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posted by martyb on Sunday November 01 2015, @05:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the nice-gesture dept.

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament narrowly (285 vs 281 votes) adopted a nonbinding but nonetheless forceful resolution on Thursday urging the 28 nations of the European Union to recognize Edward J. Snowden as a "whistle-blower and international human rights defender" and to shield him from prosecution.

On Twitter, Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked documents about electronic surveillance by the American government, called the vote a "game-changer."

But the resolution has no legal force and limited practical effect for Mr. Snowden, who is living in Russia on a three-year residency permit. Whether to grant Mr. Snowden asylum remains a decision for the individual European governments, and thus far, none have done so.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:30PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:30PM (#257138) Journal

    You're overstating the situation, somewhat. The US might set up a covert operation against any EU nation that gives Snowden asylum, but the US isn't going to rattle it's nuclear arsenal against any EU nation. And, of course, there is the potential for any covert operation to backfire. The US might risk it against Greece, but is very unlikely to take such a risk with Switzerlant. Other nations fall in between those two extremes.

    Chances are, that if Snowden were granted asylum in any EU country, that country would suffer a great deal of rhetoric, and some economic penalties from the US. The economic penalties might well be offset by other EU countries offering aid and/or better trade deals, etc.

    Big balls required, but thermonuclear isn't a consideration here.

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  • (Score: 2) by Koen on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:27PM

    by Koen (427) on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:27PM (#257145)

    I agree, I just want to point out that Switzerland is not a EU member [wikipedia.org].

    --
    /. refugees on Usenet: comp.misc [comp.misc]
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 01 2015, @03:04PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 01 2015, @03:04PM (#257164) Journal

      Holy crap - I've exposed my ignorance. Had anyone told me that without a citation, I'd have just rolled my eyes at the poor moron. Now, I'm ingtigued - WTF not? Don't worry, I'll use the internet to find out.

      Thanks, Koen.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @06:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @06:37PM (#257207)

    You realize that Snowden tells the story of his days in Switzerland, when the CIA was running ops against the local bankers [businessinsider.com], right?

    Greece seems to be less on the spy agenda, probably because they're poor. Spies tend to spy on the powerful, because the powerful can cause trouble. So, they spy on Swiss bankers, they spy on German Kanzlerinnen, they spy on Europarl MEP's (which is why Brussels is upset).

    The quiet secret, however, is that American spies do their spy thing with hearty and enthusiastic cooperation from the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the GCHQ, the Belgians, even from some French spy service that has virtually no oversight and no loyalty to any part of the French government... the intelligence community is very cordial and international, and the European governments are now in a tiff because suddenly an international coalition of spies, some of them their own spies, is leaking their secrets across borders with little regard to the governments' agendas or bluster about sovereignty.