Russia Plans To Extend Edward Snowden's Asylum

mendax writes "The New York Times reports, 'Russia plans to extend its offer of asylum to Edward J. Snowden beyond August, a Russian lawmaker said Friday at the World Economic Forum ... The lawmaker, Aleksei K. Pushkov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's lower house of Parliament, hinted during a panel discussion that the extension of temporary refugee status for Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, might be indefinite. "He will not be sent out of Russia," Mr. Pushkov said. "It will be up to Snowden."'" Snowden said yesterday that going back to the U.S. is not an option because of the country's poor whistleblower protections "which through a failure in law did not cover national security contractors like [him]." He added, "This is especially frustrating, because it means there’s no chance to have a fair trial, and no way I can come home and make my case to a jury."

Comments

Re:Come stand trial.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is that the way the laws are written, he would not be able to mount an effective defense against the charges. He would only be allowed to (basically) answer the circumstances around his alleged taking of those NSA files and would be forbidden from bringing any sort of argument regarding the public's right to know, the government's own wrongdoing exposed by those leaked files, and such and so forth. He is obviously guilty of taking the files so it is a guaranteed guilty verdict.

There is no point for him to return until the laws allow for some type of whistleblower or public interest defense, which they currently do not.

So, where do you want Snowden to go ??

[Taco Cowboy]

My remark was more about equating Putin and Obama's behavior toward dissidents than it was about Snowden himself.

This world is occupied by 4.5 big thugs - China, Russia, USA, Japan, plus UK, which can only be rated as 0.5big, since they are living in their past glory.

USA is trying its best to hunt down Snowden. Japan and Britain are USA's lap dogs.

That leave China and Russia being the two entities left in this planet big and fierce and crazy enough to stand against USA.

So, where do you want Snowden to go ?

Sweden ? that another lap dog of USA ?

Bolivia ? Whose presidential plane was forced grounded by yet another USA lap dog (Spain) ?

I know very well (and I am not the only one in this) that Russia is far from the ideal location for Snowden to seek refuge in, but short of a miracle (that Obama and all his gang of traitors are thrown to jail), Mr. Edward Snowden is facing a stark future of being on the run all his life.

*** Judged Not, Lest Thou be Judged ! ***

[Taco Cowboy]

I mean, we can talk all day and say that Snowden made great personal sacrifices, but did anyone ever ask why he was working with the NSA in the first damn place?

Yes, I did, and because I did ask that question, I did some research into how what Snowden had done, and how he managed to get into that little circle under the NSA canopy.

Unlike most regular posters in /., Mr. Edward Snowden didn't graduate from some fancy university, in fact, he didn't even have a high school diploma !!

Mr. Edward Snowden studied at Anne Arundel Community College to gain the credits necessary to obtain a high-school diploma but he did not complete the coursework.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

Mr. Snowden's first step action in his infiltration into the NSA circle was working as a Security Guard guarding the building in which NSA's contractors was using.

From that position he gets to know people who work with the NSA contractors, and he gets to know what kind of position is opened.

Once he learned that the NSA contractor needed sys-admins, Mr. Snowden studied very hard, self-study style, all the computer/network related skills needed to be employable as a sysadmin.

From there he gained entry to the NSA contractor's computer systems, and from there he gained access to the - alleged - millions of secret files.

I have analysed what Snowden did and I was very impressed with his determination and his other skill in hiding his real intention very very well ! That takes a lot of pre-planning, a lot of self-control, and a helluva load of patience.

As have stated, Mr. Snowden wasn't a kid from a "high caste" of the American society. In fact, his family background, - if I am allowed to put it, and advanced apology to Mr. Snowden and his family for stating the fact - has been routinely categorized as "White Trash" by many Sociologists.

But yet, unlike millions of others, Mr. Snowden loves his country, and it's His Pure Love Of The Country that he did whatever he had to do in order to gain access to the secretive evidences of the illegal activities of the Government of the United States so that he can expose it to his fellow citizens, in the hope that, one day, his beloved country may be better.

True, he worked under the canopy of NSA, and true, NSA is part of the totally despicable regime which is ruling over the nation of the United States of America.

But without getting inside the NSA, how was Edward Snowden going to gain the SOLID evidences of the dastard deeds which the invalid government of the United States of America has committed.

It has been well known for many of us that the USA is no longer free. On the surface it is, but deep inside too many damn dirty things had happened, and we, the citizens, couldn't do a squat about it.

There had been rumors floating around on the many secret programs that were in violation of the Constitution of the United States, but without solid evidences, there is NOTHING to proof.

Before Mr. Snowden's revelation, every single time when I talk to others about the (then alleged) secret programs people looked at me as if I am one of those nuts who believe in conspiracy theories.

It is because of Mr. Snowden, and thanks to his solid evidences, that today, even people who previously pooh-pooh at me whenever I talked about the illegality of the US government are coming to me to talk about the very matter that previously they thought were conspiracies.

Last, but not least, remember the adage:

"Judge not, lest thou be judged"

You have unfairly judged Mr. Edward Snowden due to his working under the NSA program. Unless you want to be judged by others the same way you have judged Mr. Snowden, I suggest that you begin your own path of redemption.