There is a man, standing for his ideals, even if it would cost him the last save harbor he had.<p>Now lets belittle that, so we can stop feeling small.
And maybe, if all sides, put equally amounts of scrap on the scale, so it evens out, we might be able to lean back- and call the equilibrium "good".
I think it's so weird to have so much negativity in HN comments towards Snowden. This guy should be our nerd hero. He was and he is risking his life, freedom and assets for solely calling out the US agencies on illegal activities.
He was front and center in russian media when he spoke about US — but without even checking, I can guarantee you that this will not appear on a single TV channel and will be downplayed in any media that decides to run the story.
I'm shocked! Shocked! To see oppressive surveillance expansion in Russia!<p>Good on Snowden for calling Putin out, but I don't think it'll mean anything. It is reassuring to see a reminder that his warm welcome in Moscow was just a diplomatic на хуй/fuck-you to the US. Reading some comments about Snowden made me think I had unwittingly Rip Van Winkled my way into some weird future where Russia was a bastion of individual liberty and respect for human rights.
Oh, Mr. Snowden.<p>Now you learn the nature of the bear.<p>Snowden, by revealing the surveillance on domestic inhabitants of the US did a service to his country, exposing overreach. However, turning over unrelated state secrets, to me was unnecessary and deplorable.<p>On the other hand, now he's learning Realpolitik and he's now a forgotten thorn. Moscow might be shopping him around, get him out of their craw. Who knows. But certainly meddling with internal politics of the regime will not procure favors, but from the decimated (not only as a metaphor) opposition.<p>Maybe he's itching to get out, or he's gone mad. This can't be a viable political move on his part.
"an unworkable, unjustifiable violation of rights" in Russia? Shocking.<p>But seriously, will anyone relevant hear him? This type of thing is common in Russia and has been for a while. Snowden ran to hide in the mother of all government surveillance after blowing the whistle on government surveillance.<p>I'm not belittling Snowden; I'm belittling the amount of attention and respect he gets relative to the action and help he provides. He just sort of says things… that are unimpressive… from hiding… in Russia.