Still think NSA-leaker Edward Snowden is a hero?

[Galraedia]

Former NSA employee, and famed PRISM whistleblower, Edward Snowden is now leaking top secret documents that appear to have nothing to do with the NSA eavesdropping on Americans, and everything to do with hurting the United States’ national security position vis-a-vis Russia before a key Obama-Putin summit.

According to a new story in the Guardian, Snowden is now leaking documents showing that in 2009 the United States intercepted communications from then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was attending the G20 Summit in London.

The leak from Snowden comes only one day before President Obama is to meet with Russian President Putin at the G8 summit.

The Guardian is reporting in a second story, also leaked by Snowden, that during the same summit, British intelligence was surreptitiously monitoring foreign politicians as well.

Read more: http://americablog.com/2013/06/edward-snowden-nsa-russia-medvedev.html

[mike_c]

1. yes....

eom

[gcomeau]

2. Then you have a weird definition of the term. -eom

[xtraxritical]

23. Another yes.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Snowden hasn't hidden the fact that he's bitter and upset with Obama:

Question:
User avatar for Gabrielaweb
Gabrielaweb
17 June 2013 2:17pm

Why did you wait to release the documents if you said you wanted to tell the world about the NSA programs since before Obama became president?

Answer:

Obama's campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly. Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-files-whistleblower?commentpage=1

He could have come forward sooner....

[MADem]

4. I am starting to wonder if he doesn't have temporal lobe damage

related to his epilepsy. He might have an undiagnosed tumor or lesion.

It would explain his behavior and his grandiosity.

[tridim]

7. I think it's just his massively swollen ego.

[MADem]

16. I just can't see the desire for "fame" as being worth giving up one's family

and fiancee; to say nothing of that laid-back Hawaiian lifestyle.

Even if he lied about his salary and "only" made 122K, that's not a bad payday at all for someone of his age and stage in life. You can have a lot of fun with that paycheck; I know folks who would kill for a paycheck one third or even one fourth that size.

I hope he had his Chinese Language Rosetta Stone in his suitcase; he's gonna need it. I think he'll try to hang on in Hong Kong as long as he can, but eventually he'll either have to go behind the wall in China or come home.

Hong Kong is nice, probably nicer today with all the new construction, but even years ago, for such a crowded place, it got small very quickly. There's the HK side, the Kowloon side, and the New Territories... and that's it. It's a very amusing cage, but it is a very vertical town and not all that big. How many floating restaurants can you eat at, how many ferry rides can you take? A great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there...much too crowded for my tastes.

Well, he's such a hot commodity these days, with all the young ladies throwing themselves at him, maybe he has hopes of being the Edward Chen of this decade for as long as he hangs out in HK...?

[xocet]

18. Ahhh, Dr. Frist, I presume? n/t

[MADem]

19. No, but if someone says they've gotten epilepsy as an adult, it is a VERY unusual circumstance.

There are only a few ways that it happens-- the most prevalent are that you get clunked on the head, you are a drug addict, you are a booze hound, you have a tumor, or a brain lesion.

He SAID he has epilepsy, and it is "adult onset" within the last year. Don't believe me--Google is YOUR friend too. You can look it up and I urge you to so do.

Would you prefer I speculate that he's an inveterate drunk or a coke fiend? Or that his girlfriend smacked him in the head with her pole?

Look--Doctor Frist was trying to make LAW using "distance diagnosis." I am not a member of the Senate, now, am I? So why are you comparing me to someone who was? My pronouncements have no force of law, they're just opinions, EXACTLY like your unsubstantiated opinion that Mr. Snowden is a virtuous man, completely healthy, who is pure of heart. You have no proof of your assertions, EITHER.

So get off the high horse before you fall and hurt yourself.

Basically, you're saying "Shut up, shut up, shut up--I don't like your speculations, so SHUT UP!" This is a discussion board, and the object here is to DISCUSS, not cheerlead.

I believe that only intolerant authoritarians are afraid of contrary views. I'm not afraid of your opinions or speculations--why are you so terrified of mine that you have to call me Doctor Frist in order to try to bury my comments? You don't hear me calling you The Amazing Kreskin because you have the ability--that none of the rest of us do--to read this guy's mind and see into his heart.

In fact, if I'm not mistaken, there wasn't anyone on this board who knew their "good friend Ed" a couple of weeks ago. You don't "know" him and you don't really know what is motivating or driving him. You like the IDEA of the story he tells, and so you cheer for him.

See, I don't KNOW what is driving this guy's train--and I'll admit that--so I'm not afraid to speculate. He could be physically sick, he could be mentally ill, he could be taking money from the Chinese--or even the Russians--or he could be even -- though his details aren't really holding up--telling the "truth" as he thinks he knows it.

I'm not afraid of being proven wrong, so I don't need to try to shut people up with snark. And I'm not afraid of theories, either. After all, unless we're hosting the guy in Hong Kong, we know nothing about him, really--some of us just like to pretend that we do.

[xocet]

26. From your posts, you malign more than discuss - there is no need for you to keep playing the victim.

You are not an aggrieved victim.

Lest you forget, here is one of your attempts at character assassination (or as you would call it "speculation&quot :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2981021

[bemildred]

5. Maybe not a hero, but he knows how to play the game.

That was a well placed shot across the bow, that leak about the G20 spying, the timing was not a coincidence.

[still_one]

10. And neither was the hacking of the Chinese when the Chinese president was meeting with

The president

I suspect that he is a tea bagger hater of Obama, otherwise it would have just been about domestic spying

As far as I am concerned he deserves China and Russia

[bemildred]

12. He's after all of them, the MIC, not just the NSA.

And he means to do them political harm, and lots of it, and he expects them to try to do him harm in consequence. That all seems clear at this point.

[still_one]

13. Perhaps

[bemildred]

14. You think that's doubtful? Did you read his twitterview?

He's a dangerous guy, we dismiss him as crazy or an idiot at our peril.

[MjolnirTime]

6. Snowden is a petty little man. He wants attention.

[geckosfeet]

8. Yep. Not all heroes wear white and a halo. All pertinent and revealing information.

[deminks]

9. He also leaked documents to the Chinese a day or two after

President Obama meets with Chinese leader.

http://www.voanews.com/content/nsa-contractors-flight-to-hong-kong-stirs-debate-reaises-concerns/1679351.html

'We shall know them by their fruits.'

[wandy]

11. Hero, no. Trader, no...............

Loose Cannon?

Dam I hated working with people like that!

[smknz]

15. Yes, Snowden still ranks as a hero.

I've heard numerous responses that what Snowden has released is common knowledge while in the same breath calling him a traitor. Too many people identify with their own countries leadereship as if it were representing their interests when in fact most governments are representing international corporate and banking interests. The current spying scandal is one of many instances where governments are in fact the enemies of their own people. Anything that lifts the fascade of governments role is valuable and in the public interest. Whether a few embarassing tidbits of information not overly related to this overlying principle happen to surface is incidental and doesn't change anything.

As well leaking this information in no way gives Putin an advantage over Obama as again it's apparently common knowledge. I'll bet most of the people calling Snowden a traitor are the same people who supported Bush or viceversa blindly support Obama and would be calling Snowden a patriot were Bush running hte country.

[MADem]

20. Welcome to DU and enjoy your visit with us. nt

[bemildred]

22. Well yeah, like we are always under dire threat, and yet also well protected.

Constant paranoia is a strange form of "security" in my view.

I think "security" means the right to go about your business unmolested and in full control of your own affairs. When you have to hire security consultants, you are already insecure.

We seem to think "security" means hiding in a closet eating Cheetos and watching TV while somebody else "protects" you, and meanwhile monitors all of your activiites in case you turn bad on them.

[xocet]

17. Wow...

From the article to which you linked:

"...

So at worst he’s intentionally helping Putin, and at best he’s woefully ignorant of the real damage he’s causing US national security on the eve of a key summit with a nasty man running a far-more dangerous country than our own.

..."

http://americablog.com/2013/06/edward-snowden-nsa-russia-medvedev.html

You are so right!

I had entirely forgotten that Russia invaded Iraq for no real reason and killed at least 113,000 people in the process:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Thanks to Aravosis for reminding everyone how "far-more dangerous" Russia is.

[MADem]

21. IIRC, John used to work for Allbright--he knows his way around the international aspects.

The Russians were mired in AFGHANISTAN for many years.

[xocet]

27. Those points are ineffective - the first one constitutes an argument from authority (a fallacy), and

the second one ignores the fact that we were there by proxy when the Russians were there, and we are mired there now.

All you have show by your argument is that we are equal to them.

[MADem]

31. Excuse me? Are you talking to someone else?

All I am saying is that the author of Americablog used to work for the SECSTATE--it's a point of information, nothing more---and the Russians didn't invade Iraq. To say so is a factual error.

That's all I'm saying. I'm not "arguing" anything.

[xocet]

34. As stated, your statements (as exemplified in your last post) are meaningless and disconnected. n/t

[MADem]

35. Well, they aren't, but you go on and have a nice day, now.

[MNBrewer]

24. Yup.

[MNBrewer]

25. Aravosis is basically a gossip columnist with pretentions of being a journalist.

I read his commentary on GLBT issues on gay.americablog, but as often as not I find myself disagreeing with his viewpoints because I find him too conservative, and "inside-the-beltway".

[MADem]

32. Well, he IS -- or was -- "inside the beltway." He used to work in government.

I haven't kept up with him in some years now, but he's not just talking trash. His points do come from a place of experience, even if you disagree with him.

[blkmusclmachine]

28. Yes, I do.

[polly7]

29. Yes. nt.

[BillyRibs]

30. For the Apologist posting here,

I SAY YES!

[FSogol]

33. K & R. n/t

[treestar]

36. Oh but see we deserve it because we are so horrible