2017: The Snowden Year

At some point last Thursday....members of the joint German government (CDU/CSU and SPD parties) sent an appeal to the German Federal Supreme Court.

The subject?  They've been ordered by the court to allow Edward Snowden to testify to the Bundestag.

For these political parties....this ordered situation could trigger a massive problem.  By handing an entry visa to Snowden....it opens the door that Snowden will ask for asylum once in the country.  It also opens the door for the US to ask for Snowden to be turned over.  The hint by the original order is that the court ordered the country to find some method to avoid handing Snowden over to the US.  I'm guessing that the political folks have reviewed the hundred-odd ways of doing this and not found a single method that works.

The Linke Party?  They are the opposition to this and all charged up to bring Snowden in and confront the US.

If you were looking for a scene to totally put both the SPD and CDU into a dismal position....this Snowden episode is a five-star possibility.

The US could drag out the extradition treaty and note that Germany isn't prepared to carry out their actions.....so why bother honoring the treaty?

Triggering a confrontation on NATO actions?  That could be an additional step.

Trump could simply deny any visits to Germany, and visit virtually everyone in Europe and avoid any relations or visits with the Germans....making this all look pretty stupid.

Me?  If I were the Germans, I would load the Bundestag on some cruise boat and take them all up to Saint Petersburg....and ask Snowden to come on-board the cruise boat.  Once he says no....then you've finished the task.

I think if I were German government....I'd ask the judges involved in this whole thing to read the extradition treaty and ask how you legally avoid it.

The odd feature of this episode is that the Chief Prosecutor for the Merkel government....is a SPD member.  The Foreign Minister?  He's also a SPD member.  Both would have to stand there and absorb a massive amount of criticism in carrying out this order.

This is one of the five or six episodes which could affect the 2017 election outcome.