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Right. This man who has risked his freedom and even his life to inform us of the illegal actions of our government wants to live in a repressive autocracy. Di

Right. This man who has risked his freedom and even his life to inform us of the illegal actions of our government wants to live in a repressive autocracy. Did you miss the part where US officials forced a flight out of Moscow to land prematurely because they thought he might be on it? [0] He applied for asylum to 21 countries [1]. No, you're quite mistaken. He's in Russia for one reason only: the US Government won't let him go anywhere else. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Asylum_applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Asylum_applicat...

dllthomas 11y ago
"the part where US officials forced a flight out of Moscow to land prematurely because they thought he might be on it" Heh, "a flight". It probably deserves calling out that (as noted in the Wikipedia article title) it was the plane of the leader of another country. Could you imagine a country forcing down Air Force 1 and demanding to search it? We would lose our shit. Absolutely all of our shit.
- alsetmusic 11y ago
  Not all countries have the firepower that the US has. America can make demands that others can't. I am not well versed on this aspect of the issue and can't say what did or did not happen, but your argument does not reflect the reality of our unique ability to influence others. For this reason, your argument that just because Air Force 1 would not submit to requests / demands by independent nations has little basis here.
  - dllthomas 11y ago
    It sounds to me like you're saying I overlooked that might does, in fact, make right. I wasn't even saying our forcing down the plane was wrong. I was pointing out that we were manifestly willing to go to substantial lengths to make sure Snowden did not get from Russia to Ecuador - lengths that were not well represented by leaving it at "a plane".
    - ScottBurson 11y ago
      Yes, good point.

dllthomas 11y ago

"the part where US officials forced a flight out of Moscow to land prematurely because they thought he might be on it" Heh, "a flight". It probably deserves calling out that (as noted in the Wikipedia article title) it was the plane of the leader of another country. Could you imagine a country forcing down Air Force 1 and demanding to search it? We would lose our shit. Absolutely all of our shit.

alsetmusic 11y ago
Not all countries have the firepower that the US has. America can make demands that others can't. I am not well versed on this aspect of the issue and can't say what did or did not happen, but your argument does not reflect the reality of our unique ability to influence others. For this reason, your argument that just because Air Force 1 would not submit to requests / demands by independent nations has little basis here.
- dllthomas 11y ago
  It sounds to me like you're saying I overlooked that might does, in fact, make right. I wasn't even saying our forcing down the plane was wrong. I was pointing out that we were manifestly willing to go to substantial lengths to make sure Snowden did not get from Russia to Ecuador - lengths that were not well represented by leaving it at "a plane".
  - ScottBurson 11y ago
    Yes, good point.