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Showing Original Post only (View all)Snowden: Vladimir Putin must be called to account on surveillance just like Obama [View all]
I questioned the Russian president live on TV to get his answer on the record, not to whitewash him
Edward Snowden
theguardian.com, Friday 18 April 2014 05.06 BST
The question was intended to mirror the now infamous exchange in US Senate intelligence committee hearings between senator Ron Wyden and the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, about whether the NSA collected records on millions of Americans, and to invite either an important concession or a clear evasion. (See a side-by-side comparison of Wyden's question and mine here.)
Clapper's lie to the Senate and to the public was a major motivating force behind my decision to go public, and a historic example of the importance of official accountability.
In his response, Putin denied the first part of the question and dodged on the latter. There are serious inconsistencies in his denial and we'll get to them soon but it was not the president's suspiciously narrow answer that was criticised by many pundits. It was that I had chosen to ask a question at all.
...
The investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, perhaps the single most prominent critic of Russia's surveillance apparatus (and someone who has repeatedly criticised me in the past year), described my question as "extremely important for Russia". It could, he said, "lift a de facto ban on public conversations about state eavesdropping."
...
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/18/vladimir-putin-surveillance-us-leaders-snowden
Edward Snowden
theguardian.com, Friday 18 April 2014 05.06 BST
The question was intended to mirror the now infamous exchange in US Senate intelligence committee hearings between senator Ron Wyden and the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, about whether the NSA collected records on millions of Americans, and to invite either an important concession or a clear evasion. (See a side-by-side comparison of Wyden's question and mine here.)
Clapper's lie to the Senate and to the public was a major motivating force behind my decision to go public, and a historic example of the importance of official accountability.
In his response, Putin denied the first part of the question and dodged on the latter. There are serious inconsistencies in his denial and we'll get to them soon but it was not the president's suspiciously narrow answer that was criticised by many pundits. It was that I had chosen to ask a question at all.
...
The investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, perhaps the single most prominent critic of Russia's surveillance apparatus (and someone who has repeatedly criticised me in the past year), described my question as "extremely important for Russia". It could, he said, "lift a de facto ban on public conversations about state eavesdropping."
...
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/18/vladimir-putin-surveillance-us-leaders-snowden
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Snowden: Vladimir Putin must be called to account on surveillance just like Obama [View all]
muriel_volestrangler
Apr 2014
OP
how is pitching set up softball questions to any politician to their benefit? nt
arely staircase
Apr 2014
#41
This was an immense PR coup by Putin, and there's no other way to look at it
Blue_Tires
Apr 2014
#56
so what can snowden do, short of punching putin in the cock on satellite TV, to satisfy you?
frylock
Apr 2014
#77
Friends! Romans! Countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him!
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#16
Here is the sad truth for Snowden supporters. If he survives this, it was a sham.
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#18
What does the evidence suggest to you? Ask Khodorkovsky and Litvinenko what they think
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#21
The evidence suggests you're saying Putin got Snowden to write this
muriel_volestrangler
Apr 2014
#22
Putin doesn't care about the publicity. If he did, he wouldn't have killed Litvinenko like he did.
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#24
I am trying to be generous to fellow DUers who are prolly struggling with cognitive dissonance
stevenleser
Apr 2014
#31
Snowjob has such a brilliant mind that he doesn't even notice the puppet strings.
tridim
Apr 2014
#30
I can't wait to hear Bill Maher's take on this. He thinks Snowden's a fuckin' idiot, and I agree.
Tarheel_Dem
Apr 2014
#35
Yup. Stick a fork in him, he's pretty much done. NPR seems to agree. Even people who've supported
Tarheel_Dem
Apr 2014
#76
that's a smearmater for you - just like his buddy - Smearmaster Greenwald
Douglas Carpenter
Apr 2014
#69
Wrong. I think you guys have come to believe your own nonsense, and that's just tragic.
Tarheel_Dem
Apr 2014
#86
A scientific poll vs. the comment section of a newspaper? Hmmm. Which one to believe?
Tarheel_Dem
Apr 2014
#90