It’s only a matter of time before this guy is found dead face down on the floor with a bullet in his head. Man Who Leaked U.S. Spying On Citizens Back On The Run According to The NY Daily News Edward Snowden, the former CIA technician who unabashedly leaked word of the U.S. collecting phone records and internet data, may be a lot less secure in Hong Kong than he believes. In an interview released Sunday, Snowden praised Hong Kong’s “commitment to the right of political dissent.” But it likely won’t give him a free pass if the Obama administration seeks his extradition — assuming he’s still there. A guest who had checked into Hong Kong’s Mira Hotel under the name Edward Snowden has since left, The Washington Post reported Monday citing a hotel receptionist. Under a 1996 extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong, now under the sovereignty of China, the two sides agreed to surrender an individual wanted for prosecution by the other. The matter is theoretically complicated by China’s relationship to Hong Kong. China can derail Hong Kong’s move to extradite someone if it believes it impacts its own national security interests. But it’s currently unclear why China would want to get into a tussle with the U.S. if Washington wanted Snowden, who worked for the private defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. in its dealings with the National Security Agency. “The Chinese have no interest in making this an issue,” David Zweig, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told Bloomberg News. “He hasn’t helped China necessarily.” “This is an internal affair within the United States. They’ll see it that way. If they hold on to him then it just strengthens the American right to intervene in China’s internal affairs.” The Guardian reported that Snowden, 29, holed up in a Hong Kong hotel after leaving the United States last month. “I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom,” he told the Guardian, which was the original conduit for his leaks. “Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People’s Republic of China.” Ironically, his fate may now be more in the hands of China and whether they see any self-interest in essentially protecting him by blocking potential extradition. If he remains in Hong Kong, he might want to check the local press. On Monday, Wen Yunchao, a liberal blogger in Hong Kong, wrote that Snowden has gone “out of the tiger’s den, and into the wolf’s lair,” according to a Beijing blog by a New Yorker correspondent. And he may generate a lot less sympathy than he apparently believes. As a former high-ranking Justice Department official in the Clinton administration told the Daily News, “I think he’s a moral and legal idiot.” The government will probably hire some “Huck” like assassin to murk him before the trial begins and say it was an “accident.”
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For Discussion: Former CIA Technician Who Exposed The Government Spying On Citizens Is On The Run… Was Disclosing Information Wrong?
