By Charlton Stanley, Weekend Contributor
Last Sunday, former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden was interviewed for the German television network ARD. The interview was big news in Germany and much of the world in both print and broadcast media. However, the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. It has been posted on YouTube several times, but is taken down almost immediately. The video site Vimeo has it embedded, but as I write this, Vimeo is under a DDoS attack. LiveLeak also has it, and that video is embedded in this report by Jay Syrmopoulos for Ben Swann’s news page.
Mr. Snowden spoke candidly in a thirty-minute English language interview with the reporter from ARD.
He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.” That was when Clapper denied the existence of a domestic spying programs when he testified before Congress in March of last year. Snowden added, “The public had a right to know about these programs. The public had a right to know that which the government is doing in its name, and that which the government is doing against the public.”
In case Ben Swann’s page is taken down, along with the LiveLeak video, here is the interview on Vimeo. Offered without commentary, since Edward Snowden can speak for himself.
Can’t be a DDoS attack. They’re unlawful.
Proving once again if you want information on what is going on in the United States, it is often better to find your news elsewhere.
Snowmen comes off as rational, reasonable, and restrained. Exactly what the establishment doesn’t want in a whistleblower.
This is a very good discussion between Snowden and the German newsman. Snowden is intelligent and has a very coherent grasp of the world wide spying consortium between U.S. and other intelligence agencies. The Germans don’t listen in on Merkel’s telephone calls but we do and then share with the Germans and vice versa with my phone call. The Germans will tell the U.S. what they found out on Cloud 9 about my internet emails.
The fact that he is so personable and articulate just frazzles the powers that be. The fact that he is blacklisted is a disgrace.
Previously on this blog I have spoken about John Kenneth Galbraiths predictions or theories of “convergence”– the notion that over time we will be more like the Soviets and the Soviets will me more like us. Well, this is born out. I also yak on this blog about my 1933 Parallels theory. Some person burned the Reichstag which is the German Parliament in 1933. President von Hindenburg blamed the Communists and issued The Reichstag Fire Decree. That decree terminated civil liberty protection in Germany. It was the beginning of the end. First, they came for the gypsies but I was not a gypsy and I did not speak up. etc. The parallel today is the 9/11 Twin Towers and Pentagon plane bombings. Followed by the Patriot Act. The censorship and blacklisting of Snowden for revealing our Stasi practices of the NSA is appalling.
Write your congress yokels and tell them you do not approve of all this.
Ask Yahoo where the story is. Ask Yahoo why they did not publish news of the death of Pete Seeger this past week and tell his story. All I heard about this past week on the news was Justin Bieber punk stories.
” The Vimeo site has been under a DDoS attack, and the video has been working intermittently.”
I think lack of MSM attention gives us a measure of the credibility and importance of Showden’s words.
If Snowden were a kook it would be to the advantage of NSA supporters to present at least a little of his interview so he could impeach his own credibility.
I watched the Snowder interview. To me Snowden seems thoughtful and utterly convincing.
I was particularly struck by his response to the suggestion that he return to make his case in court. As many already know, the charges against Snowden would prevent him from using his defense in court to demonstrate he is a whistle blower.
Thanks for the video.
People need to stop using the word “chilling.” (Trish’s post) It is SO over used!
Anyway, Snowden is great. He is cute, too.
“the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities”
Such are the puerile and illegal shenanigans the NSA spends billions of dollars on.
Good catch Chuck!
I’ve tweeted this a number of times, but it is, Super Bowl week-end. Will continue to get it out and thank you for making it available
A well deserved Nobel Prize for Edward Snowden………. Yes! And, please….. take ‘phony’ Barack Obama’s Nobel Prize back….. he never deserved it!
We all should write Mr Snowden’s name in our vote for US President.
I’d say we are now living in a novel we were warned with… 1984 or Animal Farm… W~T~F Over!
Reblogged this on Semi-Partisan Sam and commented:
Highly worth reading and watching, reporting about Edward Snowden’s recent interview for German television, courtesy of Jonathan Turley’s blog. This interview has received little coverage in the UK or US media.
chilling. and which country did we just chastise for press repression…
It is easy to become a conspiracy believer when obstruction happens over and over again
Now back up again. Typical behavior for a web site under DDoS attack.
I see the Vimeo videos are frozen. On the Vimeo page, still images are shown but the videos are not working. They were working a few minutes ago. I am about the last person around here to be a conspiracy theorist, but this doesn’t pass the smell test. Link to page here:
http://vimeo.com/search?q=snowden+german+television
I watched this several times when it was first posted. Astounded that it is not still readily available.
What are we now,The Soviet States of America..?