Taking heed from his whistleblowing pal Julian Assange, former NSA contractor and leaker Edward Snowden has been popping around the globe (in a style that can only be described as Carmen Sandiago-esque), and has officially applied for political asylum from Ecuador. Julian Assange, already truncating Snowden’s first name to cement their BFFship, stated, “I would urge the Government of Ecuador to accept Ed Snowden’s asylum application.” Assange commented on the situation further by saying, “There is deep irony that the Obama Administration is charging the whistleblower who has revealed worldwide spying with the crime of espionage.”
Snowden has been propelled to international news in the last week due to his leak of a highly confidential NSA surveillance program known as PRISM. The reveal has been noted as one of the biggest breaches of US security in history, and has affirmed our paranoia that we are literally being watched all the time. Accompanied by diplomats and Wikileaks advisors, last night Snowden fled the sanctuary of his Hong Kong hotel where he has been residing since May—on a commercial flight that landed in Moscow at 11:15pm Sunday night. The destination is tipped as being a stopover for his final destination, Ecuador. Officials say Snowden’s passport had been revoked before his flight; speculations of how he managed to escape are unknown.
Snowden is in a bit of a jam; his options were pretty bleak:
– Return to the US and be trialled (and, let’s face it, end up in a prison for life)…nope
– Stay in Hong Kong in fear of extradition, at his hotel only a few blocks away from a CIA station…. nope
– Seek political asylum in his “ideal” location, Iceland…unlikely, because the snow/ice puns would be too perfect
But you know what Snowden? All of those options suck. We’ve got this:
1. Be granted political asylum by Ecuador
2. Sneak in to the UK (dude, you’re a spy, pretty sure you can manage it)
3. Get Ecaudorian diplomats to whisk you off to the embassy in London
4. Live it up with Julian (who cares if he’s supposedly “developing rickets” due to the lack of sunlight! Live the political asylum #thuglyf!)
You’re welcome.
Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Via Time, Wikileaks, The Guardian.
