Snowden Realpolitik: Why Russia won't hand over Edward Snowden

http://theweek.com/article/index/246089/why-russia-wont-hand-over-edward-snowden



At a time when its "superpower options" are exhausted, but its Cold War mentality is still prevalent, the only way for Russia to be safely recognized as a legitimate "foe" of the United States is by doing small things that irritate, but don't necessarily hurt the U.S.

Harboring someone the U.S. considers a fugitive is one of them. That way Russia can have an insignificant, yet highly publicized conflict without actually risking anything. [Guardian]

The Snowden case is just the latest — and, arguably, least consequential — of Putin's efforts to clash with President Obama. John Arquilla at Foreign Policy says the refusal to extradite Snowden only proves that former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney when he asserted — to widespread derision — that Russia is America's number one foreign policy foe.

Though the current furor over Moscow's willingness to shelter the fugitive Edward Snowden is eye-catching, the resurgent rivalry is more evident, and more important, in the case of Syria, where Russia can derail any effort to obtain the blessing of the United Nations for military intervention and at the same time shore up the Assad regime with a wide range of weaponry. [Foreign Policy]