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Two possibilities come to mind: 1. My uninformed kneejerk guess is that Russia, for whatever reason, wants to be rid of Snowden. It's the only explanation for
by csilverman 6y ago
Two possibilities come to mind:
1. My uninformed kneejerk guess is that Russia, for whatever reason, wants to be rid of Snowden. It's the only explanation for why Trump—who has no pressing reason to be thinking about Edward Snowden right now, and almost certainly does not approve of Snowden or people like him—would suddenly raise the issue.
2. That, or it's something Trump knows will get everyone talking and he needs a distraction. Maybe both.
I could be missing something, but I can't see how this is going to help Trump in an election at all. The people who care about Snowden are not going to overlook everything else Trump has done, and at the risk of sounding callous, I don't think most millenials are really thinking about Snowden at this point.
The question for me is why Putin wants Edward Snowden gone, and when you look at the one vs. the other, the answer looks pretty clear to me.
- duxup 6y agoI don't think Russia needs anyone's help being rid of Snowden... Russia is not a very free country, if they want him silent, gone, whatever it would happen.
- cryptonector 6y agoClearly Snowden has been useful to them, at least from a propaganda angle, and perhaps intelligence-wise as well. By now they've extracted all the value they were ever going to extract from him, and he may just be a cost center to them now, but you're absolutely right that if they wanted to be rid of him, it'd be trivial to do it.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago> Clearly Snowden has been useful to them, at least from a propaganda angle, and perhaps intelligence-wise as well. By now they've extracted all the value they were ever going to extract from him Symbols can stay valuable for a long time. A political refugee from the United States has all kinds of symbolic value, not least because we aren't willing to admit that there could be such a thing.
- JamesBarney 6y agoHow would he be a cost center?
- cryptonector 6y agoI was speculating for the purpose of reasoning about whether they might want to get rid of him. How could he be a cost center? I don't know -- maybe they provide security for him?
- rayiner 6y ago> It's the only explanation for why Trump—who has no pressing reason to be thinking about Edward Snowden right now, and almost certainly does not approve of Snowden or people like him—would suddenly raise the issue. There is way more overlap in the thought process (with respect to the deep state) of Trump and Snowden supporters than than Snowden supporters would let on.