Translated material
Insidious idealists
The condemnation of Private Bradley Manning, who revealed American secrets to the WikiLeaks site , and providing asylum in Russia to the former contractor of the American special services Edward Snowden, who transferred secret documents to several newspapers, became the main news events of the week in the United States. These matters caused discussions about the powers of special services, the role of revealing secrets and the unfriendly behavior of Russia.
On Tuesday, the military court recognized Private Bradley Manning with an innocent on the most serious point of accusations - aiding the enemy. But the 25-year-old intelligence officer may have to spend more than a dozen years behind bars, paying for less serious crimes in which he was convicted by the court. These crimes 19. Manning, who served in a modest position of the analyst on the American military base, became the organizer of the largest leakage of secrets in American history. It is believed that he handed over to Wikileaks more than seven hundred thousand pages of documents, among which hundreds of thousands of combat reports of American units in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than two hundred thousand diplomatic dispatch. Not the hardest verdict of the court was, in general, with approval, he was met by commentators.
“It seems to me that the judge made a fair decision,” says Arch Paddington , vice president of the American human rights organization Freedom House . - From what we know about this case, we can conclude that Manning had no intention of damaging the United States, he was rather a naive idealist who lost the feeling of reality. Therefore, her refusal to condemn him for his cooperation with the enemy looks quite justified. Nevertheless, the crimes in which he is convicted is serious. And if he is sentenced, say, to the ten years of prison, this will, in my opinion, will adequate punishment and warning to those who may tempt such information leaks.
Behind Edward Snowden is only a few revelations, including information about the monitoring by the National Security Agency of American phone calls, intercepting electronic correspondence of foreigners, American cyberoperations in China. But, as the former director of the National Security agency Michael Hayden insists, 30-year-old Snowden has already caused incomparably more damage to the United States than manning.
The problem is that, unlike manning, which has betrayed publicity a huge number of confidential documents, many of which by that time were outdated, Snowden reveals the principles and technologies of American electronic intelligence. “There are already reports that objects of counter -terrorism operations are abandoning the previous methods of communication,” Michael Hayden complains in an interview with CNN. “Moreover, I will lose all respect for the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the Russian FSB if they did not squeeze everything possible from the electronic treasure of secrets taken out by Snowden.”
The interlocutor of Radio Liberty American publicist David Satter adds that Snowden causes his shares and significant political damage to the United States:
- The fact is that this story affects the issues of issues, issues of defense of the country, fundamental for the security of the United States. After all, until Snowden is returned to the United States, it will not be known that he abducted, to which he had access. Perhaps thanks to him in the system of cyber protection of the country, gaps formed, which we do not know about. And Moscow will use this information in order to mislead the world community regarding the United States and American intelligence services.
Judging by the latest statements by American politicians and commentators, the Russian strategy against the Barack Obama administration may become another victim of Snowden's case. The provision of asylum in Russia was perceived in Washington as an openly hostile act of Moscow, a “knife in the back”, in the words of the influential Senator Charles Shumer, the closest ally of President Obama. “This is a hostile act against the United States,” writes The Wall Street Journal . “If it forces Obama’s administration to drop the shores and rethinking American indulgence policy regarding the regime of Vladimir Putin, then this sad story, at least, will give a reason for hopes for a change for the better.” “Snowden’s business is a reflection of the failure of President Obama and his attempts to build a new relationship with Russia,” summarizes Investor ' S Business Daily .
It is curious that most of the Americans do not believe in the nobility of the motives of the actions of either manning or Snowden, believing that the former contractor of the National Security agency should also be punished. “If Snowden acted as a true exposure to lawlessness, then he had to act in two ways: to appeal to the chief auditor of the National Security Agency or to legislators, members of the intelligence committees. He did not,” writes The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.
But it is possible that the result of Snowden's shares will be some restriction of freedom of action of special services. The idea that the National Security Agency, albeit completely legal, is conducting total monitoring of the calls of Americans, still turned out to be alien to many American legislators. On Friday, Senator Dick Durbin, one of the leaders of the Democratic faction in the Senate, proposed to submit to the law on defense costs for next year a provision obliging the National Security Agency to provide legislators with detailed data on telephone monitoring, including the number of telephone numbers taken on the note, a list of the attacks prevented with this program, its cost. Square legislators hope that this large-scale monitoring program will not withstand the test of even limited publicity.
On Tuesday, the military court recognized Private Bradley Manning with an innocent on the most serious point of accusations - aiding the enemy. But the 25-year-old intelligence officer may have to spend more than a dozen years behind bars, paying for less serious crimes in which he was convicted by the court. These crimes 19. Manning, who served in a modest position of the analyst on the American military base, became the organizer of the largest leakage of secrets in American history. It is believed that he handed over to Wikileaks more than seven hundred thousand pages of documents, among which hundreds of thousands of combat reports of American units in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than two hundred thousand diplomatic dispatch. Not the hardest verdict of the court was, in general, with approval, he was met by commentators.
“It seems to me that the judge made a fair decision,” says Arch Paddington , vice president of the American human rights organization Freedom House . - From what we know about this case, we can conclude that Manning had no intention of damaging the United States, he was rather a naive idealist who lost the feeling of reality. Therefore, her refusal to condemn him for his cooperation with the enemy looks quite justified. Nevertheless, the crimes in which he is convicted is serious. And if he is sentenced, say, to the ten years of prison, this will, in my opinion, will adequate punishment and warning to those who may tempt such information leaks.
Behind Edward Snowden is only a few revelations, including information about the monitoring by the National Security Agency of American phone calls, intercepting electronic correspondence of foreigners, American cyberoperations in China. But, as the former director of the National Security agency Michael Hayden insists, 30-year-old Snowden has already caused incomparably more damage to the United States than manning.
The problem is that, unlike manning, which has betrayed publicity a huge number of confidential documents, many of which by that time were outdated, Snowden reveals the principles and technologies of American electronic intelligence. “There are already reports that objects of counter -terrorism operations are abandoning the previous methods of communication,” Michael Hayden complains in an interview with CNN. “Moreover, I will lose all respect for the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the Russian FSB if they did not squeeze everything possible from the electronic treasure of secrets taken out by Snowden.”
The interlocutor of Radio Liberty American publicist David Satter adds that Snowden causes his shares and significant political damage to the United States:
- The fact is that this story affects the issues of issues, issues of defense of the country, fundamental for the security of the United States. After all, until Snowden is returned to the United States, it will not be known that he abducted, to which he had access. Perhaps thanks to him in the system of cyber protection of the country, gaps formed, which we do not know about. And Moscow will use this information in order to mislead the world community regarding the United States and American intelligence services.
Judging by the latest statements by American politicians and commentators, the Russian strategy against the Barack Obama administration may become another victim of Snowden's case. The provision of asylum in Russia was perceived in Washington as an openly hostile act of Moscow, a “knife in the back”, in the words of the influential Senator Charles Shumer, the closest ally of President Obama. “This is a hostile act against the United States,” writes The Wall Street Journal . “If it forces Obama’s administration to drop the shores and rethinking American indulgence policy regarding the regime of Vladimir Putin, then this sad story, at least, will give a reason for hopes for a change for the better.” “Snowden’s business is a reflection of the failure of President Obama and his attempts to build a new relationship with Russia,” summarizes Investor ' S Business Daily .
It is curious that most of the Americans do not believe in the nobility of the motives of the actions of either manning or Snowden, believing that the former contractor of the National Security agency should also be punished. “If Snowden acted as a true exposure to lawlessness, then he had to act in two ways: to appeal to the chief auditor of the National Security Agency or to legislators, members of the intelligence committees. He did not,” writes The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.
But it is possible that the result of Snowden's shares will be some restriction of freedom of action of special services. The idea that the National Security Agency, albeit completely legal, is conducting total monitoring of the calls of Americans, still turned out to be alien to many American legislators. On Friday, Senator Dick Durbin, one of the leaders of the Democratic faction in the Senate, proposed to submit to the law on defense costs for next year a provision obliging the National Security Agency to provide legislators with detailed data on telephone monitoring, including the number of telephone numbers taken on the note, a list of the attacks prevented with this program, its cost. Square legislators hope that this large-scale monitoring program will not withstand the test of even limited publicity.