Mr. Snowden is going to have to wait for a change of government in the U.S. before he can return. The Obama Administration, as well as several senior Republicans, have all called for his arrest and punishment.<p>Hillary Clinton is hostile to Snowden as well. Her administration, were she to be elected, would doubtless continue to pursue his extradition. Trump wants him executed, and even Rand Paul wants him thrown in jail ("same jail cell with Clapper").<p>I'm very sympathetic to Edward Snowden's cause, and I hope that he stays away from countries that might extradite him until such time as he's granted a pardon.
For those wondering who runs this site / if it's endorsed at all by snowden himself (can't find anything stating such a thing outright yet) - from the bottom of the faq (<a href="https://edwardsnowden.com/frequently-asked-questions/" rel="nofollow">https://edwardsnowden.com/frequently-asked-questions/</a>):<p>###
Who runs this website?<p>The site is commissioned by the trustees of Courage to provide information on the threats Edward Snowden faces, how he is being protected, and what you can do to support him.<p>###
What is The Courage Foundation (formerly the Journalistic Source Protection Defence Fund) and who runs it?<p>Courage is a trust, audited by accountants Derek Rothera & Company in the UK, for the purpose of providing legal defence and campaign aid to journalistic sources. It is overseen by an unrenumerated committee of trustees. Edward Snowden is its first recipient. The terms of the fund and its trustees can be obtained from Derek Rothera & Company.
Some pretty cool documents are linked here, especially <a href="https://edwardsnowden.com/2015/08/25/are-you-the-sigint-philosopher/" rel="nofollow">https://edwardsnowden.com/2015/08/25/are-you-the-sigint-phil...</a> , which I have created another HN thread on.<p>I'm not sure if those documents were previously disclosed or what, but the ones that I just mentioned relate to an internally targeted NSA propaganda campaign designed to keep their analysts complacent. It's pretty obvious if you read the documents.
I find it interesting that the US government goes after a person that exposed inside government law breakers but they let Hillary run for president by lying to the public and government. Something is just not right!
The site is unclear about what they're asking donations for. To keep Snowden alive? Cost of a trial? If so, which? Towards a campaign lobbying for a pardoning of Snowden?
Can there be a national referendum? A vote by everyone in the USA on whether the charges against Snowden should be dropped or not?<p>Why or why is this not a good idea?
Looks like Snowden is stepping up his PR game. I think this is good. The disclosures have dropped off until recently, so we need to refocus on keeping the pressure on the government, and Snowden is a convenient figurehead for this purpose.
Laura Poitras: "I asked to interview him on camera. His first response was no, he didn’t want the story to be about him."<p>Now he's got twitter and edwardsnowden.com?<p>Personally, I give him the benefit of the doubt in all cases. I think there was a lot more that he could have leaked and didn't, because he believes in the value of the NSA. I think he was careful to only leak things that dealt with mass surveillance of American citizens. I think he gave up a lot of comfort to try to inspire a society that he knew in the back of his mind probably wouldn't care. I think he loves his country. Most of all, I think he's probably further on the side of national security in the privacy vs security debate than people would probably think.<p>But other people aren't like me. I really hope Snowden is able to bring the conversation in the right direction, because this debate about what our government should be doing is far from settled and there's a lot riding on his demeanor. There's a lot riding on whether average Joe sees Snowden as profiting from his whistleblowing or giving up his comfortable life.<p>Snowden making funny tweets is extremely high risk.