Originally published at: Putin bestows Russian citizenship upon Edward Snowden | Boing Boing
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Keep him, thanks Putin.
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Putin’s calling him up, isn’t he?
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This is the only spin that made any sense to me. Doesn’t seem like it’s enough to distract from flailing. What other reasons are there?
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I think Putin’s primary motivation for taking in Snowden has been to humiliate the United States and provide a counter-narrative to the perception of Russia as a totalitarian regime that crushes free speech (or at least provide a reminder that the United States doesn’t always have an impeccable record for same).
If Snowden actually provides technical expertise then that helps Putin even more, but even if he doesn’t he’s still helping Putin’s narrative just by being alive and free(ish) in Russia.
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I have to wonder if Snowden had anything to do with this announcement, or had any interest in Russian citizenship. No reason Putin wouldn’t just give it to him whether he wants it or not.
That said, the guy has pretty limited options. He never wanted to stay in Russia, but he is definitively stuck there with his US passport revoked. With a Russian passport he might be able to go somewhere else. If I was currently living in Russia I’d definitely be looking for somewhere else to go.
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Putin is REALLY scraping the barrel to get bodies to throw into this war.
“Welcome to Russia, comrade. Now, go report to recruiting station.”
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Steven Seagal and Gerard Depardieu are hauling ass on the next plane out of town too.
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It’s 100% this. Snowden would have never gotten a fair trial in the US, and ended up in Russia, but I don’t think he’s ever been (pre-arrival and subsequent physical threat range) vocally pro-Russia at all, but to Russia it’s a huge win for them in terms of ‘oh we can’t possibly have a police state or why would Snowden be here?’ when in reality it’s just ‘Wow how many countries wouldn’t extradite someone on the deepest of shitlists with the US government’.
Edit: Also I’m absolutely sure that Snowden’s intelligence details have been heavily scraped by Russia, so certainly it’s complicated that he ended up there, but still, overall the dude did a huge service to the American people and I don’t think anything he could have told Russia would outweigh that.
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Just sending Trump a signal that Russia will take him when the state secret investigation starts closing the noose.
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Something tells me that he’s not going to be able to use his newly-acquired Russian passport to immediately leave the country.
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Did Snowden even ask for this? Probably ill-advised to say “thanks, but no thanks”. He should probably avoid tall buildings with windows.
If he does get conscripted and somehow ends up in Ukraine and gets captured, would Ukraine extradite him to the US?
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Yeah, I know a Russian cartoonist who wants out and last I heard hasn’t figured out a way. Maybe not as bad as literally living in the country that is being bombed but the authoritarianism and the threat of being drafted… I don’t think I’d wanna live there right now.
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Snowden “admitted” nothing. Those actions were heroic.
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Mixed feelings on this… I don’t want Snowden prosecuted, but I don’t like him in Russia either.
I wish someplace like Switzerland would offer him asylum.
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Seriously: he’s recruiting Ukrainians in territory he recently occupied.
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He supplied value to Putin, Putin personally gave him citizenship. Quid pro quo.
Edit:
To put a little more clarity on this, Snowden’s pro gun, pro crypto, anti-Obama, pro gold-standard/Ron Paul, pro “something was up with the 2020 election” viewpoints kind of have put me off him.
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“recruiting” is not quite the right word.
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