Australian foreign minister slanders Edward Snowden
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop delivered a speech in Washington, DC on Thursday night denouncing former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who has exposed the illegal global surveillance regime developed by the US and its allies, including Canberra.
In June [she declared], a grave new challenge to our irreplaceable intelligence efforts arose from the actions of one Edward Snowden, who continues to shamefully betray his nation while skulking in Russia. This represents unprecedented treachery—he’s no hero. Snowden claims his actions were driven by a desire for transparency, but in fact they strike at the heart of the collaboration between those nations in world affairs that stand at the forefront of protecting human freedom.
This torrent of lies and slanders was in line with what Bishop had earlier declared the “core priority” of her visit to Washington: “strengthening the Australia-United States alliance.”
After President Barack Obama’s January 17 speech that pledged bogus intelligence “reforms”—while issuing an unabashed defence of the NSA and its activities against the people of the US and the world—various members of Congress denounced Snowden as a traitor and Russian spy who ought to be tried and executed.[*] Mike McCaul, Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, declared that Snowden “was cultivated by a foreign power to do what he did… he’s not a hero by any stretch. He’s a traitor.”
The Australian foreign minister is now the only representative of another government to echo such language and weigh into the coordinated campaign against the NSA whistleblower.
