Yup, I'm agreeing with you there- I don't think Snowden ever intended to end up exiled in Russia. He might be beholden to the Russians now- for his physical saf

Yup, I'm agreeing with you there- I don't think Snowden ever intended to end up exiled in Russia. He might be beholden to the Russians now- for his physical safety- he's very likely more blameless in that than Assange might be, I haven't seen actual evidence that he wanted to end up in Russia. Whereas Assange might have (depending on the facts) happily taken help from the Russian state in the name of sowing chaos. Assange has no particular ties to the US, and might have found a way to square it with whatever his morals are. Or he found an encrypted archive in his email and he just published it, provenance unknown.