George HW Bush painting his dog and the Red Wedding are also highlights.

(H/T Katie)

It’s only five minutes and the acting is notional, but Verax is officially the first dramatization featuring NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The film, made by Hong Kong-based videographer Edwin Lee and friends, isn’t completely about Snowden – it’s as much a paean to Hong Kong — but it’s received ample media attention nonetheless. CNN reports that Lee first got the idea for the project on June 11, or two days after Snowden revealed he was in Hong Kong. The movie was completed in four days.

While Lee and his three co-directors/producers took creative license with plot details, such as an imagined briefing between a mainland Ministry of State Security attaché and Hong Kong police, they also filmed scenes inside the same hotel where Snowden had stayed and shot a video interview with The Guardian. Renting the hotel room cost half of their estimated HK$4,200 budget (US$ 540), Lee said.

We found the dig at SCMP chuckle-worthy. There’s a not-so-subtle implication that an editor there (“South China Sentinel” in the movie) passed on a possible Snowden scoop, forcing his reporter to focus on a Tiananmen package instead. (“Stop chasing the nonsense.”) In real life, of course, the Guardian had the scoop, though no one had as enthusiastic coverage of the Snowden escapade — sometimes in all-caps – as the South China Morning Post.

The man who played Snowden in Verax (Snowden’s code name) is Andrew Cromeek, an English teacher and friend of Lee’s. He doesn’t have any dialogue, but he does bear a slight resemblance, as WSJ documents:

(H/T Alicia)

CNN:

What do NSA leaker Edward Snowden and a red panda at the National Zoo in Washington have in common?

We’ll roll with it. Wha’chu got?

Absolutely nothing.

Damnit! Tricked me again, CNN!

Except that both mysteriously vanished. And both were the subjects of high-profile searches — at least for a little while, in the case of the panda.

And there’s your lede, journalism students. The red panda’s name is Rusty. Read the rest here if you want a lesson in how not to quote Twitter.

(H/T Wendy Hale) 

Edward Snowden — ever elusive, unidentifiable — is reportedly leaving Moscow for either Cuba or Ecuador. Reports AP:

The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.

Meanwhile, the US — in the condescending way of superpowers who aren’t used to getting snookered — sent an official to say this to Reuters:

“The U.S. is disappointed and disagrees with the determination by Hong Kong authorities not to honor the U.S. request for the arrest of the fugitive.”

Chen Guangcheng, you say? Who’s that?

At no point in discussions through Friday did Hong Kong raise issues regarding the sufficiency of the U.S. arrest request, the official said.

“In light of this, we find their decision to be particularly troubling,” the official said.

On behalf of the rest of the world: piss off, anonymous official.

Diana Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, went on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and said this:

“China clearly had a role in this, in my view.  I don’t think this was just Hong Kong without Chinese acquiescence.”

Well, duh. A little later, California’s Democratic Senator said this out loud:

“I had actually thought that China would see this as an opportunity to improve relations and — extradite him to the United States… I think it’ll be very interesting to see what Moscow does with him.”

Interesting to see what Moscow does with him… as if — even if Snowden weren’t already on his way to Ecuador — Russia would risk political capital just to appease the government of the United States. What year are we in, 2002?

“Whatever his motives are, and I take him at face value, he could’ve stayed and faced the music. I don’t think running is a noble thought.”

No doubt, everyone in the world should put their unwavering trust in the US justice system, which has never failed anyone, ever. Ahem. Ahem.

We don’t really have an explanation for this. Edward Snowden is back in the news in a big way — he left Hong Kong and is traveling to either Cuba or Ecuador via Moscow — but check out what the Independent did with the front page of its newspaper, which hits newsstands today. The caption reads: “A red-shirted Edward Snowden, the man who leaked classified documents revealing US internet surveillance, among passengers at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport yesterday after he flew in from Hong Kong. Reports say Mr Snowden has asked Ecuador for asylum. BARCROFT MEDIA.”

Um. Are you sure that’s Edward Snowden?

The Guardian has a correspondent in China. The Telegraph has a correspondent in China. The Economist has a correspondent in China. Maybe the Independent is just upset it gets none of the China scoops, and really, really wanted this one.

And he’s gone. Screams the latest SCMP headline (all-caps theirs):

SNOWDEN LEAVES HONG KONG ON COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO MOSCOW

The report isn’t confirmed, but SCMP notes that Snowden “would continue on to another country.” The Hong Kong government issued a short statement today, in which it said the US’s request for extradition “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”

Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government’s request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.

Snowden’s most recent accusation against the US was that the government spies on cell phones and Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

UPDATE, 6/24, 5:53 am: The latest report is that Snowden is off to either Cuba or Venezuela next.

Dick Cheney, former vice president, bad quail hunter, to Fox News:

“I’m suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty, and so forth…. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”

China’s response:

Hahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahaha

After a brief pause, in which sharp breaths were drawn:

GAHhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahaha

Via SCMP:

“It is sheer nonsense,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying when asked to comment on the allegation put forward by former US vice-president Dick Cheney and other US politicians.

“American politicians are idiots,” she then added under her breath.

Meanwhile, Edward Snowden seems very distraught:

Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.

“A few hundred” people showed up to a pro-Edward Snowden rally in Hong Kong on Saturday, the city where the NSA whistleblower is believed to still be residing. Reports Reuters:

Marchers gathered outside the U.S. consulate shouting slogans denouncing alleged spying operations aimed at China and Hong Kong, but the numbers were modest compared to rallies over other rights and political issues.

“Arrest Obama, free Snowden,” protesters shouted outside the slate grey building as police looked on. Many waved banners that said: “Betray Snowden, betray freedom”, “Big brother is watching you” and “Obama is checking your email”.

Hong Kong’s unpopular leader, CY Leung, had this to say:

“When the relevant mechanism is activated, the Hong Kong SAR Government will handle the case of Mr Snowden in accordance with the laws and established procedures of Hong Kong,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the government will follow up on any incidents related to the privacy or other rights of the institutions or people in Hong Kong being violated.”

In the past few days, Snowden has claimed the US hacks both China and Hong Kong, violating the rights of institutions and people in Hong Kong. The government will probably not follow up on that.

For a really comprehensive round-up of pictures, video, and articles from Saturday’s rally, check out the blog Hong Wrong. Apparently a letter was also handed to Ambassador Steven Young, citing Article 8 of the UN declaration (human right to a private life).

Hong Kong rally backs Snowden, denounces allegations of U.S. spying (Reuters)
Live Blog Post of HK Snowden Rally Media Coverage, Photos (Hong Wrong)

Edward Snowden sat down with the South China Morning Post yesterday, causing the editors of that Hong Kong-based paper to somewhat lose their minds with SCOOP FEVER. (Which article do I link to? The 3:31 am one that has EXCLUSIVE splashed across the headline — even though Snowden’s spoken with several media outlets already — or the one from 19 minutes later, or the one from 7:37 am on the same subject? There’s another version from earlier, 12:52 am.)

Snowden reveals to SCMP’s Lana Lam that he has been in Hong Kong since May 20, and that:

“I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the US government in the courts, because I have faith in HK’s rule of law.”

And:

“People who think I made a mistake in picking HK as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice, I am here to reveal criminality,” he said.

Also, presented in bullet point, Snowden apparently said:

• US National Security Agency’s controversial Prism programme extends to people and institutions in Hong Kong and mainland China;
• The US is exerting “bullying’’ diplomatic pressure on Hong Kong to extradite him;
• Hong Kong’s rule of law will protect him from the US;
• He is in constant fear for his own safety and that of his family.

Finally, there’s this revelvation — which he told the Guardian earlier, though not with numbers — that the US government, yes indeed, hacks other countries, countries like China.

Snowden believed there had been more than 61,000 NSA hacking operations globally, with hundreds of targets in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

“We hack network backbones – like huge internet routers, basically – that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one,” he said.

“Last week the American government happily operated in the shadows with no respect for the consent of the governed, but no longer. Every level of society is demanding accountability and oversight.”

Because it’s Hong Kong, of course there’s a march planned, for Saturday at 3 pm. More info on the Support Snowden website.

Edward Snowden: US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years (SCMP) (Image via Sina Weibo via SCMP)

Intrusions can completely ruin a person’s life, and I don’t think that could happen in western nations.

But still, if we talk about abusive interference in individuals’ rights, Prism does the same. It puts individuals in a very vulnerable position. Privacy is a basic human right, one of the very core values. There is no guarantee that China, the US or any other government will not use the information falsely or wrongly. I think especially that a nation like the US, which is technically advanced, should not take advantage of its power. It encourages other nations.

And:

To limit power is to protect society. It is not only about protecting individuals’ rights but making power healthier.

Chinese netizens seem to be somewhat ambivalent about Edward Snowden, who may or may not be still hiding out in Hong Kong. The Wall Street Journal says he’s been given a “hero’s welcome” on the Internet:

“This is the definition of heroism,” wrote one particularly enthusiastic microblogger. “Doing this proves he genuinely cares about this country and about his country’s citizens. All countries need someone like him!”

While SCMP says netizens are either only mildly interested or confused:

Besides wondering why this is news at all, more bloggers seemed confused why Snowden, 29, had fled to China.

“Kid, we have a much more powerful surveillance system in China,” one wrote. “Coming here is suicide.”

“I strongly demand China grant him asylum,” wrote another micoblogger who hailed Snowden as a hero. “It’s time for our country to share the responsibilities of a super power.”

Evan Osnos of the New Yorker weighed in as well about “the sheer cosmic strangeness of the state of affairs in which an American whistleblower feels that he should flee to Chinese territory to avoid the power of the U.S. government.”

Mainland China, which now controls Snowden’s fate to some degree, is that kind of society, with an added twist: in the U.S. there may be an increasingly powerful, overweening state, but in China’s clamorous ecology of money and force, the state is just one invasive entity among many. Over lunch in Beijing not long ago, a friend of mine who works for a private corporate investigator told me offhand that, with one phone call, he could get me a transcript of every text message I had ever sent over the past eight years.

Stay tuned.

In a Q-and-A with the Guardian, Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who is now in Hong Kong, talked about his motivations, the “authoritarian mindset” of spies (such as himself), and why he does not expect to ever return to the US as a free man.

He also said this about hacking, specifically the hypocrisy of any government complaining about Chinese hacking:

Q: What about the Obama administration’s protests about hacking by China?

A: “We hack everyone everywhere. We like to make a distinction between us and the others. But we are in almost every country in the world. We are not at war with these countries.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese government can also intercept anything and everything. If only anyone cared, or were allowed to.

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower answers the essential questions on the biggest leak in NSA history (The Guardian, h/t Jonathan Alpart)