The world we live in today is so different from what it was 40 years ago that the Watergate scandal seems like remote history. Yet here we are face to face with another surveillance and espionage drama - yes, that is exactly what former CIA agent and US National Security Agency operative Edward Snowden's expose is. It's a drama with a difference, though, because it is being played out on - and by - the media.

Perhaps - and contrary to the common perception - the NSA's surveillance program is (is, because it has not been terminated) aimed at getting a stranglehold on people and organizations not only to strengthen the US government's hands. It is also aimed at helping US corporations consolidate their hold on the global markets and thus make more profits.

Let's get the facts from the other side, the United States, first. Snowden initially violated his oath to safeguard the US national security secrets entrusted to him by revealing NSA programs, which could affect the "privacy of US citizens". This is what a Western newspaper says.