Snowden releases a exclusive interview

The only thing that get me the most about Snowden is how he risked everything he had to make us aware of the government corruption and deceptions, specially the NSA surveillance, what we have done about that? no a darn thing to fix the government and restore our privacy.

originally posted by: marg6043
The only thing that get me the most about Snowden is how he risked everything he had to make us aware of the government corruption and deceptions, specially the NSA surveillance, what we have done about that? no a darn thing to fix the government and restore our privacy.

The only thing he risked was getting caught doing his job as a Russian spy before he could extract.
Now he is Putin's #1 pet, gets high profile media interviews, and can enjoy relative safety in his homeland of Russia.

a reply to: TinfoilTP


He has an impressive background to be a Russian spy, but I got it, he was a sleeping cell. right?

NSA is no spying on us, the government only interest is national security and everything they do is for our own good.

Let me wave my littler American flag and thank my good luck of been an American.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: TinfoilTP


He has an impressive background to be a Russian spy, but I got it, he was a sleeping cell. right?

NSA is no spying on us, the government only interest is national security and everything they do is for our own good.

Let me wave my littler American flag and thank my good luck of been an American.

If anything Snowden himself is complete justification for the NSA spying on us, think about it for just one second.
If anything they need to redouble their efforts because he was able to slip through the cracks and extract before getting caught.

The interview has been very good, very favorable to those who wish to curtail the overreach of the recent policies, and has probably gained Snowden hundreds of thousands of new "fans". He and NBC made sure to focus on his claim that nobody was or will be harmed by his disclosures. And the things he reveals in this interview - the fact that the NSA and other agencies can use a cell phone as a microphone, for one - that those at ATS may know, but that the general public may not know, came across as enlightening.

The one thing I didn't really know or focus on is that a snoop can watch as someone types, say, a post, and can analyze by this watching the thought process of the person. How someone hesitates during the writing process, what is then redrafted or edited, the types of words both used and edited out, and other aspects of personality analysis which can then be either correctly or incorrectly analyzed by "watchers". A good interview, and I'd lean towards the ticker-tape parade for Snowden group, and even more so after watching the interview. A very articulate man.

a reply to: Aleister

Yes a very impressive interview, he is very intelligent as well as articulated, I was very surprise at his family background, sadly he exposed how far our own no longer for the people government will go to maintain the status quo that is not longer within the grasp of the common people.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Watch the interview. My opinion of Snowden has gone down about 5 notches. He is no hero in fact he is a traitor. His own sense of self-importance has gotten the better of him. Fleeing to Russia or Cuba....ha...you think he cares about the American people? Not a bit. He was in it for fame and glory and whatever money he could milk out of it. The cow is running dry and milking time is almost over for him.

Can you explain, and possibly provide proof, that he -has- made anything off of what he has done?

originally posted by: TinfoilTP

originally posted by: marg6043
The only thing that get me the most about Snowden is how he risked everything he had to make us aware of the government corruption and deceptions, specially the NSA surveillance, what we have done about that? no a darn thing to fix the government and restore our privacy.

The only thing he risked was getting caught doing his job as a Russian spy before he could extract.
Now he is Putin's #1 pet, gets high profile media interviews, and can enjoy relative safety in his homeland of Russia.

Can you, as I asked the person above, provide any PROOF to him being a russian citizen?

a reply to: jjsr420

In fact he criticized Putin in the interview, and mentioned something I didn't know about, that bloggers in Russia have to now sign-up on a registry. I wonder if Putin will be the last of the old guard in these aspects, and when the younger generation takes over the reigns of power, in Russia and elsewhere, if human rights will be more of a concern in their decision making. I'm hoping (but not counting on or expecting) that Putin has an 'Amazing Grace' moment and backs off a bit on the control pedal. If I were him I'd have "Pussy Riot" over for a concert, but if I were him I'd be swimming rivers and playing around with supermodels (not in that order).

originally posted by: crazyewok


You could say your goverment was the one that put them at risk.

If they had not been involved in shady or out right illegal actvitys then there would be no Snowden.

Its your goverment that betrayed you.

its not all bad men with secret agendas. Snowden had access to a lot of information. We must expect that he could leak anything and everything he has had access to.

That could be ongoing operations, plans, strategic information, identities of operatives i could list a million things.

The point is, any of that could compromise lives, and saftey of a lot of people.

I used to praise him for having the balls to stand up. Then it hit me out of the blue.

originally posted by: jjsr420

Can you, as I asked the person above, provide any PROOF to him being a russian citizen?

Expounding upon a simple dictionary definition which only requires an ethnic basis, a homeland is where your allegiance lies, where you turn to for support and security. Since he fled his birth nation and currently resides in Mother Russia, the term citizenship was never invoked here, as it does not apply. Recruited double agents don't honor citizenship anyways so it is ridiculous to consider the title of citizenship for the likes of Snowden.

I'm only fifteen minutes into this interview (they decided to air it an hour later here for some reason) and I can't comprehend how anyone, any TRUE and honest patriot can view Snowden as a traitor to this nation. All he has done is expose the security state we are now in, and exposed the traitorous path our government has taken against us, we the people. Not one American has been harmed or put in danger due to him exposing this. The only ones who we are in danger from is our own government.

I feel bad for those who cannot see it and choose to stay blind to it. Snowden is only showing us the water, but he can't and wont force anyone to drink it, he's just a patriot. Our government has led us to poison water and many people are drinking it blindly.

a reply to: Wookiep

I agree completely sir! Completely.

a reply to: jjsr420

Telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

Err, I'm for the truth and everything, but if anyone thinks Putin, et al, have American's best interest in mind...they are sorely mistaken.

Anyone think this is actually an attempt to make the populace aware and to scare them into submission? Anyone else creeped out to have a cell phone? The cell phone and data collection "thought" observation, Orwellian State. These are strong words and the depth of personal invasion is extremely disturbing and becoming more apparent to ordinary uninformed citizens. Only problem is they're to scared about the skeletons in their closets to organize and stop this.


Regardless, the interview was extremely articulate and I would love to watch the entire unedited interview. I noticed when he touched on the complete change in ten years that was happening within the government, it seemed he continued but it was edited.


I think it's not "Go ahead I've got nothing to hide" more "I'll go along just don't tell anyone what you know"

Everyone has something they're not proud of. Everyone makes mistakes. Information can be spun in any way. Information is power.

We were powerless before this man revealed the depth of the personal invasion.

Bring him home, but why would you really want to come back here. Obvious security state when they can watch you live.

a reply to: shaneslaughta

I would like know how much Snowden knows about the domestic DEA/drug war spying campaign. In my opinion, those facts would completely shock many Americans.

That said, my small home town has over 100 cameras placed all over the city for 'surveillance.' Many of them are strategically placed to keep tabs on certain places based on the drug war. Despite these cameras being around for over 10 years and more keep on going, the average person does not even notice. Many soccer mom and condo commando love the cameras because it makes them feel safer.

It reminds of a quote in the Shawshank Redemption. I don't remember it exactly but it was something like this:
"At first I hated the walls, over time I grew to accept them, now I have become dependent on them."

That sums up how I feel the country is evolving to the surveillance state.

a reply to: FlyingFox

Agreed, but I don't think this has much to do with Russia/Putin etc. Snowden did explain in the interview that he has no ties to Putin and gave some pretty solid and logical reasons as to why and how that is. I for one believe him.

originally posted by: jjsr420

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Watch the interview. My opinion of Snowden has gone down about 5 notches. He is no hero in fact he is a traitor. His own sense of self-importance has gotten the better of him. Fleeing to Russia or Cuba....ha...you think he cares about the American people? Not a bit. He was in it for fame and glory and whatever money he could milk out of it. The cow is running dry and milking time is almost over for him.

Can you explain, and possibly provide proof, that he -has- made anything off of what he has done?

originally posted by: TinfoilTP

originally posted by: marg6043
The only thing that get me the most about Snowden is how he risked everything he had to make us aware of the government corruption and deceptions, specially the NSA surveillance, what we have done about that? no a darn thing to fix the government and restore our privacy.

The only thing he risked was getting caught doing his job as a Russian spy before he could extract.
Now he is Putin's #1 pet, gets high profile media interviews, and can enjoy relative safety in his homeland of Russia.

Can you, as I asked the person above, provide any PROOF to him being a russian citizen?

Obviously for the past year he's been living in Russia, that itself equates to one year's support by a foreign government, hostile government at that. So yes he's living quite comfortably at the moment, emphasis on "at the moment". His year is almost up and Russia will either have to give him another extension of his stay there, or he will have to find another country to support him. If not, it's back to the USA for him, he should have stayed here if his purpose was to help. As it stands now, he has traipsed to foreign governments with a boatload of information. How much harm has been done by that globally? Only time will tell.

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

he should have stayed here if his purpose was to help.

I disagree with this because he would have received a secret closed door "trial", not a fair trial decided by we the people by any stretch. He even explained in the interview that he wishes he could be back in the U.S. but did not indicate any plans to come back any time soon because of this very fact, which is quite understandable, IMO. How can he expect a fair trial from the very same people he exposed?

Regarding the whole Russia/Putin connection many people in this thread keep mentioning, I think you should just watch the interview. There is nothing Russia could obtain from him if he had nothing in his possession to obtain in the first place. He stated that he destroyed any "data" he had before arriving in Russia. As an ex cia operative in foreign countries, he was not ignorant to the fact that other governments would want to obtain data from him. He did not intend to exploit vital tactical military secrets and wouldn't have the ability to even if he wanted to.

I think the Govt is using this whole "these horrible acts of "espionage" can get people killed" line as a front because they don't want Americans to see them caught with their pants down, naked and ashamed. If people would just look at the reality of what Snowden exposed, they would also realize how the ones at the very top in our government are the ones who are traitors to us. I reiterate, there is nothing Snowden exposed that has harmed a single American.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Watch the interview. My opinion of Snowden has gone down about 5 notches. He is no hero in fact he is a traitor. His own sense of self-importance has gotten the better of him. Fleeing to Russia or Cuba....ha...you think he cares about the American people? Not a bit. He was in it for fame and glory and whatever money he could milk out of it. The cow is running dry and milking time is almost over for him.

He didn't try to goto Russia or China. The US forced him to. He was in Hong Kong and the US attempted to apprehend him, that forced him to take a route to his originally chosen country of Ecuador. After making it clear they were going to apprehend him, and very likely execute him without trial going by the responses of those in power he traveled on to Russia where the US didn't have an extradition treaty. He attempted to goto Ecuador from there, but the US revoked his passport and left him stranded in the Russian airport. With no other options he was forced to negotiate asylum in Russia.

The US screwed up at every single level. Ignoring issues when brought up internally, heavy handed prosecution of Manning, Wiebe, Binney, and Drake before him, threatening torture and execution without trial, forcing him to take a travel plan through less friendly nations while in possession of sensitive information, and finally going as far as to down the aircraft of the president of Ecuador and search it with armed troops just incase Snowden somehow got aboard.

What do you think Snowdens actions are going to be in that situation? Maybe if Obama actually followed through on his promises of whistle blower protections, of an end to the daily torture of Manning along with a fair trial, actually addressing the accusations, and seeing to it that Snowden isn't in a country of our rivals the situation would be totally different.

The government screwed up the Snowden situation from day 1, and from years prior even in the handling of others.