THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: HOW FAULTY INTELLIGENCE AND BELLIGERANT ARM WRESTLING CAUSED AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT COMPARED TO AIR PIRACY

 

Evo Morales prides himself of his anti-American stance.  The first full blooded indio to be head of state, Morales is a trailblazer, much beloved by his people, although the 'spaniards' in Bolivia think he is a populist without much substance who will wreck the Bolivian economy.

Enter one sought after, wily hacker, by the name Snowden and the possibility of Morales' consideration of his asylum plea, and you have the premise for a pretty big diplomatic snafu.

Last week, as Morales was leaving the Russian mainland behind, after a state visit with Putin, his plane was ordered down and made to land in Austria, where his presidential plane was searched for Snowden.  

After the search turned up nothing, Morales was allowed to fly back to his country.  

All this because France and Italy and Spain denied the president of Bolivia transit through the countries' respective air space.

A big diplomatic bruising ensued, with Morales crying foul, and some of his supporters abroad likening the incident to air piracy.

The presidential airplane, furthermore is sovereign. The country that did the search had no authority to do so, and did so to comply with pressure by the United States without any supporting papers.

But now, France has told that the U.S. had pressured her to deny passage on account of the sure presence of Snowden in the vessel, which if it had turned out to be true, would have made in their minds both the search of the plane and denying transit allowable.  

But the news now, is that France is saying that the United States lied, or at least falsely implied to have secure and certifiable knowledge of Snowden's presence on the plane, whereas it later turned out to be nothing more than a gamble.  That kind of international spy game is not internationally recognized as being legal in any way.  And even if the hacker had been on board, while being more rewarding, it would have had just as little legality.

Italy too, although it was not widely publicized, closed its airspace to Morales' plane. 

Today, Morales has threatened to cut diplomatic ties with the U.S. complete with the shuttering of the Bolivian Embassy in Washington. 

Morales pulled no punches today: he said "We have dignity, sovereignty.  Without America, we are better off politically and democratically."

Source : BBC/ 7.5.13