Comment by maqp
1 day ago
>It is of course very telling that Snowden ended up in Russia.
Yeah it's almost like you can revoke someone's passport during their layover in Russia and make the people with MAGA-levels of intelligence take the optics at face value through decade long repeated messaging.
If Snowden was a Russian spy, he would've taken the files, given them to Putin, received the largest Datša in the country and we would never have heard from him or the files. Instead, he gave it to journalists who made the call what to release.
If you don't want people to blow the whistle, stop breaking the damn law https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/03/edward-snowd...
Very naive to think that the Russian and Chinese governments didn't get a full copy of the documents Snowden stole and absconded with.
How have so many people been taken in by this tall tale that Snowden is some sort of hero? Gullible doesn't even begin to cover it.
Even if you are playing tic-tac-toe at a chess tournament, you still have to think a move ahead. Saying "Very naive to think that the Russian and Chinese governments didn't get a full copy" makes your initial point moot. If the adversaries you are supposedly worried about already have everything, what's the point of keeping it from the American people?
You're changing the subject from how you misrepresented why Snowden ended up in Russia.
I won't engage further with someone acting in bad faith.
You replied to the wrong comment.
Anyway, the weakening of the national security apparatus likely contributed to why we now have Trump as head of state, and all the harm he's doing to national interests. So you can thank Snowden for that too.
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> Very naive to think that the Russian and Chinese governments didn't get a full copy of the documents Snowden stole and absconded with.
Does one need to be gullible to believe this? Or will you substantiate your extraordinary claim?
What Russia and China has in common? Why would somebody work for both countries?
Do you know, for example, that China willingly sells huge amounts of drones to Ukraine?
Here in 2026 China is supplying Russia with weapons in exchange for oil under global sanctions.
Russia is in no position to reject China for selling to both sides. They may not be allies but each is the enemy of their enemies.
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GP didn't claim that Snowden worked for both countries. Snowden certainly did offer details of compromised Chinese networks to SCMP, which is now a propaganda rag for the PRC, in a failed attempt to gain asylum in Hong Kong. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266821/us-hacks-chi...
Snowden gave the full set of documents to Greenwald, Poitras, and The Intercept. Greenwald's opsec in particular is highly questionable, and I would be shocked if Russia and China didn't get a full copy from him. China had no need to barter with Snowden.
>Very naive to think that the Russian and Chinese governments didn't get a full copy of the documents Snowden stole and absconded with.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
>Snowden is some sort of hero?
He left his cozy upper middle-class life, partner, and put his life on the line to expose illegal mass surveillance. That's gazillion times more risk and sacrifice to do the right thing, than you'll ever accomplish.
The problem is that much of it wasn't illegal. Some was, but some was just spy agencies doing spy agency things. The laws draw some pretty fine distinctions that are at odds with what you expect.
Perhaps it's worth it to have exposed the genuinely illegal things and have scrutiny on the legal but unpleasant ones. But I don't think that's obviously the case. Spy agencies are by definition going to do stuff you wouldn't approve of if you weren't paying close attention to what protections are in place.