Is NSA leaker Edward Snowden a trapped man?  The Ecuadorian government now says that the letter that apparently allowed Snowden to escape Hong Kong for Moscow was unauthorized.  Is any country going to wind up looking good when this is all over?

Irony Coughs

The Spanish-Language Univision TV network showed the “Safe Pass” that Ecuador’s London Embassy had issued to Snowden.  However, it is unsigned by any Ecuadorian official.  Secretary of Political Management Betty Tola said the letter is invalid because it was issued without the approval of the government in the capital, Quito.

Tola also seems to have no sense of irony, as she also threatened legal action against whoever leaked the letter.. which was about possibly granting asylum to a leaker of documents.

That lack of any documentation puts in doubt Snowden’s ability to leave the capsule hotel at the Moscow Airport, because the US already revoked his passport.

Zing!

Ecuador did manage to zing the United States pretty good on another front. 

Some American officials threatened to revoke the lower tariffs that Ecuador enjoys on its exports to the north, things like flowers, seafood, and frozen vegetables.  It comes to a savings of $23 Million, which the Latin American country promptly rejected in a sarcastic news conference.

Ecuador Secretary of Communications Fernando Alvarado offered to donate an equal amount to the US to train government employees to respect human rights.

Manhunt?  What International Manhunt?

President Obama, meanwhile, tried to cool the situation.  Speaking in Senegal, the first stop of his weeklong, three-nation visit to Africa, Obama damned Snowden with faint praise, saying the US wasn’t going to be “scrambling jets  to get a 29 year old hacker”.

“I'm not going to have one case with a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly be elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system,” Obama said. 

The US wants to put Snowden on trial for leaking gobs of information on the National Security Agency's giant electronic surveillance operation that encompasses most mobile phone and internet traffic.