Why Snowden Is Still In Russia
A reminder, in light of recent coverage of them granting him permanent residency
This week, I saw articles from Forbes and The Register about Russia granting permanent residency to Edward Snowden. I couldn’t help but notice that they left out a couple of key details, and especially since people in this country tend to hold a certain view of Russia and anyone who is associated with them, and since we seem to have such short memories, I thought I would remind people why Snowden ended up in Russia in the first place.
At least Forbes correctly describes him as a whistleblower, where The Register uses the rather less flattering term “leaker.” However, Forbes then goes on to describe Snowden’s actions as “leaking information on the extensive domestic and international surveillance operations undertaken by U.S. intelligence agencies which included eavesdropping on foreign leaders,” which seems to gloss over the part about the NSA’s mass surveillance of U.S. citizens on home soil, which he was recently vindicated on in a federal appeals court. The part that was one of the main subjects of, and the source of the title for, his book Permanent Record, which I will never miss a chance to bring up.
As for the Russia bit, in a 2019 interview with NBC, Snowden discussed with Brian Williams how it was…
