Abhorrent behavior from our representatives, unforgivable.
How disheartening for Snowden to do the right thing and be stranded in Russia.
Submitted 7 months ago by Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/61099e2c-191a-436c-91f4-60d6ba2e548a.jpeg
Comments
gardylou@lemmy.world 7 months ago
[deleted]LOLjoeWTF@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It’s pretty crazy that he left his cushy job getting paid a government contractor salary and living in Hawaii and end up in Russia living in exile. He didn’t strike me as someone who hates America - but someone who hated the abuse of power and lies. Which is all the more ironic. I still can’t reconcile it. I understand that America isn’t ALWAYS the good guy, and it’s got a long history of awful things. But Russia? I still don’t get it.
drislands@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I think I understand it. It makes sense if his goals were to 1) release this information and 2) survive afterwards. Doing #1 was relatively easy, as he had the access to accomplish it.
But to then stay alive and (relatively) free required being beyond the reach of the US government. Being in the States is out of the question, and by extension so is being in any country with an extradition treaty with the US. I don’t know what all the options were, but ultimately he chose Russia as the place he would live.
If you assume his goal is freedom for mankind in general, it does seem hypocritical to go running to an authoritarian country for safety. But it seems pretty clear he wasn’t motivated by a vague principle, but rather wanting to blow the whistle on a specific injustice he saw.
moon@lemmy.cafe 7 months ago
What did he push that was authoritarian lmao, this is just dumb
FrostyTrichs@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
I didn’t follow his story after he got to Russia. What ever happened with his family? Did he abandon them or are they somehow allowed in Russia as well? Such a weird series of events.
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
If we were to “UwU” every security camera we come across, how long would it take before they shut down the whole system out of cringe?
Floodedwomb@lemmy.world 7 months ago
He didn’t do the right thing. He didn’t even expose anything we didn’t already know. He’s a traitor and not even for a good cause.
frippa@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
If you think it’s bait, it’s because you’re in an information silo and don’t often come in contact with different opinions. This results in people bein ill-equipped to discuss issues with people who are considering factors you haven’t so you have to pretend it’s “just someone trolling me” to avoid thinking about another point of view.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the above person. Snowden is a traitor, him now being a citizen of an adversary should be a clue. He now has to say whatever Putin wants him to say or he’ll fall out of a window.
Delta_V@lemmy.world 7 months ago
enemy spy does enemy spy things and ends up in enemy mafia-owned gas station
oh no!
Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
You spread misinformation. Anyone who cares to do so can verify the info I give below.
Snowden stated from the start that he originally intended to go from Hong Kong to Ecuador, who had promised him asylum. He intentionally gave away all copies of his data, destroying his own, to the journalists who had met him in Hong Kong to evaluate his leaks (verify sources before believing those who claim ‘he leaked info to Russia’). He fully intended to be ‘clean’ if he were interdicted on his way out of Hong Kong.
The US illegally (violating international law! It is illegal for a nation to render their own citizen stateless while abroad) revoked his US passport as he flew to Russia, which he meant to be a temporary stop only to obtain passage on a flight to Ecuador as Ecuadorian officials were to be there in order to receive him.
The President of Ecuador’s own Presidential Plane, with the Ecuadorian President onboard was forcibly grounded over EU airspace, by fighter jets, at the USA’s behest, on suspicioun that Snowden might be aboard. Snowden was trapped in a Russian airport, against his will, with no valid passport, essentially rendered Stateless – again, a violation of international law perpetrated by the USA against one of its own citizens.
Imagine the USA’s response if Airforce One were forcibly grounded to a foreign airport, by foreign fighter-jets, at the behest of another country.
starman@programming.dev 7 months ago
WTF man