After watching the most recent Vice and 1971 I started to wonder where HROT stood today on Edward Snowden. To me he is clearly a good citizen and a hero.
Edward Snowden
- Thread starter moral_victory
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I'm in the good citizen camp. I've never really understood the camp that seems to hate whistleblowers. I mean, isn't it a good thing when the lid gets popped off of something illegal that affects U.S. Citizens?
Far too much trust from some people when it comes to the government.
Far too much trust from some people when it comes to the government.
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anon_01irjibf16qqj
Guest
Good Citizen.
I would welcome him back with open arms.
I would welcome him back with open arms.
Me too, and a medal.
Hero. That was my first reaction and it hasn't changed. I was able to attend an early screening of "Citizenfour" and meet Laura Poitras, journalist and filmmaker, who did a Q & A after the screening.
Anybody else see this documentary film?
Anybody else see this documentary film?
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anon_01irjibf16qqj
Guest
Espionage, treason, and whatever else they throw at him. He gets off, he gets off.
I love whistle blowers but not ones who run to China and Russia and give up national secrets that put Americans in danger. Now had he stayed here, I clearly would have been the hero vote
I agree with this. I would have been on his side had he not went there. Going to those two countries, makes me think he was doing something he wasn't suppose to.
Hero, he made a tough choice and we the people are better off knowing what he exposed.
Why, so he could be a martyr in the United States? The whole, "putting Americans in danger" is a silly talking point from politicians who are pissed that a guy let everyone know they're breaking the law. He didn't put Americans in danger, that's nonsense.
It's always this way with people in power. They use buzz terms that people won't argue against and take at face value.
He went to those countries because they wouldn't extradite him to get murdered here in the good ole US of A.
If he stays here and gets captured we would not have heard a peep from him. Only the word of the trust worthy government spying and collecting data on their citizens.
Exactly, dude would be rotting in Leavenworth never to be heard from again.
Just caught this post. Pretty hilarious case of irony, getting charged with espionage for exposing ummm..... espionage.
I encourage any of you interested in this story at all to watch Citizenfour.
Something in the neighborhood of 98.5% Good Citizen, 1.5% criminal. And honestly, the 1.5% criminal part, it's probably not enough to actually charge him and put him on trial. Considering that much of what was exposed has been shown to not be exactly on the up and up, that overrides what little he did that was actually wrong.
The funny thing about that is he was just trying to take a connecting flight to another country when the US trapped him in Russia. It wasn't like he specifically wanted to go to Russia, whats sad is that the US even forced the leader of a sovereign nation's plane down(while the leader was on it too) so it could be searched by the US for Snowden because Snowden applied for Asylum at that nation.
Yep. Definitely recommend it.
I read Greenwald's No Place to Hide and Harding's The Snowden Files when they came out (before Citizen Four). Mandatory reading.
I assume everybody recognizes Greenwald's name. For those who don't recognize Harding, he works for the Guardian. Greenwald and Poitras and Guardian reporter MacAskill went to Hong Kong on the Guardian's dime.
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Snowden had a lot of options besides going to Russia. The company you keep is a reflection of you. Snowden chose to hide in the shadow of a brutal dictator. A brutal dictator who kills people who share secrets and dare to print the truth in newspapers. He isn't a hero.
What other options that wouldn't succumb to the United States pressure to extradite. Only two that pop off in my head are Russia and China... oh wait.
If I'm not mistaken, he was trying to get to Ecuador, via Russia and Cuba, and ended up getting stuck in Russia because his passport was cancelled.
He was trying to avoid extradition to the US and that was the easiest route to take. Maybe not the route that avoids controversy, but given his circumstances, I'd think not wanting to come back to the US immediately was the most prudent action to take (from his perspective).
He had lots of options in the US. A quiet leak via the media. Find a protector in Congress. There are laws designed to protect someone who legitimately leaks things that should be known.
Snowden wanted to be a star.
That might be the most naive thing I've ever read. You're too old to believe that.
When you say "brutal dictator", are you referring to Obama? What administration has been hardest on whistleblowers than Obama, drone assassinator in chief. How have Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange fared under Obama's protection?
Holder says he provided a public service (the debate and all) but goes on to say the following:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/axe-files-axelrod-eric-holder/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/axe-files-axelrod-eric-holder/index.html
"He harmed American interests," said Holder, who was at the helm of the Justice Department when Snowden leaked U.S. surveillance secrets. "I know there are ways in which certain of our agents were put at risk, American relationships with other countries were harmed, our ability to keep the people safe was compromised. There were all kinds of re-dos that had to be put in place as a result of what he did, and while those things were being done we were blind in certain really critical areas. So what he did was not without consequence." Holder
I'll never understand why so many are willing to overlook the damage and then the bastard rubs salt in the wound by going to Russia. I hope he hates it there and stays the rest of his miserable life.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/axe-files-axelrod-eric-holder/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/axe-files-axelrod-eric-holder/index.html
"He harmed American interests," said Holder, who was at the helm of the Justice Department when Snowden leaked U.S. surveillance secrets. "I know there are ways in which certain of our agents were put at risk, American relationships with other countries were harmed, our ability to keep the people safe was compromised. There were all kinds of re-dos that had to be put in place as a result of what he did, and while those things were being done we were blind in certain really critical areas. So what he did was not without consequence." Holder
I'll never understand why so many are willing to overlook the damage and then the bastard rubs salt in the wound by going to Russia. I hope he hates it there and stays the rest of his miserable life.
Our government was the one that hurt those relationships by spying on our allies. I guess gun running Holder would see it differently.
