EDWARD SNOWDEN makes a perfect hero for some Germans. As a former contractor of an American spy agency who has been divulging its excesses, he is a “good American” who makes some of his compatriots look like “ugly Americans”. He thus taps into both of the archetypes that Germans have long held about their most important ally. Mr Snowden also placed his own sense of morality above that of his government at the risk of being deemed a traitor. To Germans, who remember two dictatorships in one long lifetime, that is heroism.So it is not surprising that many Germans are now pleading with Angela Merkel, the chancellor, to grant Mr Snowden asylum. (His exile in Russia will expire next year.) On October 31st Mr Snowden met Hans-Christian Ströbele, a German politician from the Green party’s “fundamentalist” faction, at an undisclosed location in Moscow and hinted that he would testify in Germany about American snooping against Germans if Germany promised not to extradite him to America.Most on Germany’s left and some on the right can’t wait to welcome him. Die Linke, a far-left party, wants a vote of parliament to force Mrs Merkel to give Mr…
The Economist: Europe
