Russia doesn't spy. Putin told me so.

daenku32

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The US doesn't either. Or when they do, they don't tell Obama.

I guess presidents aren't the authority on this stuff.
 
"We hardly ever imprison independent journalists and kill dudes with radioactive poison"
 
Snowden explains himself:

[...] I blew the whistle on the NSA's surveillance practices not because I believed that the United States was uniquely at fault, but because I believe that mass surveillance of innocents – the construction of enormous, state-run surveillance time machines that can turn back the clock on the most intimate details of our lives – is a threat to all people, everywhere, no matter who runs them.

Last year, I risked family, life, and freedom to help initiate a global debate that even Obama himself conceded "will make our nation stronger". I am no more willing to trade my principles for privilege today than I was then.

I understand the concerns of critics, but there is a more obvious explanation for my question than a secret desire to defend the kind of policies I sacrificed a comfortable life to challenge: if we are to test the truth of officials' claims, we must first give them an opportunity to make those claims.
Click to expand...


Well Ed, but most of your "critics" are so utterly stupid and authoritarian-minded that they can't even imagine how it is to walk with a spine.
 
It was decent of Snowden to admit that moving from the USA to Russia sacrifices a comfortable life.
 
It is to make one laugh.
The worst cases of domestic spying in the US and the Western countries.are a traffic ticket level offenses compared to what to has been routine in Russia from the days of the Czar on. This is why Snowden's fleeing to Russia made him look like a hypocrite.
And being ex KGB does not exactly give one confidence in Putin's statement.
 
Snowden's current situation reminds me of the old Russian joke about the hunter and the bear. The hunter wanted a bearskin coat. The bear wanted a meal. They both got what they wanted.
 
Childlike Empress said:
Snowden explains himself:




Well Ed, but most of your "critics" are so utterly stupid and authoritarian-minded that they can't even imagine how it is to walk with a spine.
Click to expand...

Ahh, insult and blanket statements. Can "Neener, Neener" and the display of tongues be next? This is a shining example of those "witty asides" I hear tell of.
 
Childlike Empress said:
Snowden explains himself:
Click to expand...
Lets see.

[...] I blew the whistle on the NSA's surveillance practices not because I believed that the United States was uniquely at fault, but because I believe that mass surveillance of innocents – the construction of enormous, state-run surveillance time machines that can turn back the clock on the most intimate details of our lives – is a threat to all people, everywhere, no matter who runs them.
Click to expand...
Of course. But such a fight made sense in the US because the country DOES have a long tradition of fighting for these kinds of freedom. Personal privacy there IS an important traditional value, and its normal for its political elite and citizens to be concerned about such matters.

But this is not true elsewhere in the world that isn't as rich, as stable and as free as the US (which is, pretty much everywhere else). It makes especially little sense in Russia, a country that have trouble having a healthy political opposition, let alone a free press (148th in the 2014 World Free press Index).

Who cares that "state run surveillance is a threat" when the political elite have been openly in bed with the intelligence agencies since pretty much the country inception? Why expect the local media to revisit Snowden question, when they risk their life defending much more basic and much more immediate human right issues?

Snowden sounds like someone who grew up in the US and believe that everybody think like Americans, with its bourgeois concerns. Which isn't surprising, since that's exactly what he is. It's hard for a libertarian to understand that no, his little ideological purity isn't that important in other parts of the world.
Last year, I risked family, life, and freedom to help initiate a global debate that even Obama himself conceded "will make our nation stronger". I am no more willing to trade my principles for privilege today than I was then.
Click to expand...
Except that you do it in a context that you clearly doesn't grasp. You're being used, and you don't even seem to be aware of it.
I understand the concerns of critics, but there is a more obvious explanation for my question than a secret desire to defend the kind of policies I sacrificed a comfortable life to challenge: if we are to test the truth of officials' claims, we must first give them an opportunity to make those claims.
Click to expand...
Again, what a weird US-based view of how politics work. So Snowden believes Putin gives a crap about looking hypocritical, or being caught lying? He's not a US politician. His career doesn't rest on a gotcha question. "We must first give them an opportunity to make those claims"? Seriously? This is pathetic.

In the very same question-response TV show last Thursday, Putin claimed there were no Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine. A claim that has been pretty much debunked in the last few days. THAT was a blatant lie, and a much more important one, involving a current, important European issue. Do you believe Putin cares about being caught lying over this? Do you understand now why nobody give a crap about Snowden strategy and his "tough questions"?
 
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You are aware that my quote was only a small part of what Snowden wrote? Not that I would read your "clever" answers to the rest more thoroughly than I did so far, but if you got nothing better to do, be his guest. :)
 
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