On 17 June 1940 Marshal Pétain, the most celebrated military figure in France, told the French people that they were defeated, that they must accept an armistice with Germany and submit to occupation by Hitler’s army. The next day, a junior French general who had escaped to London and was living under the protection of a foreign government, Charles de Gaulle (above), with no troops under his command, broadcast a speech urging the French people to resist occupation, saying that Germany would be defeated in the end. It sounded like madness to many in France, but de Gaulle turned out to be right.

We are living in such times again. Barack Obama is our Marshal Pétain (pictured above), telling us we must surrender our democracy and our liberty in order to be safe. Other voices, like Edward Snowden’s, who has escaped to Russia and is living under the protection of a foreign government, are telling us that the fight is just beginning and can be won.

I personally think that Snowden will turn out to be right.