Snowden has completed his historic duty - now he can fade into the annals of history as a man who stood for something.
Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
61–70 of 231 posts
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#62Earlier 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.
I tried searching for the charges that the US brought against Snowden and then the penalty for those charges. According to Yahoo[1] (which isn't a great source but it is the best I could find in the short time I have), the charges brought carry a max of 30 years in prison, along with fines. That is a whole lot more than just 2 years. On top of that, you can bet that US government is going to go for broke on that case as well in order to discourage such other leaks in the future.
[1]http://news.yahoo.com/understanding-snowden-espionage-act-th...
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#63Well I think this is more to do with Russia thumbing it's nose at the US rather than protecting an individual from tyranny. But fair play to Snowden, it's good news for him. But If I were Snowden, I'd be quietly sneaking out of Russia very soon lest the political winds change and he suddenly finds he's a very valuable pawn in a very dangerous game that he can't win.
At the moment I can't think of a more politically stable country for Snowden to be in. Latin American countries are historically fickle when it comes to flip-flopping between pro and anti US governments. Russia seems to be a good choice. Much better than China anyway.
> Much better than China anyway.
Why do you think Russia is a much better choice for him then China?
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#64It 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.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Granting asylum to Snowden will just influence relations between US and Russia,and is not done to be coherent with previous standings of the country on the topic of human rights,almost always different. We have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia ho…
Can't agree more (Russian here). In Russia it's all about putting up a show of anti-americanism, because that's what the voters like (the one thing that brings back memories of relative security of late Soviet days). Think Osama bin Laden granting asylum to Snowden in some remote Taliban camp.
For Russia it's more about showing the world that they are the only country that can't be intimidated by the U.S and thus that they are the only hold out against American world domination. Any other country would have handed him over eventually. I'm sure the Chinese and Central Asian governments are thinking that without the Russians to counterbalance things geopolitically they'd have to all be client states of the U.S.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Germany was in on the spying act itself. Hypocrites to suggest they have some type of moral superiority over the US.
Are there any countries that don't spy on people?
All countries spy on their citizens. The real questions are twofold: (1) how reliable is the information that the political decision makers obtain from spying, and (2) how democratic and transparent are the spying operations, how much control do the citizens have over the spying operations.
NSA-like spying is probably the most reliable in history, but how the information gets transformed on the way to decision makers, and what democratic control we have probably leaves a lot to be desired and must improve. Snowden is a hero because his actions have given us incentive and data to improve the world of secret services.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#67Earlier 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.
Manning is charged with "aiding the enemy" which carries a life sentence.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/07/18/judge-mann...
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#68Earlier 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.
Russia has an "asylum-giving, human-rights protecting" image? Even if you were to believe that Russia is acting to protect Snowden out of anything but national self-interest -- does refusing to extradite Snowden cancel out Russia's multiplying authoritarian abuses? Pussy Riot? Navalny? Magnitsky? The "Gay Propaganda" bill? The notion that Russia is beholden to Snowden to protect its image is ludicrous, although given…
No, I meant in this limited context Russia has been given the whiteknight image. Hence my use of scare quotes. Sorry if I was unclear.
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#69It 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…
Snowden will halt the revelations abruptly. He would be a fool to break the agreement with Putin.
Putin is a man of his word, and expects the same from Snowden.
Information may continue to leak, but not from Snowden. His part of the show is finished (and luckily for him, he's not even bruised!).
Re: Snowden asylum still under review, stays in airport for now
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the moment I can't think of a more politically stable country for Snowden to be in. Latin American countries are historically fickle when it comes to flip-flopping between pro and anti US governments. Russia seems to be a good choice. Much better than China anyway.
> Much better than China anyway. Why do you think Russia is a much better choice for him then China?
I would expect that China is much more interested in maintaining good relations with America than Russia is.