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Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

reuters.com

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Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#171

Post by temptemptemp111 »

fandroid wrote: post #115
btbuildem wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had Snowden simply revealed unconstitutional domestic mass surveillance programs, he'd be labeled as a conspiracy theorist at best. I imagine the data he took were to serve as proof of these governmental over-reaches. Nobody would've taken him seriously without solid proof.

He could have stolen only the docs related to domestic surveillance. Snowden could have handed only those docs to his media handlers who would then vet them with the IC.

No it is by design. Everything "bad" that Snowden released is what the globalists want released.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#172

Post by hourislate »

ciarannolan wrote: post #71

If granted a pardon by the current or future US president, is there any chance that Russia will not let him return home?

Russia doesn't prevent it's citizens from traveling. What prevents it's citizens from traveling is getting a VISA to the destination country. This is granted through the local Embassy or Consolidate of destination country requiring a VISA.

Permanent residency is not citizenship. Granting Permanent Residency will give him some sort of stability knowing he will not have to renew his status every year (or so) and be able to participate more fully in Russian society (ex: Employment, services, travel, Pension, etc).

Edward Snowden will always be a US Citizen in the eyes of the USA unless he takes steps to renounce his citizenship.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#173

Post by artingent »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #129
artingent wrote: post #85

Happy for Snowden, but I hope that if Biden wins, he'd pardon Snowden - following Obama's footsteps in commuting Chelsea Manning. Although it might be harder since Biden to the Right of Obama, and given how hawkish, war-mongering, neo-libs have cozied up to Biden, and commuting Snowden isn't really possible since he has never been tried in court.

I’m not aware of anything that says a pardon requires a court trial, so correct me if I’m wrong, but a pardon isn’t saying “you’re free to go,” but actually saying (in essence) “that crime never happened.” When Manning’s sentence was commuted, that was “you’re free to go” because commuting a sentence (in essence) means “you’ve served your time”

Yep, as I said in my last sentence, Snowden's "sentence" cannot be commuted since he was never tried in court and sentenced. But he can be pardoned since there are pending cases levied against him.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#174

Post by cramexam »

save_ferris wrote: post #57
anoonmoose wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of weird to say he "faced all the negative outcomes" when he fled the US to avoid the most major of the potential negative outcomes.

Blowing the whistle completely upended his life. Anyone in his shoes would've made the same decision to leave because being tried under the Espionage Act would've yielded a guaranteed life sentence. People have a right to flee tyranny, wherever it is.

Snowden does not flee the tyranny of Russia, who would have certainly pursued poisoning him if the roles had been reversed.

It looks as though Russia and possibly China have a documented history of targeting westerners with remote energy weapons. This is tyranny. USA doesn't poison nor assassinate its traitors, certainly not to the degree of our global counterparts -- much less do we not point microwave weapons at foreign diplomats. [1]

Snowden's defecting is a larger statement about US hegemony, one upon which China has freely capitalized. A justified fear is that true tyranny will result from a long term outcome favorable to China. Snowden's treason was a step in the right direction to dismantle US hegemony.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/us/politics/diplomat-atta...

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#175

Post by dTal »

slg wrote: post #69
tinus_hn wrote: post #22

The big question is what Russia has to gain from this. Is it just to troll the US?

I know almost no one on HN wants to hear anything bad about Snowden, but Greenwald has stated that Snowden has leaked some information out of self preservation. We can't rule out the fact that Snowden has given information to the Russian government. https://web.archive.org/web/20150704033557/https://twitter.c...

Maybe the State Department should have thought of that before cancelling his passport while he was in Moscow.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#176

Post by artingent »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #124
artingent wrote: post #85

Happy for Snowden, but I hope that if Biden wins, he'd pardon Snowden - following Obama's footsteps in commuting Chelsea Manning. Although it might be harder since Biden to the Right of Obama, and given how hawkish, war-mongering, neo-libs have cozied up to Biden, and commuting Snowden isn't really possible since he has never been tried in court.

You know Obama's justice department conducted more leak prosecutions than all modern presidents combined? IDK what Trump's numbers are but his justice department is using processes and reasoning established by Obama's. Maybe Biden would pardon Snowden but it will be a hollow symbolic victory. Unless he explicitly sets to dismantling Obama's machine, it will churn ever on at the whims of whomever is president.

First term Obama was a horrible President - from drone strikes to deportations to dealing with whistleblowers... IDK if he was too concerned about being labeled a far left socialist in governance and risking his re-election prospects.

But in his 2nd term, he was a far better president. He eased off on drone strikes (still too much, imo), pardoned non-violent drug offences like crazy, he commuted Manning's sentence, and there were talks of him considering pardoning Snowden too (when he was a lame duck).

I don't think Biden will venture into territory that Obama considered to be too controversial, but given that Biden's pretty much running as a 1 term President, I don't think it's impossible.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#177

Post by slg »

dTal wrote: post #175
slg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know almost no one on HN wants to hear anything bad about Snowden, but Greenwald has stated that Snowden has leaked some information out of self preservation. We can't rule out the fact that Snowden has given information to the Russian government. https://web.archive.org/web/20150704033557/https://twitter.c...

Maybe the State Department should have thought of that before cancelling his passport while he was in Moscow.

You are maybe right on process being misguided, but you are factually wrong on the timing. Snowden was in Hong Kong when his passport was revoked.

https://apnews.com/article/587786e6e63b4dc2b70c471606d7f584

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#178

Post by seppin »

dirtnugget wrote: post #96
seppin wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 seconds on Google. This claims says he actually stayed there. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/report-snowden-stayed-a...

This source says explicitly that he was on his way to Ecuador

Either his backup plan for what was likely to happen was to stay in Russia, or his main plan was to do so (with the direct him of Russian intelligence in HK).

I don't see a significant difference between the two. He picked his side.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#179

Post by jtsuken »

tinus_hn wrote: post #22

The big question is what Russia has to gain from this. Is it just to troll the US?

Never thought I'd need to lecture HN about Occam's Razor: Permanent residency is a status for foreign citizens, who have been residing in the country permanently i.e. living there for a long time (e.g. 7 years) and might stay indefinitely. Rather than applying for a visa renewal every year, it saves time and money to grant those people a permanent residency.

Re: Russia gives Edward Snowden permanent residency

#180

Post by seppin »

class4behavior wrote: post #130
seppin wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are (still, amazingly) claiming he just happened to get stranded in Russia. Clearly this was either his backup plan for what most likely would happen, or his actual plan for what he knew would happen (with Russian intel advising him the whole way). Pretty far away from "do people not realize that his passport was taken and he got stuck in the Moscow airport?" Really far.

People say that because that's the very likely truth. We know his passport got declared invalid. It's standard procedure. The timeline is also normal as the story was developing quickly once he revealed he was the source. There are a lot of claims that he gave the Chinese intel, so somehow, after they didn't give him any protection, he just immediately gambled on selling info to Russia?

> It's standard procedure.

If it's "standard procedure", then he would have fully expected to stay in (be stuck in) the first country he landed at once leaving HK.

Like I said, it was planned.

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