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[–] 140 points 4 months ago (20 children)

I consider him a true American patriot.

Nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better.

Implementing drag net surveillance was a terrible decision, and exposing it was truly heroic.

Sadly, Snowden is now in the clutches of Russia who can and does use him as their pawn.

It is easy to say that this is where the EU should have stepped up and given him sanctuary, but that would have been less than ideal for him.

  1. Europe and the US have close ties with police and law enforcement, while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US, they would absolutely hand over a US citizen to the US if requested.
  2. During the war on terror, Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA, they were then sent to illegal black sites and tortured, plenty of these persons have since been proven innocent.

Given the high profile of Snowden's leak, the US still want's him back, and back then even more so, had Snowden gone to the EU, he most likely would have been extradited, kidnapped or even assassinated.

By staying in Russia that was a far lower risk to him.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago*

    He’s at lower risk from the US, but speaking out about Russia would probably be riskier. It’s an unfortunate situation for him to be stuck in Russia and not some other safe country.

    I think the Swiss should have offered him assistance in an embassy or Vietnam or somewhere other than Putin’s Russia (which we knew was bad even back then).

    Really though, Obama should have pardoned him.

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago (16 children)

    "The west should have protected him from the west."

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  • [–] 11 points 4 months ago (14 children)

    Eh, the EU makes a big deal of freedom, and has stood up to the US in the past, but here there are actual laws and regulations to follow, and if we stop extraditing US citizens to the US, the US would stop extraditing our citizens to us.

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  • [+] -9 points 4 months ago (13 children)

    Countries in the EU are still occupying Africa. Settler shitheads.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (12 children)

    It appears that I am out of the loop on this...

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago* (3 children)

    Here's one example: https://www.pulse.ng/story/7-ways-france-still-controls-its-former-african-colonies-2024072617033075753

    Don't feel bad. Many are out of the loop. The west spends a lot of money ensuring most are clueless to what's actually going on in the world.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago

    That article made me vigorously expel air from my nose.

    What's the #1 way that France still controls its former African colonies?

    "1. These countries must officially speak French"

    Did you know England controls the United States? How? England makes the US speak English. I'm super serial! This isn't a laughing matter, so stop laughing at this matter.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (7 children)

    You are answering to someone from a tankie instance, expect their views to be aligned with authoritarian left and take them with many grains of salt. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    Hey, thanks for telling me, I know about tankies, as well as the instances they run, though I don't check every user to see where they come from.

    I'll tag him accordingly.

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  • [–] -2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I don't generally dwell on the libshits like yourself, some will never learn the art of thinking critically, but I would like to point out that the best way to control the population is to divide it. You're either a fed or unknowingly lending them a hand.

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  • [–] -4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    The irony of calling someone a "lib-shit", over what is, in the grande scheme of things, a minor quibble, in the literal same sentence they talk about how people are dividing the population intentionally to control them.

    Lmfao, you're the one dividing the population you unselfreflective dipshit. Grow up.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Unironically true. Wish we lived in the timeline where war crimes mattered and those war criminal bastards were rotting in prison. Now because the USA let their own war crimes slide, it's made autonomous killing systems permissible and civilian casualty rates nearly completely ignored as the horrible precedent of today and on. I hate warfare with a passion

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US

    Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA

    Make up your mind.

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