

Snowden to meet with human rights groups in Moscow - znowi
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_12/Snowden-proposes-meeting-at-Sheremetyevo-airport-at-5-00-p-m-on-Friday-lawyer-Padva-6625/

======
smackay
The Russian government is endorsing a meeting between an American dissident
and human rights groups - pinch me, I must be dreaming.

It seems that the old Cold War days of political intrigue between East and
West are back with a vengeance. What's fascinating is to think about how much
this is orchestrated by Putin and how much by Snowden. If it's the former then
there is some long term strategy that the Russians are playing (political
domination of Western Europe within 100 years, anyone?) If it's the latter
then, given all the pressure of recent events, he must be a very remarkable
individual indeed.

~~~
cup
Never underestimate an entities willingness to engage in blatant hypocrisy if
they believe they can benefit out of it.

~~~
snitko
There's a very common theme on sites like HN or reddit (and I'm not implying
you're using it here, but your comment may at least suggest it - if not,
forgive me, my comment is not directed at you specifically) that although
western governments can be dicks, they are still nowhere near 3-rd world
countries' governments when it comes to human rights and other things you,
western countries' residents, take for granted.

However, in my view, the thing to realize is that almost all achievements the
west made came not from a system of governance, but from individuals
continuously restricting those who govern and from the entrepreneurial talent
that flourished when government didn't bother them. To say that western
governments are somehow better than a Russian government is to be ignorant.
They only thing they are better at is lying and deceiving its people about its
own importance to the society.

~~~
cmdkeen
That's simply not true. Western countries have significant differences in
structures that enable them to achieve compared to Russia. The key one that
springs to mind is a rule of law that courts actually follow. Compare Russia
after signing the Helsinki Accords, and it's constitution which had all sorts
of freedoms that were totally ignored, to the West.

When you look at recent Kremlin activity like the expropriation of entire
corporations, jailing of people like Magnitsky, murder of journalists and
dissidents abroad you'll realise that there are no checks or balances in place
at all.

~~~
snitko
The rule of law is a misleading term. If you have money, you can afford
expensive lawyers and staying out of prison for certain crimes. If you don't,
well, then you're out of luck. That's not significantly different from the
Russian system, except that in Russia nobody is delusional about the fact that
money IS law. Also, when someone sues you, you're most certain to not only
lose your time in court, but also money on lawyers, thus the system can be and
is used for _legitimate_ blackmailing.

Finally, US government can jail anyone at any time without trial, even US
citizens (Bradley Manning). There is no rule of law.

~~~
ims
Re: Bradley Manning -- skim through the UCMJ and the Manual for Courts Martial
some time. You may be surprised what you find.

~~~
cema
The law may have been followed but the perception may be different. People
often (always?) reason in the perception world, then act (in the real world)
based on the results of that reasoning.

------
deletes
Live stream in the airport:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RjENf...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RjENfMdMSRI#at=2116)

------
buro9
Anyone else wonder if this is misdirection to mask his already having fled to
South America?

~~~
reneherse
Ignoring the comparative levels of freedom in the respective countries,
wouldn't it seem to be a safer bet to seek asylum in Russia than Venezuela?
Russia seems far less politically volatile and more likely to resist US
pressure over a 50 year time span.

~~~
perlpimp
I doubt the government would let him keep publishing his works. While it is an
ok solution he might want to go to the country that will let him to run the
course of his disclosures.

~~~
steveklabnik
My understanding is that Snowden has already given everything to a bunch of
journalists, encrypted, who can access the data even if something happens to
him.

[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/25/greenwald-s...](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/25/greenwald-
snowden-s-files-are-out-there-if-anything-happens-to-him.html)

------
wikiburner
I know it's ironic given recent revelations, but am I the only one who's
super-reluctant to click on any link ending in .ru or .cn?

No jingoism here - probably just too many years on Windows have me paranoid.

~~~
panacea
I'm paranoid about clicking on any links regarding these revelations on a site
self-labelled "hacker"-news... even reading The Guardian!

And it disturbs me. I'm quite certain I'm on a algorithmically generated
shortlist as a result of following this mess.

I know the internet hasn't been the 'wild west' for quite some time, but it
morphed into 'panopticon' pretty damn quickly.

~~~
wwhitman
Shortlist? That would be a very, very long list. So long in fact as to be
totally useless. There is a cure for Internet paranoia. Fresh air and
sunshine.

~~~
panacea
Shortlist? Used as a metric between deciding whether your get you next job,
your affordable insurance policy.... long lists are easy to store and use with
prejudice.

I'm thankful that fresh air and sunshine is a viable pursuit for my weekend
sojourn. Not so much for urban poor.

