banker doors considering us whistleblower edward snowden's bid for asylum he's currently in transit for the night at a moscow airport after fleeing hong kong. that's with washington in hot pursuit demanding his extradition and revoking his passport the state department insists that his trip should not be allowed to continue. and as the hunt for snowden continues across continents a bush era whistleblower puts the spotlight on barack obama saying the president was wiretapped while running for the senate.

in broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas . let's get right to our top stories whistleblower edward snowden who is wanted by the u.s. has formerly applied for political asylum in ecuador snowden is currently in a moscow airport waiting to board his next flight within the next twenty four hours artie's paul scott reports from the airport. one of america's most wanted men has kept the world's media guessing on a day of intrigue. the day began with reports that edward snowden had fled hong kong. to moscow turned out to be true he landed here at about five fifteen. five fifteen local time greeted by the ecuadorian. now we are hearing that he's having problems getting a russian visa and that he's stuck in transit in the building behind me he was greeted by the ecuadorian ambassador and around three hours after he landed the

confirmation came that was indeed the country that he was seeking asylum in the country's minister the foreign affairs tweeting that he had applied for political asylum with the country now the suggestion is he's going to fly on to cuba from. monday afternoon that would also be a transit eventually and his journey his final destination his target destination of course being ecuador where he is seeking political asylum now we all believe he is not traveling alone there is a legal representative from wiki leaks we're led to believe traveling with edward snowden on his journey wiki leaks say that they've helped edward snowden throughout the process they helped him have a safe. exit from hong kong they've organized his papers and they are indeed the ones who were negotiating the deal for political asylum in ecuador he's kept everyone guessing the world's press were here there were hundreds of photographers

and cameramen and hoping to grab a glimpse of the world's most famous the miners but he hasn't been. in transit and also rather interesting the ecuadorian ambassador. to the we were expecting we were hoping that he would make some kind of official statement on this because if only official confirmation that we do have. from the foreign minister but neither edward snowden nor the ecuadorian on. certainly. edward snowden was. still here he is set to spend the night. before i say really suggest he's involved he will not fly to cuba although monday afternoon. now edward snowden's exact whereabouts are currently unknown of always thought to still be at the airport there is speculation he could be staying at a so-called capsule hotel inside one of the share much of a terminals which you can see here on the screen now artie's news agency ruptly has

been on track of the situation and of course we're going to be monitoring it as much as possible other reports however suggest he is in a v.i.p.'s zone inside one of the terminals he is believed to be waiting for a flight to cuba now the wiki leaks organization which is helping edward snowden seek refuge says he will leave for ecuador via what he calls a safe route to ban months say has been following developments from ecuador's embassy in moscow throughout the day she brings us this report there was a lot of speculation and a lot of speculation and unconfirmed reports are running around the minute that snowden actually left to hong kong on his way to moscow on a full club runaround for a time the ecuadorian ambassador and a motorcade left the embassy on route to the airport now so we haven't heard anything as yet official from the ecuadorian embassy here in moscow as to where the ambassador is or how things are progressing. do you know if that official statement

from the a during the embassy or from the uk during our foreign minister rather saying that it is indeed confirmed that snowden has launched that application or for asylum or with the government through the why the media as well was hounding the embassy here earlier on today is because of all the one particular case that we've all been following around of julian asuncion now of course we know that julian assange is been holed up at the ecuadorian embassy in london julian assange of course has been in the background of this extradition. with us snowden right now you know it doesn't it doesn't surprise or many experts and many of the people who were out here that we spoke to saying that could be considering having snowden in the teacher we know that they've done that for julian assange so it was only i guess everybody thought the logical step would be for snowden himself to ask the

adoring embassy to grant him asylum right now he's still add to the airport we don't know how long his people work is going to go and if indeed he will be able to leave would only have to wait and see if they're going government themselves to give a formal statement saying that if indeed yes they have granted him that asylum so it's still a waiting game for all of us especially here at the boreen embassy in moscow and i'm sure for the rest of the world and everybody who's been following this story the whole day washington has reportedly urged latin american countries not to offer edward snowden asylum for more on this let's cross to jena per year from the antiwar answer coalition. thank you very much for being with us now this is the second time after doing a song that a prominent whistleblower is seeking asylum in ecuador where a quid or. well i think has distinguished themselves with the granting of this island to resign just a nation that promotes. freedom of the prez certainly is opening to people who are

being persecuted in their home country we have to understand that president obama has waged a really unprecedented war against whistleblowers in ecuador as shown itself to be open to those who can be in my eyes by the u.s. government revealing its secrets what about relations between the u.s. and rafael correa do you think that he will give in to american pressure or do you think you'll grant asylum to snowden. well i think there's a strong possibility i think if they would grant asylum to julian assange hold him for what seems like an indefinite period in the korean embassy in london and they would also be willing to grant asylum to edward snowden we'll certainly have to see how the process up plays out but i think the answer coalition and many other millions around the world hope that they do it because edward snowden as a hero for what he is now why ecuador in particular i mean we've heard other things as well we've heard possibility of iceland venezuela even cuba do you think i would or is his most likely that. well it seems that way given everything we're hearing i

mean i guess we'll certainly have to see i think they will probably make their determination based on the legal procedures in each country and where they feel the best reception but certainly all indications seem to be ecuador and ecuador like i said has shown itself to be a champion of those who having reveal the secrets of the u.s. empire are dead persecuted now taking a look down the rabbit hole if you will the u.s. has revoked his passport therefore it should be illegal for him to travel he must be having some help from the government how is this possible for him to even be on a plane at this point. well it is tough to know i mean it certainly seems that there are a lot of moving parts to this the united states has reportedly improved his passport we don't know exactly what the mechanics of that are obviously the united states is what they're trying to do it i think is shift the blame to governments what i think is happening here is the united states is trying to say well it's not about edward snowden the. years but it's about china russia. and in these are the united states which is everything we heard today on the sunday talk shows in

america and shift the discussion from snowden's heroic actions to turning it into some sort of accomplice of governments that you know rightly or wrongly can you viewed by the u.s. public as less than stellar well heroic actions that he did actually admit to leaking classified information this is in fact a crime at the very least he broke a contract doesn't the united states have at least the right to pursue him. well he certainly did break the law and perhaps they do have the right to pursue him but there are many people i mean more luther king for example is students nonviolent coordinating committee and almost the entire civil rights movement in this country broke the law routinely but they were working for something and just go i think edward snowden well certainly he may have broken the law is working for him just go simmered to freedom fighters throughout american history and should not be persecuted for revealing this massive spying information whether it is illegal or illegal he's done a public service to the american people and i think that should be recognized in

the u.s. government perhaps they're there they're going through the spirit of the law but most certainly they are going against the democratic principles that millions of people around the world recognize and really briefly do you think that washington is going to go to extremes let's say intercept the plane to try and capture him. well that's tough to say i wouldn't want to speculate on that i mean perhaps they seem to be very upset but i think we'll have to wait to see what the extent of the united states actions will be all right eugene per year thank you very much for being with us here on our t.v. and so i was interesting to hear your thoughts. all right washington has revoked edward snowden's passport and said that he should be prevented from traveling further than he already has done that as officials demand that he be returned to the jurisdiction of the united states or he's going to judge ken as more. u.s. officials confirm that they have in fact revoked edward snowden's passport to stop him from traveling it didn't stop him from flying out of hong kong as we know not clear whether it was because hong kong officials did not receive the notification

in time or because they made a decision to overlook it we know that the u. was has put a lot of pressure on hong kong to arrest in those days and not to let him leave the country but in a statement the government of hong kong says u.s. documentation did not fully comply with the legal requirements on the hong kong law but also in the same statement the government of hong kong that they want more information about the hacking of computer systems in hong kong by u.s. government agencies something that was part of snowden's revelations so in this official statement we see how hong kong shifts the focus from the messenger edward snowden back to the message to the revelations that he has me demanding an explanation from the uighurs because these revelations show that the u.s. ally that it has been doing the same as what he to accuse is china of doing policymakers here in the u.s. are doing everything to shift the attention away from snowden's revelations by focusing on snowden himself or even by attacking other countries like russia

senator chuck schumer was on one of the new shows this morning saying president putin. always seems almost eager to put a finger in the eye of the u.s. and i was listening to former director of the cia saying over russia and china are going to use this meeting snowden to embarrass the due west and what would argue it's his revelations that embarrass the u.s. not china or russia the u.s. government is clearly afraid of more revelations from snowden the debate in the u.s. media has shifted to this case modes to this cat and mouse game it's not all about how we're going to catch him so right now the media is unsympathetic to edward snowden although just a week ago some of the same journalists were almost cheerleading for his capture and now we're grateful. wouldn't revelations which were indeed eye opening for all of us as far as the prospect of being caught here's what edward snowden himself said i could be you know rendered by the cia i could have people come after me or

any of their their third party partner you know they would they work closely with a number of other nations and that's that's a fear i'll live under for the rest of my life however long that happens to be you can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk because they're such powerful adversaries the no one can meaningfully oppose them. if they want to get you they'll get you in time edward snowden also said it's not government persecution that he fears he said the greatest fear that i have about the outcome of these disclosures is that nothing will change more on that in my report america is split on edward snowden traitor hero mix in between but regardless of what anyone thinks about snowden his 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 a former n.s.a.

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. . 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 science manning's 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 cutting teligent and terrorism peter king calling to punish the journalist who exposed the government surveillance programs in its hunt for meek steal bomb administration has already targeted its it's trying to set the precedent for the communicating with the media is the same as communicating with the enemy and it'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 to that by. kone in response is simply build better whistleblower he said in washington i'm going to

take on. attorney and historian gerald horne says despite america frequently welcoming dissidents from other countries that adopt a harsh stance against those who highlight abuses of power at home. well if you listen to the congress persons appearing on sunday chat shows today united states they're breathing fire threatening measures just short of nuclear war if mr snowden is not speedily dispatched back to new york or washington united states for example routinely excepts on its territories citizens flaying cuba without passports i would also say the united states routinely receives on its soil those it deems to be political dissidents who do not have passports so i don't feel that moscow is hands are tied with regard to mr snowden not having

a passport. we will have the latest developments on this story after a short break you're watching r.t. . download the. stream quality and

enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just. now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. this is our team now an update on our top story america's most wanted n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden has officially applied for political asylum in ecuador that's according to a tweet by the country's foreign minister snowden is currently at a moscow airport reportedly waiting to board a flight to cuba within the next twenty four hours meanwhile washington is reportedly ramping up the pressure on latin america urging all south american states to deny him refuge snowden is the seventh person the obama administration has sought to punish for leaking classified data let's get

a recap of some of his major revelations that sparked washington's fieri in the first place now he disclosed that die. arguments showing that the n.s.a. has access to huge streams of internet data including emails chat rooms and videos from large companies such as facebook and google and that the u.s. government used the secret foreign intelligence service court to gather an extensive range of information from the phone service provider varieties and he also revealed how both mainland china and hong kong have been the victim of hundreds of cyber attacks by u.s. hackers and according to his latest leak the u.k. is collecting and storing huge amounts of sensitive personal data from online and telephone traffic and then sharing it with america u.k. investigative journalist a tony gosling believes the relations revelations rather go further than many people realize the real impact of what he's done here he's only now starting to be

realized it's not only is he exposing criminality the signals intelligence part of the british intelligence services also the national security agency but he's also showing that much of that intelligence contains information which may bring criminal prosecutions for example or of war crimes criminal criminal prosecutions against for example bankers but this is what people don't necessary understand is there will be information that edward snowden has that can actually bring some of these people to trial eventually and that's why the west is so afraid if britain was really serious about any kind of real justice we would be i would say invite him to london and say yes you can tell all your secrets or your stories to people here in britain you'll be safe here he's actually exposing criminals and the criminals are going for him now. in another twist whistleblower russell tice who released his secrets during the bush administration the george w.

bush era says former cia head general petraeus and even barack obama were once targets for n.s.a. snooping he also confirms that data is indeed being stored james corbett a japanese means based independent journalist believes tyson's revelations didn't get the attention they deserved 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 was 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 but now russell tice to step forward with more information into explosive interviews from the last few days he talked about how the the n.s.a. is in fact storing not just the metadata which has been the 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 on with the implication that this information was being used for blackmail and purposes on including the 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 this is being specifically avoided right now and the implication is that the news outlets are as we've seen with 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. and as whistleblowers such as snowden reveal government's appetite for personal data we're interested in how you feel about your private information being collected by security agent agencies on our website we've asked for your opinions and this is how it's turning out so far the overwhelming majority of you think that collecting

private data is simply unacceptable and significantly less people are saying that they can't provide their answers online because they could be easily tracked by security forces. seven percent of you are sure snooping is justified only in cases of spying on terror suspects without the mass tracking of everyone and finally minority says people who have done nothing wrong should not be worried about the government getting access to their personal information so you can get involved and cast your vote at our teen dot com now peter tatchell who is a u.k. human rights activist says that u.s. surveillance tactics are outrageous and go beyond all legal boundaries. but she will deny the states will be doubling its efforts to try and intercept him and to get an extradition from whatever country they can i think the context of this is that the united states spies on its own citizens it also spies almost

a distance of millions of other countries i mean millions of people in other countries and this is done without the permission of those countries it is technically illegal. and what is extraordinary is that what snowden was employed by the united states as a spy yet now they are seeking to arrest him for spying it seems completely naive corporate see when the united states is spying on its own citizens and citizens around the world on a massive scale without proper governmental into strict oversight you do within the united states or other countries around the world. the unwavering support of many u.s. companies for the government's surveillance program including the one snowden worked for has sparked some awkward questions ortiz lucy caffein off looks at what might be in it for the firms themselves 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 the. 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 while 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 to 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 and according to court documents filed by its then c.e.o. joseph nacho 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 we'll tell you he says for refusing to partake in the government spy program so to sum it up companies that share data earned 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 we'll have more updates on the edward snowden story in about thirty minutes time just after the break though it's of the latest edition of our interview show worlds apart you're watching our three. anyone who lives in the us knows that the i.r.s. does not play around one honest or dishonest mistake could get you in

a lot of trouble even a longtime friend of mine got his entire life savings destroyed due to some simple honest error you think that workers in an organization that could punish you for your financial failings would be very sharp with their own money but that's sadly not the case according to an audit report from the treasury inspector general for tax administration at the very least one thousand i.r.s. employees have abused the charge cards they were issued to cover their official travel expenses some of these people are very high in the letter including an executive level official a criminal investigator and multiple deploys with security clearances much of the abuses related to a place writing checks for big purchases which later bounced due to accounts being empty yeah the people who could ruin your life for one little financial folly seem to have no problem over drawing while they are living it up on taxpayer funded travel to keep things in perspective the iris is a huge organization so one thousand abusers is a minority but in the spirit of fairness i think these card abusers should be punished just as harshly as normal people who run afoul of the i.r.s.

but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to worlds apart with the syrian army making strategic advances and the west increasingly has it and over its support of the rebels it looks like the rumors of the government's demise have indeed been greatly exaggerated but it is quelling the military rebellion enough to bring peace to.