According to Snowden he didn't even have access to the information and was travelling via Russia to a southern american country when the US mistakenly pulled his passport (their original plan was to let him leave Russia and then force his aircraft to land over a friendly nation, but disorganisation cause the passport to get pulled too soon leaving him stranded in Russia).
To be honest I don't find your speculation particularly in line with the facts that we know. And it is definitely the least generous speculation you could make (i.e. makes Snowden look as bad as possible).
Correct. The US DoS canceled his passport while he was in Russia en route to South America. A reporter even ended up getting stuck on a flight for which Snowden had a reservation in a failed effort to get a scoop.
Which, from what I've read, was an error. They actually wanted him to get on an aircraft, fly over Europe, and then when he flew over the skies of a US ally that ally would force the aircraft to land. Then the US would extradite him from there.
But they lost track of Snowden, panicked, and cancelled his passport. Leaving him stuck in Russia of all places (which is actually worse for the US than either a South American country OR HK, as they have zero political capital there).
It's also worth noting that the only reason Snowden is currently in Russia is due to actions by the US State Department. Snowden left Hong Kong with a plane ticket to Cuba by way of Moscow. While he was on the plane, the US State Department revoked his passport, forcing him to miss his connecting flight. To make it seem like it was in any way a deliberate choice on his part is rewriting history.
Clarification: He was in Russia when the US cancelled his passport stranding him there, his intended destination was Ecuador. I think stranding him in Russia was a deliberate choice to discredit Snowden and it seems to be working very well.
Snowden didn't even flee to Russia on purpose - he just got stuck there during a layover on his way to Ecuador, because the US government canceled his passport while his flight was mid-air.
It’s worth noting that Snowden never intentionally fled to Russia and the US revoked his passport when passing through to another destination, if I recall somewhere in South America. Fast-forward about a decade and a man who is stateless is granted a passport in the country he was de facto exiled to.
Snowden is in Russia because the US State Department revoked his passport, either leaving him stranded in Russia, or leaving him in limbo in the air between Hong Kong and Moscow (depending on exactly when they revoked it):
That's it. End of story. I remember reports that his likely ultimate destination was Venezuela or Guatemala, but these are distant, fuzzy memories, so they may not be correct.
Folks have made a _ton_ of hay out of the fact that Snowden ended up in Russia... but the truth of the matter is that he's there because the State Department stranded him there.
Snowden did not flee to Russia. He was on his way to Berlin with a stop in Moscow, but before he was able to board the plane (if I remember correctly even before his plane landed in Moscow) the US revoked his passport so he couldn’t get on the plane to Berlin. It was not his choice to be stranded there.
It also seems like the argument that the US stranded him in Russia always comes up in response as well. His passport was revoked while he was still in Hong Kong[1]. He traveled to Russia using an invalid travel document issued by the same Ecuadorian embassy that Julian Assange is living in[2]. Assange later said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he advised Snowden to go to Russia because it would be safer for him, and stated that the travel document was explicitly to assist him in leaving Hong Kong[3]. It was a little fishy that he was reported to have stayed at the Russian consulate in Hong Kong for several days prior to hopping on the flight as well[4].
Snowden didn't get stuck in Russia because the US stranded him there. The US tried to keep him in a country that had an extradition treaty and Snowden fled, ending up in Russia.
You keep repeating "defection to Russia" but it's a well known and officially confirmed fact that US Justice Department revoked his passport during his attempt to fly from Hong Kong to Ecuador (connecting Via Moscow > Cuba > Venezuela). He landed in Moscow with invalid passport, unable to board the next plane.
Literally, the reason he is in Russia is because US government waned him there. Either because they calculated that might discredit him, or to point fingers to Russia, or sheer incompetence, or whatever other reason or reasons. But the fact is, Snowden is in Russia because the US government put him there.
Some of what you say is true, but highly misleading (and the 'appropriate channels' issue is still an open question in my opinion). Although Snowden accepted political asylum in Russia, he had little choice at the time.
The US government revoked his passport while he was in an international "no man's land" (i.e. the international side of Russian customs), effectively making him stateless. He had originally planned to transit through Russia on to Cuba, and thereafter Ecuador or Venezuela. By cancelling his passport, the US government effectively trapped him in Moscow.
Heck, he couldn't have even have gotten himself illegally smuggled out. The US government forced the Bolivian president's plane, on its way back from Moscow to Bolivia, to land in Austria, where it was searched. Just on the mere suspicion that Snowden was on board. Forcing down the plane of the head of a sovereign nation and subjecting them to a search in a foreign jurisdiction sounds pretty damn illegal to me. Actually, it sounds like an act of war. But I suppose that doesn't matter when your country spends more on its military than the next 19 countries combined.
Also worth noting that the crimes Snowden has been charged with are two counts of violating the Espionage Act, a law passed just after the US entered WWI. Its original intent is clearly to punish people who endangered military operations during a time of total war. Given this intended purpose, it's a near certainty Snowden would be found guilty if he ever came back to the US to 'face the music':
Professor at American University Washington College of Law and national security law expert Stephen Vladeck has said that the law “lacks the hallmarks of a carefully and precisely defined statutory restriction on speech.” Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said, “basically any information the whistleblower or source would want to bring up at trial to show that they are not guilty of violating the Espionage Act the jury would never hear. It’s almost a certainty that because the law is so broadly written that they would be convicted no matter what.”
Yeah, I get that you think that. But you haven't explained why that would be. What prevents him from leaving Russia and flying to Ecuador? It's not the passport. But that's the only reason I've seen getting.
There are direct flights between Moscow and Havana every day.
Fun fact: the country Snowden supposedly wanted to flee to has an extradition treaty with the US.
He didn't flee to Russia. He was en-route to somewhere in South America when his passport was cancelled during a flight changeover while he was in Moscow. He couldn't fly onwards without a valid passport. IIRC, he was stuck in the Moscow airport for days until the Russians allowed him a visa.
I agree with you somewhat. It seems that he initially wanted to buck the system and expose secrets for the purpose of exposing secrets and anarchy. It's possible this was a fantastic cover and he's always worked at someone's behest. Agreed completely with your 2nd phase.
I don't think it works for Snowden. I actually believe he was ardently an American patriot who wanted to expose what he thought were illegalities and essentially corruption but didn't think he's survive or get a fair trial here (both of which are unfortunately very possible). I don't think he ended up in Russia at his choosing. I believe he had an original destination in mind (correct me if I'm wrong) but wasn't able to get there before his visa/passport was revoked? Something like that.
To be honest I don't find your speculation particularly in line with the facts that we know. And it is definitely the least generous speculation you could make (i.e. makes Snowden look as bad as possible).
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