International Fall-Out Over Snowden Continues with Anger from Bolivian, French Officials (+video)

Photo Credit: APBolivian President: US ‘Imperialism’ Caused Flight From Russia To Be Diverted

By CBSDC/AP. Bolivian President Evo Morales blames the United States for his plane from Moscow being diverted to Vienna, Austria, Wednesday for a 14-hour layover after suspicions arose he was harboring National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Returning home to a hero’s welcome, Morales called it an “open provocation” to the South American continent after France, Spain and Portugal refused to let his plane pass through their airspace.

The United States and European allies “use the agent of North American imperialism to scare us and intimidate us,” Morales said.

Morales added: “I regret this, but I want to say that some European countries should free themselves from North American imperialism.”

The United States declined to comment on whether it was involved in any decision to close European airspace for Morales’ plane. Read more from this story HERE.

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French official lashes out at US at July 4 party, in latest clash over Snowden leaks

By Fox News. As NSA leaker Ed Snowden struggles to find a country that will take him, the case continues to cause diplomatic headaches for the U.S. government.

In the latest flare-up, France’s top security official on Thursday publicly dressed down the U.S. at the American ambassador’s July 4 garden party.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who was a guest of honor at the event hosted by Ambassador Charles Rivkin, denounced alleged U.S. “espionage” of France and other countries, while the European Parliament voted to open an investigation.

In a speech before hundreds of guests, he said that “in the name of our friendship, we owe each other honesty. We must say things clearly, directly, frankly.” He said the alleged spy tactics, “if proven, do not have their place between allies and partners.”

The European suspicion is the product of yet another news story presumably based on material leaked by Snowden, who continues to evade arrest by staying in the transit zone of the Moscow airport. Read more from this story HERE.

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Do we care about our privacy anymore?

By Bill Press. Every Fourth of July, somebody reminds us there’s more to this national holiday than hotdogs and fireworks. Take time over the weekend, we are piously admonished, to remember what it’s all about. Annoying advice, perhaps, but important. And, this year, more so than ever because one of our most basic rights is under attack.

In powerful words that still stir our hearts, our Founding Fathers laid forth the foundation on which America is built: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And those rights are so sacred “that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.”

Clearly, the founders were telling us they wouldn’t tolerate any wholesale attempt to undermine our basic rights — and we shouldn’t, either. So where’s the outrage today over the massive invasion of our privacy by the National Security Agency? Have we forgotten how to fight?

All we’ve been talking about for the last two weeks is Edward Snowden. Where is he? Will he ever get out of the Moscow airport? Will he be granted asylum anywhere? Who cares? The real issue is not Snowden’s fate. It’s what Snowden revealed about the NSA’s collection of data, which we now know to be even more widespread than previously believed.

Under a broad interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and with the full blessing of the court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, NSA’s amassing and storing a record of every phone call – every single phone call! – made in the United States: from what number, to what number and how long it lasted: what Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has called “a massive invasion of Americans’ privacy.” The NSA has also capturing records of every email sent outside the United States. Read more from this story HERE.