WikiLeaks Just Blew A Big Hole In The Snowden Narrative

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assange snowden"Germany blocks Snowden - why we advised Snowden to take Russia. Not safe elsewhere."

WikiLeaks - which paid for Edward Snowden's lodging and travel in Hong Kong - just tore a huge hole in the narrative surrounding Edward Snowden.

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Up to this point, Snowden and his closest supporters have contended that the 30-year-old American left Hong Kong for Moscow with the intention of flying to Latin America.

"I was traveling with him on our way to Latin America when the United States revoked his passport, stranding him in Russia," said Sarah Harrison, the WikiLeaks advisor who met the 30-year-old in Hong Kong and accompanied him to Moscow on June 23.

There were already issues with this assertion, primarily that the U.S. revoked Snowden's passport the day prior and the unsigned Ecuadorian travel document acquired by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - ostensibly for safe passage - was void when Snowden landed in Moscow. Consequently, he had no valid travel documents when he landed.

But now WikiLeaks, in response to Germany denying to host Snowden for a surveillance hearing, seems to have now acknowledged that the story was never true.

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The first indication that Latin America story was disingenuous came in December, when Assange told Janet Reitman of Rolling Stone that he advised Snowden against going to Latin America because "he would be physically safest in Russia."

The organization has not explained why it would send the NSA-trained hacker to Russia, but it is noteworthy that WikiLeaks and the Kremlin share a bizarre alliance.

In any case, we now have a better idea of how and why Snowden, a very valuable intelligence asset, ended up in the hands of Russia's security services after contacting the Russians in Hong Kong.