Edward Snowden new book, interview, etc

[WillBrink]

The country we grew up in, love and honor no longer exists.

When did it really ever exist? It's always existed as concept in Liberty and Freedom, and at any time in it's history has simultaneously lived up to it in some regards while failing in others. The only way the US can ever really live up to its full potential is to be honest about it's past, good, bad, and the ugly.

It's till the greatest country on earth, bar none, it's that ability to actually reflect with honesty is what makes it so great and what must continue to be great.

[chuckman]

I am trying to keep an open mind. At what point does whistle-blowing reap rewards greater than the punishment? What secret is too important to stay silent? Torture? Illegal wiretapping? Selling state secrets? I don't know.

[Firefly]

To transfer flights within an international airport?

Get real.
He was not "transfering a flight" He was going to make a deal. The Red Chinese had devalued our credit ranking. This was a slam dunk and he gave it to them.

And per Russian Federation, you cannot be visaless past 24 hours.

[Renegade]

Oof. No. No no no. He had met with Red Chinese. You forget. You need a visa to just go to Russia. It was planned. He can deny but facts are facts.

He may have thought he'd end up in Ecuador but that is youthful fantasy thinking.

Russia isn't that bad. Lots of far worse places to live. I think he knows his days of being tolerated by the Russians are coming to an end which is why he is desperate to get anywhere else. He just doesn't want to own his actions. I'm sure men have died because he wanted to be "smarter" than everyone else.

Not sure what you are saying no to since everything I stated is fact. You do not need a visa to pass through Russia same day, and since he did not have one, he was stuck in airport as mentioned above.

It was your typical JohnKerry screwup, they had all sorts of excuses but it seems they did not know where he was, and he managed to get out of HK just before (same day) his passport was canceled.

[WillBrink]

Get real.
He was not "transfering a flight" He was going to make a deal. The Red Chinese had devalued our credit ranking. This was a slam dunk and he gave it to them.

And per Russian Federation, you cannot be visaless past 24 hours.

That's not what I asked now is it? Your comment read as if one needs a visa to transfer flights and that's apparently not true, and by all accounts, his plan was to continue on to another country.

You can believe as you wish, and I personally do not think he was going there for a deal and if he was, I don't really care all that much either. How went about making very sure who got the access to that info, etc, etc convinces me he was not doing it for the reasons some others have in the past, and genuinely thought we was doing what he thought was the right thing to do. As always, that's not easy to simply dismiss as if everyone was to do that, it could be a NS catastrophe. I don't know where the line is between where it's a patriotic duty and where it's not, but I do think he made a good case in his own defense, and there's no real evidence to the contrary I have seen.

[WillBrink]

Not sure what you are saying no to since everything I stated is fact. You do not need a visa to pass through Russia same day, and since he did not have one, he was stuck in airport as mentioned above.

It was your typical JohnKerry screwup, they had all sorts of excuses but it seems they did not know where he was, and he managed to get out of HK just before (same day) his passport was canceled.

Personally, I thought his explanation in the interview was plausible and there's no evidence to the contrary. If his final destination had been Russia, being someone who clearly knew what he was doing and planned it all out well in advance, his arrangements would have also existed. He spent 40 days in the airport because it was exactly as he claimed it was. He got stuck there and the Russians jumped on it to make the US look bad, as we do to them when ever possible. It worked pretty well.

[Renegade]

Personally, I thought his explanation in the interview was plausible and there's no evidence to the contrary. If his final destination had been Russia, being someone who clearly knew what he was doing and planned it all out well in advance, his arrangements would have also existed. He spent 40 days in the airport because it was exactly as he claimed it was. He got stuck there and the Russians jumped on it to make the US look bad, as we do to them when ever possible. It worked pretty well.

If he wanted to defect to Russia, he would have taken care of that at the embassy in HK. If he wanted to defect to China, well he was a water taxi away from the mainland. As former CIA, he would have known to seek asylum in Embassy first and have them take care of transfer to Russia, as many others before him did - Howard, etc. Neither he nor US wanted the outcome we have.

[WillBrink]

If he wanted to defect to Russia, he would have taken care of that at the embassy in HK. If he wanted to defect to China, well he was a water taxi away from the mainland. As former CIA, he would have known to seek asylum in Embassy first and have them take care of transfer to Russia, as many others before him did - Howard, etc. Neither he nor US wanted the outcome we have.

Yup. He was not an Amateur and had Russia been his intended location, some how I think the Visa issue would have been ignored by the FSB. His meticulous arrangements as to who precisely got access to that intel to make it beyond a doubt it was not simply for a pay day, or as commie sympathizer, for his 15 minutes, etc.

One can argue that even though his motives were one of a patriotic duty in his mind, it was still the wrong thing to do as some have, there's all evidence points to what he did as being or the reasons he claims.

I understand the arguments against doing what he did regardless of his motives.

[Firefly]

I just want him hung from the neck until dead after his fair trial.

ETA You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons and you can do the wrong thing for the right reasons. This was not the case.

He got people killed. He set us back more than forward. And he betrayed his nation.

I hate the way America is run a lot of days. And it is easy to get disgruntled with the waste and malfeasance. But I have nowhere else to go like these dual citizenship globalists that pollute our government.

No flights to Israel, PR, DR, Somalia, China, or Canada for me.

So I can shitmouth the govt all I want but I will be damned by Almighty God if I give Ivan or the Red Chinese any dirty laundry. It should be mandated that his grave is desecrated. His relatives should be subject to generational punishment.

He's not even respectable enough to crucify.
The only rights I care about are individual ones. I dont like that the NSA knows my kinks and fetishes but goddammit at least they are honest, red-blooded AMERICAN kinks and fetishes.

[Renegade]

He got people killed. He set us back more than forward. And he betrayed his nation.

Who got killed? I am only aware of the $ damage, PNGs, and loss of S&M.