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Snowden Granted 3 More Years of Russian Residency
SiggyRadiation writes Edward Snowden is allowed to stay in Russia for three more years. According to the NYPost:"His lawyer, Analtoly Kucherena, was quoted by Russian news agencies on Thursday as saying Snowden now has been granted residency for three more years, but that he had not been granted political asylum. That status, which would allow him to stay in Russia permanently, must be decided by a separate procedure, Kucherena said, but didn't say whether Snowden is seeking it." The question that remains, of course, is did the Russians use this as leverage over him to get to more information or influence him? Or is the positive PR in itself enough for the Russians in the current climate of tensions and economic sanctions relating to the Ukraine crisis?"
He should be able to live wherever he wants!
Anyone who thinks that Russia would deport Edward Snowden does not know much about the long history of Russian spycraft.
Your matters weren't private before Snowden since the govt. was violating the 4th amendment without your knowledge. Just because the revealing of an illegal practice modifies the behavior of others does not make that illegal practice legitimate.
Russia isn't using this to leverage information or to influence Snowden. Russia is using this to stick it to the US. And if, every once in a while, they can trot him out like a useful puppet (like they did during Putin's televised Q&A), then all the better
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
The Russians are never letting him go - at least not for free. They'll have to get something to give him up. Snowden probably couldn't leave Russia even if he wanted to.
But the Russians will treat him well - to make an example of him: "Leak classified US data and the Russians will take care of you."
At least until the US offers Russia something substantial for him - then the Russians will ship him back.
Since I prefer freedom over safety, it looks to me like you have no valid point, even if what that article is saying is true. Snowden releasing the information was morally right. It is not wrong to tell people about the immoral/unconstitutional activities of the government, even if they're doing it to keep us 'safe.' And that's a big "if."
We are supposed to be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave,' after all. We can't be free or brave if we trade away our freedoms for security and allow the government to violate the constitution. Snowden released the information, and now it's up to all of us to stop the government's activities.
The question that remains, of course, is did the Russians use this as leverage over him to get to more information or influence him?
Why is that a question? Has there been any indication that anything like that has happened? No? Well then why does that question come up for you? I believe it is because you know that if you said what you are implying outright, the unanimous response would be, "Citation Needed!"
Don't propagate bullshit suggestive questions that try to make a point you don't have the balls (or the evidence) to present in a forthright manner. Leave that kind of rhetorical crap to the downward spiral that is major media news. Here, you will be held to a higher standard.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
Nice typo, Anatoly Kucherena will be pleased :D.
Apparently the original source, among other sites, added the extra L, so poster has an excuse :D
This is obviously a first post from an NSA working group. Notice the low-level dig against us for discussing Snowden, and on top of that this is a blatant attempt to steer the conversation away from the main points.
Remember, there is a rather active disinformation campaign in place right now. And this is an example of it.
Ah, I see the NSA is here :)
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
The difference is, before the leaks, people who made that claim were dismissed and ostracized as conspiracy nuts.
Now that it is fact, the public is a whole lot more paranoid.
The Patriot Act was Al Qaeda's greatest achievement.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
There are many _questions_ that remain. How much additional information does Snowden have squirreled away in dead drops, that will be revealed if he is killed or imprisoned? How much information can Russian personnel gather about subtle policies of NSA, by indirect deduction of what Snowden says to press or to his handlers? What has, or can, the NSA do to protect its revealed policies and assets? What inspiration do minor details about NSA monitoring provide for Russian surveillance?
The concept that there is "the only remaining question", and posing the question to cast the Russians as aggressive victims, is a straw man. It's a side issue distracting debate from much more important issues.
Snowden didn't need to leak that much information to make his point.
Yes, he did. We deserve to know exactly what how our government is violating the highest law of the land, and that includes details of the program. Both so we can better defend ourselves against this (if only be being aware of it) and so we can see what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again. Knowing all the details lets us make better informed decisions.
You are a coward.
And it seems as well Snowden is prefering safety over freedom.
Alright, what freedoms is Snowden saying that we should sacrifice to the government in exchange for safety? You're a moron.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
damned traitor.
Would you really like to live in an alternate reality where all the Snowden's revelations would never have happened?
Your absolute freedom?
Our constitutional and fundamental freedoms. You know, the things that the government is violating.
Then you go on to list a bunch of irrelevancies that have nothing to do with Snowden, other than the fact that he's... currently in Russia, I guess?
You Snowden lovers are finding it tougher and tougher to defend his crimes.
It's as easy as ever, because law does not equate to morality, even assuming he did break laws. The sooner you fools learn that, the better.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Beside the name calling thing, it is not true he needs to leak that much information to make his point.
Yes, it is, and I explained why. Without knowing the full extent of the program, it becomes more difficult to defend oneself until it stops, and it also becomes more difficult to stop it from happening again by having the right protections in the right places. Besides that, The People need to know how, exactly, the government is violating the constitution.
For the freedom, it seems obvious to me Snowden has given up on his freedom since he is locked in Russia for an undetermined time in exchange of his security.
You are confusing surrendering everyone's freedoms to the government with going to Russia because your own government will likely strip you of your freedoms if you do not. There is a difference between someone choosing to go to Russia and the government violating people's freedoms. Try to keep up.
Talking coward here...
You or I have done nothing even close to what Snowden has, and likely never will. He's not the coward here.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
My definition of "valid" differs from yours, government worshiper. For instance, I think everyone has rights, and that we shouldn't spy on allies or spy on people en masse period. There should be standards even when you go to spy on foreigners.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
And it seems as well Snowden is prefering safety over freedom.
Alright, what freedoms is Snowden saying that we should sacrifice to the government in exchange for safety? You're a moron.
He is trying to make the claim that Snowden is hiding out in Russia, sacrificing his freedom for the sake of security from American persecution. Ignoring, of course, that Snowden is much more free in Russia than he would be in the United States.
That's a false dichotomy that needs to die.
No, it's an important point. By saying you prefer freedom over safety in general (which isn't a false dichotomy, by the way), you make it clear that the issue isn't about safety, but about freedom. That is, even if their programs were *proven* to keep us safe, you would still oppose them out of principle, as people who want to live in a free country should do.
While it's sometimes important to point out when the programs don't actually do what they say they do (whether it be the NSA's surveillance, DUI checkpoints, the TSA, etc.), I feel that it's much more important to let it be known that these things aren't okay under any circumstances.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Snowden leaked a ton of information on the methods NSA uses to do the job we want them to do.
Who is "we"? I know I don't want them to keep exploits in the dark, thereby making everyone less safe (without good reason) just so they can exploit some so-called "terrorists." Fuck that. And to say these things wouldn't be used for other nasty purposes is just naive.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The Patriot Act was Al Qaeda's greatest achievement.
Over two hundred years of American History, many many thousands of people dead in civil war, world wars, cold war under the threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction and we let the greatest threat to the US Constitution and the future of Liberty in the United States end up being twenty guys with razor blades and the morally vacant people that use their terrible acts of murder as an excuse (and an opportunity).
The idea of punishment is that being punished is more expensive to you than keeping the law. Else, why bother being a law abiding citizen? If all I have to fear when I get caught shoplifting is to pay the price for the item I stole, why bother paying unless you got caught?
Consider the surplus of information revealed the punishment the US got.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I haven't seen anything that Snowden has revealed that hurt our national security in any serious way. Sure, plenty of embarrassment for the administration but that's hardly the same thing. Personally, I'm glad that he did what he did since it's started a very real discussion about intelligence service over-reach and lack of sufficient oversight. The right thing to do would be for the president to grant him a pardon on the condition that he come back to the US and turn over any remaining materials. That way we keep the information out of the hands of our rivals and demonstrate that we protect whistleblowers at the same time.
It's funny how you government hating nutjobs
Did you know that our entire system of government is based around the idea that the government shouldn't have too much power, and that everyone should be cautious of the government? Do you know that that's what it takes in order to truly be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'?
call people who aren't hopeless square pegs like you government worshippers for being part of western civilization.
I'm calling them government worshipers for defending egregious violations of people's fundamental liberties and the US constitution, and for mindlessly appealing to laws in search of morality.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Somebody is mis-remembering the controversy.
1) Snowden releases a controlled release, which starts the manhunt to collect him for prosecution.
2) NSA, CIA, and pals all BLATANTLY LIE to congress. Congress eats it up like fudge.
3) Snowden releases MORE information, catching NSA, CIA, and pals in their blatant lie.
4) NSA, CIA, and pals whine about how unamerican snowden is, and how cowardly he is to have fled the country where they cant capture him and interrogate/punish him in secret. Lie some more to congress. Congress eats it up like fudge.
5) Snowden releases MORE information...
Rinse, repeat.
This has happened about 4 times now, with the NSA and CIA heads being caught lying EACH AND EVERY TIME.
Without snowden releasing the information he has released, there would have been no proof that the NSA and CIA had been lying to congress in a blatant fashion.
He didnt just release it all at once, bradley/chelsey manning style. He released it as it was NECESSARY to have it released, to prevent the NSA and CIA from continuing to operate as they had been previously.
Your argument is absurd.
Al Qa'ida's greatest achievement was the indiscriminate slaughter of almost 3000 civilians in pursuit of their delusional but still very real goal of establishing a califat once more. Give me an example of someone getting killed because of the indiscriminate collection of meta data and I'll start listening to your crazy rants again.
If the goal was to prevent Al Qaida from killing another 3k people via airplane hijacking, the US government didn't need to do anything at all. Today if terrorists take over a plane, the passengers aren't just going to sit back and wait until they crash and die. Sure, they can blow up a plane, but they still can do that, or just blow up a bus instead.
However, if they wanted to do something prudent, then taking steps to harden cockpit doors would go a long way towards improving things.
The post-9/11 measures did nothing to prevent the Boston Marathon bombing. Indeed, the guy responsible wasn't even caught until after the curfew was lifted, and he was discovered by a local resident.
We do not hate the government as a whole. In fact, we like the government very much as it provides funds for our roads, bridges, and helps to make scientific progress possible in our society (current elected members notwithstanding). What we do hate, my dear AC, are the blatant violations of the constitution that the NSA, FBI, DOJ, etc.have perpetrated behind the veil of "National Security". I would be more than willing to discuss this matter further on a later occasion if you are up for it.
Freedom is simply more important than safety. You seem to only care about physical safety. If that is so, why do you live in a country that's supposed to be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'? Why do you live in a country that has a constitution that only gives the government the powers that the constitution says it has, a measure that came about because people with power simply cannot be trusted? Why do you speak as if the government is full of perfect angels who could never make mistakes or do any wrong, and have absolute faith that all people who will ever be in the government will be the case, all the while ignoring the hundreds of millions of people throughout history murdered and/or abused by corrupt governments? Why do you not care about the highest law of the land in the US?
You don't want to live in a free country; I understand that. But turning the US into a police state will take a long time, and is a slow, gradual process. Wouldn't it be quicker for you to move to North Korea?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.