I'm Russian. This is done only to annoy the US. Russian gov-t has nothing to do with freedom of speech etc. It's just to tease the White House.
How the fact that you are Russian makes you know why it was done?
Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
171–180 of 231 posts
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#172It seems he accepted Putin's terms to not release anymore information. I wonder if that means no more information coming out, period, or that since most/all of the information is now with third parties that it's their responsibility. I doubt Putin likes being disrespected with loopholes and technicalities, but I more-so doubt that Snowden would halt the revelations altogether for the sake of his own safety. I suspect…
I suspect the arrangement is he ceases to disseminate any new information during his stay in Russia. This avoids any undue tension in the US-Russian relations.
Once he's left Russia, I suspect he'll be able to continue his activities.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's an over-simplistic view of things and implies that Snowden is perforce the lesser fool. I think it's rather more the reality that Snowden has been quite wise in his planning: he is aware that he is putting Russia in a position where Russia will try its darndest to be on its best behavior in sustaining that "asylum-giving, human-rights protecting" image it has recently gotten.
You can't be serious? wise? You think he planned to be in Russia? Russia protecting human rights? OMFG
Almost as ridiculous as the US protecting human rights.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I'd rather do 2 years at Club Fed in the US than be under FSB control in Russia. I mean, Putin straight kills journalists.
2 years for alleged treason and endangering the lives of Americans? Some how I think not.
He hasn't been charged with treason and if he were, he'd be acquitted.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
The United States government traffics drugs such as heroin [1], has started wars under false pretenses to profit multi-national corporations [2] [3], backs death squads in Indonesia [4], tried to convince Martin Luther King Jr. to commit suicide [5], has conducted covert operations to dismantle and replace government structures across the world [6], has conducted experiments involving drugs like LSD on unwilling part…
Do you honestly believe they haven't killed any vocal opponents including journalists? I certainly won't believe it until you give me a name of a journalist who was killed because the U.S. government didn't like his or her reporting. A giant wall of links to such 'evidence' as the Wikipedia page on the Iraq war doesn't impress me, nor does your later link, from which you decided to pull a quote about "targeted killin…
The name you seem to have trouble pronouncing is: Tareq Ayoub
Do you want me to write it again? Tareq Ayoub
And to stall your obvious response. No, he was not targeted directly but when you bomb a news organization's headquarters one of the things that is going to turn up in the rubble is dead journalists. What's that you say? They didn't mean to target a news organization? Wooopsies. I must have missed the heartfelt apology.
Why don't you try reading that page minus your reality distortion filter goggles? Here, I'll post the link again. http://www.aljazeera.com/humanrights/2013/04/201348120278145... This time, though, why don't you try to read what it says rather than inventing what it says.
How about the first sentence, "On April 8, 2003, during the US-led invasion of Iraq, Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed when a US warplane bombed Al Jazeera's headquarters in Baghdad."
So what you're trying to say is that a US warplane is not an American warplane? Have I got that right? Does your head not get a bit sore what with all the cognitive dissonance going on up in there?
How about another couple of quotes? "CPJ research shows that 'at least 150 journalists and 54 media support workers were killed in Iraq from the US-led invasion in March 2003 to the declared end of the war in December 2011.'"
"'The media were not welcome by the US military,' Soazig Dollet, who runs the Middle East and North Africa desk of Reporters Without Borders told Al Jazeera. 'That is really obvious.'"
You may not want to believe it but it's true nonetheless.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are no direct flights. You have to connect through Tokyo or Shanghai or the USA.
Well, you can easily make it a direct flight. I have no idea how much hiring a pilot and a plane capable of crossing the pacific non-stop costs, but it's probably well within his (or his supporters) means. By complicated I mainly meant the countries he does not have to fly over.
Even a 777 or 787 won't fly direct from VVO, around Japan, around US airspace, and around Mexican airspace and reach even Nicaragua safely. Much less will it make Bolivia or Venezuela, if it were even possible to cross foreign airspace to reach those countries.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think He'll be getting any FSB (new KGB) protection. They most likely control him now.
I think I'd rather do 2 years at Club Fed in the US than be under FSB control in Russia. I mean, Putin straight kills journalists.
> Putin straight kills journalists
I haven't seen definite evidence on Putin's involvement. Yes, there's some suspicion. Do you have good evidence?
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Think Osama bin Laden granting asylum to Snowden in some remote Taliban camp. Strange, I am Russian and have been living in Russia for 5 years now (and before that for 20 years in the UK and Holland). And I cannot agree with your Taliban analogy even remotely. Actually, life in Russia today in some ways feels more free than in Europe. For example you don't need to be politically correct (self-censoring) when expressi…
Right. In Russia you can pretty much insult anyone as much as you like. Just hope they don't have a traumatic handgun on them. Give me a break. Nobody moves back to Russia, because they are free to smoke at the pubs there. I was also born in Russia and 3 years ago, I spent a year there. It is just as shit country as it has always been. Nothing changed. It's got some new paint on the facade.
Appreciation of reality in Russia is seriously depend on who you are. If you feel bad inside, it rather caused by your own personality.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#179It seems he accepted Putin's terms to not release anymore information. I wonder if that means no more information coming out, period, or that since most/all of the information is now with third parties that it's their responsibility. I doubt Putin likes being disrespected with loopholes and technicalities, but I more-so doubt that Snowden would halt the revelations altogether for the sake of his own safety. I suspect…
I think that Putin simply cares about appearing cooperative with his American "friends", so as to avoid any repercussions. Also there is definitely some play on words here, since we know that Snowden cannot have any control about the information he has already given to various individuals. So yes, he probably won't release any more info personally .
He _is_ cooperative. Inside, he claims we're under an attack of US spies or US propaganda, etc. But when it's time to act abroad, he is too weak to make anything substantial that would annoy the neocon US President.
Just as Italy replied to Snowden that he should have brought the request personally, our ministry of immigration finds excuses like "the procedure takes time..."
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
My guess is Putin requested this to placate the US rather than out of concern. Yesterday the US and Russia both announced they'd be arming opposing sides in Syria, so placating the US might not be as big a priority now. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-russia-simultaneously-annou...
Oh goddammit! I thought we were over Russia and the US doing that cold war bullshit. Seriously, if you're going to fight a war fight an economic war, much less destructive to other people than the little proxy wars the big boys seems to love so much.
Wars don't end until the underlying issue is settled. In this case it is very much as it was in 1914, which is "which large conglomerate of regional interests will rule the world," with participants being Russia, Europe and the USA. In the intervening years, we have added China, India and South America to the competition.
But otherwise... "same as it ever was."