He says that he got rid of the documents, there's no way to verify it. I think there are no reasons to take his statements at the face value, given the players involved in the overall situation -- the world's top intelligence agencies.
I do recognize the value of the revelations. I just don't accept Snowden's motives at face value.
I'm not saying there is evidence for colusion with Russia prior to the affair, but it's very possible and explains quite a few things.
Given the number of times the intelligence agencies have verifiably lied about this affair alone (many) and the number of times Snowden has verifiably lied (zero), why would you default to believing the known liars?
>and explains quite a few things
There's very little that is unexplained about Snowden.
I'm not really believing much of what the NSA or CIA said about him. I don't need to in order to entertain the possibility that Snowden was recruited by a covert operative -before- the affair. It explains how a lowly sysadmin comes up with the courage and the plan to flee half way around the world.
I also don't believe the intended travel itinerary. Wouldn't it be easier to make a vacation in Venezuela, publish his material from a nice cushy hotel and THEN try to get asylum? How did he know China wouldn't detain/deport him? Same with Russia? There is no proof for either version. But enough suspicion to justify holding off on making Snowden a saint of democracy.
He also may have access to material nobody published yet. Again, it's not about what happened, but what he would have had to fear if he didn't have contact with the Chinese or Russian government before fleeing there.
Is, as you are well aware, not what I said.
>I'm not really believing much of what the NSA or CIA said about him.
...except the accusation that he's a Russian spy which you are very attached to.
>I also don't believe the intended travel itinerary. Wouldn't it be easier to make a vacation in Venezuela
If he booked a flight to Venezuela and didn't tell anybody he would have been detained at the airport. If he told somebody he would have been investigated and then game over. This was explained at the time. There were certain places people like him could fly to which wouldn't set off any trip wires. Hong Kong was the only one he could fly to where he wasn't just going to be detained and sent home (I mean, he could ahve gone to the UK too but probably not so wise).
The NSA did not dispute this part of the story.
>How did he know China wouldn't detain/deport him?
He didn't. They probably just seemed like the least likely to detain him of all the places he could fly to unmonitored.
Now seriously, I honestly don't know: what would Snowden being in colusion with Russa prior to the affair explain, or explain better?
Less of a factor is that in my opinion, the whole endeavor would be more believably be the result of someone being convinced and assured of assistance, maybe even rewarded, than the courage of a singular man.
Please keep in mind, I value the alternatives where Snowden wasn't recruited beforehand as equally plausible. Not that much more plausible, though.