http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/23/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

(CNN) -- The global cat-and-mouse hunt for Edward Snowden took a dramatic turn Sunday when the man wanted on U.S. espionage charges fled Hong Kong and may be in the air over Russia.

Snowden, who leaked top-secret details about U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong on Sunday "through a lawful and normal channel," the Hong Kong government said.

He took off with the help of WikiLeaks, which assisted with Snowden's "political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers (and) safe exit from Hong Kong," the group said on Twitter.....

6/23/2013 8:43:04 AM

Hong Kong deserves a complete trade embargo for their insolence in this matter.

6/23/2013 9:24:58 AM

^You have to do the paperwork properly .

6/23/2013 9:50:03 AM

Can you imagine such an embargo? American retail would grind to a halt. There would be riots in our streets.

6/23/2013 10:01:06 AM

Riots in the streets will come but more so when people finally realize the system is built for plutocrats and ruling elites. We have already seen waves of civil unrest globally and somewhat here in the US. When the house of cards really falls things will get pretty rough. The Fed has been falsely propping up the economy and eventually something has to give. You can bet it won't be Wall St. execs holding the bag. We can't even prosecute for the previous crisis. Anyway back to Snowden I stand with Wikileaks on this one.

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 10:37 AM. Reason : .]

6/23/2013 10:37:36 AM

His traveling companion, Julian Assange's top henchwoman Sarah Harrison:





[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 12:52 PM. Reason : .]

6/23/2013 12:40:11 PM

Personally I think this is great.

Dont want to sound like smc, but fuck the government in this particular case.

Ultimate egg in the face.

(and no I dont particularly care about this brand of "security" and could care less what attacks may or may not have been prevented).

6/23/2013 5:01:40 PM

Sarah is meeting with the Ecuadorian ambassador in Moscow right now to arrange permanent asylum.

6/23/2013 5:12:36 PM

Rafael Correa has been thumbing his nose at the United States like a ma'fuckin' boss.

6/23/2013 5:14:49 PM

LOL at anyone who thinks this guy is doing this for any reason besides the fact he's a narcissist.

Jail is too good for him.

6/23/2013 10:39:38 PM

Agreed. Oh well, he's a dead man now.

6/23/2013 10:41:45 PM

^^ the fuck? you think this dude has destroyed his entire life for personal gain? what in the hell are you smoking? Does the Navy approve of that stuff?

6/23/2013 10:48:34 PM

Instead of actually going to jail, all American political dissidents will just be held indefinitely in various Ecuadorian embassies across the globe.

6/23/2013 11:11:55 PM

Quote :

"LOL at anyone who thinks this guy is doing this for any reason besides the fact he's a narcissist."

haha, yeah. Just like Bradley Manning. What a selfish motherfucker.

6/24/2013 9:24:34 AM

this guy and Bradley Manning are very different in both their motivations and actions. the point you are responding too is obviously a dumb one, but your implied point is a bad one.

6/24/2013 9:34:40 AM

I can no longer tell if you guys are being sarcastic like smc perpetually is, or if you are drinking the MSM's character assassination koolaid. I hope its sarcasm.

6/24/2013 10:02:25 AM

i can't tell if you are disagreeing with my claim that Snowden and Bradley are very different, or if you are disagreeing with the post above that draws comparisons between them.

6/24/2013 10:05:19 AM

^^Not true. I may be derisive, acerbic or even downright acrimonious...but I am NEVER sarcastic.

6/24/2013 10:15:16 AM

I personally think Snowden is a traitor and have already turned over all usernames who disagree with me to the authorities.

6/24/2013 10:40:12 AM

^^^ Wasn't responding to your post, although I agree with you, but just noting that I find the MSM's characterizations of Snowden as a traitor, foreign spy, and narcissist to be laughable, although I know there are people on this board who legitimately agree with those characterizations.

6/24/2013 11:48:15 AM

^
only one person said that, and he's generally an asshole

6/24/2013 12:44:29 PM

Quote :

"Personally I think this is great. Dont want to sound like smc, but fuck the government in this particular case. "

6/24/2013 1:03:34 PM

Quote :

"Edward Snowden leaves reporters chasing shadows around an airport US whistleblower's rumoured arrival then non-departure from Russia leaves many in Moscow asking: was he ever even here?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/edward-snowden-russian-airport-moscow


This dude is straight up clownin' the US government right now. Honestly, if they can't get their hands on Snowden, then how the hell are we supposed to believe that they could stop an ACTUAL terrorist?

6/24/2013 4:37:12 PM

The more this story focuses on Snowden, the better it is for the NSA.

6/24/2013 4:58:20 PM

BRING

BOURNE

HOME

6/24/2013 6:11:11 PM

6/24/2013 11:05:15 PM

Alcohol is not served aboard that flight, either. Superb trolling by Snowden

6/24/2013 11:08:54 PM

Peter King asked,

Quote :

"What’s happening to our country when this traitor is a hero?"

I thought almost the exact same thing, but I was amused by our opposing polarities in thought.

Whereas I thought it spoke poorly of the government's integrity, Rep. King viewed it as a blemish on the American people's image.

I've been intrigued by how this leak has bridged the left and right divide yet has exposed the divide between libertarian and authoritarian points of view.

6/24/2013 11:25:14 PM

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57590753/reporters-chasing-edward-snowden-stranded-on-cuba-bound-plane/

6/24/2013 11:29:13 PM

It seems globally we are at crossroads to be sure. As for our own government's credibility it has been lacking for quite awhile now. I think more people are waking up to see it for what it really is.

6/24/2013 11:43:24 PM

Just to give everyone an idea of how the Snowden chase is going...

6/25/2013 8:14:44 AM

Apparently he's chilling out in the Moscow airport and will not be extradited. I think I've seen this movie, I believe it was called The Terminal. It was one of Tom Hanks's less annoying films.

6/25/2013 11:56:44 AM

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1268209/snowden-sought-booz-allen-job-gather-evidence-nsa-surveillance

Quote :

"For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency's secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." During a live global online chat last week, Snowden also stated he took pay cuts "in the course of pursuing specific work". He said: "Booz was not the most I've been paid.""

So much for the claims of media fueled character assassination. Dude is doing a great job smearing his own reputation.

6/25/2013 12:03:45 PM

Good. That makes me like him even more.

6/25/2013 12:09:38 PM

An open, representative, and democratic society shouldn't have a self governing establishment that operates with the same rules as fight club.

And if a bunch of unelected intelligence officials can't keep concerned citizens from entering their ranks and informing the public of what is being done in their name, then they can go suck a boner.





[Edited on June 25, 2013 at 12:21 PM. Reason : here comes shrike, polishing the establishment's apple. Fuckin' toady.]

6/25/2013 12:14:18 PM

Is anyone else besides me enjoying Shrike's take on this a great deal?

Dude has the strangest stance; he's killing me just like aaronburro in the Trayvon thread.

I think you guys have had your own Freaky Friday.

6/25/2013 1:13:15 PM

are we sure he was ever in hong kong or russia?

6/25/2013 1:16:00 PM

He's supposedly at an airport in Moscow right now.

But if he really wanted to disappear he would just go to Lumberton or something.

6/25/2013 1:26:12 PM

supposedly. he could be anywhere, though.

6/25/2013 1:34:45 PM

Quote :

"In an attempt to learn secret financial information, Snowden alleged that undercover CIA agents would get the banker drunk and “encourage” him to drive home in his car. When the banker was eventually arrested for drunk driving, the CIA operatives offered to help him out of the jam, paving the way for recruitment as a source. “Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world,” Snowden told The Guardian. “I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good.”"

Interesting side note:
Snowden is an Army veteran from Wilmington, NC.

[Edited on June 25, 2013 at 6:18 PM. Reason : .]

6/25/2013 6:11:41 PM

given that he is now just straight up giving secrets not remotely tangentially related to the whole "phone records" thing, is there anyone out there still stupid enough to think he's anything more than your run-of-the-mill traitor and defector?

there is zero reason for him to do things like leak information on something like EU spying - it's not whistleblowing.

I look forward to seeing the usual suspects bray in support of him

6/30/2013 12:20:48 PM

uh, EU spying is a big deal

6/30/2013 12:24:01 PM

a big deal, sure. outside of the scope of the NSA mandate? no.

6/30/2013 1:28:45 PM

The NSA spies on foreign countries?

6/30/2013 1:43:57 PM

Spying on them in general is not surprising, how we are spying on them is a big deal. It will likely kill our trade deal.

6/30/2013 2:26:01 PM

Quote :

"It will likely kill our trade deal."

It's like walking into a dragon's lair and taking a sledge hammer to one of the dragon's eggs.

6/30/2013 2:58:47 PM

The NSA spying on them nor the manner in which they are doing it is going to kill any trade deal. A traitor leaking classified information about said spying may.

6/30/2013 4:52:11 PM

I don't think you understand the scale of this, we are intercepting a half a Billion German phone calls each month. I don't think many people are particularly surprised that we have taps and bugs in 8 embassies (including allies) as well as inside an encrypted fax machine in the EU embassy, but the scale and reach of this is a big deal. German, French, and British citizens are not going to be okay with this. On a single day, January 7th, the NSA collected 60 million communication connections of German citizens (including phone calls, emails, text messages, and chat logs). Germany has about 80 million citizens. This is a big deal; while most people recognize that we spy on our allies, probably not many thought we did it on this scale.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/30/nsa-leaks-us-bugging-european-allies
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/30/the-nsas-surveillance-activity-snags-500-million-german-communications-connections-each-month/

6/30/2013 7:44:27 PM

We don't need the Europeans. We don't need anyone. Slaughtering that worthless traitor Snowden will teach the rest of the world to fear us and stay out of our way.

6/30/2013 9:54:37 PM

So the scale of foreign spying is what should be giving Americans heartburn?

Why, exactly?

7/1/2013 7:32:20 AM