Edward Snowden, who is said to have flown from Hong Kong to Moscow yesterday, potentially en route to Ecaduar by way of Cuba, was not on a flight Monday from Russia to Havana, despite having a ticket.
It also raised the possibility that the Russian government had detained him, either to consider the demands by the Obama administration to intercept him and return him to the United States or perhaps to question him for Russia’s own purposes.Mr. Snowden has not been seen publicly or photographed since his reported arrival in Moscow on Sunday afternoon from Hong Kong, and passengers on that flight interviewed at the airport could not confirm that he was on board.
Despite the lack of certainty (or, to be less euphemistic, despite the fact that nobody seems to have a clue what's really going on), lawmakers were quick to condemn Russia and the assorted other nations on Snowden's potential and/or alleged itinerary.
The apparent cooperation of the Russian government in Snowden’s attempt to avoid extradition to the United States outraged some members of Congress.“What’s infuriating here is [President Vladimir] Putin of Russia aiding and abetting Snowden’s escape,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” [...] Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) agreed that Sunday’s events call “into question what kind of relationship we ever have had with China and Russia. We pretend that everything is hunky-dory when it is not. It isn’t with China. It isn’t with Russia. It certainly isn’t with Cuba, with Venezuela nor with Ecuador.”
I suspect the reality is that nobody really knows everything that's going on and the people that know the most are saying the least. In the meantime, the debate will rage on about the countries through which Snowden may or may not pass—are they friend or foe, ally or enemy? And so to will the debate about Snowden himself: Hero or traitor, et cetera and so forth.
The good news is that the government—at least according to rumor—will be keeping a fairly comprehensive archive of that debate. For posterity.