© Associated PressOliver Stone and Edward Snowden
US film director Oliver Stone on Thursday accused President Barack Obama's administration of implementing a surveillance system worse than that of the feared Stasi secret police in East Germany.
Speaking at the San Sebastian film festival in northern Spain, where he presented his film "Snowden," Stone said many in the US had grown disillusioned with a president they once saw as "a man of great integrity."
"On the contrary,
Obama has doubled down on the (George W.) Bush administration policies," said Stone, whose latest movie is a biographical political thriller about Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who revealed a vast US surveillance programme in 2013.
Obama "
has created... the most massive global security surveillance state that's ever been seen, way beyond East Germany's Stasi, way beyond that."
"In the name of one thing -- terrorism -- to change all the rules is not a marginal response, it's an extreme response," he told reporters.
"
Let's beware of fascists and tyrants who tell us 'we are going to protect you'. I don't want that."
This is far from the first time that Stone has dabbled in politics, having directed "Platoon" about the Vietnam War, "JFK" and "Nixon" among a host of other films.
He insisted "there was no agenda" behind the release of his latest movie just weeks ahead of US elections, but said he hoped Obama would pardon Snowden, who currently lives in Russia after escaping his homeland.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Snowden and met with him to prepare for the role, said the former contractor "was embarrassed" that a film had been made about him.
"He's a private person, he felt awkward about it," he said.
The San Sebastian film festival, which takes place in the northern Basque country until Saturday, is the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.
Comment: The justification for such a system of surveillance given by Bush and then continued by Obama is that it is necessary to safeguard the American people and the United States against the threat of terrorism after 9/11. A person would think then that more Americans and people would critically investigate 9/11 for themselves to ensure what those in authority are saying and doing is correct and justified. This is sadly generally not the case. The justification of protection from the terrorism threat couldn't be further from the truth. Those at the top could care less about the American people. Elements of the U.S. government
had a hand in 9/11 with subsequent coverup of their deeds and endless wars ever since.
The surveillance state in addition to the police state to go along with it were put in place after 9/11 to ensure control and domination of the American people. Whether it is
economic warfare and collapse,
global weather issues leading to food problems and general chaos or
cosmic related catastrophe, TPTB want to ensure they remain on top.
Comment: The justification for such a system of surveillance given by Bush and then continued by Obama is that it is necessary to safeguard the American people and the United States against the threat of terrorism after 9/11. A person would think then that more Americans and people would critically investigate 9/11 for themselves to ensure what those in authority are saying and doing is correct and justified. This is sadly generally not the case. The justification of protection from the terrorism threat couldn't be further from the truth. Those at the top could care less about the American people. Elements of the U.S. government had a hand in 9/11 with subsequent coverup of their deeds and endless wars ever since.
The surveillance state in addition to the police state to go along with it were put in place after 9/11 to ensure control and domination of the American people. Whether it is economic warfare and collapse, global weather issues leading to food problems and general chaos or cosmic related catastrophe, TPTB want to ensure they remain on top.