Look at this bit of trouble! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23158242 Bolivia has accused European countries of an "act of aggression" for refusing to allow its presidential jet into their airspace, amid suggestions US fugitive Edward Snowden was on board. Bolivia said France, Italy, Spain and Portugal had blocked the plane. President Evo Morales was flying back to Bolivia from Moscow when the plane was forced to stop in Vienna. Meanwhile, France has urged EU-US trade talks be delayed amid the fallout from secrets leaked by Mr Snowden. The talks are due to begin on Monday but claims that the US bugged EU diplomatic offices in the US, and spied on internal computer networks, have upset transatlantic relations. French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Berkacem said the talks should be suspended for 15 days to enable mutual trust to be restored. However, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin did not back a delay to the talks, which correspondents say if successful will deliver the biggest trade deal in history. UN complaint Once grounded in Vienna, Mr Morales' jet was reportedly searched for Mr Snowden. He was apparently not on board and is still believed to be in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, from where he is seeking asylum in Bolivia and several other countries. Continue reading the main story Analysis image of Matthew Price Matthew Price BBC News, Brussels Forcing the plane of a national president to land is a highly unusual move. Bolivia says France, Spain, Portugal and Italy initially denied the plane overflight rights. The assumption must be that the United States asked some European countries to intervene. It didn't want Edward Snowden slipping from their grasp if he was on the plane. An Austrian government source tells me that having requested and got the agreement of the Bolivians (because state immunity was involved), Vienna airport police checked the identity of the five crew members and six people accompanying President Morales. They then searched the plane and found nothing. If the Americans did persuade several European countries to deny overflight rights to the Bolivian president, it would suggest Washington is winning the diplomatic argument in Europe's capitals that Edward Snowden must be apprehended. Remember, this happened just 48 hours after much of this continent reacted with anger to leaks provided by Mr Snowden that allegedly showed the US was spying on EU offices and European embassies. The options for Mr Snowden appear to be diminishing. The incident came hours after Mr Morales said his country would consider a request for political asylum from Mr Snowden. SO, TO SUM UP. The United States of America apparently puts such importance on catching Snowden that they persuaded 3 Western European nations to disregard all regular procedures and deny airspace to a plane carrying the head of state (President of Bolivia) because the plane MIGHT have Snowden as one of the passengers. When it had to land in Vienna to refuel, the Austrians wouldn't allow the refueling of the Bolivian equivalent of Air Force One until they could search the plane to see if Snowden was on board. He wasn't. So all this was a failed effort to get a guy Rice said wasn't that important? Right ...
The US of AIPAC is an empire in decline. Such entities invariably resort to repression at a point on their downward curve.
I wish the rest of these countries would finally get the balls to tell the interfering US to (*)(*)(*)(*) off!!!!!!!!!
