dagblog - Comments for "Details of Snowden’s Hong Kong stay emerge"

I would like to add that with

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:29:47 +0000

I would like to add that with these diplomatic games, we are supposed to outsmart the other side, no? Whining about how unfair and tricky China may be doesn't really float my boat if you're talking about the diplomacy and spy games.

Have at it

rmrd0000 — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:22:20 +0000

In reply to The full picture is in the

Have at it

The full picture is in the

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:22:17 +0000

In reply to It seems that you are

The full picture is in the articles. Yes, I am picking out the parts about incompetence by our government, unashamedly so. They work for me and you. You apparently feel a drive to defend them. I don't. I like to be impressed by the services I am paying for and by the representatives I have voted for. When I'm not impressed, I like to point these things out.

You basically asked elsewhere: what would you do? I didn't answer because I feel it's irrevelant, as I didn't chose the jobs involved, wouldn't want them. These people, including the president, wanted these jobs. I'm trying to judge how they are executing them.

It seems that you are

rmrd0000 — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:03:47 +0000

In reply to Sloppy: Though the U.S.

It seems that you are avoiding the role China played in the matter.Hong Kong had other extradition procedures that were not to technically bound. Your assertion might be correct, but it does not give the full picture.

Sloppy: Though the U.S.

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:40:03 +0000

In reply to Details of Snowden’s Hong Kong stay emerge

Sloppy:

Though the U.S. maintains it provided all the necessary facts, on Tuesday Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen told reporters that there was a discrepancy between U.S. and Hong Kong records over Snowden’s full name and that his department never received Snowden’s passport number, which it had requested.

Yuen said there was thus no basis for detaining Snowden. While this may seem like an overreliance on formalities — the identity of the man being sought was, after all, not in doubt — it will prompt a wry grin of recognition from anybody familiar with Hong Kong’s rigid insistence on correct, consistent documentation. This is a city where checks are not honored, or agreements invalidated, precisely because of a missing initial.

Interesting point of

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 04:31:09 +0000

In reply to Details of Snowden’s Hong Kong stay emerge

Interesting point of criticism: no coordination between Justice and State Depts.

U.S. says it didn't blunder when Snowden fled Hong Kong
By Jill Dougherty, CNN, June 24, 2013

[....] Some critics call the episode a blunder by the administration.

They point to the time line:

On June 14, with Snowden believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, the Justice Department filed sealed charges. The next day, the United States requested the Hong Kong government to provisionally arrest him for purposes of extradition. But the State Department did not revoke his passport until almost a week later - although it stresses it did it before he left Hong Kong.

Snowden was allowed to board a plane to Moscow as Hong Kong authorities told the United States they needed more documentation from Washington.

Justice Department officials, however, say there was no indication from Hong Kong until the last minute that anything was missing or amiss.

In an interview with CNN, Secretary of State John Kerry denied the administration misstepped, saying Snowden had been charged in a complaint that was under seal.

Some legal experts argue, however, that even though the State Department normally is not told about indictments or complaints under seal, this was not a normal case.

"Why didn't the Department of Justice notify State in advance? They will likely say because they did not see a problem coming," says CNN National Security Analyst Fran Townsend. "I'd suggest that's not a good enough answer given the importance of the case." [.....]

Mishandled; my bold

artappraiser — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 04:23:41 +0000

In reply to Details of Snowden’s Hong Kong stay emerge

Mishandled; my bold highlighting:

China Brushes Aside U.S. Warnings on Snowden
By JANE PERLEZ and CHRIS BUCKLEY, New York Times, June 25/26, 2013

BEIJING — China brushed aside on Tuesday the Obama administration’s warning that allowing Edward J. Snowden, the former national security contractor, to flee Hong Kong would have negative consequences, and said that the relationship between the United States and China should continue unimpeded. [....]

“What did the United States expect China to do? Hand him over? That would be very stupid,” said Sun Zhe, director of the Center for U.S.-China Relations at Tsinghua University. “This was the best China could do.”

According to a Chinese journalist who often talks with Hong Kong government and mainland Chinese officials in Hong Kong, the Chinese authorities organized an ad hoc group, led by Yang Jiechi, a former foreign minister and now a state councilor, to handle the Snowden matter. The group answered to President Xi Jinping, the journalist said.

The Chinese mainland authorities decided to keep a distance from Mr. Snowden personally to ensure that if Mr. Snowden eventually ended up in American hands he would not be able to disclose what Chinese officials said to him, the journalist said.

Beijing determined early on that Mr. Snowden would have to leave Hong Kong, and should not be allowed to stay to go through a protracted legal battle in the Hong Kong courts to resist the United States extradition demand, the journalist said. “That would have lasted years, and then the United States would also wonder what he was telling China,” the journalist said. “What would the United States prefer?”

The Hong Kong government also hit back at American criticisms, saying that the United States had received ample warning that its request for Mr. Snowden’s detention was incomplete.

Rimsky Yuen, the secretary for justice, said that the Hong Kong government mentioned that it had concerns about the request before Friday. He disputed the White House’s characterization of Hong Kong as having done little with the American request before letting Mr. Snowden go to the airport on Sunday morning and leave the territory on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow. [.....]