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The problem is he can’t excuse the offense under the Espionage Act because it doesn’t have a public interest defense. One could argue that it should have that d
by firesteelrain 12d ago
The problem is he can’t excuse the offense under the Espionage Act because it doesn’t have a public interest defense. One could argue that it should have that defense. But that doesn’t mean the resulting trial would have been a “muppet trial”
He could have had counsel, challenged the government, and had a jury decide guilt. It would have been fair. It actually looks worse to flee like he did
- unsungNovelty 12d ago"doesn't have a public interest defence". Can't be serious.
- firesteelrain 12d agoThere isn’t one under the law so no. Why wasn’t the whistleblower process followed? Why didn’t he try to contact his congressman/ senator ? He could have said I don’t want a clearance anymore and disclosed his concerns. He could have reported anonymously even. He wanted public debate and discourse on something that the process didn’t allow
- unsungNovelty 12d agoWhat he exposed was found illegal by US courts. And the govt had to stop it. What more evidence do you want?
- lern_too_spel 12d agoA single program he leaked was illegal. The vast majority was not, including the hacking of Chinese targets that he leaked directly to SCMP.
- deleted 12d ago[deleted]
- anon7000 12d agoI don’t understand. He’s absolutely guilty of violating the US government and probably a handful of laws. I will respect him forever for doing that. But I completely agree that any trial he’d participate in is A) not going to be fair, because why would you trust the government on an issue like this, and B) not really necessary, because he didn’t do anything wrong, even if it was illegal. The only reason to NOT flee is if the government didn’t care about whistleblowers and has amazing protections for them, even in the context of national security. Does it? Maybe you think what he did was morally wrong. Who fucking cares, what the government was and is hiding is even more morally wrong.
- ShinyLeftPad 12d agoFor some people what Snowden did was the right thing. But settling in that particular country, makes it seem like he didn't do it from pureness of his heart. Maybe it was accidental but optics is optics. He took the easy way out that is best for him individually, which is understandable but undermined future debate on the question
- mitxela 12d agoWhere else would he go? Not many countries don't extradite you to the US for that. US enemies are your only options, and that fact is solely the fault of the US.
- ShinyLeftPad 12d agoNepal UAE Belarus Mongolia Vietnam Laos Montenegro Indonesia
- marsmaps 12d agothe same indonesia in which the us government helped organise mass killings of hundreds of thousands of alleged left-wing political activists and voters? [0] [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/th... 'What the United States Did in Indonesia', The Atlantic