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).
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.
The funny thing, is that Snowden got stranded in Russia because his passport was cancelled and other countries got pressed.
And Russia could not extradite him, because when Russia invited (more than once) US to make a extradition pact, US refused.
So, US strand their citizen somewhere else, in a somewhere where they ensured themselves this stranded citizen could not be extradited, and then throw a tantrum.
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.
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.
Snowden actually wanted to go to Ecuador - Russia was simply a layover on the flight. It's only because the US demonstrated it wouldn't allow him to leave (by virtue of pressuring European countries to deny airspace permission) that he's still here.
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 His passport was revoked while he was still in Hong Kong[1].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.
As a sibling comment notes; Snowden didn't get to choose much once their passport was revoked (made a non-person). You might recall that for a while (number of months?) they were stuck inside of the border-zone limbo of the International section of some airport in Russia.
Eventually Russia decided they'd allow the poor guy inside, presumably to snub the US.
I think technically the problem wasn't that the US had cancelled his travel documents, as the Ecuadorian government could grant the necessary document to a refugee (which is almost what happened[0]), but rather that he was worried the US would force his plane to land in a country where he could be arrested.
That fear was well-founded, given what later happened to Bolivian president Evo Morales when the US suspected he might be transporting Snowden out of Russia[1], even though forcing planes to land to capture political prisoners is more fitting for a dictatorship than a democracy[2], but I suspect that Russia made it a condition of Snowden's safety that he not attempt to travel to any other country.
Of course I'm not saying I would have done anything differently were I in Snowden's position, but it is worth noting that he could in principle have avoided US and NATO airspace by travelling from Russia to Shenzhen to Johannesburg[3] to São Paulo[4] to Ecuador.
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.
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).
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.
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.”
Correct. The US canceled his passport while he was in Russia, hoping that they would deport him. Whoever had that idea should be fired. Given the Assange situation, it is fortunate for Snowden that he did not reach either Ecuador or Venezuela, the latter country offering him political asylum as well.
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 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.
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).
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