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America’s Open Wound

edwardsnowden.substack.com

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Re: America’s Open Wound

#81

Post by roflyear »

marcusverus wrote: post #67
dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

Snowden is bad because he's... in a bad country? Drivel! That the US is better than the USSR is hardly a laurel worth resting on. The US has, from before it even existed, always been about the pursuit of better government--of a more perfect union. There can be no improvement without criticism.

No. But there is a certain expectation of him while living in Russia.

Re: America’s Open Wound

#82

Post by Jaepa »

dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

He's holed up in Russia because the United States stranded him there.

He was in Hong Kong for the original reporting. When his identity was revealed the United States charged him under the Espionage Act, & revoked his passport. He was flying to Argentina through countries that didn't have extradition agreements with the United States. When he got off in Russia, his passport was confiscated as it was no-longer valid & he spent over a month in the Moscow airport, unable to leave or go anywhere else.

Re: America’s Open Wound

#83

Post by roflyear »

malwrar wrote: post #46
dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

Where else do you think he’ll be safe from US vengeance?

Any country that is an enemy of the US, which unfortunately does mean that when he criticizes the US (a country he has not lived in for nearly a decade) you have to take it with a grain of salt.

Re: America’s Open Wound

#84

Post by LatteLazy »

dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

If the only thing that's wrong with his statement is where he is, then his statement is correct.

Re: America’s Open Wound

#85

Post by smcl »

roflyear wrote: post #74
smcl wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 8-year-old girls shouldn't be assassinated, but I don't think that sentence needed a "but" part

Was she assassinated? I'm not sure that is clear. She was shot.

Wow ok I'm guessing you're in the "read this without alarm" camp

Re: America’s Open Wound

#86

Post by O__________O »

America even prior to its founding was built upon covert operations, expecting it to change is pointless; Washington was leader of a spy network [1] and my understanding is even the original federal budget for spying was unusually high.

What’s unclear to me is if it’s possible for a completely open and truthful society to exist at every level. I just find it hard to believe it is, but I have also never seen any proof that it is not either.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culper_Ring

Re: America’s Open Wound

#87

Post by jnovek »

Has everyone on Hacker News lost their minds?

I come here to read and sometimes participate in rational discussions.

These comments are some of the lowest effort, least rigorous, paranoid bullshit I’ve ever seen on this site. We’re a step above Facebook comments on NPR articles, here.

Partisanship, viciousness and lazy conspiracy theories are not a good look for this site.

Re: America’s Open Wound

#88

Post by anon291 »

mmcdermott wrote: post #37
anon291 wrote: post #4

We have known for many years the CIA is awful. Get rid of it. We can achieve national security goals via alternate means. It's probably going to get me banned, but we know they interfere in foreign elections. Why is it such a long shot to believe they don't interfere locally?

It isn't immediately clear to me that you could run a modern state without some sort of intelligence apparatus. If anything, Israel is a case study of intelligence being a great equalizer for smaller states. That doesn't excuse abuses or allow for their overreaches, which very much need to be addressed.

I agree. I'm not advocating for doing without. Just replacing

Re: America’s Open Wound

#89

Post by Gabriel_Martin »

sbf501 wrote: post #51
dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

This is a clear case of the "ad hominem" fallacy. You are saying his argument is wrong because of who he is. Just because he is doing something odd (holed up in Russia) doesn't mean he is wrong.

It's not so clear, in that this fallacy seems to be more accurately what's happening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

Re: America’s Open Wound

#90

Post by BuyMyBitcoins »

dvt wrote: post #22

A bit hypocritical of Snowden to criticize the USA while holed up in Russia. But maybe I'm a bit partial considering the USSR destroyed every semblance of culture and national identity in my home country, causing generations of corruption and trauma, and ultimately emboldening my family to move to the States--abandoning lifelong friends and family--where a much better life was possible. But please, keep lecturing us…

In real terms, where else is the man supposed to seek refuge? Only a handful of nations can manage to resist American influence. Powerful, yet friendly nations, almost always bend to pressure from the US Government.

Edit: I’d also like to add that only a handful of nations have intelligence agencies of their own that are capable of preventing some black ops extraction or assassination. I doubt the government of Ecuador or Switzerland is up to the challenge.

Also Keep in mind that the United States did not ask for permission to raid Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, a state with nuclear weapons.

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