US whistleblower Edward Snowden will seek temporary asylum in Russia, according to human rights groups that met him at Moscow airport where he has been holed up since June 23.

Participants in the meeting with human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport said on Friday that the former National Security Agency contractor, who has been on the run since disclosing details of US electronic surveillance programmes, would seek to travel on to Latin America.

"Snowden is serious about obtaining political asylum in the Russian Federation," said Vyacheslav Nikonov, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker who attended the meeting.

The Kremlin told Snowden that he should refrain from criticising the United States if he wanted refuge in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman repeated earlier conditions that Snowden should stop harming the interests of the United States if he wanted asylum.

"We need to check this information, but as far as we know, he considers himself a defender of human rights and a campaigner for democratic ideals," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters news agency.

Those who attended the meeting included Sergei Nikitin, head of Amnesty International's Russia office, and Tatiana Lokshina, deputy head of the Russian office of Human Rights Watch.

UPDATE: July 6, 2013

Nicaragua also may take NSA leaker.

Venezuelan President Maduro has offered asylum to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the state-run news agency reports; Nicaragua's president is also considering doing so.

Bolivia offers asylum to Snowden

It's third Latin American country to express interest. Bolivia "is willing to give asylum" to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, President Evo Morales said Saturday, according to a government statement.

Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow
Monday July 1, 21:40 UTC

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.

For decades the United States of America has been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised -- and it should be.

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

Edward Joseph Snowden

Monday 1st July 2013

Edward Snowden reveals NSA's Domestic Snooping

by Gary Vey, Editor of viewzone.com

"The N.S.A. has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your e-mails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your e-mails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

This was the sentiment revealed by Edward Snowden in a June 2013 interview in Hong Kong, following his revelation that he was the individual who released top secret information about the National Security Agency's program, PRISM, which collects data on the communications of American citizens.

As icing on the cake, Snowden also released comments describing how the NSA spies on other countries, including China. According to Snowden, there really is no private information in the so-called age of information. Not anymore.

The Human Paradox

Why is it that every time humanity discovers something with great potential to benefit our lives and make life more comfortable some dark minded bastards come along and quickly subvert it to control and enslave other people? It seems the only time we get to benefit from new technologies is when these products cause harm.

Look at nuclear energy. The argument is made that our lives are better because of nuclear technology but this comes with the high price of major f**k ups like Chernobyl and Fukushima. The real drive for nuclear technology is not our "better living" but the power that is gained with the potential to kill millions of people in some ideological war -- a power that will never be used to improve your life, or mine.

HAARP was the same. A technology that could alter weather and ease droughts was usurped to become a weaponized system of ionospheric heaters with awesome strategic capabilities.

Now they have militarized the internet -- the most valuable technology that we have discovered since Gutenberg's printing press. They turned our ability to share information and ideas, to strengthen democracy and freedom, into a weaponized system that will make advances in enslaving and controlling free thinkers for the foreseeable future. Where will it end?

Remember, the recording and information mining system is with us now and forever. It will be in use beyond Obama's reign, by the Republican president after him, and will become part of the control structure tyrants and power hungry presidents will use to snuff out opposition. What kind of tyrannical world will that be? That's what is at stake here.

The personal attacks against the messenger begin...

The NWO controlled media, like CNN, is not content in feeding us stories about Johnny's pet pig and how Brittany's big breast caused her to miss her prom night [right]. Afraid that we might get a speck of news about how a new Jewish only settlement is being illegally built on Palestinian land or how the "banksters" who caused so much suffering a few years back are still doing business as usual.

CNN is now quietly turning America against the bravest whistle-blower in decades by telling us crazy stories about Snowden's girlfriend (described as a pole-dancer) [below] and selecting still images from his interview where he smurks.

It's not just right leaning pundits that are taking aim at Snowden. Conspiracy and libertarian web sites and blogs are rife with suggestions that he is a "plant" by the CIA and a distraction from some other more important political agendas that are clandestinely slipping by scrutiny. Snowden's resume has been analyzed by average "Joes" on YouTube and his girlfriend's facebook page has been dissected.

Meanwhile, the NSA and its spokesmen have as much as admitted it is all true. The public has yet to grasp this and most stay focused on the private life of the whistleblower -- excuse me, Snowden doesn't even get that label anymore. Now he is the "LEAKER!"

The writing is clearly on the wall: Snowden is about to be subjected to the ultimate character assassination. After this, the pundits will tell the lame public what they should feel about what he did, and how we should be content to sacrifice yet more of our freedoms to protect the elite. We have seen this before. Retired generals and ex-politicians who now run their own private security agencies will give interviews, stressing the "seriousness of what he has done."

The Media Will Decide

The media are good at what they do. They are paid by the corporations who make the stuff in the commercials that we are supposed to want. Maybe we won't feel like buying their stuff when we learn the truth. That iPhone won't be as popular when it is known that it comes with a "friend" who may listen in whenever... So those stories get buried while the bra size of the prom girl next door is made "above the fold" news.

We should not accept the NSA's domestic spy program. It marks the end of the free internet -- the basis of our modern information flow; the basis of a Democracy of well informed citizens. Let's stand behind Edward Snowden and his brave act, but most importantly, lets oppose the PRISM program and take back the internet.

Your Life Will Never Be The Same

Just think of how the spy program will change the way you write an e-mail to your friends or family. Will you feel free to say anything? Or will you always imagine someone looking over your shoulder, knowing your most personal texts and images. Yes, it is a different world already. I know you can feel it.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

I, for one, second that thought! How about you? If you have a different opinion please send it in and we will post it. There are many different ways to look at this.

Wait. Someone's knocking on my door... it's