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I am very puzzled:

> And by disclosing that he possesses documents that he says describe U.S. hacking against China, he appeared to be trying to win support from the Chinese government.

China is known to be active in hacking attempts against US government and US industrial targets. They would therefore be greatly interested in any inside information they could get about US defenses against such attempts.

The NSA would likely have information on those defenses.

I would expect, then, that China would be quite interested in getting their hands on any NSA employee with a high security clearance in order to question them about those defenses. Snowden is publicly known to be a person. He likely has information that would also help China with their own internal spying programs.

And now, Snowden is letting China know that he's got even more valuable information of particular interest to them.

Given this, WHY did he pick Honk Kong to flee to? If China wants that information (and it is hard to see how they could not want it), their best move is to kidnap him and blame it on foreign agents (hinting that they think the US took him--which many people would find quite believable) and make him turn over his information to them.



> "Given this, WHY did he pick Honk Kong to flee to? If China wants that information (and it is hard to see how they could not want it), their best move is to kidnap him and blame it on foreign agents (hinting that they think the US took him--which many people would find quite believable) and make him turn over his information to them."

China might get more information out of him by being friendly. Sure, they could kidnap him, but they could also offer him asylum, a comfortable life, perhaps even a rewarding career in a field that interests him. That could loosen his lips more than simple bush-league torture.


because its simpler to pay him instead of kidnapping him. he is a spy thats all there really is to it it seems


Because he's a traitor, that's why. And not your Bradley Manning, "fuzzy lines" kind of whistleblower.


Well... let's wait until he actually leaks something sensitive before we go throwing that around. It's not impossible he's a traitor based on what else he's given to Greenwald, but I personally wouldn't make that call at this time.


That's fair, but you have to admit that this colors some of the things he's said.


He's only a traitor if the American public is now the enemy.


...or if he is a spy for the Chinese.


We've entered into a weird postmodern dystopia epoch in world history when our number one trading partner is also "the enemy."


Gosh, it's almost like WWI where two of the largest most interconnected economies in the world were also bitter enemies who nearly destroyed each other.

Or maybe you meant we're actually in 'a weird post-post-modern dystopia epoch' and you're not simply ignorant of history and being hyperbolic...


WWI history doesn't seem as much like the plot of a William Gibson novel as the international incident under discussion does.


Given the assassination plots, spies, mobilization orders, frantic telegraph communications and other things, it does, actually.


WWI is more like a Neal Stephenson novel. I'll admit I never read the Difference Engine, though.


It's not weird, postmodern, or dystopic to have shades of gray between friend and enemy.


All you have heard is US media propaganda about being hacked by the Chinese. You never considered the possibility that the US may be doing the same to China, but much worse?


> All you have heard is US media propaganda about being hacked by the Chinese.

Many people's log files say differently.

> You never considered the possibility that the US may be doing the same to China, but much worse?

What makes you think I never considered the possibility?


I've also considered the possibility that I might be a smart robot. Lacking evidence for this, however, I don't give it much thought.


Even better he turns himself over to them in exchange for a Communist party position.




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