Slashdot Mirror
Russian Government Takes Over Country's 289-year Old Scientific Academy
ananyo writes "Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, approved controversial reforms to the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) on 18 September. More than 330 members of the Duma voted in favor of the law, with only 107 against, in a move critics say will deprive the 289-year-old body of its independence and halt attempts to revitalize Russia's struggling science system. If, as is widely expected, the parliament's upper house and Russian President Vladimir Putin approve the law, the 436 institutes and 45,000 research staff of Russia's primary basic-research organization will be managed by a newly established federal agency that reports directly to Putin. The agency will manage the academy's 60-billion-rouble (US$1.9-billion) budget and extensive property portfolio, which includes lucrative sites in Moscow and St Petersburg, and will also have a say in the appointment of institute directors. 'This is not a reform — this is a liquidation of science in Russia,' says Alexander Kuleshov, director of the academy's Institute for Information Transmission Problems in Moscow."
Snowden's first goal was to expose the NSA.
The NSA's job is to spy. So they spy. The country's borders are so open; they make a colander seem waterproof. Unfortunately for all and sundry, those who would do harm to the country don't walk around with flashing red lights on their heads. Thus, since it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, they collect lots and lots of stuff, even on people living in the US. I AM UNAPOLOGETICALLY GLAD THEY DO SO, since they do not appear to share it with the FBI nor state+local police.
(The problem is that they then have the ability, like local & state police and the FBI, to track wives, ex-girlfriends, etc, etc. That's bad, but can be solved by more Internal Affairs oversight, not by throwing the baby out with the bathwater.)
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
His stated goal was to inform the US public about the governments data collection efforts and how they effected US citizens. The US constitution protects US citizens not foreign nationals. However, now he believes that he and a certain journalist are competent enough to determine whether any of the information collected on FOREIGN programs can harm the US if released. Who is he to make that decision? What is his definition of harm? His pet journalist hates the US with a vengeance and has no problem releasing anything, especially if it harms the US. He once had chance to negotiate with the US authorities and return to the US but he burned that bridge and has sealed his fate as an international fugitive for the remainder of his life. Every country in the world spies on both their enemies and allies and the US really doesn't have any allies so every one is fair game. If he was a Russian or Chinese he would have already been either imprisoned or killed. If he evaded them they would use his friends and families as hostages until he returned. Both countries have well documented instances of them using this tactic.