

US whistleblower Edward Snowden believed to have landed in Russia - declan
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0623/458289-edward-snowden/

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tome
Travelling to "China"[1], Russia, Cuba and Venezuela is not the way to get the
average American on your side.

Revealing secrets about how the US government is spying on enemies, rather
than simply about how the US government is spying on its citizens is not the
way to get the average American on your side.

I can't say I admire what this man has done or how he has done it (aside from
bringing domestic spying into the public eye, which I do think was a genuine
public service).

[1] Or rather what will be perceived as "China" by many Americans.

~~~
chid
The alternatives are countries that have a simple extradition process to the
US.

~~~
tome
The alternative would be to stay in the US (or leave to be interviewed by
Greenwald and return to the US) and actually fight for what he believes in.

~~~
agravier
I think that his answers[1] address that point:

> ... the US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers,
> immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at
> home...

[1] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-
snowden-n...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-
files-whistleblower)

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andr
Russian news agency Interfax claims final destination is Venezuela.

13:36 SNOWDEN'S ULTIMATE DESTINATION IS VENEZUELA WHERE HE WILL FLY TO FROM
MOSCOW WITH STOPOVER IN HAVANA - SOURCE

[http://www.interfax.com/news.asp](http://www.interfax.com/news.asp)

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PavlovsCat
This is not good, is it?

What if he _doesn 't_ have a (super detailed and perfect) plan, and nobody out
there can protect him, except the 300 million (if not 7 billion) people he did
this for? What if this not a script written on our behalf, but real life?

Because that's exactly what I am thinking, you may call him a fool or a
criminal, but until you can show me evidence of any selfish motives, he did
this for us, and our grandchildren to boot, wether you see that now or not.
Sure, it's not the same as taking a bullet for a bus full of kids, he "just"
leaked classified things and ran way; but if I assume he truly believed that
was the right thing to do, maybe not the smartest and safest way to lead a
long life, but the right thing to do, then I have to admire his guts, and as I
said, unless there is a sudden twist in all this, I am already indebted to
him.

He's on the run from rather sinister people, too, who think nothing of killing
thousands, or putting people in prison for life, just to make a point about
dominance, while hiding behind human pyramids, deniability, limited liability
and sophistry. If the public turns their back on him, he might be toast and
that's that; which would be heartbreaking and flat out wrong to me.

~~~
Irishsteve
Could be. But Wikileaks have also sent 'advisors' to sit with him. So in
theory he's at least being advised on possible options.

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shocks
What does Fmr mean?

~~~
_ak
Former

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throwaway10001
Surprised the cab to the airport didn't "break down" (or blow up) or he didn't
get mugged on his way to the airport. My guess is that Chinese agents were
keeping the CIA and Western ones at bay, since that ultimately is Chinese
territory. I never for a minute believe that he was in hidden location,
otherwise NSA and CIA should be disbanded.

While not ideal, Cuba is probably his best choice considering that China and
Russia would not take /support him openly. The Chinese agents most likely
cloned his drives one way or another and the Russians might do the same if
there's a layover. It's really simple:

"Wanna go to Cuba? Yes? Fine, then do what Igor says."

~~~
wmil
> Surprised the cab to the airport didn't "break down" (or blow up) or he
> didn't get mugged on his way to the airport.

He's in no danger of being assassinated. There wouldn't be any point.

Killing him to "make an example of him" doesn't make sense. Killing him with
plausible deniability wouldn't send a message and killing him openly would
just would just make the CIA look bad.

However the US government can, publicly and openly, make his life very
difficult.

~~~
devcpp
I don't think looking bad matters to these people at this point.

