
Russia Eyes Sending Snowden to US as 'gift' to Trump: Official Tells NBC News - coloneltcb
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/10/russia-eyes-sending-snowden-to-us-as-gift-to-trump-official-tells-nbc-news.html
======
mindcrime
This is really bad news. :-(

But still... there are a lot of us. It seems that there ought to be something
we can do to help protect Snowden. But I have to admit, I'm drawing a blank
right this minute. Ideas?

~~~
Nrsolis
Protect him against prosecution?

He's admitted that he committed the crime and then he fled first to Hong Kong
and ultimately to Russia.

I'm not convinced this guy is as innocent (or much of a whistleblower) as
everyone seems to believe. I know that's an unpopular opinion but compared to
Drake and Binney this guy did a lot of damage to the USA.

~~~
mindcrime
_Protect him against prosecution?_

Protect him against being assassinated, and/or being railroaded by some
kangaroo court and _then_ assassinated. Or buried in solitary somewhere for
the rest of his life.

C'mon, no way is the USG going to let Snowden face a fair trial, and that's
ignoring the fact that he shouldn't be tried at all. The man is a hero who
risked everything to expose crimes committed by the US government. Who cares
about the technicality of whether or not he violated some inane statute? He
did us all a favor and - IMO - we have something of a moral obligation to help
him stay alive.

~~~
Nrsolis
Technicality?

This guy ferried gigabytes of secrets out of a secure installation, fled to a
foreign country and was likely protected by one or two hostile foreign
intelligence services, and then made a movie where he admitted the whole
thing.

IANAL, but it seems like the facts of the case make this a pretty open-and-
shut case. You don't get much more solid evidence than the accused admitting
to the crime.

I'll note that you don't get to violate the law for "a good cause" especially
when you, in your sole judgement, decided that the government you screwed
over, deserved that screwing.

I'd argue that with the ACLU behind him, he's gonna get a much fairer trial
than any one of the hundreds of other folks that get railroaded in our justice
system because they are too poor to afford competent counsel.

So let's stop with the hyperbole. Nobody is gonna kill that guy. They are
gonna keep him alive at a SuperMax prison in Colorado, right next to Hansen
and Ames. A long life behind bars makes a good example for the next traitor
who gets an itch to help out our adversaries.

~~~
mindcrime
_So let 's stop with the hyperbole._

 _A long life behind bars makes a good example for the next traitor who gets
an itch to help out our adversaries._

LOL, way to contradict yourself. Whatever, believe what you want, but Snowden
is a hero and we all owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

~~~
Nrsolis
What contradiction? The guy is guilty. He knows he doesn't stand a chance in
court. This guy is looking at several life sentences for his crimes.

So this guy can get the fairest trial of all time and STILL go to prison
forever. A trial isn't unfair because you don't agree with the result. He
broke the law. DO you think he deserves to go free after what he's done?
Seriously.

I can't walk down the street and shoot someone because he was a "bad guy" in
only my judgement. I'm going to go to jail for murder. Whether or not the guy
was actually a "bad guy" or not is irrelevant. As an individual in our
society, you don't get to unilaterally take an action against the law and then
expect to escape the consequences.

If this guy was a TRUE whistleblower, he'd have taken an important document,
one implicating the NSA in wrongdoing, to a respected new outlet like "60
Minutes" or the NY Times or the WSJ, unmasked himself, and expected the
government to prosecute him. THAT is how you martyr yourself for the common
good.

This guy did everything that you'd expect an rogue, formerly-controlled asset
of a foreign intelligence service to do. He took a radical action to force the
hand of his FSB or SVR handlers and then fled to their open arms expecting
them to keep him safe. I think he stopped off in Hong Kong to see if the
Chinese would be willing to take him in so he could escape his fate in the
USA. When they declined, he beat feet to the Soviets.

Don't believe the hype. That guy was a recruited asset who decided he had
enough. All of the rest was for show.

~~~
mindcrime
_What contradiction?_

Really? You can't see the contradiction in imploring that we "stop the
hyperbole", followed by labeling Snowden a "traitor"?

 _DO you think he deserves to go free after what he 's done?_

Absolutely. He should be given a medal and a tickertape parade. He's one of
the few real heroes of our age.

 _I can 't walk down the street and shoot someone because he was a "bad guy"
in only my judgement._

No, but that metaphor is totally unrelated to what Snowden did.

 _That guy was a recruited asset who decided he had enough. All of the rest
was for show._

Great, I'll be eagerly awaiting the mounds of evidence you must have for this
seemingly slanderous accusation...

------
krapp
Trump is going to wake up one day to find Snowden's severed head next to him
in bed.

