Snowden has awakened the whole world to the surveillance leviathan that is the US. The US have been the one world government for awhile now, it's just that most people (and countries) refused to see it until now.

The C&D to the Bitcoins Foundation is no surprise either. It's in the cross hairs of the US government and it can't be allowed to exist. Read the book Cypherpunks and you'll find out why. I'm sure those in power know the book well.