Dougan, a former Marine and police officer, fled his home in Florida in 2016 to evade criminal charges related to a massive doxxing campaign he was accused of launching against public officials and was given asylum by the Russian government. Most recently, Dougan has posed as a journalist in Ukraine’s Donbas region, testifying at Russian public hearings and making frequent appearances on Russian state TV.
Snowden’s actions were based on a positive ethical foundation and is accused of putting people in danger, although I don’t remember those accusations being substantiated.
This guy fled because he was actively and intentionally harming people for malicious purposes. He continues to be malicious.
They are not comparable.
I was in Afghanistan when he leaked everything and nothing changed for us
Pick one:
a) Snowden haphazardly leaked our documents because he can’t abide mass surveillance. He had to do it and risk everything because of his moral convictions.
b) Snowden repeats Putin’s propaganda because his safety is more important than doing the right thing. He can abide things like the invasion of Ukraine or interference in American politics in favor of practical concerns.
(You know it’s possible for Snowden to have done something good while also being a shithead, right? I’m saying these shitheads can keep each other company.)
They are both true, and if you look at a calendar you will see that there was significant amount of time and changing circumstances between 1 and 2.
So just to be clear, nobody is denying Snowden is a Kremlin mouthpiece. It’s just a faux pas to imply Snowden is not a virtuous person? Or is it mean to group Snowden, a Russian stooge, with other Russian stooges, because of his past?
It is unreasonable to dismiss his ethically based release of information because of more recent events. He ended up with Russia because other countries were not willing to grant asylum, and even though he is a stooge now because of that outcome it does not mean he was always a shithead.