He’s in Russia now being used as a propaganda mouthpiece against the West, that’s how he survives, by doing whatever Russian intel tells him to do.
This isn’t totally a knock against him, he was caught between a rock and a hard place, and chose the “be used by dictators” route, rather than the “definitely go to prison for a while” route.
We just need better whistleblower protections and oversight here in the states, but if anything the spying on us has gotten worse since Snowden, while also still allowing for Internet Nazis to spread like a cancer with almost no pushback.
Your 1st paragraph, do you have actual proof of that? Serious question.
I think it makes sense given the situation, and would be completely unsurprising since it’s Russia and they torture people. And his wife and child (multiple kids now?) are there with him. In his case I’d just do exactly as told out of fear.
But just curious if there’s any tangible evidence of this or anything he’s doing over there.
This blog post is kind of biased but it has good links to some of the articles about the times that Snowden has “toed the party line” for Putin’s regime. So mamy articles coming up in those useless garbage we now call search engines just pull up where Snowden has sworn an oath to Russia and has been given citizenship so therefore he’s eligible to go fight Ukraine now, rather than things more related to my search.
I’d say this is more than kinda biased, and is heavily biased. They link to a 2015 article that says only 2% of documents have been publicly disclosed through journalists, and then make the claim that Russia and China have the other 98% with no source at all for the claim.
I might be misremembering the timeline in Citizen Four, but I remember that he had given the journalists all the documents and made a point that he didn’t have access to anything before leaving for Latin America.
It’s unfortunate that Snowden’s passport was revoked while he was in the Moscow Airport, and that he’s stuck there now. For a guy who didn’t want to go to jail or be executed for speaking out against the government, I don’t blame him for not speaking up against Putin.
There’s enough anecdotal to be highly suspect. Changes in his message and tone over the years. Unbidden declarations that he’s not being paid or directed by Russia. I can’t say he’s saying much out of character these days though.
Remember friends:
the enemies of your enemy may feign to be your friend, but their only intent is to hurt their enemy not be your friend^ this is why Snowden is where he is, he picked poorly HOWEVER he likely had little choice.
did he expatriate himself from the United States and denounce citizenship? Is he a Russian citizen now? could he possibly do that?
Edward Snowden (or Eddy Snow) had to leave the USA and go into hiding after leaking classified information about global surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies[1][2]. He initially flew to Hong Kong and later traveled to Moscow, where he sought asylum in various countries but was eventually granted temporary asylum in Russia[3][4]. Snowden is currently living in Russia, where he supports himself through speaking fees, earning income from public speaking engagements about cybersecurity and surveillance[3][4]. He has stated that he does not receive any financial support from the Russian government and lives independently[3][4]. Snowden’s actions as a whistleblower led to changes in laws governing intelligence agencies and technology companies regarding privacy and security standards[3].
Citations: [1] Edward Snowden - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden [2] Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance [3] Edward Snowden Speaks Out: ‘I Haven’t And I Won’t’ Cooperate With Russia https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/761918152/exiled-nsa-contractor-edward-snowden-i-haven-t-and-i-won-t-cooperate-with-russia [4] Edward Snowden asylum in Russia - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden_asylum_in_Russia [5] Edward Snowden Revealed As Key Participant In Mysterious Ceremony … https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2022/04/27/edward-snowden-revealed-as-key-participant-in-mysterious-ceremony-creating-2-billion-anonymous-cryptocurrency/?sh=6f6648723b24
