October 1970, the airport of the Turkish city of Trabzon. The Soviet passenger liner An-24 landed, on board there were 46 passengers, two pilots, one of them was seriously injured, a flight engineer, a navigator and one killed stewardess. There are two culprits, one is the son, the other is the father. They are freedom fighters and strive for European values. On the way to bright ideals there was one obstacle: a young bride, who was going to get married in three months. The obstacle was removed, the stewardess Nadezhda Kurchenko was killed.
The USSR Foreign Ministry demanded the extradition of the Brazinskas - that was the name of the killers. The answer is negative. Moreover, fearing for the lives of the champions of democracy, the US authorities provided them with asylum.
What do the Brazinskas and Edward Snowden have in common? What did he do for which a country that considers itself the main stronghold of democratic values demands his extradition? All three are refugees who fear for their lives. Only Edward didn't kill anyone.
The biography of this still young man with the appearance of a "botanist" student is not quite usual. He always loved his country, was ready to fight for its interests inIraq and took an active life position, signing up as a volunteer in the US Army. He did not make a military career - he injured his legs during the exercises, but the fuse did not disappear from this. Another would just be doing some peaceful business, but not Edward Snowden. What he did next does not fit into the framework of ordinary fate. He became a member of the American intelligence agencies, first the CIA and then the NSA.
After a while, the young romantic became convinced that the struggle for bright ideals is not always fought with white-gloved hands. Well, apparently, this is how it should be, because terrorist enemies are insidious. Only here's the problem: unauthorized listening is being conducted not where they can be (at least, as far as Edward Snowden could judge). What did he do to make sure of this completely? Convinced his employees to give him logins and passwords, and found out who was controlled by US intelligence.
So it is: they listen not to Al-Qaeda, and not even to the authoritarian Moscow Kremlin, but to officials from European democratic and friendly countries. And also ordinary citizens, and on such a scale that the special services of totalitarian states, including the Soviet KGB, never dreamed of. No wonder, because the technical capabilities of the CIA allow…
If Edward were greedy, he could easily get rich by selling secrets. Or he could have done nothing at all, because he had a well-paid non-dusty job, know for yourself, work and live happily. But not that kind of person EdwardSnowden. What did he do when he learned facts that were extremely unpleasant for him as a staunch champion of freedom? He began to provide materials to the free press. This was the reason for his persecution, which could well lead to the electric chair.
Once there was an old joke about how a person who called the head of state a fool was convicted under two articles at once, firstly, for insulting, and secondly, for divulging state secrets.
What Edward Snowden said offended many European leaders. It turns out that they were listening to them, and then they also commented on what they heard, calling respected presidents and prime ministers all sorts of bad words. Barack Obama was very uncomfortable.
Special services tried very hard to find out where Edward Snowden is. The latest news as of November 1, 2013 was that the former ABN employee is in the Russian Federation, where he has been granted a residence permit. Apparently, the information he made public was not a big secret for Vladimir Putin, but the Russian authorities do not intend to extradite Snowden. He's not the killer…
