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Comment by justin66 | Hacker News Reader

> There is nothing more reviled by people who were born during the cold war than a criminal who defects first to china and then to russia. No amount of tech industry pr can facilitate a comeback from that. Almost half of the people in this country will always see Snowden as a traitor.

Let's break this down. You'd have to:

not know the difference between Russia and the Soviet Union

not know that Russia wasn't where Snowden was trying to end up

not understand the difference between a political defector (defecting to a political system that doesn't exist anymore!) and a guy trying to evade prosecution

I don't say this very often but I don't think people are as dumb as you think they are. People who think Snowden is a traitor would feel the same if he were in Iceland or something right now.

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I'm sorry but this is just wrong. If Snowden was is Iceland, Switzerland, Germany or France he would certainly be viewed differently. Russia still has a way to go politically. Putin has been running the country for how long? Journalist tend to get killed:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in...

And Russia is also a dangerous place to be gay. Snowden in Russia looks like politics on the part of Russia. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't find out some time in the future that Russia has their own surveillance program that was similar to ours.

It is one thing to avoid Russia from a position of power and freedom but it is completely understandable to go to Russia as a place of personal safety when so much of the world is denied to you as was the case for Snowden. I think it quite reasonable to assume that Snowden opposes Putin's nasty politics but also I believe it is reasonable for him to keep his mouth closed about that, having all the major governments of the world actively hating you is a bit much to ask of one man.

His going there made no statement that Russia was free or good just the for him personally it was possibly the safest move at that time.

I would also argue that his publicly speaking out on the abuses in the US, UK etc. may in the long term do far more to improve the freedoms in Russia by improving the acceptable international standards from where they are slipping to than if he had never leaked.

Politicians and even athletes who go to the Olympics have a greater responsibility to speak publicly against some of Russia's policies than a whistleblower on the run.

He wouldn't have made it to Iceland. The USA grounded a government owned plane travelling within Europe to Austria when they thought he was on it.

Realistically, China and Russia are the only nations powerful enough to stand up to the USA.

And probably China didn't want to.

If Snowden fled to Iceland, Switzerland, Germany or France he would be already sitting in a US prison cell.

Considering that the group of people we are talking about probably overlaps with people who still think Obama is a muslim [1], I think you are giving common sense too much credit

[1]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/obama-muslim_n_1706...

Trash talking on HN. So, sad. Got any data to support your claim? Let's see how you can make 17% = 49%.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4175089/

By adding noise to the argument, you are hurting Snowden's case. People are simply going to conclude that Snowden must be wrong people because people who believe in him are wrong. The fact is that most people live busy lives and actually don't spend much time thinking about Snowden. I think his 15 minutes of fame are up. I don't see him mentioned in the news, except HN, where the story will never die.

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