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Russia won’t extradite Snowden to US – Kremlin
- pvnick 13y ago> "Russia has never extradited anyone, and will not extradite," said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. While part of me feels that this is good news, the other part - cynical from all the word games I've heard from my own government recently - suspects they could definitely send him back without calling it "extradition." Still, I am cautiously optimistic.
- nandemo 13y agoI don't think you need to be particularly cynical to assume that Russia might eventually send him away without calling it an extradition. After all, it doesn't look like Russia is interested in actively protecting Snowden. And if he doesn't get asylum in Russia neither somewhere else, it's plausible that the "default" alternative is deportation.
- a3n 13y agoRussia has done spy exchanges. Snowden "is" a spy. When it's to Russia's advantage, they won't hesitate to implement an exchange.
- cstejerean 13y agoI don't know anything about spy exchanges, but based on the term I would imagine it works the other way: an American spy captured in Russsia would be traded for a Russian spy captured in the US. Do they usually trade defectors too?
- Demiurge 13y agoYes, defectors and enemy spies are usually the same thing. It's much more rare that they are 'inserted'.
- a3n 13y agoTo put it more generally, it would be for an American spy in Russia for any reason and under their control, for any similar Russian spy in America. Doesn't matter whether the "spies" want to go or not, nor how they got there. The spy exchange would be just window dressing for accomplishing some thing that either or both powers want.
- barking 13y agoWhat would have happened if it was Osama Bin Laden in Moscow airport.
- coldcode 13y agoHard to imagine cheering something the Russian government does yet here we are. Would you trust your life to them?
- ne0phyte 13y agoWould you rather trust your life to the US government?
- sillysaurus 13y agoYes. Let's not forget that it's Russia. Still, Snowden can't afford to trust the US, so that leaves Russia as an alternative. But that's just a special case for this particular situation.
- coldtea 13y ago>Yes. Let's not forget that it's Russia. So? Russia has been a much more malevolent world player than the US.
- SecretofMana 13y agoI think you misread their comment. They were saying that they would rather trust the US government with their life over the Russian government.
- Daishiman 13y agoThere's a few hundred million people in Latin America who would disagree with that.
- speeder 13y agoI am from Brazil. Although I am not much for left-wing politics, I really wish that Russia had more influence here than the US. And I still keep meeting people that are still looking for people that got "disappeared" by CIA.
- nodata 13y ago> said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Hm. Interesting switch. I wonder why.
- ChikkaChiChi 13y agoI found this interesting as well. Putin has developed a reputation for being his own mouthpiece when it comes to anything that helps to further the cult of personality he's built around himself. In other words, I'm shocked Putin had someone else say this instead of having cameras on him while he was shirtless and wrestling a bear for control of the life of a tiger cub.
- mahmud 13y agoBetween this and both sides publicly announcing they're arming opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, I can't help but think the cold-war is making a comeback. I am not saying that Russia should betray Snowden's trust and hand him over. Just that the two countries should have the appropriate communication channels to sort this out, and not air to the media in PR stunts. Public diplomacy often leads to oneupmanship, and makes concessions expensive.
- kalms 13y agoIt's not a cold war per default, when a country refuse to do what the US demands. This is just a conflict of interest. Syria is in Russia's backyard, so of course they'll have opposing viewpoints. Snowden and Wikileaks moved it into the public for a reason. Russia/US can't change that right now, so they have to play along, which seems like a good thing for Snowden/Wikileaks.
- coldtea 13y ago>It's not a cold war per default, when a country refuse to do what the US demands. This is just a conflict of interest. Syria is in Russia's backyard, so of course they'll have opposing viewpoints. They also don't take well to fundamentalists wanting to turn Syria into Afghanistan masquarading as "freedom fighters".
- Systemic33 13y agoI think the saying "The enemy of an enemy, is a friend" suits this situation very well.
- eksith 13y agoIn this case, "a pawn". I'm fairly certain the Russians are unwilling to antagonize the U.S. beyond mild annoyance (posturing, really) and if the issue is forced to any meaningful degree, Snowden is toast.
- robin2 13y agoSo perhaps the saying should be "the frenemy of my frenemy is my end"
- RivieraKid 13y agoI wonder what his girlfriend thinks about all this.
- user24 13y agoI don't know but here's what he father had to say: http://www.infowars.com/snowdens-father-describes-son-as-a-modern-day-paul-revere/ http://www.infowars.com/snowdens-father-describes-son-as-a-m...
- diminoten 13y agoThis reminds me of the Dave Chappell sketch: > I want some answers that Ja Rule might not have right now. What's Snowden's girlfriend going to tell me that's going to help me make sense of all this?
- ck2 13y agoWell I guess all the bankers who destroyed our economy for a decade can flea to Russia too. Oh wait, they don't have to flea, no-one is pursuing them and they are gearing up for the next round of destruction since no laws were passed to restrict their behavior. We have great priorities and perspective.
- Alterlife 13y agoI hate to be that guy... the message of your post is clear, but I think it should be flee and not flea. https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflea https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflea https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflee https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflee
- JTon 13y agoYou just couldn't resist, could you. I'm shocked no regulation has passed to limit the banker's power. And I'm even more shocked none of them spent any time in jail. Seems like they really do own capitol hill
- josephv 13y agoAt this point, I think capitol hill owns them, and would hate to send their lackeys to jail and interrupt what they have encouraged them to do: fleece the plebs to pay massive consultant fees for their insider information about bloated govt contracts and pending financial manipulations.
- ensignavenger 13y ago>I'm shocked no regulation has passed to limit the banker's power. Probably because there are already a ton of regulations- the problem is they weren't being enforced. They probably still aren't being enforced. Actually, I'd be in favor of having a lot fewer regulations, and enforcing those few very strictly.
- ksrm 13y ago
- belorn 13y ago> "one of the biggest security leaks in the American history" Is the prism slides really one of the biggest security leaks in the American history, comparable to the Pentagon Papers, the war logs or the diplomatic cables? The prism power point leak looks a bit tiny in comparison. It seems to me as the reason prism get so much media attention, is that it confirmed something everyone already knew but refused to accept. That shock hit at peoples heart, and felt more than 250,000 United States diplomatic cables or 500,000 army reports. Knowing, rather than just suspecting that Google, FB or microsoft channels data over to the NSA feels worse than hearing about kids being shot at by an attack helicopter using 30 mm fire. Still, using the description of biggest security leaks in the American history might be a bit much?
- rlpb 13y agoAIUI, he didn't leak any actual data. Just metadata. He leaked what information is being collected, rather than any information that actually was collected. Definitely nothing like "one of the biggest security leaks in the American history".
- jkestner 13y agoMetadata is data. It's a security leak for the government, not us citizens whose data they're holding.
- perlpimp 13y agoIt is easier to digest a powerpoint presentation than huge load of legal documents. As well what the documents revealed is that program is spending considerable amount of money and no tiny blip on GDP - and it is being used to break all sort of essential freedoms that have been clearly penciled into the constitution by framers. What has been revealed so far is cronyism, systemic corruption and trampling of citizen's rights while being paid by those same citizens out of their national debt, which is at 15 trillion at this moment.
- peterkelly 13y agoWell the guy responsible for leaking the pentagon papers (Daniel Ellsberg) had this to say: "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago" http://www.ellsberg.net/archive/edward-snowden http://www.ellsberg.net/archive/edward-snowden
- miloshadzic 13y agoIt's both funny and sad to see every thread about Snowden's potential asylum outside the US turn into the good/evil dichotomy.