Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 261

Edward Snowden, Cubed

NYT finally with its "inside story" on the Snowden affair, love this opening, though little new after tbat.

The source had instructed his media contacts to come to Hong Kong, visit a particular out-of-the-way corner of a certain hotel, and ask — loudly — for directions to another part of the hotel. If all seemed well, the source would walk past holding a Rubik’s Cube.

So three people — Glenn Greenwald, a civil-liberties writer who recently moved his blog to The Guardian; Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker who specializes in surveillance; and Ewen MacAskill, a Guardian reporter — flew from New York to Hong Kong about 12 days ago. They followed the directions. A man with a Rubik’s Cube appeared.

It was Edward J. Snowden...

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

If you need a mental health break:  Zoe reminds me to take a break from Snowden and Manning and Santa Monica and all the rest.

NSA's 'Downfall'

Inevitably, the Snowden leak gets the "Downfall" treatment.  Yes, deny claims and "demonize the whistleblower"!


Downfall - NSA's Prism revealed to dear leader from Anonyops on Vimeo.

Laura Poitras Speaks

First post-NSA scoop interview with the film-maker visits how she got the ball rolling after first contacted in January,  and much more--including why NYT did not end up with it.  "I can say from conversations I had with him after that, I think he had a suspicion of mainstream media. And particularly what happened with the New York Times and the warrantless wiretapping story, which as we know was shelved for a year. So he expressed that to me."

More: 

Are you worried about retaliation in any investigation that goes forward?

You know what? I’m not. I’ve been harassed for a long time, I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues. Being here and seeing the kind of — actually, Glenn was really inspiring. Really incredible courage in journalism and just saying, we need to talk to him about these things. It’s not okay that we have secret court that have secret interpretations of secret laws, what kind of democracy is that? I felt like, this is a fight worth having. If there’s fall out, if there’s blowback, I would absolutely do it again, because I think this information should be public. Whatever part I had in helping to do that I think is a service.

People take risks. And I’m not the one who’s taking the most in this case.

Heroes and Villains

John Cassidy, longtime New Yorker writer, pulls no punches in calling Edward Snowden a "hero" today at the magazine's site, while noting that his colleague Jeffrey Toobin (among others) disagrees.  (We shall not mention Andrew Sullivan.)  Consider this laughable line from Toobin, typical of the Snowden critics:  People like Snowden with concerns "can take advantage of federal whistle-blower laws; they can bring their complaints to Congress; they can try to protest within the institutions where they work."  Howler!

Read all of Cassidy but here's an excerpt:

So what is Snowden’s real crime? Like Ellsberg, Vanunu, and Bradley Manning before him, he uncovered questionable activities that those in power would rather have kept secret. That’s the valuable role that whistle-blowers play in a free society, and it’s one that, in each individual case, should be weighed against the breach of trust they commit, and the potential harm their revelations can cause. In some instances, conceivably, the interests of the state should prevail. Here, though, the scales are clearly tipped in Snowden’s favor.

I’ll leave the last word to Ellsberg, who, for revealing to the world that that Pentagon knew early on that the war in Vietnam was unwinnable, was described in some quarters as a communist and a traitor: “Snowden did what he did because he recognised the NSA’s surveillance programs for what they are: dangerous, unconstitutional activity. This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re trying to protect.”

Snowden Blizzard of Smears Coming

Already squalls appearing but will get much worse.  Politico's first but surely not last entry is pretty tame but, yes, we get the not-good-neighbor report.  Most of the rest was already in The Guardian, such as not finishing high school and leaving the Army after legs broken in training, and are hardly "smears."   Oh, but living in luxury hotel in Hong Kong!  And now Reuters and USA Today ID hotel but say he has checked out.  USA Today: Media "manhunt" under way!

Blogging the Bradley Manning Trial, Day #4

As I did last week, I will closely follow reports from those on the scene as the trial begins following recess since last Wednesday.  Among those inevitably there, the stalwart Kevin Gosztola, co-author of my Truth and Consequences book about the case, just updated to last week.

12:10  O'Brien: "Defense is coming out swinging, folks. They are trying to pre-empt the USG case and own the agenda."  Aggressive cross-examination of today's witnesses on Manning accessing files. 

11:20  Guy named Shaver on Manning searching for info on WikiLeaks, Iceland etc. near end of 2009.  Also, see Gosztola's first daily wrapup. 

10:50  Fuller:  "Recess. Army forensic expert David Shaver testified about # Manning 's use of Intelink, the Army's secure version of Google."

10:15 Alexa O'Brien (@carwinb) has witness list for today and this week. 

10:00  Nathan Fuller (of Manning support group): "Curious to see how or if coverage of # Manning 's trial changes in light of # Snowden 's NSA leaks. A little more press at Ft. Meade today."
 

Greenwald vs. Gellman Re: Snowden

My new piece at The Nation.  Oh, BTW, Bradley Manning trial resuming just now.  Update:  Kevin Drum at Mother Jones asks, what's on the 35 or so PRISM slides that neither the Post nor The Guardian chose to publish, despite Snowden's request/demand?   He wants Greenwald and Gellman to desctribe why not published and maybe, generally, what they pertain to.  I would add that I doubt that it was the two reporters' call.

Ellsberg Would Have Leaked NSA Stuff If Given Chance

UPDATE Ellsberg has now written a piece about Snowden for, where else, The Guardian.  For years, after I first met Dan thirty years ago,  he had tremendous difficulty writing, also never did it.  Now he responds quickly to events.

Earlier:  My old friend Dan Ellsberg on CNN on new whistleblower, hails Sbowden and importance of what he's done.  Says indeed Snowden has broken the law but he would have done the same if this spying and secrecy existed in his time.   Thinks, however, at trial could be found that progtrams he exposed are  unconstitutional.  Ellsberg say that if he had been given the docs this year he would have leaked himself, even if he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Believe it.

Will China/Hong Kong Give Up Whistleblower?

UPDATE #3  James Fallows hails Snowden for leak, thinks it does more good than harm, but says he made big mistake going to Hong Kong/China. 

UPDATE #2  And now Bart Gellman at Wash Post
UPDATE  AP has source saying Snowden--and girlfriend--packed up and moved out of Hawaii home on May 1,  earlier than timeline we know about.   He told Glenn Greenwald he left job three weeks and flew to Hong Kong on May 20.   

Interesting rundown here at The Atlantic site on what may be in store for self-outed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, holed up in a Hong Kong hotel.  U.S. sure to press charges--and pressure China and Hong Kong.  His dream of going to Iceland probably dead in the water.  Where he is now could be genius or "dumb." But some say not a bad choice in terms of extradition roadblocks. TPM's Josh Marshall:

Call me naive but I think this is going to come down to how Beijing wants to play this. If they don’t want a fight over this, Snowden’s toast. If they like the optics of it, I don’t think it matters what that extradition treaty says. China’s a big enough player and the US has enough other fish to fry with the Chinese, that the US is not going to put the bilateral relationship on the line over this guy. And the Chinese might relish granting asylum to an American running from the claws of US ‘state repression’.

BTW, Glenn Greenwald tweets: "Any Twitter or Facebook accounts purporting to be Edward Snowden are fake."

Glenn Greenwald plays a pivotal role in my book (with Kevin Gosztola) on the Bradley Manning case, just published in an updated edition.