UPDATE: THE OBAMA NATION-SNOWDEN FIASCO CONTINUES

"Snowden case: Bolivia condemns jet 'aggression' "  --  BBC 

 

MEANWHILE  STATE DEPARTMENT FESSES-UP ABOUT BOLIVIAN FLIGHT, SORT OF ---   AND U.S. INTELLIGENCE CHIEF FESSES-UP ABOUT TESTIMONY ON INTERNET SPYING, SORT OF

Bolivia has accused European countries of an "act of aggression" for refusing to allow its presidential jet into their airspace, amid suggestions US fugitive Edward Snowden was on board.  Bolivia said France, Italy, Spain and Portugal had blocked the plane.  President Evo Morales was flying back to Bolivia from Moscow when the plane was forced to stop in Vienna (See "Snowden case: Bolivia condemns jet 'aggression' " by  BBC Staff with additional analysis by  Matthew Price, 7/3/13,  BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23158242]).

Once grounded in Vienna, the Bolivian President's jet was reportedly searched for the "missing" NSA leaker Edward Snowden.  He was found not to be on board the Bolivian airlainer; and so, he is still believed to be in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.   Snowden is reportedly seeking asylum in Bolivia and several other countries.  The incident mid-air came hours after the Bolivian President had indicated that his country would consider a request for political asylum from Mr Snowden.  Meanwhile, Bolivia's UN envoy has told reporters in Geneva that he would complain to the UN about the European countries' actions. "The decisions of these countries violated international law. We are already making procedures to denounce this to the UN secretary general,"  said Bolivian UN envoy,  Sacha Llorenti.

Forcing the plane of a national president to land is a highly unusual move. Bolivia has complained that France, Spain, Portugal and Italy  denied the Bolivian President's plane overflight rights. It is widely assumed that the United States asked some European countries to intervene, since the U.S. wouldn't want Edward Snowden slipping from its grasp if he was on the plane and headed to Bolivia. An Austrian government source told the BBC that having requested and got the agreement of the Bolivians (because state immunity was involved), Vienna airport police checked the identity of the five crew members and six people accompanying President Morales. They then searched the plane and found nothing unusual.

LATE BREAKING REPORT  ---  U.S. issued warnings about  Bolivian plane  ---  NOW,  MAYBE, OBAMA >>> IS <<< READY TO SCRAMBLE THE JETS FOR SNOWDEN !

According to the Guardian, its Washington bureau chief, Dan Roberts, had been at a State Department briefing, where  Dept. of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki has confirmed that the US had been in contact with countries that had a "chance" of Snowden flying through their air space, saying, "We have been in contact with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country but I am not going to outline what those countries were or when this happened."  Ms. Psaki then  refused to confirm or deny any specific involvement with the Bolivian Preisdent's flight or address questions as to whether it all might have been a breach of diplomatic protocol, saying these were matters for Europeans to address ( See "US admits contact with other countries over potential Snowden flights – as it happened" by Oliver Laughland, Helen Davidson, Haroon Siddique and Paul Owen, 7/3/13 , The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live]).

According to Guardian Washington Bureau Chief Dan Roberts , "Though the White House declined to confirm whether it ordered Western European allies to block the diplomatic flight containing Bolivia's president, the affair casts further doubt on promises made by Barack Obama that the US would "not scramble jets" to retrieve the whistleblower who has brought so much embarrassment upon his administration. ***  When the issue first threatened to overshadow delicate relations with major powers such as China and Russia, the US president went out of his way to stress that he would not expend political capital on "wheeling and dealing" just to bring a 29-year-old hacker to justice. Whether he was setting expectations low for the likelihood of Snowden's capture, or genuinely trying to put the issue in proportion remains unclear, but events since have shown the White House is willing to act far tougher with smaller nations who might contemplate rebellion....  ***  Of course, all the drama also has the added benefit of distracting attention from the impact of Snowden's revelations. Obama's top intelligence official, James Clapper, has just admitted lying to Congress over whether the US spies on its own people, but you wouldn't know it from watching US TV right now."