WASHINGTON: The incoming US national security adviser has dismissed claims that the surveillance whistle-blower Edw-ard Snowden has weakened US President Barack Obama and damaged American foreign policy.
Susan Rice, the outgoing US ambassador to the United Nations, said it was too soon to judge whether there would be any long-term repercussions from the intelligence leaks by the former National Security Agency contractor, which were published by the Guardian.
Rice rejected suggestions that Snowden’s disclosures had made Obama a lame duck, damaged his political base and hurt US foreign policy, saying: “I think that’s bunk. I don’t think the diplomatic consequences, at least as they are foreseeable now, are that significant.
“I think the United States of America is and will remain the most influential, powerful and important country in the world, the largest economy, and the largest military, [with] a network of alliances, values that are universally respected.”
Rice’s comments came after it emerged on Friday that the plan to spirit Snowden to sanctuary in Latin America appeared to be unravelling, amid tension between Ecuador’s government and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who is holed up in the country’s London embassy.
Correa-Biden talks
Meanwhile, Ecuador President Rafael Correa said yesterday that he has spoken with US Vice President Joe Biden about Snowden, and that the American official asked Ecuador to reject the fugitive intelligence leaker’s asylum request.
Correa said Ecuador would consult with the United States before making a decision but that ultimately it is up to Quito whether to grant asylum to the young man. Correa said the conversation took place on Friday, as Biden called and “passed on a polite request from the United States to reject the request”.
Correa said he told Biden, “Mr Vice president, thanks for calling. We hold the United States in high regard. We did not seek to be in this situation. Do not get the idea that we are anti-American, as some ill-spirited media outlets are doing.”
Correa said he explained to Biden that Ecuador cannot process Snowden’s asylum request because he is not physically in the South American country. “When he comes to Ecuadoran soil, if in fact he ever does, and we have to process the request, the first people whose opinion we will seek is that of the United States,” he said.
the Guardian/AFP
