[kbhn]

Security researcher is a pretty loose and fear mongering title to describe Snowden's actual role - Taking sensitive government secrets to a hostile foreign power in the name of whistleblowing.

But please, don't let my clarification get in the way of your whataboutism.

[otakucode]

'to a hostile foreign power'? You mean the public? The US government is why Snowden is in Russia, not Snowden. He didn't go to Russia. His flight was forced to land there when the US revoked his passport mid-flight.

[willstrafach]

This is incorrect, nobody was forced to land. He had a stopover in Russia (as he was flying Aeroflot).

Passport was not revoked mid-flight. It was supposed to be handled earlier, but it looks like a clerical error caused issues:

> Though the U.S. maintains it provided all the necessary facts, on Tuesday Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen told reporters that there was a discrepancy between U.S. and Hong Kong records over Snowden’s full name and that his department never received Snowden’s passport number, which it had requested.

(http://world.time.com/2013/06/25/snowdens-hong-kong-escape-w...)

[kbhn]

Yes, to a hostile foreign power. The public isn't a place you can reside. Russia is, however.

> The US government is why Snowden is in Russia, not Snowden

The US government is not why Snowden is in Russia, Snowden is why Snowden is in Russia. He went to Russia intentionally. He wasn't kidnapped, he chose Russia as a destination specifically due to their reluctance to cooperate with the US.

> He didn't go to Russia. His flight was forced to land there...

That's not what happened, please reread his flight history because the facts are well known at this point. He told his superiors at the NSA that he was headed to the mainland USA for medical treatment, but instead flew direct to Hong Kong where he lived for over a month. 30+ days after arriving in HK he fled to Russia, with the intent of fleeing to Cuba the next day.

> ...when the US revoked his passport mid-flight.

His flight wasn't forced to land mid-flight because Snowden never even boarded the plane that day. His passport was revoked before the Cuba trip, leaving him stranded in the Russian airport.

If you're going to shill for someone who is unwilling to come back to the US to be held accountable (rightly or wrongly) for his actions, please be factually correct about it.

[boomboomsubban]

>The US government is not why Snowden is in Russia, Snowden is why Snowden is in Russia. He went to Russia intentionally. He wasn't kidnapped, he chose Russia as a destination specifically due to their reluctance to cooperate with the US.

He chose Russia as a layover location, Hong Kong has a limited number of outgoing flights and that likely was the one the US would be least able to grab him. However, the US is why he is in Russia now. You mention that he had a flight to Cuba booked, and his ultimate goal was Ecuador.

There is no proof that he took "state secrets" to Russia. By his account he had destroyed any of his remaining copies before leaving Hong Kong. This is a far more egregious error than confusing a layover stop for being forced to land.

[pixl97]

Who said anything about Snowden? There are many different professions that are legal in their country of operation that the US will redirect international flights to US controlled locations to arrest you. It seems like you can't accept that the US is a threat to some people's and nations sovereignty.

[kbhn]

> Who said anything about Snowden?

You implicitly implied him.

> There are many different professions that are legal in their country of operation that the US will redirect international flights to US controlled locations to arrest you.

Which ones? Please provide sources of researchers who have had their flights redirected with the sole purpose of arresting the individuals.

> It seems like you can't accept that the US is a threat to some people's and nations sovereignty.

It seems like you struggle with providing facts and evidence as opposed to conjecture and hypotheticals.