Edward Snowden still missing

Edward Snowden still thinks he's done nothing wrong.  He's admitted he had a definite plan - to get a job with defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton so he could find out who the US National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on - who were having their computers hacked into and who were having their phones tapped - and then to release that information to the world.  He says he has high ideals and talks about freedom of the press yet seeks out China and Russia for help, two countries known for having virtually no freedom of the press at all.  He must be delusional if he believes any country would countenance such behaviour.

He was hired to help maintain NSA's secret computer networks in Hawaii and when the company sacked him for leaking secret information to the press, he managed to take a large quantity of top secret documents with him.   He left Hawaii on 20th May and flew to Hong Kong where he leaked details of secret US intelligence programmes to the world media.

Edward Snowden is charged with espionage.  The US is calling on Russia to give him up and are annoyed with Hong Kong for letting him go.  The seat he booked leaving Russia bound for Cuba was empty and the plane left without him and nobody knows if Russia is planning to hand him back or help him get to Ecuador.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaking from India said "In the last two years we have transferred seven prisoners to Russia that they wanted, so I think reciprocity and the enforcement of the law is pretty important" he said,  "And I suppose there's no small irony here ... I wonder if Mr Snowden chose China and Russia as assistants in his flight from justice because they're such powerful bastions of internet freedom."

White House Spokesman Jay Carney said last night "Mr Snowden's claim that he is focused on supporting transparency, freedom of the press, and protection of individual rights and democracy is belied by the protectors he has potentially chosen:  China, Russia, Ecuador, as we've seen. His failure to criticize these regimes suggests that his true motive throughout has been to injure the national security of the United States, not to advance internet freedom and free speech."

Edward Snowden and Julian Assange have alienated themselves from their own kind - they've gone over to the other side.  And now they have found a friend in Ecuador - a country full of corruption, extortion and repression.  What on earth were they thinking?