The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. May 25, 2021 Edward Snowden Compares Belarus Plane Diversion to Downing of Evo Morales's 2013 Flight --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The downing of the Ryanair flight by Belarus is drawing comparisons to the U.S.-backed downing of a flight by European officials in 2013 carrying Bolivia's then-President Evo Morales. Morales's plane was forced to land in Vienna after taking off from Moscow, amid rumors that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was aboard. Ed Snowden tweeted Monday, "Downing aircraft to pursue the arrest of dissidents has always been outrageous. It is the modern expression of Bush-era 'extraordinary rendition' (international kidnapping by state agents), and should be opposed no matter the flag under which it occurs." .