General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So now it is official -- Snowden has leaked MILITARY intelligence secrets [View all]Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Here is the relevant portion from that PM, for public consumption:
> Yeah, that's an older thread -- It's pretty obvious by now that Snowden's original claim that he went through proper channels was bullshit, and when he got called out on it he retconned the issue into "Well it wouldn't have mattered anyway because the IG wouldn't have taken any action..." And when I see retroactive changing of story details (this is just one of several), interviews that contradict earlier interviews and other inconsistencies, it's natural for my brain to want to straighten them out -- And these past two years I've gotten tired of this "Snowden is a hero doing a heroic thing, so quit asking questions!", or "You're just a paid NSA troll!" (see sig), or "You're just an Obamabot trying to protect his dear leader!" pushback on DU and elsewhere just because I dare to ask about the parts of Snow-Wald's story that don't add up...
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> I've kept up with this story pretty closely, so while I literally have hundreds of more detailed questions, I'll try to boil it down to 5-6 main ones...Granted, it's useless for me to ask DU since nobody here would know anyway -- Most of them can only truly be answered by an insider from Snow-Wald's cabal...But I continue to ask them on DU anyway, just to get people to *THINK*, if nothing else...
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> 1. I want a full and detailed chronological timeline of Snowden's life from high school until he landed in Hong Kong...I want to know specifically who he worked for, when he worked for them, and what his specific job duties were..
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> 2. I want to know why Snow-Wald have specifically made it a point to attack the Five Eyes Alliance (while frequently turning the alarmist hyperbole up to 11) while COMPLETELY ignoring Russia and China's crackdowns on internet freedoms...Case in point: Greenwald's screechy headlines to drum up maximum outrage over the NSA listening in on Merkel's cell phone (of course it came out later that the U.S. was just one of at least six countries listening in, since Merkel against all advice insisted on using an unsecured phone) and when the later story came out about Merkel listening in on our Secretary of State, Vice President, and the Turkish president's phones, there was complete silence from Snow-Wald and on DU...The Snow-Wald cabal has painted the U.S. and ONLY the U.S. as the bad guys for doing what every other developed nation does..
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> 3. I want to know why Greenwald continually refuses to report on the corruption and abuses of his home nation of Brazil (which is a rhetorical question, since the self-styled "fearless" Mr. Greenwald knows he will get his car shot up Bonnie and Clyde-style if he starts kicking over the wrong rocks)
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> 4. I want to know specifically what interactions Snowden has had with the Russian government -- I want to know how he got his "IT job" so quickly, while never stating exactly who he works for, what hours he works, his salary and what he does...I want to know how he affords his Moscow apartment, comfortable living, plus armed protection...And I want to know how he is the exception when he says he never cooperated with the Russians, since *every* intelligence defector they have ever gotten is heavily debriefed and mined for information...
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> 5. I want to know *WHY* Snowden did it -- I swear to the gods I am so sick of him giving the same five basic quotes and talking points at every speech and interview...I am fucking sick and tired of him only giving access to interviewers known to be sympathetic, never asking him a question harder than "Can you please tell my audience why the NSA is bad, and just how brave and awesome you are??" I also want to know why Snow-Wald in their leaked files redact all the names involved -- I'd have thought personally that if you were alleging wrongdoing, you'd want to expose a paper trail of who signed off on what orders...
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> 6. I know Snowden has an high-power attorney in Washington who at least was trying to negotiate with the Justice Department a transfer of custody (make no mistake, the Russians do "own" him for now, since his is way too valuable to simply walk away) and return to the U.S....I want to know the status of those secret negotiations, and I want to know exactly what "leverage" Snowden is negotiating with, since he has repeatedly said he gave all his files away to Greenwald and his media cabal...
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> 7. I want to know why Greenwald has kept access to the cache so tight, along with why he has only shared with a very exclusive club of publications...I want to know why instead of regularly publishing he specifically holds off and times his stories for maximum public damage (yes, there was an easily identifiable pattern early on)...I want to know exactly what Pierre's $250 million investment in First Look Media is paying for, because it sure as hell isn't a competent, professional news organization that can produce regular content...The Intercept has been a glorified blog...It's not even an integrated media blog...(Granted, this is another question I'm pretty sure I know the answer to, but I have no way of proving it)
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> 8. (This is really an extension of #2) -- For all the outcry over personal info and metadata collection, I want to know why Snow-wald have intentionally and specifically turned a blind eye to the culpability of Corporate America, the Telecoms and Silicon Valley...Not only have they ignored it, they have suppressed the issue anytime the discussion moved in that direction...I want an explanation from Greenwald on why he intentionally kept Google's name out of a data collection story in Pakistan -- Which pissed off Assange so much, he went on and named the person/company running that project...More importantly, I want to know why it is "whistleblowing" to expose legitimate operations against foreign targets...We spied on China, Libya, etc.? So fucking WHAT? That's what our people are *supposed* to do...Despite their claims, Snow-Wald never seem to have figured out that people have no inherent or legal right to *not* get spied on by a foreign entity...Because if that is the case, when does our class-action lawsuit against Russia-China-Israel start??
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> Sorry it's a little disjointed...As you can tell, I've got much, much more than this (it's almost a borderline obsession) but off the top of my head these are the first questions I would personally ask Snow-Wald if I had the opportunity...I've stopped trying to ask these questions on DU -- Battle lines are drawn, the same crowds throws the same insults at each other (guilty as charged) while the discussion never gets me anywhere closer to finding out what I want to know...The well has kinda been poisoned, and by now everybody who has been keeping up with the story has permanently made up their mind on Snowden, Greenwald and spying, one way or the other...
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This is the part where I get my credibility bronzed... I defy *anybody* to tackle these with properly documented answers...And I've got plenty more questions should anybody get past these...
Just to add the cherry on the sundae, I'll just leave this here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aJAN6hOKZV-wat_3xZU1QXymZzLpRlgOOu2tKrBV87s/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1
(no, it's not my work and I'm not taking credit for it)