3 ms·

Your comments comes across as if this was a change in his behavior. But his criticism of Russia is not new, so "now he's learning Realpolitik" makes no sense.

by dalke 10y ago

Your comments comes across as if this was a change in his behavior. But his criticism of Russia is not new, so "now he's learning Realpolitik" makes no sense. For example, a headline from Sept 2015 - "Snowden criticises Russia for approach to internet and homosexuality" - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/snowden-criticises-russia-internet-homosexuality https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/snowden-crit...

icebraining 10y ago
The very assumption that Snowden even before he fled the US was under the illusion that Russia was a bastion of freedom and has only now "learn the nature of the bear" is so nonsensical to be borderline trolling.
- mc32 10y ago
  "...These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless."[1] "However, Human Rights Watch appears to have just thrown Snowden under the bus. Deputy Executive Director of HRW, Carroll Bogert, wrote a piece for CNN (which was then carried on HRW’s own website) that seems to poke fun at Snowden’s praise for Russia, a state guilty of far worse crimes than the NSA. In particular, Bogert notes that Snowden has expressed interest in learning Russian. She the gives him a vocabulary list: Khuliganstvo (hooliganism), Ekstremizm (what it sounds like), Proverka (a polite word for raid), Inostrany agent (“foreign agent”)…"[2] [1] https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html [2] http://www.interpretermag.com/human-rights-watch-slams-russia-and-snowden/ http://www.interpretermag.com/human-rights-watch-slams-russi...
  - icebraining 10y ago
    That was an unfortunate paragraph, but I stand by what I wrote. Surely you can think of others reasons why he would say that besides naivety?

by dalke 10y ago

icebraining 10y ago

The very assumption that Snowden even before he fled the US was under the illusion that Russia was a bastion of freedom and has only now "learn the nature of the bear" is so nonsensical to be borderline trolling.

mc32 10y ago
"...These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless."[1] "However, Human Rights Watch appears to have just thrown Snowden under the bus. Deputy Executive Director of HRW, Carroll Bogert, wrote a piece for CNN (which was then carried on HRW’s own website) that seems to poke fun at Snowden’s praise for Russia, a state guilty of far worse crimes than the NSA. In particular, Bogert notes that Snowden has expressed interest in learning Russian. She the gives him a vocabulary list: Khuliganstvo (hooliganism), Ekstremizm (what it sounds like), Proverka (a polite word for raid), Inostrany agent (“foreign agent”)…"[2] [1] https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html [2] http://www.interpretermag.com/human-rights-watch-slams-russia-and-snowden/ http://www.interpretermag.com/human-rights-watch-slams-russi...
- icebraining 10y ago
  That was an unfortunate paragraph, but I stand by what I wrote. Surely you can think of others reasons why he would say that besides naivety?