Flight SU 150 in Moscow, bound for Havana, apparently without Edward Snowden aboard.
NSA leaker Edward Snowden appears to be a lot of things: brave, well spoken and a committed proponent of civil disobedience. But one thing he almost certainly is not is a refugee.
For Snowden to be a refugee with a valid claim to asylum he would have to argue two things. First, he’d have to show that he has a well-founded fear of persecution based on his political opinion. Second, he’d have to show that the crime he has admitted to, namely leaking highly classified documents, is either nonserious or political.
That’s a tall order on all counts.
Here’s why.