In an attempt to apprehend the 30 year old American whistle blower, Edward Snowdon, a plane that was carrying the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was diverted to Austria on its way back to Bolivia from Russia. France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, based on intelligence reports from the Americans, closed their airspace to the plane because they believed that Snowdon was on it and that he was being secretly smuggled back to Bolivia.
This was a plane that was part of the Bolivian state’s Presidential fleet and that was carrying the President of that country. Bolivia is a sovereign state which is not at war with anyone. This act was not only grossly disrespectful to the Bolivian state but it also violated international law and all the norms and rules of international diplomacy and decency. It was a clear breach of the Vienna Convention on international flights which says that the aircraft of the leader of any sovereign state has immunity and cannot be treated in such a manner. To make matters worse the Presidential plane was searched and President Morales, by his own words, was treated as if he were nothing more than a ”common criminal”. I would have to agree with the Bolivian Vice President that in actual fact Morales was actually ”kidnapped by America, her European allies and the forces of imperialism”.
He was eventually released and allowed to fly home but up until then President Morales was holed up at the airport in Vienna for no less than nine hours even though it immediately became clear to all that Snowdon was not on his plane. This was a truly shameful episode. When the Americans and their allies treat leaders from the smaller and weaker nations of the world in such a way simply because those nations and those leaders have stood up for truth and justice and have resisted their ignoble quest to persecute the innocent and conquer the world it diminishes us all.
From this incident alone it ought to be clear to every right-thinking and discerning person that America, under President Barack Obama, is a nation that has literally been driven mad by its own paranoia and obsessions and that is completely drunk on power. Their ultimate objective is to control the entire world and to impose their will on each and every one of us.
I commend the courage of those truly progressive nations and leaders that have condemned the Americans and their allies on this issue, that have defied American imperialism and that have stood up for Snowdon for exposing the illegal and immoral acts of the Obama administration. These nations include Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina, Iran and a number of other countries. I also commend some of the key figures in the opposition political parties in Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Norway, Finland, Australia, India, Brazil and a number of other countries and Julian Assange’s Wikileaks organisation for standing by Snowden as well and I commend Russia and China for refusing to hand him over to America. Both Nicaragua and Venezuala have now offered asylum to him and the Scandanavian nation of Iceland has gone even further by actually considering the possibility of conferring Icelandic citizenship on him even though he has never set his foot on their soil and even whilst he is still in hiding in Russia. It is the courage of those world leaders that are strong enough and that have cultivated the fortitude, the resolve, the decency and the humanity to rise up to the occasion, to stand up for the weak and defenceless and to look the American bully in the eye and say ”thus far and no further” that keeps the rest of us going.
