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Galraedia

(5,026 posts)
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 07:05 PM Jul 2013

Russia Tired Of Snowden, Says He Can Have Freedom If He Shuts Up Already

It is time once again for another round of our new favorite game, Where in the World is Edward Snowden? Last we heard of our intrepid hero, he was still stranded in the transit zone of the Moscow airport, subsisting on Cinnabons while growing more and more frustrated that Hudson News is always slow to stock the latest issue of Us Weekly. Rumors that the president of Bolivia had stuffed him into a carry-on and smuggled him aboard his own flight fell apart when the world learned that the president’s plane had actually taken off from a different Moscow airport. Three South American countries have offered him asylum but flying to any of them from Moscow presents certain logistical problems.

Today Wikileaks announced that Snowden will formally apply to Russia for temporary asylum so he can at least get the hell out of the airport’s transit zone. This is his second appeal to the Russians; he rejected the first when Vladimir Putin attached the condition that Snowden stop leaking like the Titanic. Say what you want about the Obama administration, but Vladimir Putin really does not like corruption seeing the light of day.

This time Snowden says he will accept Putin’s conditions. Maybe he’s getting desperate now that he has been stuck in limbo for a while (technically the transit zone is international territory so the Russians can’t extradite him as the U.S. has requested) and his backup plan of appealing to Nightcrawler to teleport him out of there has been met with a stony wall of silence from the X-Men. Whatever the reason, if Russia accepts his request we will finally have some movement on this tale of woe. Of course if Snowden turns out to be a gay tourist the movement will be right to Lefortovo Prison, but such are the risks one takes when one seeks freedom in Mother Russia.

This is the danger of following certain strains of the libertarian philosophy, where a person’s thinking that he should be free of government interference to do what he wants runs smack into the reality that we live in nations governed by laws because otherwise everything would be chaos, and that dislike of a law, no matter how strong and heartfelt, does not make one exempt from having to face the consequences for breaking them no matter how much you may scream “asylum” and portray yourself as a latter-day Robert Redford in Three Days of the Sharknado or whatever, forever on the run from shadowy government forces who will, on orders from the highest levels of the federal government, contract with global crime syndicates to rub you out, because dude, how much dope were you smoking while you were living in Hawaii and haunting Ars Technica chat rooms?

Read more at http://wonkette.com/522597/russia-tired-of-snowden-says-he-can-have-freedom-if-he-shuts-up-already#5duZquv52pEEsdx5.99

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wandy

(3,539 posts)
4. Yup, not exactly a Wonkette fan my self, but I think this sums it up nicely.........
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 07:22 PM
Jul 2013
Yr Wonkette anticipates a hiding from some of you over our mocking tone, but we maintain that it is possible to both not like what the NSA has been doing (though we were totally unsurprised that it had been going on because this is the world we have lived in for at least a decade if not longer) AND to think that Edward Snowden is a preening drama queen who did not think his whole plan through very carefully. If he had, he would actually be free somewhere, quietly living his life while debate rages over the issues he raised. Instead he is stuck in an airport relying on Julian Assange, a man not exactly adept at keeping the spotlight on the issues. Good luck with that, dude.

Yup. Good luck with that, dude!

DCBob

(24,689 posts)
2. LOL!! loved this one..
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 07:13 PM
Jul 2013

"Of course if Snowden turns out to be a gay tourist the movement will be right to Lefortovo Prison, but such are the risks one takes when one seeks freedom in Mother Russia."

 

99th_Monkey

(19,326 posts)
3. He'll "shut up", right after he calls Glen Greenwald
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 07:16 PM
Jul 2013

and authorizes him to release the remaining half (roughly) of the information
GG is still sitting on (along with a whole string of backups stashed in
undisclosed locations, just in case), where GG gets to release it in an
incremental way, at GG's own discretion, as to timing and content .

I'm not sure I would advise Mr Snowden to make that call

Galraedia

(5,026 posts)
8. What is your opinion of Snowden saying things that are contradicted by the documents he released?
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:24 PM
Jul 2013

Example: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023137494

If Snowden was interested in the truth he wouldn't be making false claims and exaggerations.

Galraedia

(5,026 posts)
17. Failed to do so because I have no idea the degree of spying you're complaining about...
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 09:29 PM
Jul 2013

...real surveillance or the one that Edward Snowden pulled out of his ass.

99Forever

(14,524 posts)
14. Funny how none of these...
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:42 PM
Jul 2013

... character assassin, drama queen tools ever seem to want to discuss the real issue, isn't it?

Scurrilous

(38,687 posts)
6. That 4th paragraph is killer stuff man...
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:18 PM
Jul 2013
"... how much dope were you smoking while you were living in Hawaii and haunting Ars Technica chat rooms?"





Response to Scurrilous (Reply #6)

CakeGrrl

(10,611 posts)
11. Oh Wonkette, you crazy authoritarians!
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:34 PM
Jul 2013

I mean, where do you guys GET this kind of thinking?

where a person’s thinking that he should be free of government interference to do what he wants runs smack into the reality that we live in nations governed by laws because otherwise everything would be chaos, and that dislike of a law, no matter how strong and heartfelt, does not make one exempt from having to face the consequences for breaking them





Cha

(297,295 posts)
13. I know.. that was stunningly on target. Snowden's on
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:41 PM
Jul 2013

the run.. doing anything he has to in order to escape the consequences of his actions. Suck up to Putin and Russia.. no problem.

Cha

(297,295 posts)
12. Brilliant!
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 08:38 PM
Jul 2013

"Yr Wonkette anticipates a hiding from some of you over our mocking tone, but we maintain that it is possible to both not like what the NSA has been doing (though we were totally unsurprised that it had been going on because this is the world we have lived in for at least a decade if not longer) AND to think that Edward Snowden is a preening drama queen who did not think his whole plan through very carefully. If he had, he would actually be free somewhere, quietly living his life while debate rages over the issues he raised. Instead he is stuck in an airport relying on Julian Assange, a man not exactly adept at keeping the spotlight on the issues. Good luck with that, dude."

Mahalo Galraedia.. then there's this little matter..

Snowden wants asylum in Russia, but can he stick to Putin’s terms?

"Worryingly for Snowden, he and Putin seem to be speaking past one another. Putin said that Snowden would have to “stop his work” that was damaging the United States; Snowden says he’s never damaged the United States. Clearly, they don’t agree about what does and does not qualify as allowed under Putin’s conditions for stay.

It’s possible that Snowden believes he can technically adhere to the terms because he may have already passed all of his information on to WikiLeaks or other sources; in this thinking, perhaps, any future leaks sourced to him are not his responsibility. It’s not clear whether or not Putin would see it this way."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/12/snowden-wants-asylum-in-russia-but-can-he-stick-to-putins-terms/

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
16. K & R, this is great galraedia, enjoyed. As usual we have some Snowden fans jumping in, I just
Sat Jul 13, 2013, 09:14 PM
Jul 2013

Wonder what happened to their "Beam me up, Scotty" was and then realized his name isn't Scotty and the beam passed Eddie by.

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