Evidently it is not that big a deal or difficult to arrange.

Why should anything Snowden does be ON the record? How is that our business?
Besides, I would keep a meeting secret too, if I didn't want my airplane re-routed or stopped and searched.

Besides, I would keep a meeting secret too, if I didn't want my airplane re-routed or stopped and searched.

And hello!

Yes, I do think a secret meeting with the president of a nation he told the world that the FVEY is spying on is a big deal...

have been too tricky for the head of Argentina to do the same.

Why should Snowden avoid the head of state? The United States wants to jail him, or worse. And, again, I don't think we need to know his business now. He has been cast out. The US is not the boss of the world. People can have secret meetings.

he thinks will provide him a home & income. This won't help him back home.

What's your beef?

She is president and commander-in-chief of a sovereign country. Why shouldn't she meet with whomever she deems important to Argentina's welfare? And why shouldn't she meet in secret, given that Snowden was/is a hunted man--hunted by the most powerful country on earth, for having been an especially good journalist and whistleblower?

You don't t think Obama has secret meetings on delicate and/or dangerous matters (not to mention trade policy)? You don't think he meets with whomever he damn pleases--openly or in secret--to protect what he deems to be U.S. interests?

Perhaps you think of Argentina should be a vassal of the U.S.? Should bend over for massive NSA spying? Should be happy to be spied upon? Should beg the Pentagon to make Argentina into one of its "Forward Operating Locations" in Latin America? Should accept dictators appointed by the U.S. and Great Britain? Should starve its people to make Paul Singer a trillionaire? Should kiss England's ass for raiding Argentine fish and oil resources from the Falkland Islands?

It seems to offend you that the president of Argentina is the president of Argentina, elected by the people of Argentina to see to Argentina's interests and well-being.

I really don't get it. Please explain yourself.

I'm using this story to perfectly illustrate the 99.99993% probability that this meeting was arranged by Putin, or had his approval, at the minimum...I'm also very interested in knowing what was discussed, and why this meeting was kept secret...


Secondly, this is the Kirchner our self-styled "champion of press freedoms" was having a friendly chat with:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/02/09/argentinas-free-press-is-in-grave-danger-book-review-of-tiempos-turbulentos/

https://cpj.org/reports/2012/09/amid-government-media-fight-argentine-journalism-suffers.php

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article3721863.ece

http://www.wsj.com/video/cristina-kirchner-tries-to-starve-the-messenger/D2887210-CCD6-4C9D-AB93-084273412383.html

And her late husband was a winner, too: http://en.rsf.org/argentina-kirchner-asked-to-show-commitment-15-05-2003,06838.html


Is this hypocrisy something you want to actually try and defend?

The Urinal is no surprise, since Christina Fernandez, her late husband Nestor Kirchner and all leftists in Argentina, are faced with Rupert Murdoch-type fascism in the Grupo Clarin monopoly. Nor am I surprised that the Psst chimes in. As for the CPJ, since they agree with the Urinal and the Psst that fascist, billionaire media monopolies are sacrosanct, I figure they're CIA, and I'm probably not wrong. The CIA sets up groups that appear benign on the surface but actually serve the U.S. "military-industrial complex."

I see that you don't like her dead husband either. Nestor Kirchner was perhaps the greatest president Argentina has ever had. The World Bank/IMF had crushed Argentina, with debts incurred by previous administrations, and sent Argentina into the worst economic down-spiral they have ever experienced. Nestor Kirchner defied the World Bank/IMF, and rejected their crippling loan conditions (which are intended to set the stage for opening the country's resources and coffers to transglobal corporations and destroying all social programs--education, health care, etc.). He forced a re-structuring of the debt, which put Argentina on the path to recovery and which Argentina has repaid. He is loathed and hated on Wall Street because of this, and so is his wife, who won election in her own right after his death and continued those policies. The Kirchners are loathed and hated throughout our benighted Washington establishment because they are LEFTISTS, and because they were the first to ally with the late, great president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, which started a groundswell throughout South America for Leftist policies of fairness to the poor, education and health care for all, and the sovereignty of Latin American countries visa vis the U.S. and its financial instruments and military power.

The only beef that "Reporters Without Borders" (another suspect group) had with Nestor Kirchner is that a couple of his supporters got rough with a couple of reporters. There was no evidence whatever that Kirchner approved of this.

But, oh, you are gathering whatever scraps of evidence you can to smear the Kirchners. My question is WHY? I can see that you are very busy with this project. Why?

We're supposed to dis some of the best Leftist leaders in Latin America, and we're supposed to buy your speculation that Cristina Fernandez met with Putin cuz you can't see any other way she could have arranged a meeting with Snowden (or Snowden with her)...because you are so trustworthy? Ahem. What I sense in you is venom. You loathe and hate Cristina Fernandez and her dead husband and would like to see her crucified...for what? For meeting with Putin, as you insist, with no evidence, that she did?

Well, what if she did? She's her country's president, commander-in-chief and chief diplomat. People in such positions can meet with ANYONE they choose--in public or in private--if they deem it in the interest of their country. She has that right and duty, and she is not answerable to YOU.

Your effort to make an irony of Snowden's journalism/whistleblowing vs. Kirchner's battle with Grupo Clarin is pathetic. You have no argument against her.

So, I ask again, why are you so obsessed with this?

arranged to meet him.

Heads of state may meet with whom they wish to meet. I doubt that Snowden instigated or suggested the meeting. It's entirely up to Kirchner to decide with whom she wishes to meet. Snowden could only decide to say yes or no. He said yes. Pretty obvious. This is no huge conspiracy. Took no technology or huge diplomatic effort for Kirchner to meet with Snowden.