The story is that Somebody Who Shall Be Nameless spread the word that whistleblower Edward Snowden had escaped the transit lounge of Sheremetyevo Airport on board the air force jet used by Bolivian President Evo Morales as a presidential plane. Morales was on his way home from the 2^nd Gas Summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, also attended by such US-friendly states as Iran and Venezuela.

This anonymous Someone then put the heat on the European countries that lay on the jet’s flight path – France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. They duly refused clearance to use their airspace and the plane was forced to re-route in mid-air and land in Vienna, where the Austrian authorities established that Snowden was not among the passengers.

Matters have since been muddied by claims and counter-claims. The French, for example, argued they never banned the flight and then issued a formal apology for what they just said didn’t do.

And far be it from me to speculate as to who might be the Somebody spreading false rumours and bullying other countries to do their bidding on the strength of them.

I will merely note that Morales, like a number of Latin American leaders, is not exactly high up on the White House Christmas card list. He perversely insists on thwarting US foreign policy by making decisions in what he considers to be the interests of the Bolivian people, rather than those of US corporations.

And while I describe Snowden as a whistleblower, the US government calls him a traitor and has charged him with aiding and abetting the enemies of the United States, i.e. those of its citizens who believe the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution actually means what it says.

And while the US has neither confirmed nor denied media conjecture about their involvement, their Director of National Intelligence has already confessed to lying to Congress about the Prism programme that Snowden exposed (though it is not clear when he will begin the 1 month minimum jail term that this entails).

And while President Obama said that Snowden wasn’t worth scrambling the jets for, it was worth scrambling Vice-President Biden, who was sent to breathe heavily on Ecuador, who were thinking of granting Snowden asylum until they found a bug in their UK embassy. (No, not like a cockroach.) (And no, I don’t mean Assange.)

Of course, heavy-handed US pressure, real or imaginary, could never work here, as evidenced by this recent transcript obtained by Prachatai’s ever vigilant sources (he makes a very respectable bami mu daeng as well).

This purports to be a recording from Bangkok Air Traffic Control. It must be from a live mike in the control room since it does not contain the responses of the pilots and includes a number of exchanges in Thai, which is not allowed for ground-to-air conversations. These exchanges, presumably among control staff, have been translated and are given in italics.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

QF23, you are not cleared for Thai airspace. Repeat you are not cleared for Thai airspace. Please select alternative route.

 

What’s a whacker?

 

What?

 

He just called me a whacker. Hang on, he’s screaming again.

 

He wants to know why we haven’t cleared him. Do I say that we’ve been told by the …

 

Definitely not. Just say technical problems.

 

QF 23, technical problems prevent us granting you clearance at this time. Please re-route as advised.

 

He says if he ever finds us he’ll give us some technical problems with our teeth.

 

Just ignore him.

 

But why have we re-routed him?

 

Have you not seen the passenger manifest? Look there, under S. That one.

 

Snow, Don?

 

That’s the feller they’re looking for, him from Moscow.

 

So what’s he doing on a flight from Sydney, travelling with wife and 3 kids?

 

Look, that’s intelligence’s problem, alright? It’s all part of making the world safe from terrorism. You just make sure …

 

Chief, I’ve got this Gulfstream N596GA from Bagram, says his codename is ‘Havoc’.

 

Is he still in business? I’ll take this one. N596GA Havoc you are cleared to land runway 01L/19R. Torture Suite B reserved in your name. And welcome back.

 

So what’s all that about?

 

All part of the war on terror.