If you think it’s bait, it’s because you’re in an information silo and don’t often come in contact with different opinions. This results in people bein ill-equipped to discuss issues with people who are considering factors you haven’t so you have to pretend it’s “just someone trolling me” to avoid thinking about another point of view.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the above person. Snowden is a traitor, him now being a citizen of an adversary should be a clue. He now has to say whatever Putin wants him to say or he’ll fall out of a window.
You spread misinformation, gardylou@lemmy.world. Anyone who cares to do so can verify the info I give below.
Snowden stated from the start that he originally intended to go from Hong Kong to Ecuador, who had promised him asylum. He intentionally gave away all copies of his data, destroying his own, to the journalists who had met him in Hong Kong to evaluate his leaks (verify sources before believing those who claim ‘he leaked info to Russia’). He fully intended to be ‘clean’ if he were interdicted on his way out of Hong Kong.
The US illegally (violating international law! It is illegal for a nation to render their own citizen stateless while abroad) revoked his US passport as he flew to Russia, which he meant to be a temporary stop only to obtain passage on a flight to Ecuador as Ecuadorian officials were to be there in order to receive him.
The President of Ecuador’s own Presidential Plane, with the Ecuadorian President onboard was forcibly grounded over EU airspace, by fighter jets, at the USA’s behest, on suspicioun that Snowden might be aboard. Snowden was trapped in a Russian airport, against his will, with no valid passport, essentially rendered Stateless – again, a violation of international law perpetrated by the USA against one of its own citizens.
Imagine the USA’s response if Airforce One were forcibly grounded to a foreign airport, by foreign fighter-jets, at the behest of another country.
I didn’t follow his story after he got to Russia. What ever happened with his family? Did he abandon them or are they somehow allowed in Russia as well? Such a weird series of events.
He ain’t there by coincidence, and isn’t the good guy in this story. Might have exposed bad shit US had surveillance wise, but Snowden didn’t do it for ethical reasons, he did it to undermine the country, and ran to an authoritarian state that violates privacy even worse.
It’s pretty crazy that he left his cushy job getting paid a government contractor salary and living in Hawaii and end up in Russia living in exile. He didn’t strike me as someone who hates America - but someone who hated the abuse of power and lies. Which is all the more ironic. I still can’t reconcile it. I understand that America isn’t ALWAYS the good guy, and it’s got a long history of awful things. But Russia? I still don’t get it.
Makes more sense when you look back at how Wikileaks actually functioned. They literally coordinated with Trump campaign to generate anti-Clinton disinformation, for instance. Why would they do that? Because the wanted Putin’s guy to win.
I recall Snowden speaking out against WikiLeaks because they were a seemingly unfiltered trove of secrets disseminated, and he considered it reckless. Whereas Snowden worked with Greenwald and his team and ultimately had them figure out what to be published.
I definitely remember WikiLeaks and the Clinton campaign though! I thought that was a Julian Assange thing.
That whole Clinton email leak was the most pathetic nothingburger ever. It was so bad they had to come up with the stupid pizza gate conspiracy for it to have any substance.
Back then, especially if you were not following Russia politics closely, Russia looked as OK country with rich history and culture and powerful enough to stand up to the West. While I do not think what Snowden did was right, getting into Russia is not particularly surprising.
I think I understand it. It makes sense if his goals were to 1) release this information and 2) survive afterwards. Doing #1 was relatively easy, as he had the access to accomplish it.
But to then stay alive and (relatively) free required being beyond the reach of the US government. Being in the States is out of the question, and by extension so is being in any country with an extradition treaty with the US. I don’t know what all the options were, but ultimately he chose Russia as the place he would live.
If you assume his goal is freedom for mankind in general, it does seem hypocritical to go running to an authoritarian country for safety. But it seems pretty clear he wasn’t motivated by a vague principle, but rather wanting to blow the whistle on a specific injustice he saw.
I looked up a list of countries without extradition to the US and it’s a short list today. I’m not sure what it was when this took place, but it’s probably quite similar. Not many of the options seem like an appealing long term plan 🙃
Also keep in mind that a country that doesn’t have such a treaty is largely free to extradite someone to the US anyway, as a one-off. So really the list is even shorter.
And add to that the US is perfectly willing to conduct military operations in other countries without even asking them if that strikes their fancy, and you realize you need to be inside a:
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