I mostly agree, but one place people can escape to is Moscow, where Edward Snowden has relocated to. Of course, Russia has become less attractive recently.
I'm not a huge fan of Snowden's; I'm not sure what to think of him. It's tempting to mock him for ending up in Russia of all places - one of the top 3 countries for suppressing dissent. But he didn't go there because he thinks the Russian government is morally superior; he went there because it allows him to stay of out prison.
I don't think he dedicated his life to denouncing all morally questionable government actions everywhere. He ruined his own life by denouncing what the NSA was allegedly doing back then. I'm not sure I can demand that he should ruin his life even more by annoying the Russian government.
Indeed although one could argue that exile in Russia in and of itself is punishment. Especially since thanks to the long arm of Uncle Sam, you won’t be boarding an international flight any time soon - lest you find it diverted to Cuba.
It seems that if they wanted to, the Russians could make him fake passport with Snowden's picture and a made-up name and he could go wherever he wants. He shows up in the passenger manifest with some random name and the plane doesn't get diverted.
But he probably doesn't get any favors from Russia because he's not useful to them.
I suspect Putin would hand someone over from Russia for the right price; Snowden currently provides more value to Russia by annoying the US than he would handed over.
