Snowden's dossier continues to "blow up" the world
In June, one year has passed since the world first heard the name of Edward Snowden, an 29-year-old boy who managed to drive the US into rabies. It was thanks to Snowden that he became aware of the total surveillance of the American special services for citizens and the tapping of the phones of leaders of dozens of countries. In the US, Snowden faces a long prison term for disclosing secret information. Without waiting for the fate of Bradley Manning, Snowden fled. In August last year, he received temporary asylum in Russia, where he remains to this day and feels rather well.
Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that Snowden should do what the patriot should do - return home and present, as he put it, before the "American people." And Snowden said he intends to ask the authorities to extend his stay in Russia.
How did this year go and how did the world change because of Edward Snowden's revelations?
A hero or a traitor - Americans understand so far. Edward Snowden himself for the year did not change the point of view, on the contrary, in an interview with NBC, he looked more confident. He still does not regret what he did, although he is very bored with the house.
“After this interview, I can fly to America freely, but you cannot.” Are you hurt by this? - asked Snowden Brian Williams, host of NBC.
- I think every American who has closed the way home would feel a sense of loss. Maybe I lost the opportunity to move around the world, but I acquired the fact that I can sleep at night because I did everything right, ”replied Snowden.
If the value of the Snowden figure is still to be determined stories, then its one to six scale figure can be estimated right now - it sells for 99 dollars online. Slightly myopic eyes, shirt, jeans, sneakers and a computer with the logo of the NSA. On the shoulder of his friend pats dude Julian Assange - the founder of WikiLeaks. They did a kind of one thing, but in the end ... Assange is locked in the walls of a tiny Ecuadorian embassy in London, Snowden is free in Russia. Visits the sights, goes shopping, American-style thrifty loading trolley.
- What are you doing in Russia?
- I myself am surprised that I was here. I bought a ticket to Cuba to fly to Latin America, but I was stopped because the US government canceled my passport and locked me in a trap at the Moscow airport. So when they ask me why I am in Russia, I say: ask the State Department.
- What is your relationship with the Russian authorities? Maybe you met with Putin, talked to him?
- I am not affiliated with the Russian government and have never met with the president of Russia.
After the NSA employee escaped a year ago in Washington, a genuine tantrum occurred. Threats to countries all over the world came from the USA - just try to shelter him at home!
Under pressure from America, the airspace in Europe was closed to the letter plane of the President of Bolivia - they suspected that Snowden was hiding there. The liner was forced to land in Vienna. The board, which has immunity, was searched by Austrian special services - an unthinkable case in world practice. However, the fact that there are no rules for the United States clearly showed scandalous materials of Snowden.
Following him the scale of total surveillance amazed the whole world. It turned out that with the assistance of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - the English-speaking intelligence organization "Five Eyes" - the US intercepts 125 with billions of various messages a month, most of it abroad.
Snowden declassified the NSA PRISM program - it allows you to intercept messages, calls - all the personal information of hundreds of millions of users from the servers of such giants as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple.
Snowden said that the United States took under the hood of the headquarters of the UN, OSCE, OPEC and the IAEA, the EU representation in the United States and about 80 embassies. Exposed wiretapping of mobile phones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of Brazil Dilma Russef and Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, spying on the participants of the G20 summit in 2009 year, as well as hacking of internal networks in China. He revealed that NSA spying is conducted even in popular computer games and mobile applications.
- How can the NSA penetrate my privacy using the phone?
- Any exploration of the world with serious funding and technological capabilities can download everything from a phone as soon as it finds a network. On the phone, you can activate the microphone, you can copy photos from it, download all the data in general. Intelligence agencies can even remotely turn on the phone if the owner turned it off.
The main thing, says Snowden, is that surveillance is not for specific suspects, but for all. He tried to complain about this to his superiors, but he received advice like "you wouldn’t ask a guy any questions." Today, in the perception of society, Snowden is rather a positive hero, they are already making money on it. He is wearing T-shirts and 20 dollars, he is the hero of a computer flash game, in which he copies the secret data at the headquarters of the NSA and hides from agents behind the American flag.
He looked at the residents of Washington with buses, which wrote "Thank you, Edward"! His photo was even used in advertising lingerie: "Dear Edward Snowden, there is still so much to reveal!"
Snowden next to Mickey Mouse - to become a comic book hero in the USA is the pinnacle of popularity. A dozen books have already been written about a runaway NSA employee. The latter, titled “Nowhere to Hide”, is journalist Glen Greenwald, who has already sold the rights to the film adaptation of Sony Pctures. The producers of the James Bond saga will take the film, but now the agent is not 007, but the real one.
Snowden himself considers himself a true patriot of America, a defender of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of citizens. Access to the collected secret materials, said fluent agent, he no longer has, even remote. All materials are from journalists who are likely to explode more than one information bomb. On Snowden's dossier, there are a million 700 thousands of files.
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