But only because he managed to write and publish that book. Otherwise, history would forget him very quickly.

@mischl you are joking. In a recent interview on the Young Turks in which he was utterly impressive, you should watch it, he was introduced as an American hero. Huge numbers of people on the left would agree.

@David1955 I'll try to find that interview. Is it online somewhere?

@mischl The Young Turks, TYT, on YouTube. Cenk interviewed him by Skype, from Russia.

@David1955 Thanks. I'll find it. In case you misinterpreted my comments, Snowden is a huge hero of mine.

If he had followed the normal whistleblower regulations, he would be in a dark hole somewhere and would never see the light of day.

@mischl
If? How do you know? You need to do better than that. Don't come at me with conjecture.

@dokala This is America. I get to have my opinion and my own conjectures.

Maybe I should have written "in the last 100 years."

I rather die in his boots with integrity, then live like the vast majority of world leaders out there.
Think Russia is looking out for him and Russia is moving in a better direction than the US.

@Castlepaloma
A better direction in what sense?

@St-Sinner One thing I learned about Russia (during my overseas jobs): The Russian legal system has "finding the truth" as its top priority. The U.S. legal system has, as its top priority, following its rules. That plays out as: In the U.S. it's more important to follow the letter of the law than to find out what really happened. Thus, if I'm innocent, I'd rather be tried in a Russian court. If I'm guilty, I'd rather be tried in America...and have a really clever lawyer.

But in the case of Assange and Snowden, they're better off in Russia.

And of course, Snowden is WAY ahead because Russia has given him a safe place to live. Assange is "in the hole," and is facing extradition to the U.S....which means he will be put in an even deeper hole and never see the light of day again.

@mischl
Wow, I did not know that about Russia. If that was true about courts being about finding the truth in Russia, is it just coincidences that all Putin's opponents seem to get convicted but never his associates and supporters? Either Putin's supports are always doing all right and opponents are doing things wrong. I read his opposition candidate gets conveniently killed in the street KGB style but a common thief gets arrested. For me, these are strange coincidences.

Are you saying that your observation is about justice for common people in the Russian courts?

From my own travels into USSR in 1973 and a few trip in 2012. Russians became happier from the period 2008-10 to 2015-17.
The US, however, was among 72 countries that became less happy in that time. This loss of happiness was mostly due to non-income factors, including less social support and a reduced sense of personal freedoms, the report suggests.

Russia is stable with the BRIC where the world is tired with NATO and revamp of nuclear race. US national debt is 22.8 trillion. Russia is 216 billion national debt and money save in gold. The US is on the edge of collasps over the US dollar with mainly oil backing.

Russian join the Paris Accord US not and Russia is hitting their target.
Due to climate means the country has warmer and more diverse weather regions suitable for different outdoor activities and longer growing seasons for farmers. Russia scores better on safety and cost of living.

The US of A is run by people who think like kids, they do not think long-term. There are a lot of positive things happening in Russia, and the USA could learn a lot from Russia, but instead of taking advantage of an opportunity to grow WITH Russia, we have a bunch of xenophobic bastards who would rather stear the world toward nuclear annihilation.

@Archeus_Lore
So, is Trump right about making nice with Russia?

I do not care what Trump thinks about Russia, his ideas with regard to Saudi Arabia are insane, so attempting to discuss that is not much different than trying to pull a rabbit out of an elephant's ass.

@Archeus_Lore
But he seems to agree with what you are saying. He wants to be friends with Russia.

So? You probably agree with me that the pigs cannot fly . . .

@St-Sinner Of course. Just commoners. The higher-ups never get into the civil courts (so I've been told).

If there is a Hong Kong every where, there has to be an agenda 21 for all the poor stiff.

@Castlepaloma Agenda 21 is a great idea but Rio 92 is a long time ago now and I believe a lot of states in US have legislation opposing A21.

I haven’t seen much action on Agenda 21 but then I miss quite a lot! Is here an action plan?

I don't think we can think of him as being "on the run". He has made a new home in Russia, the country that gave him a place to stay.

Right to know is not a human right as far as I know
But you want make it one, I am fine too.

Yes, we are the "boss" in a manner of speaking. But our government has demonstrated it has a mind of its own, and is NOT always acting in the best interest of its citizens.

The public does have a right to know . . .