Realizing no good deed goes unpunished by U.S. authorities, an American (Edward Snowden) finds himself seeking asylum in China for exposing unprecedented and unfettered intrusions into the private lives of the entire world. Unfortunately, this brave 29 year old former CIA/NSA/intelligence gathering contractor is going to be demonized, vilified and if possible imprisoned for doing what any American would/should do if they saw their so called government taking such liberties with American liberty.
The irony is hardly lost on us, as President Obama had to deal with this thorny issue while hosting China's President Xi Jinping. China, being no slouch when it comes to monitoring its citizenry, can probably take lessons from U.S. authorities in scrutinizing every minute detail of an individual's life.
Without anyway to determine how many policing authorities will eventually have access to all the data collected, how long its to be held and for what current and future purposes it can and will be used for, the nation is literally at the mercy of governmental authorities whose record for truthfulness has been dreadful to say the least.
Still, while most are fixated on the erosion of American rights, we see far broader implications as the "authorities" have literally blanketed the world with its ever expanding web of intelligence gathering apparatus. The global citizen community should be outraged. Does anybody know if the United States sought permission to peer into the lives of those living beyond the United States? Are other nation states quietly collaborating and cooperating with the United States? If so, to what extent are they doing so?
Even more disturbing, was watching flunkies within the U.S. news media incredulously soft ball the accusations of the Obama administration's clear abuse of power. As we assessed the tenor of the early coverage, the U.S. news media almost seemed supportive of the president's policies, considering the nature and seriousness of the issues.
From Fox News on the extreme Right to MSNBC on the Left, the government info trolling programs were blatantly given the kid glove treatment. Perhaps they were pissed at the superior reporting of Glen Greewald and the UK Guardian. Perhaps they've been doing infotainment for so long they wouldn't have a clue how to handle something this big with the brilliance and tenacity Greewald managed.
If President Obama thinks an underfunded, dummied down U.S. media will provide sufficient cover while he turns what is left of this country and the world for that matter, into a police state through global spying, he'd better think again. The world needs more guys like Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden.