politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
face it man, Snowden is a Russian asset at this point.
he didn't start out that way be given the options of tea, window, or sabotage he chose sabotage.
He's a survivor.
What would you have done differently than him? Die?
Quietly quit because his whistle was never going to stop that kind of surveillance. If you held a gun to my head and said I had to leak then NYTimes and WaPo would get the relevant slide deck and I'd stand my day in court knowing I'd probably have my sentence commuted after several years.
He chose the literal worst option.
Traveled under a fake ID. People do it in films and TV all the time. Not sure how practical that is in reality though.
Real life is not like TV. High quality counterfeit papers that stand up to scrutiny are very hard to get. The only way to get ones that are guaranteed to work is by having someone at the state department who can issue them or buying them from someone with those kind of connections. And the odds are good that the fads have honeypots set up to catch people trying to get fake documents.
I wouldn't have done anything differently.
Just pointing it out because so many have a fetish to make him a hero even after he's helped the guy who wants to destroy our nation.
He did the right thing at the cost of his own safety and wellbeing. If that's not a hero I don't know what is.
At the same time he basically had to cooperate with the Russians because they tend to torture and kill those who don't.
And his routes out of Russia were blocked
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident
So are Trump and the Republican Party.
yes. they are.
Are you thinking of Assange?
no. Assange cares only for Assange.
Snowden cared about Americans once, but was abandoned by his nation to a corrupt government.
he's an unwilling Russian asset now, think of it like indentured servitude for his life.
Are you able to point to actions that Snowden has taken to negatively impact the interests of the US people or to materially aid Russia?
no, and I don't have to.
It is my opinion after all.
we're allowed to share those on here still, right?
edit: did I hurt all the snowbunnie feewings?
It's not unreasonable to ask someone to elaborate or justify their opinion, kiddo.
and it's not unreasonable for someone to refuse.
Of course not, it just means you're leaving that particular discussion
I haven't given it any though till this moment, but the fact that he
To me implies a certain level of Russian collaboration. Purely speculative, granted, but I bet he's not about to go speaking up for Ukraine or anything.
He sought and received protection from an adversary and I can't believe that Putin didn't put a price on that, and feel confident that he had the "currency" to pay.
I believe what he did, he did with good intentions, but after that I think he had to start making some practical decisions in order to save his and his families' lives.
Would I make those same decisions? Let's just say, I probably wouldn't have the courage to blow the whistle in the first place, so it's kinda a moot point.
Suffice it to say, he paid for his ability to stay in Russia. Who's to say the cost to US security?
It is if you want to be taken seriously, sweetie.
rich coming from someone calling others "sweetie".
You're still a tinfoil hat wearing crackpot, spud.
You weren't stating it as opinion, you were stating it as if it's objective fact.
Very big difference in wording.
I think you might be confused. it's not your fault.
unless someone provides evidence, it should always be considered an opinion. that's how the world used to work.
now everyone just reads all comments as facts instead of using their cognitive ability to read and comprehend. it's not your fault that the Internet made your brain lazy.
You are a child. Or at minimum, very childish.
I recommend swallowing your extremely overinflated pride/ego, and growing up a bit.
big words coming from someone attacking a "child".
because you couldn't argue against what I said you decided to attack me personally. seems pretty immature to me.
BTW, that is my opinion. just clarifying so it's not confused as fact. some people read anything on the Internet and automatically attribute it as fact these days. also an opinion, but I might have some proof around here that could sustain it as a strong theory.
😉
This piece of shit fucks kids.
is that supposed to bother me?
It's downright depressing that you're willing to go to such lengths to show how pathetic you are.
The fact that you're going the nuclear option tells me that you're jimmied to the extreme and honesty I'm sad for you.
seek help.
Woah there, kid fucker I didn't ask for your opinion.
The question of whether someone works for a government is not really a matter of opinion
I'll give you a legitimate response since I've got the time while taking the Browns to the Super Bowl.
opinions are varied and limitless as the ideas that feed them. One can have opinions on opinions!
so, when the neurons in your brain were firing on all cylinders to come up with your question, did you actually think that one couldn't have an opinion on something as menial and useless as, "whether someone works for a government"?
I have many opinions, some are rather good, others not so much.
for example, my opinion of you isn't very good.
Not triggered in the slightest - I thought there might be something to learn. Thanks for clarifying that it was nothing more than the baseless opinion of a fragile moron.
if you were a firearm you would be decommissioned for premature firing.
Your trigger is so loose, a stiff breeze sets it off.
It'd take something a little stronger than the opinion of infamous kid fucker GreenKnight23 to pull my trigger, champ.
I don't know what's more pathetic, your delivery or your lack of imagination.
Don't expect me to report your comments either, your tiny comments of shame will live on to fester and eat away at you.
I won't even remember your name tomorrow.
You're going to drop the pretence that you've got anything worthwhile to say and sulk off back to your little lair? Try not to fuck any kids on the way out, eh?
Being an American liability doesn't make you a Russian asset.
it heavily implies it if a genocidal dictator shelters you.
If your passport is cancelled and transport is blocked then you don't get much choice over who shelters you.
that's besides the point. he's there and it's death or sell out national secrets.
I get it, doesn't make him any less of a Russian asset.
His internal knowledge of the CIA and NSA gained as a contractor is an American liability.
That doesn't necessarily make him a Russian Asset.
do you honesty believe that Putin would allow him to live as long as he has in Russia without some form of cooperation? I mean, the guy outlived the "thorn in Americans side" trope about five years ago.
The only logical conclusion I can come to is that he's selling strategic processes and how Americans think for his safety.
if you disagree why do you think Putin has allowed him to stay alive this long?
No, I think the NSA are still embarrassed.
How many relevant strategic secrets do you think Snowden has after 11 years out of the game. Remember all his documents were passed to journalists. He retained none.
even after 11 years? most credit card debt is forgotten after 7...
not secrets. he has valuable information on how the US reacts. Strategies change, but at the core their goals and how they plan on achieving them usually doesn't change that often.
imagine if you were fighting someone. you don't try to predict when/where they are going to punch. you try to predict what they will target. if you can understand who you're fighting, you have a better chance at winning.
Yep. Is Snowden allowed back into the US? No? Then he is still an embarrassment.
Nothing that he wouldn't have already given up 11 years ago. He can't provide anything new.