Ecuador Gives the United States a Giant Middle Finger
Mr. Obama gave a speech where he said he was unwilling to wheel and deal for Mr. Snowden:
He told a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar: "I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues."
What he really meant to say is that the United States has nothing Russia wants and Ecuador told the United Stats to go pound sand:
Ecuador said on Thursday it was waiving preferential rights under a U.S. trade agreement to demonstrate its principled approach to the asylum request of former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
This was in response to the United Stats underhanded threat:
In Washington, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has threatened to lead the effort to remove preferential trade treatment for Ecuadorian goods if the country decides to offer asylum to Snowden.
As it turns out, Ecuador doesn't negotiate with terrorists:
Ecuador “does not accept threats from anybody, and does not trade in principles, or submit to mercantile interests, as important as they may be,” Alvarez said, according to the AP.
That's a pretty big fuck you coming from Ecuador. But the bitch slapping didn't end there:
"What's more, Ecuador offers the United States economic aid of $23 million annually, similar to what we received with the trade benefits, with the intention of providing education about human rights," Alvarado added.
As far as political bitch slaps go this one is pretty spectacular. A tiny South American country just told the United States that it doesn't give a damn about tariffs and that it supports human rights more vigorously than the nation that likes to refer to itself as "the freest nation on Earth." I believe Ecuador just remove the United States' balls and put them in its purse.
It's refreshing to see a nation that is willing to stand up to the United States and protect the freedom of a man who did the right thing.