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Granting asylum to Snowden will just influence relations between US and Russia,and is not done to be coherent with previous standings of the country on the topi
by mikemoka 13y ago
Granting asylum to Snowden will just influence relations between US and Russia,and is not done to be coherent with previous standings of the country on the topic of human rights,almost always different.
We have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
- ihsw 13y agoExactly, imagine how the situation would've played out if Snowden were gay (or a woman).
- rfctr 13y agoLet me think... it would be... the same?
- steveklabnik 13y agoI think they're referring to this: http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/latest/17811861/russias-putin-signs-gay-propaganda-ban-into-law/ http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/latest/17811861/russias-p...
- ambientwhsiper 13y agoLet me think... you're a fucking idiot. There.
- kostyakow 13y agoI don't think anything would be different if he was a woman.
- SimHacker 13y agoHow deftly you dodged half of the question. What if he were a gay woman?
- kostyakow 13y agoI didn't dodge the question, because I agree with the first part -- Russia is a horrible country with a corrupt government that imprisons/kills activists and journalists. I only disagree with a minor detail you mentioned -- there would be no difference if he was female, because in Russia there is no discrimination against women (at least not more then in any Western country).
- alexakarpov 13y agoCan't agree more (Russian here). In Russia it's all about putting up a show of anti-americanism, because that's what the voters like (the one thing that brings back memories of relative security of late Soviet days). Think Osama bin Laden granting asylum to Snowden in some remote Taliban camp.
- narrator 13y agoFor Russia it's more about showing the world that they are the only country that can't be intimidated by the U.S and thus that they are the only hold out against American world domination. Any other country would have handed him over eventually. I'm sure the Chinese and Central Asian governments are thinking that without the Russians to counterbalance things geopolitically they'd have to all be client states of the U.S.
- petercooper 13y agoI'm not sure China would care. They'd just become the second superpower (which, I would argue, they already are). Their economy is much larger than Russia's, their trade relations diverse (the US isn't even their #1 trading partner), their land more habitable (though smaller), their technology better, they have a large army and nuclear arsenal, and they're in an ideal location to put up significant resistance against US incursions.
- mpyne 13y agoPlus China is in a great position geologically (if that makes sense). The Asia-Pacific region is only going to get more important as the years go on, and China is right in the thick of it all, while Russia is camped out with Siberia. Who knows though, once the Arctic ice sheets melt maybe that position will become more important than it appears.
- rfctr 13y agoSo Russians feel sympathetic and supporting lending a help to a mere human who just tried to help his country and now his country hunts him down like a wild animal. But that is somehow bad, eh? o_O P.S. Hey, Alex, why stop at Osama?! You forgot to mention Hitler! That would be more dramatic, and equally cheap brainwashing tactic.