Pepe Escobar

Lenin is watching... (Stasi Museum. Berlin, June 2010)

This Fourth of July has been brought to you by the 'United Stasi of America'. Forget the 4th Amendment. Yes, we are watching you. All of you. All over the world. All the time. But it’s for your own good.

Those were the days when assorted latitudes were glued to the platitudes of an up and coming “Yes We Can” cipher on the virtues of teaching constitutional law. Wake up; in Pentagon speak, the NSA “does not do constitutional freedom.”

The "American-style Stasi methods," as Markus Ferber, a European Parliament member from Merkel's Bavarian sister party, put it, included revoking Edward Snowden’s passport, depriving him of citizenship and rendering him, in theory, stateless. But that does not prevent him from seeking asylum. Any sovereign country may offer him political asylum. It’s a matter of political will – as in calculating the costs of defying the 'United Stasi of America’s' might.

Self-described European champions of freedom of speech such as Austria, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland have tried to buy some wiggle room by saying Snowden would have to make his request on their soil. It’s not true; they could all give him safe passage if they really meant it.

President Obama said US courts will take care of the “29-year-old hacker”. This is pure deception. The Obama administration sees Snowden as the ultimate planetary threat to US security. Worse than bottom-of-the-Arabian-Sea Osama bin Laden. Snowden is worse than “terra”; he’s facilitating “terra”.

And with Glenn Greenwald stressing that Snowden turned over his files to The Guardian, implying that from now on it’s The Guardian leaking (or Der Spiegel this week, and the South China Morning Post two weeks ago), the Obama administration is now severely tempted to criminalize investigative journalism in bulk.

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Stephen Lendman

It's long past time America was held accountable.

Give credit when deserved. It happens all too seldom. The Guardian is an establishment publication. It's been around since 1821. It's credentials are well-known. It published other notable scoops. It was out in front on Rupert Murdoch's News International phone hacking scandal. It caused an uproar in parliament. Related police corruption was revealed. So did information about Murdoch's son James, as well as other News Corp executives and editors having private meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron never disclosed.

Guardian contributors told readers what they need to know. They told enough to matter. They're reporting responsibly on Snowden. They're doing what journalists are supposed to do - their job. They broke news about Snowden's revelations. Follow-up reports explained more. Expect others ahead.

A previous article discussed Guardian editorial opinion on Snowden. It bears repeating. It headlined "Edward Snowden: in defence of whistleblowers," saying: He's no traitor. America's First Amendment matters. It "prevents prior restraint and affords a considerable measure of protection to free speech."

Obama violates its letter and spirit. He's done so by

"show(ing) a dismaying aggression in not only criminalising leaking and whistleblowing, but also recently placing reporters under surveillance - tracking them and pulling their phone and email logs in order to monitor their sources for stories that were patently of public importance."

Whistleblower Thomas Drake revealed

"a vast, systemic institutionalized, industrial-scale Leviathan surveillance state that has clearly gone far beyond the original mandate to deal with terrorism."

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Stephen Lendman

He's waging war on freedom. He wants it destroyed.

Obama represents the worst of rogue governance. He does so lawlessly. He serves monied interests. They own him. Whatever they want they get. He violates core rule of law principles. He mocks democratic rule.

He looted the nation's wealth. He handed it to Wall Street, war profiteers, and other corporate crooks. He destroyed hard won labor rights. He wrecked the economy. He lets popular needs go begging. He ignores growing poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and despair. He's commodifying education. He wants it made another business profit center.

He targets Muslims, Latinos, African Americans, environmental activists, animal rights defenders, truth-tellers and whistleblowers. He pronounced Bradley Manning guilty by accusation. Doing so assures conviction. His trial continues secretly. It reflects the worst of kangaroo court justice. It violates constitutional law. He governs by diktat.

He's waging multiple imperial wars. He's doing so on humanity. He plans others. He permits lawless torture. Global renditions persist on his watch. He institutionalized tyranny. He authorized indefinitely detaining anyone called a national security threat without charge or trial (including US citizens). He heads America's Murder, Inc. agenda. He prioritizes targeted assassinations anywhere. He authorized killing US citizens abroad. He deployed special forces death squads globally. They operate covertly in 120 or more countries.

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