The NSA leaker Edward Snowden can take refuge in many places

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.Airport.