Another hero - Edward Snowden - will now be chased and harassed by the US until

1. 53

   Joe Cookposted 10 years ago

   Another hero - Edward Snowden - will now be chased and harassed by the US until he is in prison?
   
   Snowden - the recent leaker of info illustrating the clandestine operations of US secret services now faces a perilous future. 
   Snowden is clearly another decent moral person of conscience, much like Manning and Assange, but does he now face the wicked US Gov and its anti-democratic wrath?

   replyreport
2. 83

   Attikosposted 10 years ago

   He does, and he knows it. That doesn't mean he'll end up in prison. He may end up renditioned or dead. Read the Guardian's interview with him, published just this morning from Hong Kong.

   replyreport
3. 97

   chef-de-jourposted 10 years ago

   Yes he faces the authority of the state and all things being equal the state will get him in the end unless he can 'defect' to a country that is powerful, decent, morally sound and is not afraid of the US. Mmmmm, no such country exists. Snowden would have to book a flight to Mars to escape but even there he'd not be guaranteed a peaceful life.
   
   He's broken a cardinal rule yes but he's done it in the name of moral progress. He knew back in 2008 that things were getting out of hand but was forced to come out because Obama hasn't really changed the mindset at the NSA...a mindset that is hell bent on creating a true life Big Brother information gathering system that potentially looks into everyone's background regardless of who they are or where they live.
   
   Whilst spy movies provide great entertainment for us the reality is that much more mundane. Computer nerds spending every hour of every day glued to the screens working out ways to snoop and record and gather information, whilst the military men stand at their shoulders ready to press remote control buttons, think up mad strategies and ask for more budget dollars.

   replyreport
4. 81

   dashingscorpioposted 10 years ago

   9-11 forever changed everything! Most citizens would rather give up some rights to privacy if they believe they will be safer for it. Although Snowded did what he thought was best it won't change anyone's life but his own.
   Every governement spies on it's citizens! Anyone who does not think so has their head buried in the sand. Anyone working for the CIA or NASA also takes an oath which he violated.
   Intelligence will continue to be gathered as it always has. Whenever an attack happens in the U.S. the first couple of weeks people grieve. The remainder of the time afterwards law suits are filed because people blame the governement for (not knowing) or being able to prevent the attack. It's a "catch 22".
   A lot of potential terrorist attacks have been thwarted because of secret wire taps and other techniques.

   replyreport
5. 63

   CrescentSkiesposted 10 years ago

   I'm more curious about why he chose hong kong when they have an extradition treaty with the USA. Under normal circumstances you'd flee somewhere the US doesn't have a treaty with for asylum so why would he choose China?
   
   Because Hong Kong has greater freedom of speech? That's BS. While it does support greater freedom of speech than China it also has far fewer creature comforts than many other places that would've gladly given him asylum.
   
   I think there's something that either the government or he is withholding about this entire scenario and both are keeping quiet about it because both have something to gain and lose if it leaks. If it's leaked that he actually sold information to China, for instance, he'll be branded a traitor and denounced by every citizen in America and sentenced to death if he's ever caught. But in that way it'll become somewhat more dangerous for him since China will want to cover their tracks and more dangerous for the feds because the people will lose faith in the security measures they set up on sensitive information.
   
   Good reasons for both to remain silent about that or something similar.

   replyreport
   1. 53

      Joe Cookposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting!

      replyreport
6. 77

   lovemychrisposted 10 years ago

   Hold up....he worked for a private consulting firm....what you wanna bet it leaned Republican?Greenwald is avid Obama-hater. One could look at him as a traitor, not a hero. People always love to diss the MSM, but ALWAYS believe them when it suits their ideology.

   replyreport