since the famously paranoid Nixon--it is unlikely the charges will go away during the current administration.
