and it's a whistleblower edward snowden in moscow after touching down on board a flight from hong kong our t.i.b. airport to find out the next move in his dash for political asylum. dorrian diplomats at the airport to talk with snowden but unclear exactly where he's headed next some sources suggesting he's already checked in on a flight to cuba and from there possibly to venezuela. another whistleblower russell t.'s confirms the n.s.a. is storing data and claims top officials were targeted including barack obama when he was running for the u.s. senate. party looks at the resemblance between the plates of snowden and julian as sanjian washington struggle to prevent a torrent of secrets from being revealed. six

pm in moscow i am at present good to have you with us here on our t.v. updating you on our breaking news story n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden want to be in the u.s. for espionage is in moscow after getting off a plane from hong kong r.t. has been told that diplomats from ecuador are at the airport to greet him whistleblowers allegedly checked in for an onward flight to cuba suggesting have and will be just another transit point on his way to another country not sure where at this point speculation as to the whistleblowers final destination some sources suggesting he'll go on to venezuela well for all of this and more let's cross now to our tease paul scott he's standing by at sheremetyevo airport paula give us the latest. yes they would be wrong wouldn't it if america's one of america's most wanted men wasn't to keep us guessing about his exact whereabouts. but we can.

confirm that edward snowden has arrived. at the house can. flown in from hong kong where of course they are they allowed him to leave despite american requests to stop extradition proceedings against him the question is what is his next move some quotes attribute it to julia saunders the founder of wiki leaks in the last couple of hours say that diplomats from the country that has granted or will look to grant edward snowden asylum will be paid to greet him now we were led to believe we thought that was going to be venezuela with the suggestion that he's already booked on a flight times you mentioned to have monday. was a transit and then. the transit before eventually seeking asylum in caracas in venezuela that was the initial suggestion however as i say that all officials had diplomats from the ecuadorian embassy who have confirmed they are here to meet with edward snowden although they haven't confirmed anything beyond that there's

absolutely no suggestion that they are going to be granting him asylum for russia for what it's worth saying that if edward snowden watcha seek asylum in moscow then his case would be treated the same as any other despite its high profile and rather extraordinary nature so we can confirm that edward snowden is here in moscow. his next move however is unknown. all right paula scott live for us at sheremetyevo is terminal f. thanks very much for that update what bush era whistleblower russell t.'s has added to snowden's revelations he confirms the n.s.a. you storing data and named its targets among them former cia head general david petraeus and even barack obama back when he ran for the u.s. senate or for more on this i'm joined by james corbett of japan based independent journalist thanks very much for joining us here on r t so a new twist in this n.s.a. scandal can you tell us more about that. absolutely well while the snowden drama unfolds something that's being swept under the rug are these new revelations from

n.s.a. whistleblower russell tice who is in fact one of the people who is one of the sources for the original two thousand and five new york times story on the n.s.a. wiretapping scandal at that time later on in two thousand and nine he revealed more about that including the fact that the n.s.a. had been targeting journalists pacifically and again those revelations were reported on even in mainstream outlets but where it's been forgotten about until recently but now russell tice to step forward with more information into explosive interviews from the last few days one of the boiling frogs of those dot com one of my own web site corporate report dot com he talked about how there the n.s.a. is in fact storing not just the metadata which has been a talking point in the news so far but the content of all electronic communications that are going across the u.s. servers from e-mails to faxes to phone calls all of it being stored now at the new data center and in utah he also went on record to name names of some of the specific targets of n.s.a. spying with the implication that this information was being used for blackmail and

purposes on including senator then senator barack obama including general david petraeus and others who he mentioned by name including supreme court justices and top ranking military and republican congressional officials so with these a big names on the list along with everybody else why haven't we seen or have we yet to see or reaction from them. because quite frankly this story is not specifically being avoided at this point russell tice was on i mean stream news outlet in the united states just two days ago but they specifically avoided talking about the wiretapping story aspect of this and told him that they wouldn't allow that to go on the air so this is being specifically avoided right now and the implication is that the news outlets are as we've seen with the the snowden story and other stories collaborating with the intelligence agencies behind the scenes to repress this information but this is this is absolutely explosive and again coming from a key n.s.a.

whistleblower who is right now being ignored with these allegations but the news outlets aside the officials if i am a u.s. senator and i learn that i've been spied upon by the n.s.a. i would raise hell about it why haven't we seen that yet from the officials well the implication of this story is that if the n.s.a. is cataloguing this data and is is storing all of this wiretap info on these people the implication is that they are they are being blackmailed with the information obviously there's no direct proof of this at this point but but this would be the implication which is why i would explain why the n.s.a. has gotten away with so much unconstitutional spying as it has because people are afraid to step forward to do anything against it and once again some of the targets of this included all of the supreme court justices according to russell tice so so the judiciary as well as congress as well as the top ranking military officials and people in the white house including the current president have been wiretapped by the n.s.a. and this information is is likely being used against them to to stop them from

speaking out against the n.s.a.'s abuses stepping back in two thousand and five when russell tice exposed the bush warrantless wiretapping program was the response then as dramatic as it is now. well it was this is a story that's been unfolding for a long time now and has been coming out in stages and in two thousand and five as russell tice revealed in my recent interview with him the reporters that he was talking to sort of scoffed laughed at the suggestion that the f.b.i. and other agencies were actually interested in this story and were going to stop them from reporting on it of course we now know that the new york times in fact sat on that warrantless wiretapping story for the better part of a year they knew about it before the two thousand and four elections but specifically sat on it until two thousand five hundred been reelected so there is no doubt that there's a lot of political favor that goes on into into stories like this so i think that there's a lot of positioning that takes place behind the scenes politically about when and

how these stories are allowed to come out so it is it is it really telling that this story is not being reported on at all right now james carville thanks for time thank you and well as we've mentioned there is an ecuadorian angle to us there's a venezuela angle to this as it we're not sure yet it seems that one of those countries is going to be a final destination for edward snowden but we don't quite know which one well for the ecuadorian side of things i'm tossing now to our teams to bob might say she's standing by outside ecuador's embassy here in moscow to give us the latest. medically things are picking up here outside the ecuadorian embassy in moscow journalists are arriving there seems to be a media hype around that i would like to show you but it says that everett is trying to get the best position to see that car if indeed it is it is coming right here now sources of course we've heard from also from postcard to say that snowden hasn't touched on in moscow and we know that early on right about four o'clock moscow time the ecuadorian diplomatic car left the at the embassy towards

a destination that now we've only found out that it was it indeed at the airport whether they'll be coming back here we're still waiting to see if that indeed is going to happen now this story resonates. another story that we've been following here on r.t. very closely the julian asunta story now we know julian assange is wanted by the swedish government for questions regarding sexual assault charges he was then denied to actually leave london therefore he asked for asylum and to the ecuadorian embassy that was june twenty twelve last year he's been holed up in ecuador an embassy for about a year now and basically the speculation is that the reason everybody is thinking that he might be right here coming to the ecuadorian and embassy is because edward has been full given asylum to whistleblowers like julian assange and now if indeed snowden is on his way here will definitely be here standing on standby to give you that latest update will we'll keep you informed back to the studio they met all

right artist harvey might say standing by for us doors moscow embassy thanks very much for that update well andrew feinstein news director of corruption watch u.k. and we asked him what his move would be next if the word edward snowden choose. what i would probably do in his situation is stay on the move. until he is guaranteed safety in a particular country i think that by continuing to move makes it an incredibly difficult for the u.s. authorities to start any sort of legal proceedings against him wherever he may be because after all you know this is a guy who has taken enormous personal risk in order to expose what is profound wrongdoing by his own state and my guess is that given the way this

operation seems to have been planned by snowden he would have thought through which countries are likely to help him. avoid extradition back to the united states my own guess is given julian assange has been in situations of ecuador weasel's obviously the possibility iceland is the other country that has been mentioned including by yourselves of course there it's not quite clear how they would respond to united states pressure while you know more about russia than i do but again i think he might feel that this is a tree that would not fall to u.s. pressure but intelligence analysts glenmore trainer harvey thinks snowden well when israel for asylum. i'm pretty sure the americans know what his plans are because after all as a result of project tempore up the whole thing of valence they will probably know whether he is talking with his supporters in iceland

in venezuela or in ecuador my own bet if it comes down to personal preference remember that snowden had been stationed in hawaii a tropical situation in venezuela must look really quite attractive given the anti us stance of the. government so i might my money would be indeed. venezuela. we're back after a very short break with more on this developing story stay with us here on r.t. .

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you. are welcome is a big. thanks

for staying with us here on r t we're updating you on our top story this hour edward snowden touching down at moscow's sheremetyevo airport his next move anybody's guess well for more i'm joined by george chick or omar from the department of history and politics it so university in philadelphia pennsylvania thanks for joining us here on r.t. so venezuela the clear favorite for still in the destination right now could be ecuador though to which plays do you think will grant him asylum and do you think you will actually find it there. well the reality is i think either of those places could grant snowden asylum it's a much more complex question though been as well as some people may know has recently undergone something of a political song with the united states in part as a way to undercut the domestic opposition the efforts by the domestic opposition to contest the april fourteenth election until the question will be from a bonus when the perspective whether or not it's worth risking that stability in

that stabilization for this for this asylum snowden if it does if it does come forward do you think venezuela is capable of keeping snowden there and not from having him be extradited to the united states certainly does certainly the case and the reality is we look at the history of extradition relations between the united states and venezuela we find both countries refusing extradition to the other in specific cases but also granting it in others and so in politicized cases there's there's really no chance of the venezuelan government that grants asylum will then will then will then reverse that decision the question would be with regard to for example the change of the government in venezuela mr snowden is thinking about that in the possibility of of nikolaus mother losing an election in the future whether that would put is asylum in question but i mean the venezuelan government is not going to hand over any any political you know any anyone who's going to be a political prisoner in the united states precisely because the united states has

never returned terrorist like leasehold who is guilty of of you know a terror campaign across latin america and the venezuela requested several times extradition from the u.s. . diplomats from ecuador's embassy here in moscow are reportedly meeting with snowden at the airport do you think that is going to make any difference here. well that we should look very closely at the fact that ecuador has maintained a tight relationship with julian a song that we could leaks of course and so you know it seems very likely that ecuador would be interested in actually talking to him collaborating with wiki leaks on this on this side of the courts is all this still speculation at this point very much remaining up in the air cuba and iceland also having been mentioned as places where he could possibly seek asylum what do you think are the pros and cons of him going to either of those places where we've both been very you know or so i think it's been very receptive to snowden and cuba we're talking about the question of stability of a political regime and the ability to maintain asylum in the long run this is you

know it was been a favorite place of asylum seekers and exiles from the united states for example from the black struggle to us of us of course famous for you know for political prisoners now and has been in exile in cuba so that's certainly a safe bet the question is you know is really going to be what snowden thinks will most serve his own aspirations political. ticker omar from the history and politics department directs the university in philadelphia thanks very much for your time. snowden's far from the first whistle blower to be pursued by the u.s. government washington's attempts to prosecute alleged turncoats intensifying as the blacklist grows but as artie's guy nietzschean explains this may encourage even more leaks america is split on edward snowden traitor hero mix in between but we guard lissa what anyone thinks about snowden he's revelations have shed unprecedented light on the u.s. government's massive spying program even if you're not doing anything wrong you're

being watched and recorded for me to say employee william binney was prosecuted as a traitor when he blew the whistle on the government's sweeping collection of data and communications it's setting up a tele tarion state. when the government has that much information they can do those things they can use the i.r.s. to intimidate people or anything else they can send the f.b.i. people what they did to me and some others bradley manning too is being prosecuted as a traitor although it's so his war logs that the public learned about the. collateral murder was committed in iraq the obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the espionage act than all previous administrations combined but it was a lower say it's not government persecution that they fear the greatest fear that i have regarding the outcome. for america of these disclosures is that nothing will change the administration is not trying to convince the american people that government secrets programs are a trade off they have to make in the name of national security they always have the

same stories about you know manning is known you know psychological stories what is wrong with these people cause them to do this i mean the real question is what is wrong with everyone else from who doesn't see what they can see but it was the lowers are not the only targets there is an obligation both moral but also legal i believe against a reporter that was the chairman of the house committee on counting teligent in terrorism peter king calling to punish the journalist who exposed the government surveillance programs in its hunt for meeks the obama administration has already targeted its it's trying to set the precedent the communicating with the media is the same as communicating with the enemy and that's a death penalty offense the administration doesn't have to go after each other or he certainly it's enough to create an environment of fear but will that fear stop information from coming out here that we're snowden's answer that by. kone in

response is simply build better whistleblower. in washington i'm going to take on. those kay leader of the u.k. pirate party thinks people shouldn't focus on snowden but on the revelations that you mate. what we can be sure of is the united states will continue to tar him with the brush of being a traitor whatever his final destination is but we have to remember that the fact is that destruction what we need to focus on is actually the core of this story which is his read the revelations about its mass violence remember this is about whistle blowing it's not espionage it's about actually revealing. a mass surveillance which is potentially illegal and is certainly has been captaining behind closed doors without proper democratic debate without proper democratic oversights which hold all the time that if we've got nothing to hide we've got

nothing to fear but it's now been blown out of the water by edward snowden's revelations the fact is that the more that's collected about us the more we have to fear so what do you think about surveillance groups tracking your online data use your telephone calls that's a question we're asking to our viewers on our online poll on our t. dot com here is how the vote stacking up so far seventy three percent saying that spying on people like this is unacceptable seventeen percent not giving any opinion on it because they don't want to be tracked by a government seven percent saying it is justifiable but only if the government's and the security agencies are looking for terrorists in doing so three percent a majority saying there's nothing wrong with it because they don't have anything to hide what do you think log on to our t dot com and cast your vote. well we have more from gavin mcfayden director of the u.k. center on investigative journalism who says tensions between the u.s.

and china are running high over the snowden case. but i think the the situation is complicated because the chinese clearly have their own agenda but aren't prepared i think publicly to be pushed around in a sense by the united states and i think that would be a large factor in that to in that decision and julian a son jay explained to us earlier on our t.v. there is a way to blow a whistle and remain unknown so what why do you think snowden in this case chose to publicly come out with a statement i don't know his is entire reasons for it but do you think i think in his case he felt it was a moral imperative that he should publicly disclose and take courageous step to. not act anonymously but i publicly which is what he's done i think the ago was that i've been changing rapidly in the states have made him very aware of as many others were that it's that they're the largest campaign in probably modern american history against whistleblowers you know wavering support of many companies for the

government surveillance program leading to some tough questions are he's losing capital of looks like what could be in it for the corporations in baqubah. this story certainly raises more questions than it answers as my colleague reported earlier we know now that thousands of companies have been sharing sensitive information with the u.s. government in exchange for various benefits now this raises concerns about the extent of the private sector collaboration with the u.s. government not to mention questions about what exactly those benefits were now the details may be murky at this point but let's go over exactly what information we have now companies who did hand over data to the government got a big thank you that's according to michael hayden who used to head the cia as well as the national security agency which runs of course the prism program and mr hayden told bloomberg this if i were the director and had a relationship with a company who was doing things that were not just directed by law but were also

valuable to the defense of the republic i would go out of my way to thank them and give them a sense as to why this is necessary and useful all right well what kind of thank you exactly are we talking about here well again not a lot of details but anonymous sources did tell bloomberg that leaders of the companies who handed over data to the government were showered with attention and information by government agencies in fact in some instances that meant quick warnings about the threats that could affect their bottom line for example serious internet attacks and who's behind them of course this exchange of information is supposed to be voluntary and well at this point we don't exactly have evidence that this is not the case but well most of the companies seem to have participated simply because the government asked them for help one former c.e.o. paints a slightly different picture in two thousand and one when some telecom giants allegedly were asked to participate in an n.s.a. information sharing program one company qwest initially refused to play ball in

according to court documents filed by its then c.e.o. joseph not cio as a result of that decision the company was denied lucrative n.s.a. contracts he believed to be worth fifty to one hundred million dollars retaliation he says for refusing to partake in the government's spy program. so to sum it up companies that share data are into government goodwill information about threats possible classified information and of course there's concern that those who did not play along could could have been left out of lucrative government contracts course we don't have more information on this but that's person i see the point the lack of transparency about this data swap is a major concern now it's done in the name of security but at what cost and to whom this account from the reporting for our team in moscow for more on this i'm joined by yonah jeremy barred from the jerusalem post so you've been closely following the snowden case what do you think instigated him to come forward now and release this

information. i think that basically he just believed the whole system had gone way too far you know george bush was supposed to be the american president who was let's say people say it was have gone way too far in the security and of the balance between security and privacy obama was supposed to be the one who was you know who was going to fix that the un-bush if you will and snowden is that obama sort of you know personally felt and let's say he had believed in that that had just gone too far for too long people have pointed out that yes congress has approved a lot authorized this yes there is a special courts called the phase of courts which approved. the rights of the government to look at specific method. but that they haven't been rejecting requests i saw a statistic that out of one thousand seven hundred requests almost not of them were

rejected for looking at the metadata so i think that you know i guess it just became too much for snowden as an individual do you think snowden is doing the right thing right now and do you think it's possible that he will not suffer consequences of his actions. ok the right thing is it's a hard question let's split it into two things legal and ethical on a legal from a legal standpoint because i'm also a former lawyer he definitely violated the law in the united states right there's a law that if he wanted to disclose this he needed to go to his superiors and congress has authorized the you know the entire. programs both the phone program and the metadata program and there are these courts but there's also an ethical consideration and a lot of people are saying even if congress has authorized it it's against the spirit of the united states constitution it's against the spirit of privacy and how can the government need complete access to all of the phone calls to all of the

metadata from google and facebook and all of these others and it just sounds too much i was actually in the united states at the time in north america time when this broke and the first reaction was just shock it was just a bomb so people couldn't believe the scope of this program. so legally he did something wrong and the united states is going to do everything it can to bring him to justice are they going to get him that's an almost impossible question to answer you know we just heard that he's in moscow he may be en route to somewhere else you know it's certainly going to do everything they can to legally quote unquote bring in the justice ethically it's a big big debate in the united states right now you know again obama was supposed to be the president who let's say we stored the balance between national security and privacy and there's big questions about that now that could even let's say possibly redefine who is obama and what his presidency been now there are some high tech ways that a whistle blower can obscure their identities in this day and age why do you think

he cho he didn't choose that route and chose instead to expose his identity in coming for with this information. that is a great question he is almost totally unique in that you know if you take some israeli examples like enough. and others a lot of people you know try to hide in until they're you know brought forth by the security forces and interrogated under oath they don't admit to it so him putting himself out there before they had any clue who he was and what he was doing is very unique. he's also unique unique in that he was. didn't graduate college is very young at twenty nine to have had such a high level security clearance i saw the test that the other day that something like one million people since nine eleven have top secret security clearances because of this humongous expansion of the national security apparatus.