darter-smarter born-killer: Where can he go?

The NSA leaker Edward Snowden can take refuge in many places
可供美国国家安全局的泄密者爱德华•斯诺登避难的地方有很多
THE whereabouts of Edward Snowden, a former computer technician at America’s National Security Agency who leaked secret documents a fortnight ago, remain unknown.* Mr Snowden arrived in Moscow over the weekend from Hong Kong, after America issued a warrant for his arrest for theft and espionage. He requested political asylum in Ecuador and was thought to be en route there from Moscow via Havana on June 24th, but he never appeared on the plane. Still, there are many places he could go to avoid the reach of American law. More than 100 countries have signed extradition treaties with America, which means that they comply with requests to arrest and hand over suspects. Yet around 60 countries do not have such a treaty, including China, Russia and many poor countries. However there are loopholes. Some treaties have clauses that protect people facing the death penalty or for asylum-seekers. (Julian Assange of Wikileaks is sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on the grounds of political asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden.) Conversely, the lack of a treaty does not mean that a country may not honour an American request to detain a suspect. Mr Snowden must choose his destination carefully.

曾在美国国家安全局供职的电脑技术员爱德华•斯诺登两周之前将机密文件曝光，其行踪仍不为人知。美国对他发出了逮捕令，罪名是从事盗窃和间谍活动，之后斯诺登先生于上周末从香港来到莫斯科。他曾向厄瓜多尔申请政治避难，人们曾经认为他会在6月24日从莫斯科取道哈瓦那，但是他从未出现在这架飞机上。有很多地方可以供他逃避美国法律的制裁。有100个国家和美国签订了引渡条约，这就意味着这些国家可以逮捕并移交嫌疑人。大约有60多个国际没有和美国签订这项条约，包括中国、俄罗斯和很多穷国。这项条约存在法律漏洞。有些条约的条款保护面临死刑的人或者寻求政治避难的人。（维基解密的朱利安•阿桑奇在厄瓜多尔驻伦敦大使馆进行政治避难，躲避瑞典的引渡请求。）相反，没有和美国签订引渡条约并不是说这个国家不会尊重美国关于扣留嫌疑犯的要求。斯诺登先生必须谨慎地选择自己的目的地。

* Update: Russia's President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Mr Snowden is in a transit zone at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

更新：周二下午俄罗斯总统拉基米尔•普京确认斯诺登先生在莫斯科谢列梅捷沃机场的过境区。