the issue i struggled with in this book is how we and how u.s. intelligence agencies are going to live in a world where this is a post-snowden novel. we live in a world now where these secrets that used to be the most precious secrets the united states government had had have been exposed, willy-nilly. what s the damage of that? it can be another snowden. what s the damage of that? we really don t know. european elections really startling, even though this is not a particularly powerful body. you had between 20 and 40% in some cases of the electorate voting for populist, anti-pro putin elements, and this is happening in france. this is big countries, not small, remote things. you say it s very important. i m worried about it. if you look at the u.k. independence party, they came in first, beat out labour and the tories. in france, they did well. the second and third largest
in that area, i think it s very hard to predict what s going to happen and really dangerous. your colleague said putin blinked. that if you look at what happened, putin is no longer trying to take over eastern ukraine. he s accepted the new government. he realizes he s going to have to cut a deal? it would be nice if he ducked a little more, but indeed, it s more promising than it looked a month ago. it looks like he s going to hang onto crimea, it doesn t look like it s going to march into part of muldova, for example, as it seemed he might. for now, i would say and it looks like poroshenko will be able to align the country more. things are more encouraging now than they were before. what did you think of edward snowden s interview, and what did you make of it? you know the nsa, the book has a lot about the nsa. the director is about the collision of hacking and espionage, which snowden has come to symbolize.
he issued a 90-second statement to a british television station that airs a yearly alternative to the queen s christmas address. facing charges here at home for leaking classified documents, he called on citizens worldwide to press for personal privacy rights. the conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. together we can find a better balance. end mass surveillance and remind the government if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying. his television appearance follows a 14-hour interview with the washington post in which snowden said he has accomplished his mission of exposing the vast reach of government surveillance. today he suggested the trackable cell phones we carry pose a bigger threat to our privacy
treat it the way they are treating it, to elevate it. put this aside and let s not go to the cold war place which i do think this is where this is leaning and let s have a discussion of which snowden will be part of it. he paradoxically lifts the discussion. i don t think the discussion over the snowden effect, the discussion over national security, surveillance date at that. the nebulous unending war on terror ends. the questions absolutely not. this is nothing to placate the people who want to see justice done or a broader debate over the issues. the administration is better off if the focus is on snowden. his numbers are terrible. then we don t pay much attention to the revelations. president putin is a former kgb guy. he s not in love with facts. he said snowden can stay on the territory of russia if he doesn t endanger u.s. interests. there are negotiations right now with other countries to take
snowden. six members of parliament are backing the plan and want a committee to review it. right now the proposal doesn t have much support. iceland is one of two dozen countries in which snowden is seeking citizenship. snowden is believed to been ape moscow airport. iceland granted a passport to a political refugee before. it gave chess champion bobby fisher a passport to help him avoid criminal charges in the united states. look at independence day across the nation at the white honoring the military. 1,200 military personnel from all branches of the service were there. the president thank them all for their service. and called the u.s. an improbable experiment in democracy that has turned into the greatest nation on earth. also in d.c., an annual tradition on the national mall. 32nd annual capital fourth, featuring a concert and fireworks and a special honor. the crowds paid tribute to first responders from boston. on stage, introduced by none other than neil diamond. several sp