If he did apply for asylum and was refused, that explains the situation to me personally. I never thought all of the (admittedly, quite few) directly adjacent to Russia democratic countries would do that to him. I hope he continues to write on these topics from wherever he is.
> directly adjacent to Russia democratic countries
I wonder how necessary the "directly adjacent" criteria is. Couldn't he sail from Russia to Iceland, for example? Perhaps if he was wanted by Interpol he would find it hard to travel through the territorial waters of European nations (assuming their coast guards would intercept a vessel carrying him).
In practice, though, I assume that Putin's government has made it very clear to him that his safety relies on him remaining a useful propaganda piece for the regime, so he wouldn't even get as far as Russian waters.
... and if he books passage on a ship that doesn't reach international waters, there's nothing to stop US operatives from bribing the captain to take a detour.
> Couldn't he sail from Russia to Iceland, for example?
The United States has a recent history of kidnapping people in other countries and sending them off to CIA black sites where some have ended up tortured to death.
There was no due process for the citizens that a former president ordered to be killed in a drone attack and justified it after the fact that they were enemy combatants.
That time it was probably the right call but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that that special relationship isn't flexible when the government deems it so.
It is a pretty big step, however, from drone strikes against terrorists to kidnapping a US citizen and throwing them into a secret prison for committing a crime. The blowback would be immense, and the gov't knows it.
Do I think they'd take a convenient opportunity, even extralegal, to snatch Snowden? Yep. But only to bring him back to the US to stand trial.
I’d like to think there would be immense blowback, but there was less than I expected and hoped for from his revelations. I’m still surprised by public figures denouncing him as a traitor.
My thought processes seem to be nowhere near normal when it comes to politics. I’m not ASD (AFAICT), but I am definitely not neurotypical either.
Obama killed American citizens with drone strikes.
Trump normalized it.
>Nawar "Nora" al-Awlaki was an eight-year-old American citizen of Yemeni descent who was killed on January 29, 2017 during the Raid on Yakla, a commando attack ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
> Putin's government has made it very clear to him that his safety relies on him remaining a useful propaganda piece for the regime
If so, then there would be an obvious conflict between what he writes and his personal circumstances. I’d be reluctant to assume such circumstances without evidence, though.
