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Comment by scrrr | Hacker News Reader

I wish him all the best. He's done many countries a great service. He inspired the search for truth and he made us realise that our politicians (and technology providers) are a bunch of disgusting LIARS.

I hope that he will be able to have a good life in Russia, in peace and security. And that his deed will inspire future whistleblowers.

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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 holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.

Exactly, imagine how the situation would've played out if Snowden were gay (or a woman).

Let me think... it would be... the same?

I think they're referring to this: http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/latest/17811861/russias-p...

I don't think anything would be different if he was a woman.

How deftly you dodged half of the question. What if he were a gay woman?

I didn't dodge the question, because I agree with the first part -- Russia is a horrible country with a corrupt government that imprisons/kills activists and journalists.

I only disagree with a minor detail you mentioned -- there would be no difference if he was female, because in Russia there is no discrimination against women (at least not more then in any Western country).

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.

I'm not sure China would care. They'd just become the second superpower (which, I would argue, they already are). Their economy is much larger than Russia's, their trade relations diverse (the US isn't even their #1 trading partner), their land more habitable (though smaller), their technology better, they have a large army and nuclear arsenal, and they're in an ideal location to put up significant resistance against US incursions.

Plus China is in a great position geologically (if that makes sense). The Asia-Pacific region is only going to get more important as the years go on, and China is right in the thick of it all, while Russia is camped out with Siberia.

Who knows though, once the Arctic ice sheets melt maybe that position will become more important than it appears.

So Russians feel sympathetic and supporting lending a help to a mere human who just tried to help his country and now his country hunts him down like a wild animal.

But that is somehow bad, eh? o_O

P.S. Hey, Alex, why stop at Osama?! You forgot to mention Hitler! That would be more dramatic, and equally cheap brainwashing tactic.

  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 expressing your private or political views. And one can still (for now) smoke in pubs here ;)

I'm sure Russia is a fine place if you're not a journalist, particularly invested in the democratic process, gay or in any other LGBTQ group. Why, it's all worth it for smoking in pubs!

> For example you don't need to be politically correct (self-censoring) when expressing your private or political views.

Right.

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.

Maybe you should rephrase that as: almost no one likes Russia, it's very hostile to anyone who is different.

I hear there are no homosexuals in Russia. They are all very manly and masculine. Even the women. So there is no reason for a Russian man to be homosexual.

What if your views are that homosexuality is not a crime you should be locked up for talking about?

> ... our politicians (and technology providers) are a bunch of disgusting LIARS.

I never thought otherwise.

It's safe to assume that most of us accepted that the mass surveillance programs existed. This doesn't diminish the importance of what Snowden did.

It was more of an emperor-has-no-clothes moment than some unexpected, shocking revelation. It forced a lot of people to stop avoiding the problem and to actually start talking about it openly.

I think Snowden has lots of courage for doing what he did, specially since it is the type of revelation that may cost him his life.

I have been downvoted already on the parent post, but coming from an European country that experienced dictatorship for 41 years, I have a tendency to not believe in politicians.

Many fellow Europeans had to endure similar governments in the last century.

So how could in the land of free, citizens expect it would be any different?!

What should we have in place of politicians?

It's a serious question.

I really don't know.

However tries to change the system, either becomes one of them or ends up being forced to leave with consequences from not playing with the rest of the gang.

This question fascinates me.

Everyone seems to hate politicians, yet we rely on them.

And in theory, they're acting as our proxies.

Why does this seemingly good situation turn out so badly?

(I don't know, per se. I know a number of theories. I'm mulling them over, like a fine wine or whisky or whatever it is that one mulls.)

Classic joke, even more true today: "How do you know when a politician is lying? He opens his mouth."

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