Replying to Avatar hh

Freeing Ross is logistically a lot easier and must be the priority. Snowden lives in relative freedom.

Snowden is a different story.

First, Putin will not let pass the opportunity to mess with the US public opinion, especially knowing that the media is completely controlled by the Dems and the nevertrumper neocons in the GOP, and Russia will continue to be an obsession that they'll gladly exploit against Trump.

And second, if Snowden is pardoned and he gets back to the US, his ties with Russia cannot simply be forgotten as a matter of pure protocol. There will be hundreds of hours of interrogation and scrutiny by all types of US agencies, subpoenas, congressional summons, etc.

That's a huge amount of heat for Trump.
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0xtr 1y ago

Well, maybe he’d get some heat from those that don’t like Snowden but it would still be the right thing to do. And tbh, I don’t think Snowden would mind answering some q’s about Russia, but he shouldn’t be forced to do so.

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hh 1y ago

The right thing to do is still optional and will be balanced against the convenient thing to do. And Snowden of course shouldn't have to answer any questions, but that's not how States work. Try visiting the US with a European passport if you simply went to Iran or Venezuela for a tourist trip. Now imagine Snowden.

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0xtr 1y ago

I only visited from a country in the EU and think their q’s, interviews and biometric collection was way over the top. 9/11 broke American airports.

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jamw 1y ago

I’ve never been and probably never will. Shame.

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hh 1y ago

I go several times a year for work. It's still the greatest country in the world, although the drop in quality of life since covid/Biden has made it a lot less attractive, for the moment. I could move there (my boss insists, in fact), and ten years ago I wouldn't have even doubted for a second. Now I keep rejecting the offer.

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hh 1y ago

TSA is a literal racket to make billions in contracts. The legacy of the Neocon-Evangelical-Halliburtonite regime that colonized the Republican Party starting with Reagan, and its extension in the Democratic Party with the Clinton-Obama Green Party of War.

If Trump ever even tries to touch the permanent grift structure that the Uniparty built on top of the Patriot Act, well, then they wouldn't miss again, 100% guaranteed.