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...But the Snowden disclosures went far beyond that. They revealed, for instance, information about American surveillance of Chinese telecom firm Huawei, which the U.S. considers a national-security threat.../snip
WE need to get him back here.
I am sympathetic to Snowden, but open to both sides of discussion. Did he go too far? Probably, but was there any other path? Is he a hero? Probably, but more needs to be disclosed. He probably had no other choice than to defect to Russia and maybe had few if any other real choices. Look what has happened to Assad.
I do remember the Snowden posters on the wall in the security offices of government buildings. They highlighted his alleged treason. They wanted him badly!
But what about whistleblowers? They really have no protection from the deep state unless they back the liberal agenda.
Q-kooks viewed Snowden as a black hat. But the source of much of their propaganda likely came from black-agencies. Snowden was definitely a thorn for the U.S. security services since he exposed their unsavory habits and tools.
Yes, given what I know, Trump should have pardoned both Snowden and Assage. Or at least given some kind of limited immunity for their complete testimony. Deep State representatives like McConnell and Graham wanted to discourage these actions.
Judging from the timing it’s likely Putin’s way of annoying the biden misadministration. Doubt if he cares about Snowden.