Warning to Brazil Lawmakers Before Meeting with Edward Snowden (Estadao, Brazil)
"To begin with, we must assume that the committee's desire
to interview Snowden is to the liking of the U.S. intelligence services, because
if granted, it would provide them with a unique opportunity to try and uncover
the whereabouts of the young former analyst, and then commence an operation to
return him to the United States. ... They should know, too, that their [diplomatic] immunity won't be worth an ounce of caviar the moment they land in Moscow and dive into the electrifying underworld of international espionage."
Secretary of State Kerry listens with surprise as Brazil Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota tells him that the United States must 'terminate' its espionage activities against 'citizens of Brazil and other countries,' Aug. 13. If Brazilian lawmkers journey to Russian to meet Edward Snowden, they too may be surprised by the exciting world of spying.
If
successful, a plan to send to Russia a delegation from the Chamber of Deputies
Foreign Relations Committee to interview Edward Snowden on NSA
spying activities in Brazil, unanimously approved two weeks ago, will put
Brazil’s legislature at the center of the heaviest game in international
relations. Directly involving representatives of the people in this game is
inevitable and even desirable, to the extent that the country achieves its
ambition to occupy the space it deserves among the great powers. The recent
participation of lawmakers in the complicated talks with Bolivia is a step in
this direction. However, in this case, it would be advisable for legislators to
take the field with their eyes wide open and no illusions.
To
begin with, we must assume that the committee's desire to interview Snowden is
to the liking of the U.S. intelligence services, because if granted, it would
provide them with a unique opportunity to try and uncover the whereabouts of
the young former Booz Allen-contractor, and to then commence an operation to
return him to the United States. With that in mind, lawmakers shouldn't rule
out the possibility of becoming unwitting participants in a scene worthy of a
spy thriller - before, during and after their meeting in Russia. In addition,
the Chamber delegation has to be realistic in regard to understandings they will
need to enter into with diplomats from Moscow to schedule an encounter with
Snowden.
The
Russians, as we know, are used to spying and being spied upon. It must,
therefore, be curious for them to see the perplexity felt by lawmakers in the
face of NSA snooping on Brazil.
Brazil,
a country with a tradition of wiretapping and the selective leakage of
confidential information about its own citizens, is the only nation of its size
and stature that does not have a sophisticated counterespionage agency or an
organization that collects and interprets classified information from outside
its borders. As Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo admitted, the
national attitude is so relaxed that classified information is passed between
civil servants and governments - not on secure Intranet networks - but via
G-Mail or other Internet providers that are not only vulnerable to foreign
intelligence services that take the subject quite seriously, but any
backyard hacker.
What
must also seem strange to the Russians is the controversy Snowden’s exposure of
NSA activities have caused in the United States
itself, including revelations that the agency spies on leaders and
businesses in friendly countries like Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil, under
the justification, obviously bogus in this case, of protecting the country from
terrorism. Under the precept that individual liberty is guaranteed by the
Constitution, the U.S. press has published copious reports and articles on NSA spying activity in the U.S., highlighting its attack on
the right to privacy of citizens and its violations of laws adopted after
September 11, which were put in place to justify greater action by the security
services due to the threat of terrorism. In Putin’s Russia, spying is
widespread, and is conducted without concern for such subtleties.
Another
peculiarity is Russian pragmatism. Snowden must have been concerned about the
resourcefulness Vladimir Putin displayed when the opportunity arose to take
advantage of the mess President Barack Obama found himself in over the Syria
issue. Putin offered his mate a way out, and then mocked “American
exceptionalism” in an article published in The
New York Times. Snowden, who was granted a year of political asylum in
Russia, should know that he is a likely candidate for an exchange between
Washington and Moscow.
The
Russians won't let pass an opportunity to record every sensitive detail of the
visit by Brazilian lawmakers, aware of the possibility that the CIA will use
the occasion to penetrate its counter-intelligence services. Movie-like details
aside, there is still the challenge of interpreting the signals emitted by the
Russians.
Brazil
has no tradition in this art and has already paid dearly for that. In 2010,
with a letter of encouragement from Obama in hand, President LuizInacio Lula da Silva, alongside Turkey, embarked on a well-intentioned
attempt to mediate a nuclear
deal between the international community and Iran. Then Foreign Minister CelsoAmorim prepared for
negotiations convinced that, although a difficult feat, they would succeed, not
only on the merits of the groundwork laid, but because Russia and China had already indicated that they would not support the adoption of new economic
sanctions against Tehran at the U.N. Security Council. Russian and Chinese
vetoes were the guarantee that negotiations were the only route available.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
But
Amorim, the current defense minister, was wrong. He
didn’t realize that when forced to choose between resistance to new sanctions
against Iran or preserving relations with the United States and influencing
permanent members of the Security Council on non-proliferation issues, Russia
and China would choose the latter, and endorse fresh Iran sanctions proposed by
Washington.
That
is in fact what happened. Veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has held the post for eight years, had visited
Washington while Lula was in Tehran, and publicly expressed his exasperation at
Brazilian petulance for meddling in a matter of the great powers. All before
meeting with Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had already
obtained China’s backing for the sanctions.
The
Chamber of Deputies delegation that travels to
Moscow should be aware that Sergey Lavrov is
Secretary of State John Kerry's Russian interlocutor in the ongoing case of
Syria's chemical weapons, as he was with Iran. They should know, too, that
their [diplomatic] immunity won't be worth an ounce of caviar the moment they
land in Moscow and dive into the electrifying underworld of international
espionage.
*Paulo Sotero Marques is director of the Brazil Institute of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and from 1989 to 2006, was
Washington correspondent for Estadao.
