Snowden and the Chinese

[arely staircase]

Edward Snowden shared classified US intelligence secrets with the Chinese. Regardless of your thoughts on the rightness of his actions in leaking the NSA, FISA court warrant, should he be prosecuted for giving that info to the Chinese?

9 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	7 (78%)
	No
	2 (22%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[arely staircase]

1. seriously? none of the snowden defenders want to weigh in

just easier to ignore that part isn't it?

[alp227]

16. The Chinese have a history of stealing American military secrets

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/021601b.html
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/060805.html

So what Snowden did just ain't defensible.

[arely staircase]

19. my favorite excuse is - oh, like the Chinese don't know we are spying on them, as if

All he did was go, hey Chinese, the US is spying on you.

[MH1]

2. Kind of seems like the definition of treason.

So, yeah.

[arely staircase]

3. his fanbase tries to act like that part just didn't happen

I would really like to know if they think such things should be ignored.

[JI7]

7. this is where they say "IT'S NOT ABOUT SNOWDEN"

and then go on to write about how he is like gandhi, paul revere , rosa parks etc.

and the "i am snowden" thread. hahah

[arely staircase]

9. today it is Spartacus nt

[Skittles]

27. I have to say

you have a lot of nerve using the word "fanbase"

[arely staircase]

32. how so? nt

[Skittles]

34. and you have a great sense of humor!!!!

[arely staircase]

35. thanks

you too, I guess.

[arely staircase]

4. really? nobody will own "no"?

[Gravitycollapse]

10. I'll own it.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

5. .

Edward Snowden is a modern day Paul Revere with a thumb drive full of the news that Tyranny is coming!

[Whisp]

6. Greenwald is lying to you, usGovOwesUs3Trillion. n/t

[arely staircase]

11. Don't you love how Palinesque that Paul Revere quote is? nt

[Whisp]

15. yeh, noticed.

[Gravitycollapse]

17. We will disagree on almost every aspect of this thread. But I agree with you on this.

[Gravitycollapse]

8. This has been a long time coming for the US. We think we own the world.

For how many decades have we been intervening, often covertly, in the governments and lives of people outside the US?

We reap what we sow. I realize Snowden has likely broken the law and likely divulged classified information to the Chinese. But I just cannot muster the energy to give a shit. I can't muster the energy to offer support to a political and military regime that's been racking up bad karma for this fucking long. I don't care. Whatever happens to us, we almost certainly deserve it.

[arely staircase]

13. Whatever happens to us we almost certainly deserve it?

fucking classic.

edited to say, props for admitting it.

[Gravitycollapse]

14. Americans enjoy prosperity at the cost of the rest of the world.

Behind almost every aspect of our lives is some form of terrible exploitation.

[DevonRex]

23. Seriously, don't you understand that China hacks us constantly and even

steals weapons systems information as well as intellectual property? All the while our corporations outsource our jobs to China so they can pay slave wages without unions to deal with? And manipulate currency and give tax breaks to those corporations -so they WILL outsource?

What part of you've been played don't you get?

[Gravitycollapse]

24. Oh sweet Devon, it's you who's being played...

I know the game and the players. I choose not to justify our misdeeds by saying others are doing the same.

[MADem]

26. PLA Unit 61398--their job is to collect a lot more than "metadata"....on US. Look 'em up. nt

[Gravitycollapse]

28. I repeat: I choose not to justify our misdeeds by saying others are doing the same.

[MADem]

30. Good thing you ain't "The Decider" then, isn't it? nt

[Gravitycollapse]

36. I'd rather watch this country crumble than turn into an evil empire.

[MADem]

37. Well, fortunately your hyperbolic imaginings will not come to pass. You won't have to do either. nt

[arely staircase]

41. the histrionics are hilarious nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Meh...these are very minor crimes, I think, in the big scheme of things

Snowden enabled some bad guys to improve their trade craft, but that's about it. Very little of this will be remembered in two years time.

Guy didn't know anything the Chinese didn't know already. If he did, he'd still be in Hong Kong, instead of sitting at Terminal Nyet.

[Enrique]

18. we get it

he made Obama look bad

[arely staircase]

20. and big bad meanie Obama won't let him use his passport to fly around the world committing espionage

what a fascist oligarch bully that Obama, picking on GhandiSpartacusRosaParksPaulRevere like that.

[flamingdem]

25. snort

[Cha]

31. ...

GhandiSpartacusRosaParksPaulRevereMotherTeresaMLKHOOHA!

[Skittles]

29. STOP IT ENRIQUE

[limpyhobbler]

21. "Regardless of your thoughts on the rightness of his actions in leaking the NSA, "....

I can't separate it out like that. Don't really like the way the question is phrased. I'm willing to forgive some possibly bad behavior on the basis of his leaking the much more important info.

[arely staircase]

22. Well then just say that, and I guess you did.

But see that's the deal. Had the guy just released the FISA metadata warrant and stayed here a and faced the music he would have come across as a much more sympathetic figure to many more people.

He would have had a decent chance at a lot less prison time than he is looking at now. He might have even gotten a hung jury and then been able to cut a deal with prosecutors. He may have even been able to cut a decent plea bargain from the get go if he had kept it to that and had a lot of public support.

I did not support the Patriot Act when it was passed; I do not support it now. If this all led to its repeal, that would be awesome. But giving US intel to the Chinese is not something I, or most Americans are willing to forgive.

[ZombieHorde]

33. No, the punishment would be too harsh, in my opinion. nt

[napoleon_in_rags]

38. Snowden shared classified information with everyone, that's what public info is about.

I'm offended that you chose the Chinese and not Iran for the example. They all got it.

The question is, is there an over-riding moral concern which justifies this act?

I don't know. We'll see.

[arely staircase]

39. I didn't chose China he did.

Had he gone to Iran and told an Iranian newspaper specific, classified operational information as to how the US government was hacking Iranian computers, which specific IP addresses had been targeted and which of those hacks were active and which ones were no longer being hacked, I would have said Iran.

[napoleon_in_rags]

40. I'd compose a lengthy response...

But after typing that last message, my laptop went down, irreparably it seems. No internet access, so I'm stuck thumb typing on my phone. Good times, these.