[quote]The attempt by Edward Snowden to escape the clutches of US authorities descended into farce when the 30-year-old surveillance whistleblower outpaced the world's biggest intelligence apparatus in a round-the-world chase that was still under way on Monday. Washington could barely disguise its fury at the manner in which Snowden was hustled out of Hong Kong, despite the US having revoked his passport and demanded his detention. The White House made it clear that China-US relations had been placed under great strain. China reacted angrily on Tuesday with commentaries in state-run newspapers rejecting US claims that it helped Snowden escape and portraying the whistleblower as a young idealist and a hero. The People's Daily said the US was criticising China when it should be apologising for hacking into the networks of China and Hong Kong as alleged by Snowden. The whereabouts of Snowden remained unclear on Tuesday morning. Journalists who boarded a flight from Moscow to Havana, a suspected lay-over stop on a journey to Ecuador, reported that they could not see the former National Security Agency contractor on the plane, despite reports that he had checked in. Later the plane arrived in Cuba without any sign of Snowden. Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, was sharply critical of Hong Kong's decision to allow Snowden to leave. He said the administration did not believe the explanation that it was a "technical" decision by Hong Kong immigration authorities. "The Hong Kong authorities were advised of the status of Mr Snowden's travel documents in plenty of time to have prohibited his travel as appropriate. We do not buy the suggestion that China could not have taken action."[/quote] It's obvious that this particular spat between China and the US won't resolve to much other than petty sniping - pretty much par for the course over the past decade or so; but Washington-Moscow relations could be severely strained if Moscow allows Snowden to leave the country, especially considering their different viewpoints on the Syrian conflict. As of now, no one really knows Snowden's whereabouts - a declared fugitive from 'American justice' according to the White House. He boarded a flight from Hong kong to Moscow and was expected to fly to Ecuador (via Cuba) to seek political asylum, given Ecuador's animosity toward the US - however, his seat was empty at the time of landing, sending alarm bells ringing across Washington and giving Moscow an unwanted headache. What do you think of Edward Snowden and Washington's pursuit of him? Was he justified in leaking the government's actions to the press? Were the authorities right to pull the treason card on him when he leaked details to the Chinese government about the US text message interception? Blown out of all proportion by the media? Edit: Putin has claimed that Snowden is in a Moscow airport, but denies extradition. Articles for those that are interested (via the Guardian): [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/us-urges-russia-edward-snowden-pursuit]US Scrambles to find Snowden[/url] [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/edward-snowden-us-russia-ecuador]US warns Moscow to not let Snowden escape Russia[/url] [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/23/edward-snowden-escape-moscow-ecuador]Diplomatic storm as Snowden flees to Ecuador[/url]