Edward Snowden threatens new U.S. leaks, applies for Russian asylum

i hate zero comments. this gets funnier every day. the number one russian spy plays innocent. american partners? he’s been fighting everything america tries to do. i figure he’s telling snowden to stop because they already have everything. we got your stuff. you can go. extremely funny.

Comments (1)
lastcurmudgeon wrote “They already have everything. we got your stuff.you can go.”

Learn to read. They’re saying “You can stay, if you don’t harm our American partners”

Come on, Putin, the Cold War is over. Give the yellow-bellied, turncoat, traitorous spy back to us so we can fry him (slowly). We’ll give you something really cool like another Super Bowl ring or maybe Leonardo di Caprio’s Oscar for “Titanic” or a Beach Boys gold record. Really, anything you want. How about a cherry ’57 Chevy Bel-Air? Want a ‘vette? A blackbird? Here, take a walk through the Smithsonian with this nice Gucci bag… Can we interest you in Elvis Presley’s guitar?

Come on, Putin, the Cold War is over. Give the yellow-bellied, turncoat, traitorous spy back to us so we can fry him (slowly). We’ll give you something really cool like another Super Bowl ring or maybe Leonardo di Caprio’s Oscar for “Titanic” or a Beach Boys gold record. Really, anything you want. How about a cherry ’57 Chevy Bel-Air? Want a ‘vette? A blackbird? Here, take a walk through the Smithsonian with this nice Gucci bag… Elvis Presley’s guitar?

Reckon Snowden’s put in an awkward position, with his jacket having failed to ward off Vladimir’s impaling flack, and with the former wiki-stick-it defender Assange, having played the part of Yossarian and gone AWOL via the consular door of Ecuador in his avoidance of extradition to Sweden of all places, being in no position to console Snowden with a mere, “there, there,” even.

Since when was the USA a “partner” to Russia??

Is all the supposed conflict and difference between the two countries just political theater, like the slim differences between our “two” :political parties”?? In reality the two governments work together toward the same ends? Did we actually win the cold war?

Putin is saying “Been there done that”. We spy on our citizens all the time… So Snowden. You can stay if you want just don’t spy on us. Because you have a big mouth…

Putin is saying “Been there done that”. We spy on our citizens all the time… So Snowden. You can stay if you want just don’t spy on us. Because you have a big mouth…

BRAVO PUTIN! a man being big about things. Yes of course we should be friends and partners.
If there is more of this goodwill sentiment in the world, it will be great things! It’s what being civilized truly means.

Everyone has not made their comments publicly but the comments are well known. The fix is in play. Assassination teams regardless of where they’re from are awaiting the call. Snowden is soon to be a dead man and Assange knows it. Say good-bye, Mr Snowden. RIP.

Allow me to re-quote a commentary from a China state-owned newspaper: “The world will remember the young idealist Edward Snowden. It was his fearlessness that tore off Washington’s sanctimonious mask”. China is a country of few words, but when it says something it has resonance. Whether you like that country or not.

It is horrible for a very powerful country like Russia and its leader to play a lone brave heart like a fiddle. What do Russia and its leader intend to gain by these fiddling guestures and cheap talks? Some investments from some U.S. companies may be?

If Snowden didn’t like what he saw at NSA, why not just quit and get a new job? Why break his promise to a security agency because they were gathering a lot of (mostly useless) data?

Is there an advantage to the nation to come to distrust a president because the intelligence agencies are trying to do the job the Congress authorizes (and pays them) to do?

And what good has come of the release of WikiLeaks stuff? It was common knowledge that drone attacks kill innocent civilian bystanders. Most of the world didn’t need videos to hate drones.

“If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips,”

1) This is also a not-so-subtle comment aimed at any human rights activists in Russia who may think Putin is getting soft and;
2) an attempt to pacify American officials who think that Russia is pumping Snowden for intel, which they are.

Look out Richard, looks like Vad just put you on the trading blocks. Hope there is no one more valuable to him than you out there.

loyalsys, Snowden took the job with Booz Allen Hamilton for the express purpose of gaining access to NSA computers. Look it up. He admitted this himself.

CIA: Knock Knock
Russia: Who’s there?
CIA: Edward Snowden
Russia: Edward Snowden who?
CIA: Exactly…..

Almost everything has a price in Russia, including Snowden.

This case is really becoming confusing . Putin is definitely running the show ,but his statements are vague and teasing . The tussle over Snowden continues and it’s anybody’s guess how it will end .

Setting a new worlds record for the longest layover.

Didn’t you realize main significance of Snowden’s actions?
Once exposed, a secret loses all its power, and this secret was whispered for a long time, from moral standpoint it was emperor’s new clothes.
And Snowden is that little boy who said “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!”
Every other detail, data or software don’t matter compared to that.

PS “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

pyanitsa wrote learn to read. um, learn to read? “So he must choose a country of destination and go there,” back at ya.

We have met the enemy, and he is US (pun intended).

At this point in time, it is neither in the interest of the US nor Russia, to allow anyone to harm Mr. Snowden, whether Russia grants him asylum or assists him in identifying a country that will do so.

If Snowden were to meet with any harm, it would make him an instant Martyr in the eyes of hundreds of millions of people and the entire world would assume the US was involved whether they were or not.

As far as Russia is concerned it is in their clear interest to allow Snowden to live in safety in Russia as a way of demonstrating to the world that far from being a “dark place” that everyone wishes to flee from, that on the contrary Russia can also be seen as a haven for the dispossessed and/or unfairly pursued of the world.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your Edward Snowdens, yearning to breath free….”

I hope I am correct because at some point all the “Water-boarding” of human beings, whether physical or mental must come to an end.

Neither the US nor Russia can claim any monopoly on the defense of human rights and/or the safe guarding of the sacred liberties of the individual.

If those who wield the rods of power in this world are anxious to locate and identify the “face of evil”, it is as close as their bathroom mirror.

@reuters
what? has the US claimed Snowden lied about the releases?

and we already know Snowden passed on all his info to 3rd parties , so it’s not like killing Snowden would be seen as anything but retribution.
Martyr, yeah in the Intel business, the only people who create/hype martyrs in this biz are reporters, everyone else tries to diassociate from such a religious term.

/confused but then again you seem to give Snowden a pass for his acts, whereas like Nanning he violating his word and for something most of us that actually read on the subject were already aware of. just not the specifics, which will now change to something else but won’t actually stop.

“The Terminal” is good for Snowden after all… if he had fled for south america Putin would not have any more trouble… US would just bribe some south american politicians… end…
But now he asked for asylum… Putin will have to think how he will answer when “US demands” for his “immediate” extradition…

“If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips,”

hehehe

I call shenanigans!

If you’re (like snowden) going to go through all this trouble, you either release everything you have or you don’t. None of this, well, I threaten to release more. Really man! Just do it-by holding on to it you’re just now becoming a censor of information. Yeesh.

Same with wiki….oh yeah we have secret keys and if something happens to us all this junk will be released. yawn. piss or get off the can I say! release what you have or shut up. but don’t play this holier than thou game that nananana i have info and you don’t and i will release a page a day unless someone comes and massages my feet. please.

The story is now about Snowden’s delusions of grandeur.

this guy is done for. man without a country is no way to live. if he were truly straight up, he’d take the heat like Ellsberg back in the day.

don’t pick a fight with the US government on a whim. it rarely ends well.

Not a single post here is concerned with the astounding fact of NSA spying on ALL communications, including every US citizen, including congressional members, including international EU partner citizens, including you me and the two dogs down the way on main street. What is America now, Nazi Germany? Edward Snowden is a whistle blower, and Obama’s use of the term hacker to describe Snowden is a false statement. Snowden was a paid contractor who blew the whistle. Where is justice? Where is the true patriot concerned with US government spying on it’s citizens?

anyone with a knowledge of russia is aware that russia knows everything by now,and they have penetrated all american agencys especially fbi,mostly just to protect russian mafia doing a much bigger damage to america, the biggest concetration of russian mafia is south florida,fisher island,sunny isles beach and the areas close by,they already control international drug trade,etc……

… i don’t know if anyone else has aired points similar to mine here, but a big conundrum dealing with the moralities of the issue is whether unusual surveillance is needed to protect u.s. citizenry; or if the necessity was brought about with a cynical intent to further vested interest(s) that would thrive on such surveillance. In other words, what is the ‘innocence level’ of officialdom acting on behalf of a supposedly aggrieved populace. What are the back-room nods and assurances that it is better we are not apprised of…

When it was GWB thumping his chest about WMD, many ‘less-inquiring’ minds needn’t have known, but instead found the entire exercise specious and foolhardy. NOW that we have a purported improvement, a level-headed, first black president, there is suddenly room for more improvement??? as wheels of the big brother juggernaut appear to have been given new, greater impetus than ever before.

In Peking, many insiders may be guffawing into their tsingtao brewskies as they vouchsafe us interesting days to come…

I want to see what all Snowden can reveal about the activities of my own government.
Our government can’t be allowed to keep secrets from us. Anytime they have secrets, they have power, and with power come corruption.
Regarding our privacy our government has overstepped its bounds in the name of ‘national security’…which turn out to be an excuse to spy on us.
Snowden may be considered a traitor to the government by laws, but he isn’t a traitor to the citizenry who have the right AND the responsibility to monitor our own government.
That’s a job that can’t be done when the government keeps secrets, lies about its programs and activities, and writes laws that are deliberately ambiguous enough to allow interpretations that make room for expanding the government’s power.
No one is going to protect your freedoms and liberties. It’s up to you to do that.

Snowden may be considered a traitor to the government by laws, but he isn’t a traitor to the citizenry who have the right AND the responsibility to monitor our own government.
That’s a job that can’t be done when the government keeps secrets, lies about its programs and activities, and writes laws that are deliberately ambiguous enough to allow interpretations that make room for expanding the government’s power.
No one is going to protect your freedoms and liberties. It’s up to you to do that.

Snowden is delusional. U.S. support for him stood @ 12% in a recent Rasmussen poll. After today that number is lightly to much much lower than that. He’s an egomaniac.

@UScitizentoo
so what are you a millennium kid or something who never studied US history?

wiki “Echelon sigint” no go back to the civil war and read about Western Union and Civil War monitoring for spies, then come back claim surprise.

What about that silly deep-cover spy family we returned to Russia not so long ago? Don’t they count?

“President Vladimir Putin had earlier said he was not welcome unless he stopped harming U.S. interests.” Is PRISM a joint project with Russia? Regardless I think Mr. Snowden should consider the offer. If his intention is to protect US constitution he had done that by starting a huge debate. Creating further rifts with foreign governments, however, does not seem to benefit anybody. Thoughts?

I suspect Vlad is getting bored with all this. It’s hard to believe O & co could have done a worse job on this. Right now Vlad gets to play defender of rule-of-law and political dissidents, and O is defending secret survellence of all non-Americans. Every day he sits in limbo, more attention gets drawn to him. Snowden is not the first criminal on the lam, and nothing is going to put his pile of damage back in the box. After they get him back what happens. Wikileaks has the files, are we going to start kicking in doors in neutral countries, blocking access to websites that post things, killimg editors at Der Spiegel or the Guardian. Putin has seen the end game; we lose.

Here is what you have America – Edward Snowden whistle blower about US government Nazis implementing a spying program designed by anti-christ himself Dick Cheney, on the run for his life. Shame to every American citizen who forgets the US constitution’s prohibition on unreasonable search.

ARJTurgot2….not so fast! Are you absolutely sure wikileaks has all the files. Because that would be ultra stupid for Snowden to do…those files are the only bargaining chips he has at the moment.

UScitizentoo said: “Shame to every American citizen who forgets the US constitution’s prohibition on unreasonable search.” EVEN if the NSA was violating the 4th Amendment (which according to the Patriot Act written and passed by Congress and signed into law by G.W. Bush which says they aren’t)…one crime does not negate another. Whistleblower’s don’t steal. They report what they saw.

Does this mean Bob Kraft doesn’t get his ring back? Obama should offer to give Putin another little boy’s belly to kiss if he turns Snowden over.

Truly, it is difficult to believe that there are actually Americans criticizing Snowden and defending the U.S. government on this one. Snowden’s actions paint him a man dedicated to freedom and liberty, both of which are characteristics of an American is the truest sense of the word. Indeed, our founding fathers would have applauded this man. He deserves our gratitude, not this sad slandering he is receiving on this comment board.

Snowden’s whining is costing him support. I really don’t see anyone in the government, i.e. executive, legislative, judicial, Republican, or Democrat supporting his cause.

For some reason, a large number of people in this country have decided that they don’t have to obey laws they don’t agree with, and, they don’t think they should be punished.

Snowden may have done the country a favor (personally, I don’t think so). However, he’s going to pay.

Let’s observe a moment of silence for the death of Snowden’s moral cachet. Now he’s just another geek who becomes enraged when his delusional plans are thwarted. Patriot? Hardly. Immature nerd? Obviously.

TheVerySpecialK – Snowdon is not a man dedicated to freedom and liberty, he is a traitor dedicated to his own perceived glory. How many of our service men and women are now in more danger because of Snowdon? Did you even think of that?? A maggot becomes a fly that flaps his wings possibly starting WWIII.

TheVerySpecialK…if you think what Snowden did is a good thing…then you show really show your support and go live with him.

What he has said above does not mean he is going to reveal more secrets.
It means he has a right to speak out about what he feels are injustices.He deos not want the government to arrest him and silence him.
Who decided it meant he has more secrets to reveal??
Somebody doesn’t translate english to english very well.
Sounds like a very obvious attempt to manipulate what was said. It was in the headline so nobody need read what was actually said.
Who says the media is not controlled by the goverrnment???

Here is simple explanation:
“partner” means neither friend nor ally in Putin’s mouth – it is like partner in mortal combat nothing more. Snowden being and behaving like liberal is in no way friend of Russia who is tired of it’s own liberals. In Russia they call them “liberasts” (liberal + pederast). Putin hate liberasts so do 90% of Russians. That explains weird on first glance Putin’s statement about “partners” He would be happy to poke US in the eye, but on the other hand he doesn’t want have a “squeking pig” on his hands.
[Remember, Putin said that dealing with Snowden's case is like shaving the pig - a lot of squeking no wool"]

@xzy2055

Both Assange and the lawyer accompanying Snowden have said encrypted copies have been distributed around the world. I take at least them at their word. It just takes one copy and the key. Consider that Der Spiegel already saw some of this, and it is unlikely that they got it directly from Snowden.

… of course the media are controlled… by whosoever an afford the madison bills…

For those calling this hero a traitor, lets think about this for three seconds. Edward Snowden leaked information to US. Not Russia. Not China. You and I. Information about illegal spying in the name of “safety”. If leaking information to the American people labels him a traitor, what does that make us the people exactly eh? An enemy of the Government? That is the only way one could correctly refer to him as a traitor. Thank you Edward, for uncovering our corrupt, rights violating Government for what it is.

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin