3 ms·

What do you want them to do? Bomb the Russians?

by jorgeseagull 13y ago

ars 13y ago
Let him fly without a passport.
- cwp 13y ago
  It's not that simple. The airline has to agree to let him fly without a passport, and assurances from Ecuador that he'll be allowed to enter might not be enough to convince them to to that. Also, there probably aren't any direct flights from Moscow to Quito, so he'll need cooperation from some other country, and possibly another airline as well. That's conceivable, but might not work out, and Snowden probably wouldn't know that it's not working out until he was in handcuffs.
  - munin 13y ago
    what, you don't think that Ecuador is capable of chartering a private plane to fly from Moscow to Quito?
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
      - ars 13y ago
        They don't. Like I said: Lip service. They like to talk, but when it comes to action nothing happens.
  - ars 13y ago
    Ecuador has several national airlines, in particular TAME. They could charter a flight with them if they actually wanted to. Which they don't. They could also ask a diplomat to escort him.
    - lawnchair_larry 13y ago
      A charter flight from Russia to Ecuador costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and approaches the distance limits of private jets. I doubt they even do this for themselves.
    - brown9-2 13y ago
      Huge difference between allowing someone entry to your country and the government paying to fly a jetliner across the world for one person.
mapgrep 13y ago
You seem to have missed this key passage in the linked article, which makes it pretty clear Ecuador is backing away. They could issue another "letter of safe passage," but won't and are saying he should face U.S. authorities. The whole passport thing seems to be a fig leaf: "An official at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London... had also issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. But Snowden apparently did not use it for his trip to Moscow. And it doesn’t appear that the Ecuadoran government would make a similar gesture again. "On Sunday, Correa told the AP that an Ecuadoran official at that embassy had committed 'a serious error' by issuing the first letter without consulting officials back home. Correa said the consul would be punished, although he didn’t specify how. "Correa’s tone seemed to have shifted after a conversation with Vice President Biden on Friday. Where Correa had earlier been defiant, he now voiced respect for U.S. legal procedures. “'If he really could have broken North American laws, I am very respectful of other countries and their laws, and I believe that someone who breaks the law must assume his responsibilities,' Correa said, according to the AP."

What do you want them to do? Bomb the Russians?

ars 13y ago

Let him fly without a passport.

cwp 13y ago
It's not that simple. The airline has to agree to let him fly without a passport, and assurances from Ecuador that he'll be allowed to enter might not be enough to convince them to to that. Also, there probably aren't any direct flights from Moscow to Quito, so he'll need cooperation from some other country, and possibly another airline as well. That's conceivable, but might not work out, and Snowden probably wouldn't know that it's not working out until he was in handcuffs.
- munin 13y ago
  what, you don't think that Ecuador is capable of chartering a private plane to fly from Moscow to Quito?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
    - ars 13y ago
      They don't. Like I said: Lip service. They like to talk, but when it comes to action nothing happens.
- ars 13y ago
  Ecuador has several national airlines, in particular TAME. They could charter a flight with them if they actually wanted to. Which they don't. They could also ask a diplomat to escort him.
  - lawnchair_larry 13y ago
    A charter flight from Russia to Ecuador costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and approaches the distance limits of private jets. I doubt they even do this for themselves.
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    Huge difference between allowing someone entry to your country and the government paying to fly a jetliner across the world for one person.

mapgrep 13y ago

You seem to have missed this key passage in the linked article, which makes it pretty clear Ecuador is backing away. They could issue another "letter of safe passage," but won't and are saying he should face U.S. authorities. The whole passport thing seems to be a fig leaf: "An official at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London... had also issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. But Snowden apparently did not use it for his trip to Moscow. And it doesn’t appear that the Ecuadoran government would make a similar gesture again. "On Sunday, Correa told the AP that an Ecuadoran official at that embassy had committed 'a serious error' by issuing the first letter without consulting officials back home. Correa said the consul would be punished, although he didn’t specify how. "Correa’s tone seemed to have shifted after a conversation with Vice President Biden on Friday. Where Correa had earlier been defiant, he now voiced respect for U.S. legal procedures. “'If he really could have broken North American laws, I am very respectful of other countries and their laws, and I believe that someone who breaks the law must assume his responsibilities,' Correa said, according to the AP."