One of Putins ministers has unofficially offered Snowden asylum, basically said Russia will continue to be a haven for political dissidents in America.

why did this dude even have access to this info

jamiethekiller wrote:why would anyone defect to china and not switzerland/sweden blows my mind. china would be the last place i would go right now.

At a guess, extradition is a non-issue and if they tried to just snatch him it's a huge deal. Sweden might embargo its bikini models; Switzerland might send us crummy watches. China can fuck with us six ways from Sunday. It's despicable but not dumb.

pacino wrote:why did this dude even have access to this info

bc he worked for NSA and Booze Allen

Luzinski's Gut wrote:Crush him. Defecting to China? Really? He's a traitor, plain and simple.

Not opposed to crushing him, but let's go ahead and have a full-on national conversation about intelligence gathering. Because this isn't plain, or simple, or merely about tactical perfidy

The way I look at this is he broke a legal binding contract of confidentiality when he began his employment with the NSA. As such, the government has a right and political interest to prosecute him under the due process of our legal system. That being said, I'm thankful someone disclosed this information to the public or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. Like it or not, these whistleblowers are setting up a public discourse in America that would have never happened otherwise.

more like edwin blowden #haha

the guy who exposed an NSA scandal everyone in the country is pissed about is a traitor

Roger Dorn wrote:The way I look at this is he broke a legal binding contract of confidentiality when he began his employment with the NSA. As such, the government has a right and political interest to prosecute him under the due process of our legal system. That being said, I'm thankful someone disclosed this information to the public or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. Like it or not, these whistleblowers are setting up a public discourse in America that would have never happened otherwise.

he broke the law. we also were breaking the law until Congress passed a bill they apparently didnt fully understand and codified these methods into law. oh boy.

Incorrect. His apparent defection to another country - and one that is actively involved in various forms of espionage against our country - is what makes him a traitor.

I understand his logic and why he did what he did up until the point he apparently defected to China.

fair enough, I fail to see how that makes him a traitor though. Seeing what the government has done to whistleblowers in the past few years is enough to make a guy do what he's gotta do to ensure his own freedom from them

Barry Jive wrote:the guy who exposed an NSA scandal everyone in the country is pissed about is a traitor

well, who could've forseen a program like this which we were for would continue under the administration of a different political party? the executive branch usually willingly gives up power it is given. look at history.

The irony is that he will see what no having freedom is really like in China. For God's sake, this is the government that imprisons people for practicing a religious form of yoga (falun gong).

This is only going to get more confusing I suspect. If Greenwald is correct and more information is going to come out, this could be one of the most damaging espionage cases in the history of the country.

The 9/11 response could have been done so differently...would have avoided this kind of stupidity.

It's really sad actually.

disregarding the substance of this leak, how is leaking national security information not traitorous by definition?

well, manning is being tried for helping the enemy, so it would appear the government would call these guys traitors. whether they are is not something i know, you guys may know more about those definitions. i have a hard time calling them traitors to their country when they would appear to have done this to get it to the American public, not to terrorists.

Guys guys, we have the wrong whistleblower.

By labeling and charging his crime as an act of treason the government technically could seek the death penalty. I'm not saying they would pursue this route, but is what he did worthy of a death sentence by the federal government? Because if you charge him with treason this is what the government is implying.

td11 wrote:disregarding the substance of this leak, how is leaking national security information not traitorous by definition?

it depends on what kind of information you're talking about, I guess

i understand how grave the implications of being charged with treason are, but like, he violated a National Security Agency contract...

Luzinski's Gut wrote:The irony is that he will see what no having freedom is really like in China. For God's sake, this is the government that imprisons people for practicing a religious form of yoga (falun gong).

This is only going to get more confusing I suspect...

has he actually defected to China, or is this just something that's being bandied about as one of his options?

Seemsl like the dumbest option for sure - & why China would want to stir shit with this caper is beyond me

My feeling is Greenwald's reporting has been uncharacteristically breathless and, well, naive