Ukraine: How it Got Harder for Snowden's Russia Story to Pass the Laugh Test
Spandan Chakrabarti March 3, 2014
Russian forces are occupying part of Ukraine right now in clear violation of
international law. And yet, America's self-proclaimed "anti-war" Left is
eerily silent. There is no petition on MoveOn.org to urge the US and the
international community to do everything possible to end the Russian
invasion. Alan Grayson, the self-declared "Congressman with guts" evidently
lacks the guts to even call Russia out. The dogmatic left, known for their
propensity to scream and yell, is eerily silent. The screeching Left, best
known for hitting the United States for "imperialism", is barely even
breathing a word against Putin's moves to cease land from another sovereign
country.
Could the deafening silence be coming from wanting to avoid the discussion
of an inconvenient reality? Could it be because of Edward Snowden?
No, I'm not simply talking about the reprehensible moral implications for a
man the anti-government Left has joined the libertarian Right to sell as a
hero to remain under the protection of the government running one of the
worst surveillance states in the world. I am not even simply talking about
the scathing ethical implications for a man the anti-war Left has labeled a
hero to continue to enjoy the protections of a government that just invaded
a neighboring country.
I'm talking about credibility. For those who defend Edward Snowden - both
activists and publishers who are benefiting from his theft of critical
American intelligence information - an essential pillar of canonizing him
has been a steadfast rejection of the idea that Snowden may have (willingly
or under force) handed over US intelligence secrets to China (where he first
ended up after fleeing the US) or Russia (where he was finally granted
asylum).
The idea that Edward Snowden, in possession of a treasure trove of American
intelligence documents, would end up in the loving arms of Russia without
turning over his information always required a good degree of suspension of
disbelief. Still, his defenders, along with the person profiting the most
from his revelations, Glenn Greenwald, argued that Russians couldn't get
anything from him because all the data he had stolen was highly encrypted,
and Russians did not have the capacity to break that encryption even if they
tried. They never answered the question as to why Russia would grant Snowden
asylum if there was nothing in it for them, however.
Just how much disbelief you are required to suspend in order to allow for
their argument to even pass the laugh test, however, has gone up by an order
of magnitude in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, simply because the
invasion has proven Putin's willingness to be aggressive simply to achieve
political dominance. If you are to believe Snowden's devotees, you would
have to believe that the same country that just invaded a neighbor to expand
its political influence in startling violation of international law is also
protecting and sheltering a fugitive out of concern for his interests rather
than their own. Snowden's lackies would have you believe that the man
looking to re-establish the Russian empire would house the possessor of the
largest US intelligence leak in history and ask for nothing in return.
In order to believe in the innocence of Edward Snowden (when it comes to
revealing intelligence information to foreign governments), one has to
believe in the innocence of the Russian government. In order to believe in
the righteousness of Snowden's Russian hideout, one must also believe in the
righteousness of Vladimir Putin.
But the greatest of concerns is not that those who defend Snowden aren't
making these connections - though that is probably a large part of the
story. The greatest of concerns is that the most virulent defenders of
Snowden's innocence are beginning to defend Russia - by the means of
celebrating it as demise of "Pax Americana":
The tweeter account emptywheel belongs to Marcy Wheeler, who is the Senior
policy analyst for Greenwald's new magazine.
It is already happening. Instead of condemning Russia's aggression,
Snowden's chief defenders (and his chief benefactors) are already taking
Russia's side, gleefully celebrating the Russian actions as indicative of
waning American influence.
The reason for this is simple. The people masquerading as the high priests
of the anti-war, dogmatic Left aren't liberals or leftists at all. What they
are is anti-American. They celebrate anything they view as embarrassing or
undermining to American influence and American power. Snowden's revelations
and Russian actions aren't contradictory in their value system, since the
only thing they value is the undermining of the United States.
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