Marx and Snowden

Why did Karl Marx, a German, write Das Kapital in London?  Because he was wanted in his own country.  Why didn’t Britain send him back?  Because he was wanted for what British authorities considered to be a political crime.

Many countries, including the United States, do not extradite people whose crime is considered “political.”  They are, instead, given political asylum, allowed to stay here.  If a person is wanted in Venezuela for murder, we will send him back.  If a person is facing a 20 year sentence for criticizing the President of Venezuela, we will almost certainly not send him back.

Was what Snowden did a regular crime or a political crime?  I would argue that it was a political crime.  I know the head of N.S.A. is claiming that Snowden is a run-of-the-mill criminal, but his main offenses seem to have been telling the American people about a secret monitoring program and embarrassing the government.

Now American authorities are having a hissy fit because Hong Kong allowed Snowden to fly to Russia and Russia took him in.  Russia should stand its ground.  What a turnaround--China and Russia standing up for an individual.

By the way, you can’t have a democratic and accountable government if you don’t even know what the government is doing.  If the dragnet monitoring by the N.S.A. was such a good idea, why weren’t we told about it?