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Report: Snowden Stayed At Russian Consulate While In Hong Kong
cold fjord writes "The Washington Post reports, 'Before American fugitive Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow in June — an arrival that Russian officials have said caught them by surprise — he spent several days living at the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong, a Moscow newspaper reported Monday. The article in Kommersant, based on accounts from several unnamed sources, did not state clearly when Snowden decided to seek Russian help in leaving Hong Kong, where he was in hiding in order to evade arrest by U.S. authorities on charges that he leaked top-secret documents about U.S. surveillance programs. ... he celebrated his 30th birthday at the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong, the paper said — though several days earlier he had had an anticipatory birthday pizza with his lawyers at a private house. ... The article implies that Snowden's decision to seek Russian help came after he was joined in Hong Kong by Sarah Harrison, a WikiLeaks staffer who became his adviser and later flew to Moscow with him. Harrison, the article suggests, had a role in the making the plans. ' More at the South China Morning Post."
It's interesting to learn about Snowden's eating pizza. It's exciting to know he's successfully evading getting caught.
But the NSA is violating the Constitution, the executive branch is stepping on the gas to increase it, the legislative branch is asleep at the wheel, the judicial branch is represented by a few rubber stampers appointed by a Chief Justice who I don't think has the public's interests at heart, the fourth estate is facing persecution like never before, and the citizens are so materially comfortable they don't do anything.
I feel like there's more of a story here than Snowden's pizza that might at least get the citizens a little less comfortable and a little more active.
Why is it that someone reveals exactly what we all had assumed was already going on for a long time... and people become obsessed with this person? Something isn't right about this who story.
It's as if... he's... a plant or something.
(flame suit activated.)
Were you even alive during the Cold War? How in the hell is today's world worse than it was during the Cold War? If you think it's worse now and need a flashback reminder as to how half the planet lived back then go and live in fucking North Korea.
I'll be clear, that article was a bunch of bullshit. Unnamed sources, conflicting stories, over the top innuendos that come together to to a good job of discrediting the man, thus his motive and his data. The story is a hack job of low hanging dfruit to get other media outlets an opportunity to shape or spin the idea that Mr. Snowden was not acting in the greater interests of the People, but was really "working for the Russians".
" because Havana, under pressure from Washington, said it would not allow the plane to land."
Are you serious. Cube caving to pressure from the United States? That is laughable. Russia maybe, the US...right
"All I can say is that I have absolutely no idea about this," Ho said. "I was only his legal adviser and was not fully involved in his dealings." This from the local legal representative in Hong Kong. A person whom I would think likes to keep tabs on his very high profile client. Then this completely worthless statement
"A spokeswoman for the consulate in Hong Kong would neither confirm nor comment on the report.". So that lends what to the the legitimacy of the story? Nothing, but it does what it always intends, casts doubt. "What are they hiding, he really must have been there otherwise they'd say he was not".
The marketing department for the NSA and the US government is really starting to ramp up the spin. "Mr. Snowden must be a spy, he ran right to the communists.". "Mr. Snowden is a traitor for releasing secrets to our Russian enemies". Mr. Snowden is a terrorist because he helped them communicate better in secret" and the sad thing is the majority of the US (And world) population will buy the story hook line and sinker.
Then on the other side, even my supposed thoughtful reporting NPR station put out anotehr fluff piece, this time about the NSA LOVEINT activities. The two reporters made it seem like a joke, a trivial action taken by so "oh so naughty" analysts instead of what it was, a sever breach of privacy; an act that would put an average citizen in jail under arrest. The NSA violated the privacy rights of American citizens and it is reported as "shame on you, don't do that again"...sigh.
As a final point to the spin, Congress, coming back from break will not be able to investigate any violations to the Constitution by the NSA for the American public was just made aware the the Government "miscalculated" when we need to raise the debt ceiling and it needs to happen soon...let the hilarity begin. If that is not enough the President wants to shoot exploding objects into Syria which certainly means the media will be quite focused on anything but the NSA travails.
Right now, everything said about Syria is close to a dup for Iraq before the war. Obama, the man who voted against action in Iraq now ponders whether to attack Syria. If Assad bombed his own people with gas then he is despicable, disgusting, and immoral and worthy to be brought to justice for war crimes and crime against humanity. Syria, like this article is just a tool to divert attention away from the systematic destruction of privacy in this country. Sad times. Sad times.
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
It's interesting that the best slur campaign the US can come up with involves Snowden eating pizza while trying to figure out where to run and hide. I don't give a flying f#ck if he lied, cheated and stole everything he turned over. The root of the matter is the NSA, and US government got caught with their hands full of illegal sh#t and many people in high place need to be held accountable. And that's not happening. In the meantime, the media is either trying to figure out how to spin this into reality tv for ratings. I can remember a day when the network news would have had a field day ripping apart all three branches of government over something like this. Instead, they carry on like a bunch of drama starved crack whores.
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The Cold War was a terrifying time. It is not surprising that the Baby Boomers, who grew up during the worst of it, are such a screwed up generation. However, half the planet did not live like North Korea. North Korea has always been an extreme case. Much of the communist world, while far worse off than the west was, was better off than much of the third world at the time. That is one of the reasons that communism was appealing to many people in the third world. As hard as it may be to imagine, it was an improvement.
Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
As soon as they gave him one years asylum he became a Russian pawn. What happens to him after the one year is up will now be determined at various negotiating tables where his fate will be just another bargaining chip.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Not too long ago, this is the sort of revelation that would be in the public 30 years later.
Its not just heros like Snowden who are leaking, the trend seems to be moving strongly towards the inability of large organizations to keep any real secrets at all. Nobody is giving up missle codes or anything legitimate, but.... lies told to the public seem to have a lot less staying power than they used to.
I like this trend. May it continue for all of these orgs and may they have to eventually come to the conclusion that dealing honestly with the public is the only viable option in the future.
I don't expect it but....I hope for it.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Really, though, that's exactly the same as it is in the west.
In the East, if you didn't respect the principles of the Soviet system, you got taken away.
In the West, if you don't respect the principles of American capitalism, you get taken away.
Or, to use a social rather than economic example, it's like whining that Saudi Arabia doesn't let women show off their hair, but having no problem with the fact that you'd get arrested in Washington for showing off your tits.
We're living and breathing some system, and we've got so used to its rules that we're convinced that they're less arbitrary than the rules of any other system.
Perhaps Western propaganda is more effective than Eastern, so there are fewer visible dissidents.
Since you were alive to see the Cold War you must have been alive in 1983 when the world came the closest to unrestricted nuclear war in it's history. The Russians interpreted a US-NATO Nuclear War Game as being a cover for a real attack. They misinterpreted some sketchy radar returns that could have indicated real launches and they started arming there missiles for launch. While the Russians have always had a lot of intelligence operatives their main weakness back then was integrating and analyzing all the different pieces of information gathered by their agents to really see the big picture. In this case a Russian spy working as a NATO military staffer told his Russian superiors that the war game was not real and used the fact that Reagan was on a foreign visit and had the war game been real he doubted the US President would be anywhere other than a deep bunker somewhere in the US. The real scary thing was a Russian military officer who was part of the process of arming and releasing their nuclear weapons refused to authorize the release. This officer was later arrested and charged with crimes against the Russian state but he had his sentence silently commuted several years after the incident. So saying no one would launch nuclear weapons is a weak foundation for your argument.
Are you talking about operation Able Archer, which featured, among other things, US bombers repeatedly flying directly at USSR airspace then pulling back at the last moment? One of the most idiotic ideas imaginable from testosterone-addled military "thinkers".