Moscow Stopover

June 25, 2013

Published in Neues Deutschland
(Germany) on 25 June 2013
by Klaus Joachim Herrmann (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.

The White House said the U.S. expects the Russian government "to expel Mr. Snowden for his return to the United States." That must have put smiles on a few faces inside the Kremlin. The West's champion super-snoops are pursuing the man who blew the whistle on their own illegal global snooping and expect Russia, of all countries, to hand him over. That's the conclusion we're supposed to reach even though they haven't forgotten that Russian businessman Viktor Bout was extradited to the U.S. from Thailand 14 months ago and is now serving a 25-year sentence for trading in weapons, despite significant protest at the time.

The Russians have been the scapegoats for quite some time now over issues reminiscent of the Cold War era: in the Syrian conflict, on nuclear disarmament, over human rights and—most recently — in the squabble over the looting of artworks by the Nazis. In the Snowden case, however, the Russians are the good guys even if they have extensive experience in using intelligence services themselves.

The persecuted Snowden deserves great credit for defending democracy against an intelligence apparatus that secretly casts its nets in all data networks. Under the pretext of a war on terror, they have not only spiraled outside privacy controls but are completely beyond democratic control as well. Snowden blew the whistle on them and has thereby garnered global sympathy. The Russians at least accorded him safe transit to his final destination and thereby polished up its own global image: Those who help the brave deserve to be thanked as well.

Moskauer Transit
von Klaus Joachim Herrmann
25.06.2013

Wir erwarten, dass die russische Regierung Herrn Snowden in die USA zurückschickt», teilte das Weiße Haus mit. Da dürfte man im Kreml fein gelächelt haben. Die Super-Schnüffler des Westens jagen den, der ihre illegale Welt-Spitzelei öffentlich machte, als Spion. Den soll ihnen ausgerechnet Russland ausliefern - darauf muss man kommen. Dort ist nicht vergessen, dass der russische Geschäftsmann Viktor But von Thailand an die USA ausgeliefert und trotz Protestes dort vor 14 Monaten ungerührt als Waffenhändler zu 25 Jahren verknackt wurde.«

Vor allem aber hält Moskau schon seit geraumer Zeit als Buhmann her, dass sich mancher besorgt des Kalten Krieges erinnert: im Syrien-Konflikt, bei der atomaren Abrüstung, bei Menschenrechten und zuletzt sogar im Streit um Beutekunst aus Deutschland. Im Falle Snowden jedoch sind die Russen die Guten, wenn auch mit dem Einsatz von Geheimdiensten ebenfalls sehr erfahren.

Der Verfolgte genießt große Verdienste um den Schutz der Demokratie vor Geheimdiensten, die mit allen Datennetzen fischen. Sie sind spätestens unter dem Vorwand des »Krieges gegen den Terror« nicht nur außer Rand und Band, sondern offenkundig völlig außer - demokratische - Kontrolle geraten. Snowden machte den Skandal öffentlich und genießt deshalb Sympathien in aller Welt. Er hat von Moskau mit dem Transit mindestens sichere Durchreise erhalten. Das poliert auch das Image auf: Wer dem Mutigen hilft, hat selbst Dank verdient.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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