Edward Snowden has not been exiled in any non-misleading use of the term. He had many opportunities to return to the United States, and could do so today if his current hosts allowed it.
Pretty similar to what might have happened to Snowden had he stuck around? Agreed, not comparing the two seriously, because they arn't the same thing at all, but perhaps they should have left then returned after all had settled?
As I posted in the HN thread about the petition, it's worth noting that Snowden has already been in effective exile for longer than Martin Luther King, Jr spent in jail over his entire life. What are the odds that Snowden is facing the same order of magnitude of punishment, were he to return home?
This is not to diminish the work of Dr. King but to say that the tactics he employed and decisions he made were made in a dramatically different context, where the way he could stay most involved and get the most done was to spend some time in jail. Snowden has stayed more involved from abroad than he would have been able to from where they'd have thrown him.
Snowden has been far more independently active since his asylum. He even maintains a twitter account. It's not like his entire life is filtered through the media.
The difference there is that Snowden ended up in Russia unintentionally. There's a decent change he'd also be in custody now if he had made it to Ecuador though.
If snowden stayed in the country he would be locked in solitary, and wouldnt even have a trial scheduled for 2 to 3 years. And his trial would have been 'classified' and the public would have no knowledge of the precedings.
Snowden's case is different, if I'm not mistaken, since the US suspended his passport. Meaning he cannot travel anywhere else (unless he's got a Russian passport, which I doubt).
Unlike Henry David Thoreau and Chelsea Manning that served time in jail for defying the law on moral grounds. Snowden has chosen to live in Russia to avoid jail. Not sure if this has accomplished his desire to live in a country that does not spy on its people, jail political enemies, push journalist out windows and poison people.
I don't really follow Snowden closely, but something I've always wondered: Isn't his ability to provide relevant intel inherently going to decrease as time goes on? Isn't he essentially in exile right now?
Is he getting fed new information? Stockpile of stuff he hasn't released yet? Or just whistleblower celebrity at this point?
Snowden didn't move to Russia; he got stuck there, accidentally, because he happened to be transiting through the Moscow airport on his way to Ecuador at the moment the US revoked his passport. He proceeded to spend over a month living in the airport, still trying to leave, before giving up and applying for asylum in Russia. He's not there because he wants to be, but because his only other choice is a US prison.
he had to go live in exile and nothing changed
reply