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I guess my point is that there would be severe ramifications if the US deployed its military to retrieve Snowden within Chinese territory. Whether they'd do it
by Jack000 13y ago
I guess my point is that there would be severe ramifications if the US deployed its military to retrieve Snowden within Chinese territory.
Whether they'd do it or not is not the issue - Snowden is a whistle blower who's had a peak inside the system, and is paranoid (perhaps justifiably given what he was leaking) about his safety. We're only trying to explain his choice, not whether it was a good one.
edit: also, the US has already killed its citizens without trial using drones in the war on terror. I think it's a pretty thin line between "enemy combatant" and "treasonous spy", slippery slope and all..
- glurgh 13y agoI don't want to bury you in some dreary repeat wall of text so I sort of combine-replied to you in the response to the upthread poster. As to the quality of his choices, I think that's the actual interesting thing - not whether we can come up with some semi-plausible theory for them. Are his choices a part of some grand strategy (like the article we're discussing seems to suggest) or are they haphazard? To me, the evidence so far seems to strongly point to 'haphazard', which is very bad news both for him personally and for the cause of civil liberties which he claims as his motivation. I'd love to be wrong about this but not quite to the point where I leave my critical faculties in my other pants.
- wilecoyote 13y agoI think this is spot on, both as the interesting question and as the answer that seems most likely given what's been reported. Defend ideals and the civil liberties that cost so much to achieve, but China or a controlled territory seems a terrible place to make that stand.