I can imagine a world where Edward Snowden is a hero.
This is terrifying, the rise of these anarcho-libertarian-mole-traior-[sic]-terrorists.
I view Edward Snowden as a heroic figure ... and look upon Glenn Greenwald's reportage as both brave and invaluable.... For this, I consider him a national treasure.
Edward Snowden, in leaking our government's abuses of power in the form of secret, widespread surveillance, has knowingly violated the laws of a most powerful nation.
He wouldn't be the first person "renditioned" to a CIA black site prison that we tried to pretend didn't exist.
There's a culture in much of Washington that believes that government officials can do and say whatever they want, so long as it's in the service of the Empire.
... Washington's words to the world have become a potpourri of tantrums, bluster, petulance, threats, and bullying. The US could not have screwed it up more than they have done. The Hong Kong/China fiasco was an irredeemably bad public temper tantrum. But, the US is on a roll -- out of control -- and has now started with the arm-twisting, bullying, and threats....
[T]he reality is there have been MANY Edward Snowdens over the past decade. ... So, despite all "assurances" to the contrary, the reality is local law enforcement, the DHS and the FBI are turning much of this "foreign surveillance" manpower and technology inward, to fight "crime." (Not "terrorism," mind you, but "crime.") And, the villain in all of this is Edward Snowden?
Our government can demonize this good man all they like. They can hunt him down, slam him into a jail cell next to Bradley Manning's, or outright murder him for what he has done in the name of the Fourth Amendment, but the info is going to come out.
For the third time (after not finding him in Hong Kong after 3 weeks, and not detecting his flight to Russia), the US government has once again failed to catch former NSA contractor Edward Snowden....
I don't think it's very likely that Edward Snowden will just disappear. But I could believe the CIA and NSA are already asking the Russians to please keep a close eye on him and make sure he doesn't.
Seems to me that the guy has covered himself against assassination and other forms of retaliation with this move. That - given the USA's fetish for drone strikes on its own citizens - is a damn good idea.
WASHINGTON -- An estimated 700,000 protesters crowded Pennsylvania Avenue Monday to protest the indictment of Edward J. Snowden on two counts under the Espionage Act. Snowden, 24, a former security analyst for the National Security Agency (NSA), allegedly leaked thousands of Bush Administration documents, including internal White House and NSA memoranda.
What kind of coward would recognize/weigh everything he stood to lose, and decide that an idea like “freedom” was worth the risk? ANSWER: The kind of coward you could only hope to be.
As you have probably guessed, this is a pastiche of the Hollywood scripts ... ahem ... diaries that have been written about Jason Bourne ... errr... Han ... ummm ... Luke Snowden on daily kos which have somehow managed to make it to the recommended list despite the fact that nobody has the vaguest idea the extent of the information Snowden took, who all he's given it to, and what damage, if any, it could cause to actual human people versus non-living movie characters. Moreover, his motivations are only known to the extent he has himself described them, and he is hardly the least interested witness on the subject. Writing credit ... ahem ... attribution goes to the linked authors. Spies spy, and governments keep secrets. Hmmmmmmm. Interesting. Down curtain!