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I can't stand that Snowden guy. He's just a snotty little boy looking for attention.
I don't think he wanted all the attention. But the gov't, and press, have both made him the story. The real issue is the information he released. That is what needs attention and scrutiny.
Are you naive? Those tiny countries cannot protect him.
Only Russia and China can possibly keep him safe.
Exactly the FSB took out dissidents on foreign soil guy poisoned with platonium in London you don't think the CIA could do like? We have plenty of assets in RUSSIA.
The poster I responded to stated that Ecuador "could not protect" Snowden, maybe it was you, but I used Assange to prove that they are capable of protecting wanted individuals.
But the case is different. In the Assange case, US is pretending they are not interested in Assange. So if US cuts trade links with Ecuador due to giving him asylum, then US will show the world they did in fact lie about not being interested. And Assange did not humiliate the US like Snowden did.
It wasn't me who said it, but he is right. A small country like Ecuador can not protect Snowden, because US will use economic sanctions against any country who does protect him. A small country like Ecuador will have nothing in response. Economic sanctions against a big country will hurt the US as well. Hence, he only had three options, China, Russia or a country who has few important trade links like Venezuela. He can not reach Venezuela, China is too concerned about their reputation with the US. So there is only one option left, and that is Russia.
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You must be REALLY partisan to believe that the GOP would not use this sort of information to pull Obama and his administration down a notch and attempt to humiliate and vilify him as a usurper of privacy rights. Especially since the Dems/liberals protested so much about less offenses from W. Bush.
No, its common sense. GOP is just as involved in this program as Democrats are. That's why establishment republicans are not vilifying Obama, because they will look like hypocrites.
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BUT Ellsburg was NOT sent to prison for life because he released a report to the US media and was therefore protected. This case went to the SCOTUS and Ellsburg came out on top. Therefore, there is a precedent set by Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers that Snowden could have followed to release this information and alleviate the extreme fear of the death penalty and life imprisonment.
And you conveniently ignored my argument. The huge difference is that Ellsburg had the Democrats with him. Also this was over 40 years ago, and the laws are not the same. If it was up to Nixon he would have been prosecuted. You do realize other people has tried to release this information through Official Channels, and just ended up in trouble?
If someone released information about Benghazi, then he would probably not be prosecuted as well because it would just humiliate Obama and not both parties. Snowden revelations humiliated both parties, hence he will not see a fair trial.
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Like I said before, Snowden did have other options, whether or not you all who want to proclaim him a martyr like it or not. He could have easily followed the lead of Ellsburg and gone to another country like Ecuador and asked for and received asylum.
Yes he did have other options. He has the option to
1. Go through legal channels and fail like other people has done before him
2. He could have stayed in the US and got lifetime in jail.
3. And he could have done what he did.
Think about this. If Snowden really could have followed the lead of Ellsburg, why wouldn't he? You think he rather want to live in Russia or Hong Kong than to stay in Hawaii with his girlfriend and family.
In reality there are no legal channels for whistleblowers. His other options was to not release information at all or go to prison for life.
Exactly the FSB took out dissidents on foreign soil guy poisoned with platonium in London you don't think the CIA could do like? We have plenty of assets in RUSSIA.
As long as he is in hiding, US will have a hard time to catch him. Think about how long time US took to kill Osama Bin Laden?
I do want to note, that I fully support the release of the material that Snowden made public. I do think all Americans have a right to not have their privacy invaded on this level and I feel that the NSA needs to be shown the light of day and put under more scrutiny. But I just don't get Snowden's narrative. I think he is lying and that he had way more options available to him if his true intent was to protect the rights of Americans and other country's citizens. This is a huge story. He sealed this deal by not taking other options and instead we are focusing on him more than the information he released when, in the case of Ellsburg, it was the other way around.
Your President told you it was just a "moderate infringement on your rights".
Both Dems and Repubs in Congress stand behind him.
NSA has continued to get funding.
Snowden probably didn't want to spend the rest of his life in a building like Assange.
China and Russia are both big enough to say "No" to the US and get away with it.
US threats to either Russia or China would be like shooting our foot and be met with laughs from their leaders.
This could all have been orchestrated. Whistleblower releases some allowable info and then runs off to Russia making it look like squealers shouldn't be trusted. if that's the case the feds screwed up and had their plan backfire big time because Snowden still generated near universal support and the feds were criticized soundly. Nobody with any brains likes the government any more, at least not how its acting these days. Bobble head Obama is a joke and nobody takes his agenda seriously.
Too bad the government and MSM do a good job of getting everyone focused on the person and not the content exposed.
We did it with Manning and now with Snowden.
The government didn't focus us, the wonderful media did. Too bad Snowden didn't have the b*lls to go to the US media. Oh big president blew the whole thing off.
How could he be a traitor if you have several people on here saying he didn't expose anything we didn't already know ?
Seems many people here knew classified information before it got exposed by Snowden.
The government didn't focus us, the wonderful media did. Too bad Snowden didn't have the b*lls to go to the US media. Oh big president blew the whole thing off.
Snowden was the 3rd whistleblower on NSA doings.
How far did those other 2 get with the public or administration or MSM ?
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