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Edward Snowden Leaves Hong Kong
hazeii writes "Ed Snowden, the U.S. whistleblower responsible for exposing the degree to which the U.S. watches its own citizens (as well as the rest of the world) is reported as having left Hong Kong for Moscow. According to the South China Morning Post, he is on a commercial flight to Russia but intriguingly it seems this is not his final destination. It's not clear whether this move is in response to the U.S. request to extradite him."
By the time this was posted on slashdot, he hadn't just left Hong Kong, but landed in Moscow.
DICE: When copying news in development, please make sure you update it as needed before posting. This worked better before. Not well, but it has become worse.
He's anything but a coward. A coward would have kept his mouth shut.
uhh, i think the fact that he hasn't been caught yet (and disappeared) suggests he knew exactly how bad the backlash would be. he knew enough that he could plan for it.
he did not take the path of least resistance here. if he were a coward, he wouldn't have leaked the info in the first place. knowing what he knew, and not doing anything about it, is probably what he saw as cowardly.
Its the folks still working at NSA who should be rotting in jail. What they have been doing is illegal. Personally I think anyone still there should be treated as a collaborator. We didn't accept "just following orders" as an excuse after WWII, it would be good for the nation if we locked away everyone at NSA doing anything above sweeping the floors.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
While modded as funny this is tragic that the US government is spying wholesale on it's own citizens, breaking the spirit of the Constitution to the extent that employees of the government feel the need to "blow the whistle" and expose those activities. Then those whistle blowers have to seek asylum in country's that have been known to engage in wholesale repression of anti-government dissent by the citizens of those country's.
There is just something so wrong about all of this and on so many levels.
Frankly, Sparky.. I think he's a flippin' national hero, on a par with many of the heros of the first American revolution, and I'm betting theres a LOT of us out here who think this.... He knew his life was gonna change dramatically and he'd likely be on the run from the pigshit running this country now, YET he blew the whistle on the blatantly UNconstitutional crap these three-letter fiefdoms were perpetrating on the American people.. Sure, I'll grant you that he violated a bunch of laws/rules/regulations, BUT he followed the only really important law.. the Constitution, the one mentioned in the oath that government workers take, where they swear to "protect and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic..." He was defending it from the pigshit poseurs who are trying to shred the Constitution at every turn.. So you can call me and the rest of us who think he's a hero a moron, but we know we're the people the founding fathers had in mind, and YOU are the moron, if I was into ad hominim attacks, which I try to avoid.. But since YOU started it, I'm gonna play along.. You and your ilk are part of the problem with America today... YOU are the moron...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
and yet, we'll continue to lie to our kids at school when we teach them about our 'constitution' and how we have the high moral ground on all the issues and that the US is the most free country in the world.
I wonder, at what age, do the kids see thru the bullshit and realize they are being lied to 180degrees ?
when I was growing up (70's), 'the red commies' were the ones that did the shit WE are now doing. we laughed at them for being so non-free.
I'm not doing a lot of laughing these days, however. ;(
I'M ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRY.
our government has stopped representing the will of the american people. you can blame us for not rising up and overthrowing them, but given that they are the most powerful government in the history of the world, its not an easy task to reign in the corruption and restore normal law and order again.
pity us for having the american dream ruined before our very eyes. realize that we were once a great nation, but sadly, I cannot say we are a great nation anymore. no one in the US government will say they are sorry, so I'll say it for them. not that it matters, as I am a total nobody, but I am sorry that we have lost our way and turned to the dark side. I am very very sorry and I want the world to know that the majority of *thinking* americans do not approve of this bullshit spying and data-grab.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
You are deluded if you think Russia vs United States, Russia is the 'good guys'. In fact, I don't consider the US to be 'good guys', but compared to Russia they appear to be. Putin orders hits on reports who write unfavourable articles on him, more than once, and its fairly widely accepted in Russia. End of story.
The US and all its NSA bullshit isn't quite comparable to the threat of death for speaking out, if so all of the reporters who've covered Snowden would be fearing for their lives.
You are confused. Just because Congress authorized it doesn't make it legal. Coming to mind quickly is the McCain Feingold campaign finance reform (authorized by Congress), which has come to the Supreme Court three times and every time been ruled unconstitutional, hence illegal. The NSA spying is illegal according to the 4th amendment no matter what Congress says. If they don't like it, the way to make it legal is pass an amendment to repeal the 4th amendment, whcih they know won't be possible.
Snoden exposed illegal activity by the NSA, also exposing Congress "authroizing" illegal activity without worrying about consequences because they kept it hidden from the public. So in addition to exposing the illegal activity, he also exposed the illegal cover-up of the illegal activity.
He is the definition of a whistleblower, also showing that there are no whistleblower protections for citizens in the USA.
Two words, my friend. "Secret laws".
There is just something so wrong about all of this and on so many levels.
Yes. The US has a whistleblower law that's ostensibly to protect them, yet this administration has attacked more whistleblowers than any other. Thomas Drake was vindicated but after that Snowden wasn't comfortable relying on a whistleblower law that's being ignored. Now they're going after Snowden charging him with espionage when Snowden showed the NSA has been spying on Chinese civilians' communications.
First Orwell's "1984", now Kafka's "The Trial". What's next, Carrol's "Through The Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland)"? Snowden's protectors so far are PRC, Russia, and Cuba. I feel a need to drag in "Rip van Winkle" here for some reason.
Is there some kind of undiagnosed "Drop Dead Simplemindedness Disease" running rampant through the USA official circles these days? John Dean's "Cancer on the presidency" comes to mind.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
Your main mistake is assuming that there are any 'good guys' at all. There are not. All countries act to one degree or another to further their own interests. The fiction that there are 'good' and 'bad' countries is just that, a fiction.
The US and all its NSA bullshit isn't quite comparable to the threat of death for speaking out, if so all of the reporters who've covered Snowden would be fearing for their lives.
Not true, all the reporters who reported that he was doing the right thing would be fearing for their lives. Most are reporting things like "I'm sure the guy had an overactive Mother Teresa gene and thought he was going to go out and save America from Americans, but in reality he was very foolish," -CNN
Russian and the US have very different methods but both ensure the free press toe the official line.
the 80s and early 90s every european kid wanted to be american.
No we didn't.
Exactly, the initial reporters that were talking about him being a "true american hero" all have completely shut up and some have retracted their statements quickly.
Real journalism in the USA has been dead for a very long time. You do what you are told and report as expected.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"We were just following orders" only fails if you lose the war.
He can spend up to 3 months in Cuba on a tourist visa. Obviously the Cuban government isn't going to extradite him and Cubana won't be sending the US any flight lists. This point is perhaps the most important. Cuba is a place where Snowdon can break the paper trail. He can stay anywhere from 1 to 90 days there and then procede to his final destination.
The only risk to this strategy is that the Cuban government may want to ask him a few questions about the NSA before allowing him to leave. Assuming the Cuban government allows him to leave I would guess Ecuador. It's obviously willing to protect whistle blowers and Assange could have discussed the matter directly with officials at his embassy. According to this list Ecuador does have an extradition treaty with the US though, but maybe it is just for murders and other violent crime. I think Ecuador and Venezuela are both nice places to live. So either way he's good as long as he has money. Hopefully he moved all of his funds out of US banks before blowing his whistle. Otherwise freezing his funds will be one of the first things the US LEO thugs will do.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
I am going to call Bullshit here! For starters I am not going to be hiding behind an anonymous coward. Secondly I don't hate Americans, I rather like Americans. I like the American ideals and how people want to do things. What I dislike are parts of the American government.
Now to get to the scoop. You don't have a threat of death for speaking out? Really, how about we ask this fellow:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051802107.html
""Everyone knows that Mr. al-Masri was a mistaken victim of the rendition program. He is now a victim of the misuse of the state-secrets privilege." "
So the CIA did an oopsie, hurt this fellow, detained him, and tortured him. They did this by "accident" and when this guy asks for his rights the American government says, "oopsie no can do, state secret you know." Do you know which country does this? Oh yeah RUSSIA! While you might say at least this guy is alive, well how about those that are not alive? Do we hear their story?
Again I am not critiquing Americans and America as I have many American friends, have lived there and like it there. What I am critiquing is that there are parts of the American government that since 9/11 have gotten a blank cheque to do whatever they feel is right regardless of the law. America as an ideal stands for freedom, justice and being able to pursue without being persecuted. This is a good thing, and something that all humanity should strive for. But these other programs are just overreaching IMO.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"