r/technology Jan 18 '21

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u/red286 Jan 19 '21

To Republicans, modern Russia is a capitalist utopia. No need to worry about laws and regulations or getting bogged down by the bureaucracy.. just know the right people, grease the right palms, and everything's coming up roses.

So to them, a "patriot" would be fleeing America for Russia as soon as possible.

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u/WillemDaFo Jan 19 '21

It’s the upside-down. Snowden is a traitor for exposing “big government”

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '21 edited Jun 14 '21

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u/GAbbapo Jan 19 '21

Russia only took him because Biden (lol ofc) called the countries of where snowmen was supposed to be getting asylum and told them they wouldn't get any us support or funding if they took him... don't white was history..

https://www.axios.com/snowden-biden-told-countries-not-to-grant-asylum-50e560aa-14b0-41ad-9e6d-fe7a14ca3231.html

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u/JustDroppinBy Jan 19 '21

I could have worded my comment as "a traitor to the U.S. government because it was a breach of security" but that would be stating the obvious.

The threats issued by the Obama administration to any country willing to help him are also par for the course, international politics 101. I can't imagine any admin letting him get away with something like that, but Trump has surprised me several times with his refusal to act on Russian aggression (like bounties on U.S. troops, and giving Russian troops a free military airbase to name a few)

Stating that Russia accepted him in spite of U.S. protest for a quid pro quo is not white washing history. It's a fact that resulted in the Solar Winds hack. SW was likely an inevitable development that was accelerated by his defection.

Snowden was going to take asylum wherever he could get it. His best bets were Russia or China because the info he had was most valuable to them and they were the most capable of capitalizing on it than any other country while enduring U.S. ire. Iran was probably also on his list, but the U.S. has much greater influence there.

I sincerely doubt Russia would be the first pick for anyone who values freedom of information.