A FLIGHT OF ARROGANCE

I'm following this  forced diversion of, and forced inspection of the Peruvian President's plane.  I have no brief for Snowden.  Never the less, the forced intrusion into the presidential aircraft of another power   is close to an act of war.  As one reporter asked of the State Department's latest spokes lady, what if some other power forced down Air Force One and searched it?  Didn't the Peruvian President's security team have the right to use force to secure their President?  What if they had?  Did the Austrians force him off his own plane?  Did he have to stand around while the Austrian authorities looked under the bed?

Isn't an aircraft flying the colors of a head of state considered national territory just as an embassy or a royal yacht?  The the silly Amerindian president of Peru whats to grant Snowden sanctuary that's unfortunate.  We can punish him and his government in our turn.  But to treat the presidential aircraft of Peru as we would a Somali Pirate skiff is a lawless affront to the Peruvian people whom I expect, feel such affronts as deeply as we would.

We as a nation talk a good deal about the rule of law among nations but we fail to live up to them from time to time.  And in my view, this is one of those times.