[fullshark]

I simply see both acts as completely divorced from each other i.e.: revealing the spying and being silent post Ukrainian invasion. First is an act of bravery, second an act of cowardice and well, those are the choices he made and they aren't in contradiction of each other. He was brave once and now he's not, and the truly important thing is what he revealed more so than our opinion of his character.

[IgorPartola]

I think this is a really shitty way of framing it. Snowden doesn’t owe you anything but you likely owe him something. He did a thing once that loads of others didn’t because it was the right thing to do. He paid very dearly for that and is now living under a government that is holding his life in its hands. In the US Snowden faced prison for his actions. In Russia he faces torture and death if he steps out of line. I think it’s completely out of bounds to call him a coward in this case.

[fullshark]

I meant it free of judgement, which I guess is hard to do with a word like "cowardice." I'm sure I wouldn't say anything either if I were in his shoes. Point is he's (most likely) keeping silent for good reason, cause he's scared of repercussions from the Russian state. What would you call that if not cowardice?

Edit: and I guess my larger point, is the two acts have nothing to do with each other, other than coloring your opinion of Snowden which is ultimately irrelevant.

[paulryanrogers]

Cowardice implies (to me at least) an unjustified fear. Snowden fearing Putin is entirely rationale and justified.

[fullshark]

I always thought cowardice had nothing to do with whether the fear was justified. It does usually have the context of being judged as improper behavior.

In any case maybe a less inflammatory way to state my point: You can continue to admire Snowden for revealing the NSA spying program without necessarily demanding he martyr himself like Nathan Hale.

[kzrdude]

Snowden has shown that he is intelligent, very cautious and plans long in advance. I don't know his situation in Russia, but it must have been pretty precarious already. Maybe he's planning to leave Russia, but I don't know what his options are.