Now that we know the identify of the person who leaked the National Security Agency’s (NSA) PowerPoint presentation on their surveillance operations the only question that remains is, what will happen to him? Hong Kong was likely the best option out of a series of bad options for Mr. Snowden to flee to but, being a country that signed an extradition treaty with the United States, it’s not a viable long-term solution.
Where could Mr. Snowden possibly run? As it turns out, he may be able to find asylum in Iceland:
On Sunday evening Icelandic member of parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir and Smari McCarthy, executive director of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, issued a statement of support for Snowden, the Booz Allen Hamilton staffer who identified himself to the Guardian newspaper as the source of a series of top secret documents outlining the NSA’s massive surveillance of foreigners and Americans.
“Whereas IMMI is based in Iceland, and has worked on protections of privacy, furtherance of government transparency, and the protection of whistleblowers, we feel it is our duty to offer to assist and advise Mr. Snowden to the greatest of our ability,” their statement reads. “We are already working on detailing the legal protocols required to apply for asylum, and will over the course of the week be seeking a meeting with the newly appointed interior minister of Iceland, Mrs. Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, to discuss whether an asylum request can be processed in a swift manner, should such an application be made.”
A couple of years ago Iceland passed laws to protect investigative journalists from other states. Normally I would be very skeptical about such laws but WikiLeaks was involved in the drafting and Iceland told the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to go fuck itself when it was investigating WikiLeaks so the island’s actions do backup its claims. Couple its journalist protection laws with its willingness to persecute corrupt bankers and you have a place that sounds like a great destination to expatriate to.
As far as I’m concerned the United States is a lost cause. The only salvation this police state has is a reset, which can only be accomplished by a complete collapse. After a collapse the nation could be rebuilt into a beacon of liberty but I believe that time is a long ways off and, frankly, I don’t want to be here when the worst of the economic and state collapse hit. I’ve been looking for nations to flee to and Iceland is sounding pretty nice. You have to love a nation that elects a self-proclaimed anarchic clown as the mayor of its capital city.