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Bolivian president's jet rerouted amid suspicions Edward Snowden on board | World news | The Guardian

Bolivia reacted with fury after a plane carrying the country's president home from Russia was diverted to Vienna amid suspicions that it was carrying the surveillance whistleblower, Edward Snowden.

France and Portugal were accused of withdrawing permission for the plane, carrying the president, Evo Morales, from energy talks in Moscow, to pass through their airspace.

Officials in both Austria and Bolivia said Snowden was not on the plane. The Bolivian foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, said: "We don't know who invented this lie. We want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales."

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 01:59:41 AM EST
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Bolivia says president's jet diverted over Snowden 'rumor' | News | DW.DE | 03.07.2013

Bolivia's foreign minister has said President Evo Morales' plane was denied clearance over French and Portuguese airspace, forcing it to land in Vienna. He said this followed a "lie" that Edward Snowden was on board.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said Morales' plane made an unscheduled stop in Vienna because France and Portugal revoked clearance for the flight from Moscow. According to the minister in the capital La Paz, the countries suspected that former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden was on the flight to Bolivia.

"They say it was due to technical issues, but after getting explanations from some authorities we found that there appeared to be some unfounded suspicions that Mr. Snowden was on the plane," Choquehuanca said. "We don't know who invented this lie."

Diplomatic firework ahead?

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 03:18:34 AM EST
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Seems like he's going to have to plot a circuitous route home.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 09:33:54 AM EST
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Now over the Atlantic following what seems a perfectly normal route. After crossing Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese airspace.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 09:49:58 AM EST
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About to stop for refuelling in the Canaries, which Spain now seems to be allowing.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 10:06:51 AM EST
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The Guardian has a live thread about the events:

South American nations furious over diversion of Bolivian president's plane - live | World news | guardian.co.uk

 Plane diverts to Austria amid fears Snowden on board
Foreign minister: France, Italy Spain and Portugal denied airspace permits
* Snowden not on board, according to officials in Vienna
* Bolivia accuses United States of 'hostile act'
by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 03:19:39 AM EST
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Feels like the world is shifting - hope for the better.
by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 03:21:11 AM EST
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French media are not talking about this. All coverage is on the Ecology Minister's firing by Hollande for criticising budget cuts for her ministry. The Morales plane story is either not mentioned or relegated to a secondary position as a "diplomatic gaffe".
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 03:55:16 AM EST
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Amazing! A French socalled Socialist President refusing overflight, or as it looks emergency landing to a fellow Socialist President.

South American nations furious over diversion of Bolivian president's plane - live | World news | guardian.co.uk

Although the Guardian cannot 100% verify the audio, it comes from a source who has a track record of monitoring aviation communications. (In this 2011 article, Huub, also known online as "BlackBox" and @FMCNL, is described as a former member of the Dutch military who has been monitoring radio frequency scanners, amplifiers, and antennas for more than 25 years.)

Part of the conversation goes:

"Do you need any assistance?"

"Not at this moment. We need to land because we cannot get a correct indication of the fuel indication...we need to land."

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:15:52 AM EST
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The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:46:28 AM EST
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Well, the usual suspects are talking about it :

 

Europe Ecologie-Les Verts a demandé lundi 1er juillet à François Hollande d'accorder l'asile politique à Edward Snowden, le consultant informatique à l'origine des révélations sur le programme américain de cybersurveillance Prism.
"La France doit accorder sans délai l'asile politique au lanceur d'alerte et défenseur de la liberté Edward Snowden, qui a dévoilé un système de surveillance généralisé des données personnelles de l'ensemble de la planète par les Etats-Unis", écrit EELV dans un communiqué diffusé dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi. Le parti écologiste, qui participe au gouvernement, estime que cet asile politique "permettrait de rappeler que la France entend protéger tous les lanceurs d'alerte quelle que soit leur nationalité, dès lors qu'ils constituent une sauvegarde indispensable de la démocratie".

Cette décision, ajoute EELV, aurait en outre pour effet de "rappeler qu'au moment où l'UE s'apprête à négocier un accord transatlantique avec les USA, la France refuse clairement le diktat américain sur la protection des données et les violations".

Europe Ecology-The Greens asked Monday 1 July Hollande to grant political asylum to Edward Snowden, IT consultant at the origin of the revelations about the U.S. program of cyber Prism.
"France must give immediate political asylum to whistleblower and defender of freedom  Edward Snowden, who unveiled a widespread surveillance of personal data of the entire planet by the United States," writes EELV in a statement released on the night of Sunday to Monday. The Green Party, which participates in the government believes that this political asylum "would recall that France intends to protect all whistleblowers regardless of their nationality, since they are an essential safeguard of democracy."

This decision adds EELV, would also have the effect of "remind us that at a time when the EU is preparing to negotiate a transatlantic agreement with the U.S., France clearly rejects the American diktat on data protection and violations" .



It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:19:11 AM EST
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This is getting pretty prominent play in German-language media.

FAZ is now saying that Spain has cleared Morales' flight.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:48:12 AM EST
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The Guardian reportet the same, but then it posted that it seems not cleared.

the newst post is this:

South American nations furious over diversion of Bolivian president's plane - live | World news | guardian.co.uk

The Spanish government has not just annoyed Morales and Bolivia with their refusal to allow his plane through its airspace. Austrian foreign minister Michael Spindelegger is also annoyed. He reportedly said:

We don´t understand, why Spain is acting like that.

He also maintained that Austrian officials had been on the plane and Snowden was not there. Journalists at the airport had earlier suggested that Austrian authorities could not conclusively attest to Snowden not being on board as the jet's crew were saying no-one had been allowed on to the plane.

But cleared or not, this is scandalous and not way to treat the President of a souverain country.

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:59:55 AM EST
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Funny none of these countries ever stopped overflight of redition planes or murderous dictators - but a democratically elected, however, socialist President is refused overflight.

There are really no words for this.

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 05:10:16 AM EST
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There are really no words for this.

There's one word for it. And we already know what it is.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 06:46:15 AM EST
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The gloves are off. The US has suffered from a  considerable number of blows to its international credibility because of leaks in recent years.

Padilla and Manning aren't enough, so Snowden must be taken down. I think they're ensuring that he'll not have a decent night's rest for the remainder of his life. Seal Team Six on standby.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 09:40:29 AM EST
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What is Spain's beef with Morales?

South American nations furious over diversion of Bolivian president's plane - live | World news | guardian.co.uk

It appears that Morales's path may not have been cleared after all. Austrian reporter Tanja Malle tweets that at another press conference, this time with Morales and ambassadors from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba), it was said that Spain is still not opening its airspace to his flight. 
by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:25:45 AM EST
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South American nations furious over diversion of Bolivian president's plane - live | World news | guardian.co.uk
Morales said he refused a request by the Spanish authorities' to inspect his plane in Vienna and has not been granted permission to use Spanish airspace, according to Reuters.

What has happend to diplomatic immunity?

by Fran on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 04:31:29 AM EST
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Morales likes to attack Spain as an imperialist country. Plus, we have the PP in power. Plus, Morales has expropriated subsidiaries of Spanish companies in the energy, airports, and power grid sectors. Plus, the PP are US toadies.

The below incident from 6 years ago is illustrative of the state of relations between Spain and Latin America:



Finance is the brain [tumour] of the economy

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 05:01:46 AM EST
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by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 05:48:56 AM EST
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Track the flight FAB1 here.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 05:53:56 AM EST
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FAB1 now in Italian airspace, heading for Trento. Over to gk.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 06:24:15 AM EST
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Partially cloudy here. I can't see him.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 06:26:45 AM EST
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If he's in the Cloud™, NSA will get him.

But now he's flown by Marseille and Barcelona.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 3rd, 2013 at 07:58:13 AM EST
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