That's ridiculous. You think they would self-inflict this huge PR nightmare upon themselves?

They were doing perfectly fine before the leaks, getting cooperation from major tech companies and other countries and their reach was constantly expanding.

It's silly to think they'd give all that up by setting in motion something which could potentially piss of its own citizens and its allies, just for the off chance that people might become numb to it. Then what happens? They continue their operations just the same way they did before?