However, as interesting as this revelation is, it's unfortunate that Snowden decided to defect to the Russians and share his stolen cache of top secret documents with them and China, using Western journalists as ideological cover. I look forward to the day when he is brought to justice for treason.
Regardless of your thoughts on the guy, nobody deserves what Assange has gone through in custody. Same with Manning.
He did not do that. Instead, he's living a comfortable life in the bowels of a country that is committing vicious, daily war crimes. I don't hear him make a peep about kidnapped Ukrainian children, or the civilians that Russia tortures and kills. He's not a principled activist who's suffering for the cause of freedom at any cost, he's now just a loyal Russian citizen who opportunistically committed a massive act of espionage a long time ago.
> I don't hear him make a peep about kidnapped Ukrainian children, or the civilians that Russia tortures and kills.
Can you really not see why that would be a bad idea? He's kind of tied up here, if he doesn't want to end up dead by somebody's hands.
> opportunistically committed a massive act of espionage a long time ago
How exactly do his past actions go from heroic to a "massive opportunistic act of espionage" because of his actions in the present?
He's been arrogantly self-serving from the start, and it's rather disappointing that some people still haven't grown out of their juvenile phase of blind hero worship.
Maybe if he was as self-serving as you thought he'd continue to live a comfortable life while destroying the rule of law that we pretend to have instead of having to abandon his home and never again be able to see his country or friends again?
He would just be in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, and there's a much better chance the leak to the public would have never been completed in the first.
And again, I'm not saying he would've been protected as a whistleblower, just that he had to choose one or the other: take his chances as a martyr for freedom, or escape all consequences and with them, his legacy as a respectable historical figure. He chose the latter.
Manning spent most of her time in solitary, and it's not listed in your citation.
Not even remotely true.
Yes, Russia are the bad guys, but we have done some truly heinous things as well. Snowden revealed a little of the crimes we commit and you're ready to wash him away because it hurts your position that we are somehow morally superior to other countries?
you'll be a loyal citizen to a nation state that spies on its people, while torturing and killing other people for no good reason.
why is going to jail for whistleblowing honorable? that makes no sense to me.
Personally I don't think it was intentional on his part to get stuck in Russia, just a bad error. But he is certainly living there by their "good will" now, and it shows in his public behaviour.
Not trashing your host is probably wise, but given his experience with the US government, he probably no longer subscribes to the naive worldview that Putin (or Xi) are uniquely bad, just bad in their own ways and responding to the world with their nation's interests (and their legacies) in mind.
The fact Snowden is still alive pushing anti-US propaganda shows the difference, if the roles were reversed he would have been assassinated long ago.