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| Manifestação de apoio a Snowden em Berlim |
Alemães desafiam Merkel a acolher Snowden e a recebê-lo "como um herói"
Dezenas de personalidades da sociedade alemã defendem que o analista deve ser protegido pelas autoridades do país
As queixas da Alemanha sobre as escutas à chanceler
Angela Merkel foram interpretadas por alguns deputados do Parlamento Europeu
como um exercício de hipocrisia, mas a sociedade alemã parece estar empenhada em
pressionar o seu Governo a juntar as acções às palavras.
Mais de 50 personalidades de várias áreas exigem às autoridades alemãs que
abram as portas ao analista informático Edward Snowden e que o recebam "como um
herói".Entre os testemunhos publicados ontem pela revista Der Spiegel sobressai o de um antigo secretário-geral do partido de Angela Merkel, Heiner Geissner: "Snowden prestou um grande serviço ao Ocidente. Agora, é a nossa vez de o ajudar."
A revista publica também um pequeno texto de Edward Snowden, que diz ter recebido através de um canal codificado, e em que o analista informático salienta a importância dos documentos que obteve enquanto trabalhou para a NSA: "No início, alguns dos governos que foram expostos pelas revelações de vigilância em larga escala deram início a uma campanha de encobrimento. Intimidaram jornalistas e criminalizaram a publicação da verdade. Hoje, sabemos que essa estratégia foi um erro, e que esse comportamento não é do interesse público. O debate que eles tentaram parar está agora a decorrer em todo o mundo."
Angela Merkel está pressionada entre a exigência de proteger o analista e a necessidade de não pôr em risco as relações com os EUA.
A estratégia para ultrapassar este dilema assenta na obtenção de um acordo bilateral com o Presidente dos EUA, Barack Obama, que começou a ser desenhado na semana passada, com a visita de uma delegação do Governo alemão à Casa Branca.
O diário Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung avançou no sábado que os dois países estão prestes a concluir "um acordo de não-espionagem", que deverá estar concluído no início de 2014 e que impedirá a espionagem de líderes e cidadãos entre a Alemanha e os EUA.
Mas as negociações estão a cair mal no Parlamento Europeu, onde se teme que a posição da União Europeia (UE) saia enfraquecida. É esse o receio do eurodeputado Jan Phillip Albrecht, relator da proposta de Regulamento de Protecção de Dados. Em declarações ao jornal alemão, Albrecht considera que um acordo bilateral entre um país da UE e os EUA favorece Washington na sua vontade de "acalmar a comoção sobre a NSA, sem que nada mude na vigilância em larga escala".
Para a Alemanha, esta poderá ser a oportunidade de pressionar os EUA a abrir-lhe as portas ao restrito grupo Five Eyes (Cinco Olhos), avançou o jornal The Guardian. O grupo, constituído por EUA, Reino Unido, Austrália, Canadá e Nova Zelândia, partilha uma colaboração profunda desde a Segunda Guerra Mundial em questões de espionagem, mas também militar e de política externa.
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Edward Snowden's asylum arrangements with Russia expire in
June 2014. Photograph: AP
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Germany 'should offer Edward Snowden asylum after NSA
revelations'
Writing in Der Spiegel, more
than 50 high-profile Germans add to increasing calls for Berlin to welcome NSA
whistleblower
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
theguardian.com, Sunday 3 November 2013 / http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/03/germany-edward-snowden-asylum
An increasing number of public figures are calling for
Edward Snowden to be offered asylum in Germany, with more than 50 asking Berlin
to step up it support of the US whistleblower in the new edition of Der Spiegel
magazine
Heiner Geissler, the former general secretary of Angela
Merkel's Christian Democrats, says in the appeal: "Snowden has done the
western world a great service. It is now up to us to help him."
The writer and public intellectual Hans Magnus Enzensberger
argues in his contribution that "the American dream is turning into a
nightmare" and suggests that Norway would be best placed to offer Snowden
refuge, given its track record of offering political asylum to Leon Trotsky in
1935. He bemoans the fact that in Britain, "which has become a US
colony", Snowden is regarded as a traitor.
Other public figures on the list include the actor Daniel
Brühl, the novelist Daniel Kehlmann, the entrepreneur Dirk Rossmann, the
feminist activist Alice Schwarzer and the German football league president,
Reinhard Rauball.
The weekly news magazine also publishes a "manifesto
for truth", written by Snowden, in which the former NSA employee warns of
the danger of spy agencies setting the political agenda.
"At the beginning, some of the governments who were
exposed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented
smear campaign. They intimidated journalists and criminalised the publication
of the truth
"Today we know that this was a mistake, and that such
behaviour is not in the public interest. The debate they tried to stop is now
taking place all over the world", Snowden writes in the short comment
piece sent to Der Spiegel via an encrypted channel.
As calls for drastic measures in response to the NSA
revelations are increasing in Germany, Angela Merkel seems to be avoiding
direct confrontation with Washington. Several politicians from the chancellor's
party have expressed their eagerness to meet Snowden in Russia while
simultaneously seeming to rule out the possibility of inviting the
whistleblower to Germany. "There is no reason to make a call on a Snowden
stay in Germany at this stage," Michael Grosse-Brömer told
Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.
The Kremlin has signalled that it would allow German
delegates to meet Snowden in Moscow. Snowden was free to meet anyone and would
not be stopped from doing so, said a spokesperson for Vladimir Putin.
During a meeting with a politician from the German Green
party in Moscow on Thursday, however, Snowden reportedly expressed reluctance
about such a solution. Testifying to a German parliamentary inquiry in Russia,
where his asylum runs out next June, would get the whistleblower nowhere nearer
to solving his current dilemma. If Snowden left Russia to testify to the
Bundestag, he would lose his current status but could potentially apply for
asylum in Germany.
Meanwhile, signs are increasing that Merkel is trying to
resolve the current diplomatic crisis with a new bilateral agreement with the
US, instead of pushing for a pan-European reform of data protection laws.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported on Sunday that the two
countries were close to a "no spy" agreement, which is expected to be
signed at the start of the new year. A delegation of German politicians visited
the White House for discussions last week.
There is some speculation as to whether Merkel is using the
crisis to try to negotiate German membership of the "five eyes" group
– the intelligence-sharing network between America, Britain, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand created during the second world war. Last week, Merkel's
spokesperson denied Germany had intentions to join the anglophone club.
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Edward Snowden with Hans-Christian Stroebele. Photo: Irina
Oho/HO/EPA
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White House rejects clemency
for Edward Snowden over NSA leaks
Obama adviser and heads of
House and Senate intelligence signal hard line despite European support for
whistleblower
Rory Carroll
theguardian.com, Sunday 3 November 2013 / http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/03/white-house-nsa-edward-snowden-clemency
The White House and leading lawmakers have rejected Edward
Snowden's plea for clemency and said he should return to the United States to
face trial.
Dan Pfeiffer, an Obama administration adviser, said on
Sunday the NSA whistleblower's request was not under consideration and that he
should face criminal charges for leaking classified information. Dianne
Feinstein and Mike Rogers, respectively the heads of the Senate and House
intelligence committees, maintained the same tough line and accused Snowden of
damaging US interests.
The former NSA employee this week appealed for clemency and
an opportunity to address members of Congress about US surveillance. He also
asked for international help to lobby the US to drop the charges against him.
The White House, stung by domestic and international criticism, has shown
growing appetite to rein in some of the NSA programmes that Snowden exposed but
it has not softened its hostility to the 30-year-old fugitive.
Pfeiffer told ABC's This Week that no clemency offers were
being discussed following Snowden's appeal in a letter released by a German
lawmaker who met him in Moscow.
Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, remained
implacable. "He's done this enormous disservice to our country. I think
the answer is 'no clemency'," she told CBS's Face the Nation.
The former NSA contractor could have blown the whistle on
excesses by contacting the House and Senate intelligence committees, Feinstein
said. "We would certainly have seen him … and looked at that information.
That didn't happen."
Snowden has passed a trove of information to the Guardian
and other media outlets since fleeing to Hong Kong in June before relocating to
Russia, which granted him a year's asylum. In a one-page letter given to
Hans-Christian Stroebele, a lawmaker with Germany's opposition Green Party,
Snowden asked for charges to be dropped, saying: "Speaking the truth is
not a crime. I am confident that with the support of the international
community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful
behavior."
An increasing number of public figures are calling for
Snowden to be offered asylum in Germany, following his revelation that the NSA
tapped chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.
"Snowden has done the western world a great service. It
is now up to us to help him," Heiner Geissler, the former general
secretary of Merkel's Christian Democrats, wrote in Der Spiegel magazine. More
than 50 public figures echoed the call.
That cut little ice with Rogers, a Michigan Republican and
former FBI agent. He echoed Feinstein's response on Face the Nation, saying the
leaker had violated an oath of secrecy and stole information. "He needs to
come back and own up," Roger said.
Rogers also accused Snowden of cooperating with Russian
intelligence – "the Russians are not allowing him to stay in the country
just because they think he's a nice guy" – and of helping three
al-Qaida-linked groups to change the way they communicate in order to evade US
intercepts, putting troops' lives at risk in Afghanistan.
Rogers, the NSA's strongest congressional supporter, said
the media and public's focus should be not on supposed surveillance excesses
but on efforts to counter terrorism and cyber attacks. "The bad guys
candidly are not US intelligence agencies," he said. "They are the
good guys at the end of the day."
The House intelligence committee chairman said pressure to
rein in surveillance risked repeating previous curbs which had disastrous consequences.
"We did this in the 1930s and … that led to a whole
bunch of misunderstandings that led to World War II that killed millions and
millions of people. We did the same darn thing that led up to the [9/11] Osama
bin Laden effort."
Rogers scorned European protestations over US spying as
theatrical, saying US allies did plenty spying themselves: "I think
there's going to be some best actor awards coming out of the White House this
year, and best supporting actor awards coming out of the European Union."
He added: "Espionage is a French word, after all."
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