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Edward Snowden Reconsidered

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21–30 of 55 posts

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#21
post #6

> The question of whether or not Snowden was a Russian asset all along has been raised and debated. No evidence has been found that he was, just as no evidence has been found that he was a spy for China. ... We can’t know. Wikipedia: Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a disinformation strategy...

Uncertainty and doubt are not actually bad. There are a whole lot questions we don't have good answers for, and so we should be comfortable admitting what we don't know. You can keep questions in mind without immediately answering them. On the other hand there are what I call the "instant experts" who are quick to take sides on something they were ignorant of yesterday, just because they read something about it in th…

You're confusing the scientific rational doubt, and projected, induced, completely irrational and paranoid feeling of doubtful fear and uncertainty that distorts peoples' perception and makes them panic and act irrational, and do and accept things and compromises they otherwise never would. The fear of the dark, if you will. And whether it's government pushing for more control, or pimps/mafia/molesters pushing their victims into submission, the mechanisms are very similar, they always first sell you the fear and then offer the protection from it (if you do as told, of course).

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#22
post #12
post #7

This is a pretty smart article. The author makes a solid attempt to explain one of the weirder things about Snowden, Assange, and Greenwald, and the other people in their orbit — why do people who care about transparency and revealing government wrongdoing appear to defend and/or support Putin? I’m not entirely convinced by the explanation, but it’s the best one I’ve seen so far, and a lot of these people’s actions m…

Can you point to one instance where Snowden supported/defended Putin or opinions of Putin? Couldn’t find one in the article.

Several such instances are listed in the article, the argument is pretty clearly stated. If you don't find it convincing, that's one thing but claiming it's not there when it plainly is is just odd.

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#23
post #5

> An earlier version of this essay misstated the number of documents that Edward Snowden released; that number is not known. The figure of 1.7 million was an intelligence estimate given to Congress of files accessed by Snowden. An earlier version also misstated that the DuckDuckGo search engine allows partners to collect user data; it does not. The article has been updated. So the author spent all this time writing t…

It was written by a three letter agency because it contained and corrected some relatively minor factual errors?

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#24
post #12
post #7

This is a pretty smart article. The author makes a solid attempt to explain one of the weirder things about Snowden, Assange, and Greenwald, and the other people in their orbit — why do people who care about transparency and revealing government wrongdoing appear to defend and/or support Putin? I’m not entirely convinced by the explanation, but it’s the best one I’ve seen so far, and a lot of these people’s actions m…

Can you point to one instance where Snowden supported/defended Putin or opinions of Putin? Couldn’t find one in the article.

I don’t know. Moving to Russia?

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#25
Well, there is always some degree to "fake news" in every article you read, but yes I agree that Edward Snowden is a patriot. William Binney probably had the perfect solution to counter domestic and international terrorism, however his program was shutdown because the majority of the people working for Uncle Sam at the time wanted something far more than stopping terrorists. Sure, they may have had good intentions, but with power like this, there is no stopping others from coming along and corrupting it for their own purposes.

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#26
post #22
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to one instance where Snowden supported/defended Putin or opinions of Putin? Couldn’t find one in the article.

Several such instances are listed in the article, the argument is pretty clearly stated. If you don't find it convincing, that's one thing but claiming it's not there when it plainly is is just odd.

The article claims a lot ... yet I cannot find any source interviews where Snowden defended Putin.

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#27
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to one instance where Snowden supported/defended Putin or opinions of Putin? Couldn’t find one in the article.

I don’t know. Moving to Russia?

Seems US government officials are also colluding with Russia, as they stranded him there (revoking his passport while he was in transit in Moskau).

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#28
post #6

> The question of whether or not Snowden was a Russian asset all along has been raised and debated. No evidence has been found that he was, just as no evidence has been found that he was a spy for China. ... We can’t know. Wikipedia: Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a disinformation strategy...

This claim struck me as especially dumb. We can easily determine whether or not he was a Russian asset by asking the question "Why is he in Russia?" He is in Russia because the U.S. cancelled his passport after he left China and before he got to Ecuador. He hasn't been able to leave because the U.S. won't restore his passport. And he's still on a temporary Russian visa. And even if he found a way to fly, the last time the United States thought (incorrectly) he was on a plane, they forced the plane (which was registered as a diplomatic flight) to land.

The conspiracy that he was flipped by Russia after he got there is at least not contradicted by the obvious facts, but a claim that he was a Russian agent all along is asinine.

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#29
post #6

> The question of whether or not Snowden was a Russian asset all along has been raised and debated. No evidence has been found that he was, just as no evidence has been found that he was a spy for China. ... We can’t know. Wikipedia: Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a disinformation strategy...

This claim struck me as especially dumb. We can easily determine whether or not he was a Russian asset by asking the question "Why is he in Russia?" He is in Russia because the U.S. cancelled his passport after he left China and before he got to Ecuador. He hasn't been able to leave because the U.S. won't restore his passport. And he's still on a temporary Russian visa. And even if he found a way to fly, the last tim…

If we posit that his being in Russia is not good evidence for him being a Russian agent all along, that does not mean it is good evidence he was not a Russian agent all along.

Re: Edward Snowden Reconsidered

#30
post #26
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several such instances are listed in the article, the argument is pretty clearly stated. If you don't find it convincing, that's one thing but claiming it's not there when it plainly is is just odd.

The article claims a lot ... yet I cannot find any source interviews where Snowden defended Putin.

That's not what you asked. The article lists several occurrences which the author interprets as support for Putin. You said you read the article and found no such thing. That's not a reasonable representation of the article. Or of reading.
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