I was joking (could I say deadpanning?), the serious part being that Snowden showed a need for freedom from US-made software (regardless of citizens' freedoms),

I was joking (could I say deadpanning?), the serious part being that Snowden showed a need for freedom from US-made software (regardless of citizens' freedoms), and that the rest of the world tries hard to look so bad that it makes Russia look better than it deserves.