
Russia won’t extradite Snowden to US – Kremlin - clicks
http://rt.com/news/snowden-russia-extradite-us-634/
======
belorn
> "one of the biggest security leaks in the American history"

Is the prism slides really one of the biggest security leaks in the American
history, comparable to the Pentagon Papers, the war logs or the diplomatic
cables? The prism power point leak looks a bit tiny in comparison.

It seems to me as the reason prism get so much media attention, is that it
confirmed something everyone already knew but refused to accept. That shock
hit at peoples heart, and felt more than 250,000 United States diplomatic
cables or 500,000 army reports. Knowing, rather than just suspecting that
Google, FB or microsoft channels data over to the NSA feels worse than hearing
about kids being shot at by an attack helicopter using 30 mm fire.

Still, using the description of biggest security leaks in the American history
might be a bit much?

~~~
rlpb
AIUI, he didn't leak any actual data. Just metadata. He leaked what
information is being collected, rather than any information that actually was
collected. Definitely nothing like "one of the biggest security leaks in the
American history".

~~~
jkestner
Metadata is data. It's a security leak for the government, not us citizens
whose data they're holding.

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pvnick
> "Russia has never extradited anyone, and will not extradite," said Vladimir
> Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

While part of me feels that this is good news, the other part - cynical from
all the word games I've heard from my own government recently - suspects they
could definitely send him back without calling it "extradition." Still, I am
cautiously optimistic.

~~~
nandemo
I don't think you need to be particularly cynical to assume that Russia might
eventually send him away without calling it an extradition. After all, it
doesn't look like Russia is interested in actively protecting Snowden. And if
he doesn't get asylum in Russia neither somewhere else, it's plausible that
the "default" alternative is deportation.

~~~
a3n
Russia has done spy exchanges. Snowden "is" a spy. When it's to Russia's
advantage, they won't hesitate to implement an exchange.

~~~
cstejerean
I don't know anything about spy exchanges, but based on the term I would
imagine it works the other way: an American spy captured in Russsia would be
traded for a Russian spy captured in the US. Do they usually trade defectors
too?

~~~
a3n
To put it more generally, it would be for an American spy in Russia for any
reason and under their control, for any similar Russian spy in America.
Doesn't matter whether the "spies" want to go or not, nor how they got there.
The spy exchange would be just window dressing for accomplishing some thing
that either or both powers want.

------
mahmud
Between this and both sides publicly announcing they're arming opposing sides
of the Syrian conflict, I can't help but think the cold-war is making a
comeback.

I am not saying that Russia should betray Snowden's trust and hand him over.
Just that the two countries _should_ have the appropriate communication
channels to sort this out, and not air to the media in PR stunts. Public
diplomacy often leads to oneupmanship, and makes concessions expensive.

~~~
kalms
It's not a cold war per default, when a country refuse to do what the US
demands. This is just a conflict of interest. Syria is in Russia's backyard,
so of course they'll have opposing viewpoints.

Snowden and Wikileaks moved it into the public for a reason. Russia/US can't
change that right now, so they have to play along, which seems like a good
thing for Snowden/Wikileaks.

~~~
coldtea
> _It 's not a cold war per default, when a country refuse to do what the US
> demands. This is just a conflict of interest. Syria is in Russia's backyard,
> so of course they'll have opposing viewpoints._

They also don't take well to fundamentalists wanting to turn Syria into
Afghanistan masquarading as "freedom fighters".

~~~
kalms
Living in Europe and being engaged to an Israeli, I can definitely relate to
that viewpoint.

~~~
barking
Do you think Europe is being turned into Afghanistan and what's the relevance
of being engaged to an Israeli?

~~~
toyg
Europeans, and Israeli even more, don't want an extremist Islamic state on
their doorstep. Mujhaeddins in Lebanon were enough of a headache already,
before their "nationalist" switch; crazies controlling a state as big (and
rich) as Syria would mean years of things blowing up from London to Tel Aviv.
This is also why the European establishment is quite happy with developments
in Egypt.

In this sense, the US-French-British axis gambling with Lybia and Syria was
incredibly risky, and could end up creating more problems than Qadafi and
Bashar ever did... But that's the nature of our elites, forever playing their
little Great Games with no regard for everyday people.

~~~
barking
I don't think that's fair really.

If a military junta in Egypt suits the West as you suggest then so would Assad
in Syria.

I think the west's motivations are complicated but certainly do contain an
element of desire to help ordinary Syrians and also a fear the consequences of
both acting and failing to act.

~~~
toyg
The problem with Assad (like originally with Qadafi) was that he was in the
Russian sphere of influence, so he had to be replaced with a friendlier
regime. Somehow, "we" thought the Arab Spring narration was "our" chance to
achieve that. It's true that this development contains the _possibility_ of a
friendlier regime, which would not have been there with the previous status
quo; whether this is actually _likely_ though, it's another matter: the
current track record for post-WWII regime-changes in the Middle East is dismal
to say the least, and it didn't improve much in the last decade.

Call me cynic, but I believe "ordinary Syrians" are the last of "our"
problems. Syrian middle-classes, like their Libyan and Egyptian counterparts,
are largely compromised with the regime, and would have certainly favoured a
peaceful (if lengthy) transition rather than a civil war where they stand to
lose everything. Assad was not more brutal than, say, the King of Morocco, who
does pretty much the same sort of thing but is in the Western orbit (and in a
less strategic area).

------
ck2
Well I guess all the bankers who destroyed our economy for a decade can flea
to Russia too.

Oh wait, they don't have to flea, no-one is pursuing them and they are gearing
up for the next round of destruction since no laws were passed to restrict
their behavior. We have great priorities and perspective.

~~~
Alterlife
I hate to be that guy... the message of your post is clear, but I think it
should be flee and not flea.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflea](https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflea)

[https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflee](https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflee)

~~~
JTon
You just couldn't resist, could you. I'm shocked no regulation has passed to
limit the banker's power. And I'm even more shocked none of them spent any
time in jail. Seems like they really do own capitol hill

~~~
ensignavenger
>I'm shocked no regulation has passed to limit the banker's power.

Probably because there are already a ton of regulations- the problem is they
weren't being enforced. They probably still aren't being enforced.

Actually, I'd be in favor of having a lot fewer regulations, and enforcing
those few very strictly.

~~~
ksrm
Selective enforcement of the law is often worse than having no law at all.

------
Systemic33
I think the saying "The enemy of an enemy, is a friend" suits this situation
very well.

~~~
eksith
In this case, "a pawn". I'm fairly certain the Russians are unwilling to
antagonize the U.S. beyond mild annoyance (posturing, really) and if the issue
is forced to any meaningful degree, Snowden is toast.

~~~
robin2
So perhaps the saying should be "the frenemy of my frenemy is my end"

------
RivieraKid
I wonder what his girlfriend thinks about all this.

~~~
user24
I don't know but here's what he father had to say:
[http://www.infowars.com/snowdens-father-describes-son-as-
a-m...](http://www.infowars.com/snowdens-father-describes-son-as-a-modern-day-
paul-revere/)

------
miloshadzic
It's both funny and sad to see every thread about Snowden's potential asylum
outside the US turn into the good/evil dichotomy.

------
coldcode
Hard to imagine cheering something the Russian government does yet here we
are. Would you trust your life to them?

~~~
peterkelly
This whole episode has really shown the fallacy of US = Good, {Russia, China}
= Bad.

If you're an American, this might be a bit hard to understand. But for those
who don't hail from any of the above-mentioned countries, it's easier to take
a more balanced perspective of each.

I don't think we can really look at any country in specific good/bad terms. I
personally applaud Russia's actions on this matter.

~~~
toomuchtodo
There are no good/bad people, good/bad countries, etc. Just people who do good
or bad things.

------
nodata
> said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Hm. Interesting switch. I wonder why.

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I found this interesting as well. Putin has developed a reputation for being
his own mouthpiece when it comes to anything that helps to further the cult of
personality he's built around himself.

In other words, I'm shocked Putin had someone else say this instead of having
cameras on him while he was shirtless and wrestling a bear for control of the
life of a tiger cub.

~~~
Demiurge
Because it's not as clearcut positive for him as feeding milk to a siberian
tiger cub.

