4 ms·

Snowden is twitting from Moscow. Russians in a similar position have been formally labeled "foreign agents", imprisoned, or worse. I'm wondering how Snowden man

Snowden is twitting from Moscow. Russians in a similar position have been formally labeled "foreign agents", imprisoned, or worse. I'm wondering how Snowden managed to avoid a similar fate.

AyyWS 5y ago
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
- all2 5y ago
  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
juanani 5y ago
godshatter 5y ago
The US government wanted Snowden bad, going as far as to forcing the Bolivian President's jet to land because they thought Snowden might have been on it. A few European countries wouldn't let the plane traverse their airspace, presumably because of pressure being put on them by the US. Russia giving Snowden refugee status was a big middle finger to the West and the US in particular. It's just a bonus that every time he tweets he makes the US look bad.
wbl 5y ago
I don't wonder that hard about it. It's clear that he is dependent on staying in Putin's good graces to remain a free man.
toss1 5y ago
Because he is their agent. Remember Russia has been the undisputed world champion of dezinformatsiya for centuries - they did a good job of making him appear as the "disgruntled principled whistleblower" they wanted. But most of the stuff he stole had little to do with the NSA activities they publicized, and much to do with key intelligence damage to the USA, including likely loss of lives. That's not protest, it's treason; do not expect him ever to leave RUS soil. I had vaguely thought of him as a good guy too at first, until I looked into it a little deeper.
- rvense 5y ago
  This doesn't make sense. It's very obvious when you look at his movements in 2013 that Snowden did not want to end up in Russia, and there is absolutely nothing that links him to Russia prior to his revelations.
  - toss1 5y ago
    Look more closely. That's what I thought at first. Read what people who were actually in the intelligence agencies said.
    - rvense 5y ago
      Why in the world would I trust people who were in intelligence agencies?
      - summm 5y ago
        Even worse: Why would I trust professional liars whose wrongdoings were uncovered by Snowden? "Do your own research". He cannot even name specific sources for his vague insinuations.
        toss1 5y ago
        >>cannot even name nope, just didn't bother to go track it down for a comment. but here you go, this [0][1]should have enough details and links to start you off. You might also note that while the progressive Barack Obama had no problem pardoning Manning, he did no such thing for Snowdon. This was after the US House Intelligence Committee — not intelligence agency people, and both parties — UNANIMOUSLY voted to approve a report on Edward Snowden finding that he "did tremendous damage" to U.S. national security [2]. Perhaps you can explain how the whole airport fiasco and taking on Snowdon could have happened without Putin's direct approval - and why he'd do such a thing if it is "only" US civil rights issues at stake from Snowdon's theft. Perhaps you can also explain how among the million+ documents Snowdon stole, only a few actually have anything to do with the headlines touting the civil liberty cause - e.g., exposing details of Israel’s killing of senior WMD proliferators in Syria [3]. Seriously, how does that improve anything in the US? If you actually bother to look, without the hero-worshipping glasses and Qanon-level suspicion of anything related to government, you find that his massive story is a fraud. [0] https://observer.com/2016/09/the-real-ed-snowden-is-a-patsy-a-fraud-and-a-kremlin-controlled-pawn/ https://observer.com/2016/09/the-real-ed-snowden-is-a-patsy-... [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20200606111426/https://20committee.com/2015/07/19/the-painful-truth-about-snowden/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200606111426/https://20committ... [2] https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-intelligence-committee-releases-snowden-report-summary https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-intelligence-committee-rel... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20200226232346/https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Snowden-leak-Israeli-commandos-killed-Syrian-general-at-dinner-party-409089 https://web.archive.org/web/20200226232346/https://www.jpost...

Snowden is twitting from Moscow. Russians in a similar position have been formally labeled "foreign agents", imprisoned, or worse. I'm wondering how Snowden managed to avoid a similar fate.

AyyWS 5y ago

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

all2 5y ago
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

juanani 5y ago

godshatter 5y ago

The US government wanted Snowden bad, going as far as to forcing the Bolivian President's jet to land because they thought Snowden might have been on it. A few European countries wouldn't let the plane traverse their airspace, presumably because of pressure being put on them by the US. Russia giving Snowden refugee status was a big middle finger to the West and the US in particular. It's just a bonus that every time he tweets he makes the US look bad.

wbl 5y ago

I don't wonder that hard about it. It's clear that he is dependent on staying in Putin's good graces to remain a free man.

toss1 5y ago

Because he is their agent. Remember Russia has been the undisputed world champion of dezinformatsiya for centuries - they did a good job of making him appear as the "disgruntled principled whistleblower" they wanted. But most of the stuff he stole had little to do with the NSA activities they publicized, and much to do with key intelligence damage to the USA, including likely loss of lives. That's not protest, it's treason; do not expect him ever to leave RUS soil. I had vaguely thought of him as a good guy too at first, until I looked into it a little deeper.

rvense 5y ago
This doesn't make sense. It's very obvious when you look at his movements in 2013 that Snowden did not want to end up in Russia, and there is absolutely nothing that links him to Russia prior to his revelations.
- toss1 5y ago
  Look more closely. That's what I thought at first. Read what people who were actually in the intelligence agencies said.
  - rvense 5y ago
    Why in the world would I trust people who were in intelligence agencies?
    - summm 5y ago
      Even worse: Why would I trust professional liars whose wrongdoings were uncovered by Snowden? "Do your own research". He cannot even name specific sources for his vague insinuations.
      - toss1 5y ago
        >>cannot even name nope, just didn't bother to go track it down for a comment. but here you go, this [0][1]should have enough details and links to start you off. You might also note that while the progressive Barack Obama had no problem pardoning Manning, he did no such thing for Snowdon. This was after the US House Intelligence Committee — not intelligence agency people, and both parties — UNANIMOUSLY voted to approve a report on Edward Snowden finding that he "did tremendous damage" to U.S. national security [2]. Perhaps you can explain how the whole airport fiasco and taking on Snowdon could have happened without Putin's direct approval - and why he'd do such a thing if it is "only" US civil rights issues at stake from Snowdon's theft. Perhaps you can also explain how among the million+ documents Snowdon stole, only a few actually have anything to do with the headlines touting the civil liberty cause - e.g., exposing details of Israel’s killing of senior WMD proliferators in Syria [3]. Seriously, how does that improve anything in the US? If you actually bother to look, without the hero-worshipping glasses and Qanon-level suspicion of anything related to government, you find that his massive story is a fraud. [0] https://observer.com/2016/09/the-real-ed-snowden-is-a-patsy-a-fraud-and-a-kremlin-controlled-pawn/ https://observer.com/2016/09/the-real-ed-snowden-is-a-patsy-... [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20200606111426/https://20committee.com/2015/07/19/the-painful-truth-about-snowden/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200606111426/https://20committ... [2] https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-intelligence-committee-releases-snowden-report-summary https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-intelligence-committee-rel... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20200226232346/https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Snowden-leak-Israeli-commandos-killed-Syrian-general-at-dinner-party-409089 https://web.archive.org/web/20200226232346/https://www.jpost...