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It seems he accepted Putin's terms to not release anymore information. I wonder if that means no more information coming out, period, or that since most/all of

by pvnick 13y ago

It seems he accepted Putin's terms to not release anymore information. I wonder if that means no more information coming out, period, or that since most/all of the information is now with third parties that it's their responsibility. I doubt Putin likes being disrespected with loopholes and technicalities, but I more-so doubt that Snowden would halt the revelations altogether for the sake of his own safety. I suspect this was discussed and that Russian officials agreed to the continued release of what is no longer under Snowden's control. Does anybody have any more information on that?

rantanplan 13y ago
I think that Putin simply cares about appearing cooperative with his American "friends", so as to avoid any repercussions. Also there is definitely some play on words here, since we know that Snowden cannot have any control about the information he has already given to various individuals. So yes, he probably won't release any more info personally.
- vog 13y ago
  But imagine he violates the requiements and releases more information. Would that actually be a problem for him? Putin already said that he won't send him to a country where he may be sentenced to death. So even in that case, he probably won't be sent to the US but to some other country than grants asylum to him.
  - rantanplan 13y ago
    I can't imagine why he would do something like that, in the open. After all he needs any friends he can get! But even if he was to break his promise of not releasing any more info, it would make more sense if he did it "under the radar". I think he is quite capable of that. Or maybe, he could do it while the Russians are looking the other way :)
- samstave 13y ago
  Also, when Putin says "don't release" he is NOT saying "don't give to me"....
- osmsiberiano 13y ago
  He _is_ cooperative. Inside, he claims we're under an attack of US spies or US propaganda, etc. But when it's time to act abroad, he is too weak to make anything substantial that would annoy the neocon US President. Just as Italy replied to Snowden that he should have brought the request personally, our ministry of immigration finds excuses like "the procedure takes time..."
- VladRussian2 13y ago
  For Putin harboring an "active" foreign dissident would make it just a little bit harder to make live less awesome for the internal dissidents. On the other side, giving protection from "evil" Americans to a young naive guy who is being too harshly pursued by the whole overwhelming force of the said Americans' government for possibly violating some obscure laws in order to defend and promote democracy and openness, etc.. - well, Putin looks almost like a good Samaritan (God forbid that Samaritan come to your help like he came for Snowden) and, by proxy, a democracy defender and promoter :)
rfctr 13y ago
Snowden will halt the revelations abruptly. He would be a fool to break the agreement with Putin. Putin is a man of his word, and expects the same from Snowden. Information may continue to leak, but not from Snowden. His part of the show is finished (and luckily for him, he's not even bruised!).
- andreypopp 13y ago
  > Putin is a man of his word :-)
  - rfctr 13y ago
    Any reasons to believe otherwise? The only thing I hold against him is his failure, as promised, to hang Georgian president by his balls. Eating necktie is a weak substitute.
    - jbooth 13y ago
      Being president of a large country pretty much guarantees you've had to lie and cheat at least a little bit to get there. For one random example (not being a huge student of 21st century Russia), he promised Bush that he wasn't arming Saddam's troops. Turned out they were outfitted with a lot of Russian anti-tank and night vision gear when we got there.
      - rfctr 13y ago
        Proof, please? Soviet-designed doesn't mean Russian. Soviet designs are in manufacturing all over the world, including countries much closer to Iraq.
        jbooth 13y ago
        http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/10/evidence_cited_of_russian_arms_in_iraq/ http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/10/evidenc... It's a he said, she said, of course.
hobbes 13y ago
It's quite possible Snowden has already passed on all his information to other parties. There's no need for Snowden to be the messenger any more.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  It's not quite possible, it's factual: http://rt.com/news/snowden-leaks-guardian-greenwald-264/ http://rt.com/news/snowden-leaks-guardian-greenwald-264/ (well, maybe 'almost all' rather than 'all.')
- znowi 13y ago
  Which is the right thing to do. Perhaps then people start paying more attention to the leaks instead of the messenger.
ra 13y ago
Now the headline has changed to: "Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now - lawyer" ... so it seems RT popped their cork too early. Explains why the Guardian didn't cover this yet.
- falk 13y ago
  Yep. Got this from a live blog that Greenwald tweeted a little while ago. "Federal migration service has not issued documents allowing Edward Snowden to leave the airport yet, there was a misinformation today in the media, said Kucherena." http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_24/Edward-Snowden-leaves-Sheremetyevo-airport-LIVE-REPORT-7522/ http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_24/Edward-Snowden-leaves-Sher...
chli 13y ago
Didn't Snowden say that this was only temporary so he could secure a flight to a south american country at some point ?
- mkramlich 13y ago
  meh. everything's temporary, technically. the line blurs between that and "not temporary"
mcantelon 13y ago
My guess is Putin requested this to placate the US rather than out of concern. Yesterday the US and Russia both announced they'd be arming opposing sides in Syria, so placating the US might not be as big a priority now. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-russia-simultaneously-announce-intent-145729405.html http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-russia-simultaneously-annou...
- Everlag 13y ago
  Oh goddammit! I thought we were over Russia and the US doing that cold war bullshit. Seriously, if you're going to fight a war fight an economic war, much less destructive to other people than the little proxy wars the big boys seems to love so much.
  - antitrust 13y ago
    Wars don't end until the underlying issue is settled. In this case it is very much as it was in 1914, which is "which large conglomerate of regional interests will rule the world," with participants being Russia, Europe and the USA. In the intervening years, we have added China, India and South America to the competition. But otherwise... "same as it ever was."
    - keevie 13y ago
      same as it ever was
      - SimHacker 13y ago
        You may find yourself in another part of the world.
    - jivatmanx 13y ago
      War is politics by other means. When a war ends without the politics being settled, the seed of conflict remains. However, most either people lack this longer term vision and falsely perceive a physical wins as an ultimate "victory", or don't care because they won't be around then. "This isn't a peace, it's a twenty year truce!" - Ferdinand Foch, regarding the Treaty of Versailles As an aside, the U.S's failure to predict the Collapse of the USSR was probably their greatest intelligence failure, with the consequence being Russia beginning a hurtling into the Abyss, arrested by Putin, and a partial reversal of the Democratic trend of Gorbachev. I don't think Demonizing Putin is really going to be helpful. Ignorance of the historical circumstances of Russia brought him in power is analogous to the belief that a Utopian Democracy could simply be imposed on Iraq from above. Take a Spherical Cow in a Vacuum, add some Democracy...
popee 13y ago
You are not material for politician -> good thing :-) But don't be naive, they say lot of gibberish. Only thing that matters is interest.
wavesounds 13y ago
I think that 'no more information' is just a temporary thing until he gets out of Russia into a country where he has asylum.
wdr1 13y ago
I suspect the arrangement is he ceases to disseminate any new information during his stay in Russia. This avoids any undue tension in the US-Russian relations. Once he's left Russia, I suspect he'll be able to continue his activities.

by pvnick 13y ago

rantanplan 13y ago

I think that Putin simply cares about appearing cooperative with his American "friends", so as to avoid any repercussions. Also there is definitely some play on words here, since we know that Snowden cannot have any control about the information he has already given to various individuals. So yes, he probably won't release any more info personally.

vog 13y ago
But imagine he violates the requiements and releases more information. Would that actually be a problem for him? Putin already said that he won't send him to a country where he may be sentenced to death. So even in that case, he probably won't be sent to the US but to some other country than grants asylum to him.
- rantanplan 13y ago
  I can't imagine why he would do something like that, in the open. After all he needs any friends he can get! But even if he was to break his promise of not releasing any more info, it would make more sense if he did it "under the radar". I think he is quite capable of that. Or maybe, he could do it while the Russians are looking the other way :)
samstave 13y ago
Also, when Putin says "don't release" he is NOT saying "don't give to me"....
osmsiberiano 13y ago
He _is_ cooperative. Inside, he claims we're under an attack of US spies or US propaganda, etc. But when it's time to act abroad, he is too weak to make anything substantial that would annoy the neocon US President. Just as Italy replied to Snowden that he should have brought the request personally, our ministry of immigration finds excuses like "the procedure takes time..."
VladRussian2 13y ago
For Putin harboring an "active" foreign dissident would make it just a little bit harder to make live less awesome for the internal dissidents. On the other side, giving protection from "evil" Americans to a young naive guy who is being too harshly pursued by the whole overwhelming force of the said Americans' government for possibly violating some obscure laws in order to defend and promote democracy and openness, etc.. - well, Putin looks almost like a good Samaritan (God forbid that Samaritan come to your help like he came for Snowden) and, by proxy, a democracy defender and promoter :)

rfctr 13y ago

Snowden will halt the revelations abruptly. He would be a fool to break the agreement with Putin. Putin is a man of his word, and expects the same from Snowden. Information may continue to leak, but not from Snowden. His part of the show is finished (and luckily for him, he's not even bruised!).

andreypopp 13y ago
> Putin is a man of his word :-)
- rfctr 13y ago
  Any reasons to believe otherwise? The only thing I hold against him is his failure, as promised, to hang Georgian president by his balls. Eating necktie is a weak substitute.
  - jbooth 13y ago
    Being president of a large country pretty much guarantees you've had to lie and cheat at least a little bit to get there. For one random example (not being a huge student of 21st century Russia), he promised Bush that he wasn't arming Saddam's troops. Turned out they were outfitted with a lot of Russian anti-tank and night vision gear when we got there.
    - rfctr 13y ago
      Proof, please? Soviet-designed doesn't mean Russian. Soviet designs are in manufacturing all over the world, including countries much closer to Iraq.
      - jbooth 13y ago
        http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/10/evidence_cited_of_russian_arms_in_iraq/ http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/10/evidenc... It's a he said, she said, of course.

hobbes 13y ago

It's quite possible Snowden has already passed on all his information to other parties. There's no need for Snowden to be the messenger any more.

steveklabnik 13y ago
It's not quite possible, it's factual: http://rt.com/news/snowden-leaks-guardian-greenwald-264/ http://rt.com/news/snowden-leaks-guardian-greenwald-264/ (well, maybe 'almost all' rather than 'all.')
znowi 13y ago
Which is the right thing to do. Perhaps then people start paying more attention to the leaks instead of the messenger.

ra 13y ago

Now the headline has changed to: "Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now - lawyer" ... so it seems RT popped their cork too early. Explains why the Guardian didn't cover this yet.

falk 13y ago
Yep. Got this from a live blog that Greenwald tweeted a little while ago. "Federal migration service has not issued documents allowing Edward Snowden to leave the airport yet, there was a misinformation today in the media, said Kucherena." http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_24/Edward-Snowden-leaves-Sheremetyevo-airport-LIVE-REPORT-7522/ http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_24/Edward-Snowden-leaves-Sher...

chli 13y ago

Didn't Snowden say that this was only temporary so he could secure a flight to a south american country at some point ?

mkramlich 13y ago
meh. everything's temporary, technically. the line blurs between that and "not temporary"

mcantelon 13y ago

My guess is Putin requested this to placate the US rather than out of concern. Yesterday the US and Russia both announced they'd be arming opposing sides in Syria, so placating the US might not be as big a priority now. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-russia-simultaneously-announce-intent-145729405.html http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-russia-simultaneously-annou...

Everlag 13y ago
Oh goddammit! I thought we were over Russia and the US doing that cold war bullshit. Seriously, if you're going to fight a war fight an economic war, much less destructive to other people than the little proxy wars the big boys seems to love so much.
- antitrust 13y ago
  Wars don't end until the underlying issue is settled. In this case it is very much as it was in 1914, which is "which large conglomerate of regional interests will rule the world," with participants being Russia, Europe and the USA. In the intervening years, we have added China, India and South America to the competition. But otherwise... "same as it ever was."
  - keevie 13y ago
    same as it ever was
    - SimHacker 13y ago
      You may find yourself in another part of the world.
  - jivatmanx 13y ago
    War is politics by other means. When a war ends without the politics being settled, the seed of conflict remains. However, most either people lack this longer term vision and falsely perceive a physical wins as an ultimate "victory", or don't care because they won't be around then. "This isn't a peace, it's a twenty year truce!" - Ferdinand Foch, regarding the Treaty of Versailles As an aside, the U.S's failure to predict the Collapse of the USSR was probably their greatest intelligence failure, with the consequence being Russia beginning a hurtling into the Abyss, arrested by Putin, and a partial reversal of the Democratic trend of Gorbachev. I don't think Demonizing Putin is really going to be helpful. Ignorance of the historical circumstances of Russia brought him in power is analogous to the belief that a Utopian Democracy could simply be imposed on Iraq from above. Take a Spherical Cow in a Vacuum, add some Democracy...

popee 13y ago

You are not material for politician -> good thing :-) But don't be naive, they say lot of gibberish. Only thing that matters is interest.

wavesounds 13y ago

I think that 'no more information' is just a temporary thing until he gets out of Russia into a country where he has asylum.

wdr1 13y ago

I suspect the arrangement is he ceases to disseminate any new information during his stay in Russia. This avoids any undue tension in the US-Russian relations. Once he's left Russia, I suspect he'll be able to continue his activities.