Immature Love: I need you therefore I love you
Mature Love: I love you therefore I need you
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Saturday, 6 July 2013
It's never easy to be true.
Venezuela and Nicaragua make Snowden asylum offers
The presidents of both Nicaragua and
Venezuela have indicated their countries could offer political asylum to US
fugitive Edward Snowden.
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro said it would give asylum to the intelligence leaker, who is believed to be holed up in a transit area of Moscow airport.
Meanwhile Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country would do so "if circumstances permit".
Wikileaks said Mr Snowden had applied to six additional countries on Friday.
The whistleblowing website said it would not name the countries "due to attempted US interference".
Mr Snowden has already asked 21 countries for asylum, most of whom have turned down his request.
But even if a country accepted the American's application, getting there could prove difficult, the BBC's Steven Rosenberg, in Moscow, reports.
European airspace could be closed to any aircraft suspected of carrying the fugitive, our correspondent says.
Earlier this week, several European countries reportedly refused to allow the Bolivian president's jet to cross their airspace on its way back from Moscow - apparently because of suspicions that Edward Snowden was on board.
Speculation
President Maduro made his announcement in a speech on Venezuela's Independence Day.
"As head of state and government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young US citizen Edward Snowden so he can come to the fatherland of Bolivar and Chavez to live away from the imperial North American persecution," President Maduro said.
The US wants to prosecute Mr Snowden over the leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents.
Earlier Mr Ortega said Nicaragua had received an application at its embassy in Moscow.
"We are open, respectful of the right to asylum, and it is clear that if circumstances permit it, we would receive Snowden with pleasure and give him asylum here in Nicaragua," Agence France-Presse quoted the Nicaraguan president as saying.
President Ortega said the asylum application was
received in Moscow Daniel Ortega was a fierce opponent of the US during his first period as Nicaragua's president in the 1980s, after the left-wing Sandinista movement came to power.
Bolivia, which had also suggested it might offer Mr Snowden asylum, saw its presidential plane barred from European airspace on Tuesday.
There was speculation the 30-year-old was on the plane carrying President Evo Morales back from Russia to La Paz earlier this week.
"Edward Snowden has applied to another six countries for asylum," tweeted Wikileaks, which has been helping the former CIA contractor.
"They will not be named at this time due to attempted US interference."
The US has been blamed for being behind the decision by France, Portugal, Italy and Spain to close its airspace to Bolivia's president, whose plane was grounded in Austria for 13 hours as a result.
Earlier on Friday, Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo admitted he and the other European countries had been told that Mr Snowden was on board - but refused to say who gave out the information.
He denied Spain had closed its airspace to the presidential plane, explaining that the delay in Austria meant the flight permit had expired and needed to be renewed.
His comment is the first official recognition by the European states that the incident with Mr Morales' plane was connected with the Snowden affair.
It has been widely condemned by President Morales and several other South American nations, who were critical of the US.
Mr Snowden arrived in the Moscow airport from Hong Kong last month.
He revealed himself to be responsible for the leaking of classified US intelligence documents that revealed a vast surveillance programme of phone and web data.
The documents have also led to allegations that both the UK and French intelligence agencies run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.
Profile: Edward Snowden
Sunday, 23 June 2013
WikiLeaks' Assange urges support for Snowden, slams Obama 'betrayal'
WikiLeaks' Assange urges support for Snowden, slams Obama 'betrayal'
June 22, 2013 -- Updated 1513 GMT (2313 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Assange says President Obama has betrayed a generation, according to the text of a speech
- "Edward Snowden's ordeal is just beginning," Assange says of the NSA leaker
- Snowden is charged by federal prosecutors with espionage and theft of government property
- "This isn't a phenomenon that is going away," says Assange of young, tech-savvy leakers
As he appealed for a "brave country" to step forward and offer Snowden asylum, Assange also accused U.S. President Barack Obama of betraying a generation of "young, technically minded people."
Assange was scheduled to speak from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Saturday, but the appearance was postponed at short notice "due to a security situation," WikiLeaks said on Twitter.
Wednesday marked a year since Assange sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused in the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. His court-martial is set to begin Monday, June 3, at Fort Meade, Maryland. He has pleaded guilty to 10 of 22 charges against him and faces up to two decades in jail. He has not pleaded guilty to the most serious charge -- that of aiding U.S. enemies, which carries the potential for a life sentence. At a February proceeding, Manning read a statement detailing why and how he sent classified material to WikiLeaks, a group that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information through its website.
On the eve of the court-martial, Manning's attorney, David Coombs, thanked people for their support and fund-raising efforts in "this important case."
On the eve of the court-martial, Manning's attorney, David Coombs, thanked people for their support and fund-raising efforts in "this important case."
Former hacker Adrian Lamo turned Manning in to authorities. The Army private allegedly told Lamo about leaking the classified records.
Former hacker Adrian Lamo turned Manning in to authorities. The Army private allegedly told Lamo about leaking the classified records.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another. Assange has said he fears Sweden will transfer him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty for the work of WikiLeaks if he were charged or convicted of a crime. Manning has said he gave material to WikiLeaks after initially trying to contact The New York Times and The Washington Post. WikiLeaks has never confirmed that Manning was the source of its information.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another. Assange has said he fears Sweden will transfer him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty for the work of WikiLeaks if he were charged or convicted of a crime. Manning has said he gave material to WikiLeaks after initially trying to contact The New York Times and The Washington Post. WikiLeaks has never confirmed that Manning was the source of its information.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a longtime volunteer and spokesman for WikiLeaks, was considered to be Assange's closest collaborator. He quit WikiLeaks and told CNN that Assange's personality was distracting from the group's original mission. Domscheit-Berg went on to publish a tell-all book about the inner workings of WikiLeaks. He wrote that Assange evolved into a "paranoid, power-hungry, megalomaniac."
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a longtime volunteer and spokesman for WikiLeaks, was considered to be Assange's closest collaborator. He quit WikiLeaks and told CNN that Assange's personality was distracting from the group's original mission. Domscheit-Berg went on to publish a tell-all book about the inner workings of WikiLeaks. He wrote that Assange evolved into a "paranoid, power-hungry, megalomaniac."
Key WikiLeaks figures as trial begins
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Key WikiLeaks figures as trial begins 
Assange: Obama using double rhetoric
Assange has repeatedly said the allegations in Sweden are politically motivated and tied to the work of his website. Ecuador's government granted him asylum in August, but British authorities have said they will arrest him if he leaves the premises.
As a result of his decision to seek refuge in the embassy, "I have been able to work in relative safety from a U.S. espionage investigation," said Assange, according to the text of the speech.
"But today, Edward Snowden's ordeal is just beginning."
Assange's words came hours after Snowden was charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with espionage and theft of government property, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Virginia on Friday.
Snowden, 30, has admitted in interviews that he was the source behind the leak of classified documents about the NSA's surveillance programs. Those leaks were the basis of reports this month in Britain's Guardian newspaper and The Washington Post.
He is believed to be in hiding in Hong Kong. The United States has asked authorities there to detain the former National Security Agency contract analyst on a provisional arrest warrant, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
Assange, in his published speech, said the espionage charge had come "like clockwork," making Snowden the eighth "leaker" to be charged with that count by the Obama administration.
"Two dangerous runaway processes have taken root in the last decade, with fatal consequences for democracy," he said.
"Government secrecy has been expanding on a terrific scale. Simultaneously, human privacy has been secretly eradicated ... The U.S. government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off."
Also among the eight "leakers" is WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, Assange said. Manning is being court-martialed on charges he aided U.S. enemies by leaking documents he obtained as an Army intelligence analyst.
He named the others as Barrett Brown, Jeremy Hammond, Aaron Swartz, Gottfrid Svartholm and Jacob Appelbaum.
Assange suggested Obama was the real "traitor" for his failure to live up to his promises of hope, change and transparency in government. And he warned that the U.S. government will lose the battle if it tries to take on the tech-savvy people now calling its actions into question.
"Edward Snowden is one of us. Bradley Manning is one of us. They are young, technically minded people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the generation that grew up on the Internet, and were shaped by it," he said.
"The U.S. government is always going to need intelligence analysts and systems administrators, and they are going to have to hire them from this generation and the ones that follow it.
"One day, they will run the CIA and the FBI. This isn't a phenomenon that is going away."
Assange added that charging Snowden "is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights" and appealed for efforts to find asylum for him to be intensified
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