Snowden = Russian hackers?

[tapitsbo]

The real motivations of the US/UK based Russia-baiters are confusing. Seems like an internecine struggle between organized crime groups. It's not like Putin's governments came anywhere close to purging the larcenous 90's oligarchs from Russia.

Countries like Israel and Turkey are backing sharply away from the anti-Russian stance. Countries like Canada, the UK, Germany, France, etc. seem reluctant to commit to it as well. All this makes Hillary's focus on manufacturing conflict with Russia deeply embarrassing.

[brekin]

Ha, ha! Another one of your American Freedom Fighters is a Russian Spy.

Edward Snowden Walked Right Into A Bizarre Alliance Between Wikileaks And Russia
http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden- ... sia-2013-8

One thing that has become clear as the Edward Snowden saga unfolds is that WikiLeaks and Russia have both been integral to the NSA leaker's arrival and extended stay in Moscow.

The Kremlin and the renegade publisher haven't overtly coordinated moves in regards to Snowden, but they certainly haven't been working against each other.
And the two had a shared history before Snowden arrived on June 23.
Here are a few notable details from a tentative timeline of Edward Snowden and his associates put together by former senior U.S. intelligence analyst Joshua Foust:

November 2, 2010: An official at the Center for Information Security of the FSB, Russia’s secret police, told the independent Russian news website LifeNews “It’s essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever.”
December, 2010: Israel Shamir, a long-standing associate of Wikileaks traveled to Belarus, a close ally of Russia, in December with a cache of Wikileaks files. Belarussian authorities published the cables and cracked down, harshly, on pro-democracy activists.
April 17, 2012: Government-funded Russian TV station RT gives [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange his own talk show.
June 23, 2013:Izvestia, a [formerly] state-owned Russian newspaper, writes that Snowden's flight (paid for by WikiLeaks) was agreed coordinated with Russian authorities and intelligence services. (Wikileaks did not mention any Kremlin involvement in Snowden’s departure from Hong Kong in their press statements).

Ever since the 30-year-old ex-Booz Allen contractor got on a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow, Russia and WikiLeaks have been working parallel to each other.

On June 23, after the U.S. voided Snowden's passport while he was in Hong Kong, WikiLeaks tweeted that the organization "assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers ans [sic] safe exit from Hong Kong."
That was followed by the update that "Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors."
It turned out that Assange convinced Ecuador's consul in London to provide a travel document requesting that authorities allow Snowden to travel to Ecuador "for the purpose of political asylum." The country's president subsequently said the document was "completely invalid."

When Snowden arrived in Moscow with void travel papers, all signs suggest that Russia's domestic intelligence service (i.e. FSB) took control of him.
That day a radio host in Moscow "saw about 20 Russian officials, supposedly FSB agents, in suits, crowding around somebody in a restricted area of the airport," according to Anna Nemtsova of Foreign Policy.
WikiLeaks, meanwhile, insisted that Snowden was "not being 'debriefed' by the FSB."
Nevertheless, Snowden's FSB-linked Moscow lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, has been speaking for Snowden ever since Snowden accepted all offers for support and asylum on July 12.

On July 11 WikiLeaks had said that Snowden and it had "made sure that he cannot be meaningfully coersed [sic] by either the US or its rivals," even though that cannot be guaranteed when Russian intelligence is in play.
On Thursday Kucherena announced that Russia has granted Snowden temporary asylum — giving him "the same rights and freedoms possessed by [Russian] citizens" — and led him to a car that would take him to a "secure location."
WikiLeaks then announced that Sarah Harrison, Assange's closest advisor, "has remained with Mr. Snowden at all times to protect his safety and security, including during his exit from Hong Kong. They departed from the airport together in a taxi and are headed to a secure, confidential place."

And it tweeted this:

WikiLeaks’ spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told RT that the "war" is "a war against secrecy ... a war for transparency, [and] a war for government accountability."
All in all, the organization's gratitude for those "who have helped to protect Mr. Snowden" — which primarily includes the FSB and Harrison — raises the question of how much the WikiLeaks and the Kremlin have coordinated during the Snowden saga.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Isn't Snowden a blatant CIA asset, btw?

You are certainly not alone in thinking that; been my conclusion for awhile and little has nudged me to reconsider it.

Oliver "World Trade Center" Stone gifting him a hagiography is a strong indicator, too.

[RocketMan]

Isn't Snowden a blatant CIA asset, btw?

You are certainly not alone in thinking that; been my conclusion for awhile and little has nudged me to reconsider it.

Oliver "World Trade Center" Stone gifting him a hagiography is a strong indicator, too.

Come onnn, don't take this one last vestige of hope from me, man. He has a habit for going too soft on authoritarian strongmen in his later years, World Trade Center was just terrible, and a sop to the right, and his output since the 90s has been spotty at best (Alexander gets too much of a bad rap, though). But he's still ragging on the CIA for JFK and pushing, really pushing stuff like Jim Douglass's JFK and the Unspeakable and David Talbot's The Devil's Chessboard.

Oliver Stone as a double-dealing mole on the left? Say it ain't so!!

As for all this Snowden and Assange stuff... My abilities to hold several opposing ideas in my head at the same time are severely strained. But I'm glad you're making me, guys. This is why I come here, I'd still fall back on the good old binary thinking two-step if this place weren't here. Perhaps I'll grow up some day, but for now I need the kiddie wheels.

[brekin]

Isn't Snowden a blatant CIA asset, btw?

You are certainly not alone in thinking that; been my conclusion for awhile and little has nudged me to reconsider it.

Oliver "World Trade Center" Stone gifting him a hagiography is a strong indicator, too.

I guess this could be read as either a indictment or confession, or both, from Stone regarding CIA-Hollywood films.

(Also, bonus Trump appearance towards the end of the article to entice the semi-closeted Trump supporter to read long.)

Director Oliver Stone opened up about his forthcoming Edward Snowden biopic Snowden in a recent interview, and called most Hollywood war movies “bullsh*t” — thanks to the CIA.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/ ... d-bullsht/

“What you’re seeing is bullsh*t. And a lot of the war pictures you see, you don’t get, you know, you get it after the Pentagon has sanitized it. And they lie. They lie. As long as it is pro-American, that’s all that matters,” the three-time Oscar-winner said during an August 26 interview at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television.
Stone says “the Pentagon has taken over. CIA has taken over Hollywood in that sense.”

Naming what he calls popular “pro-American” TV shows like 24 and Homeland, Stone said “It’s all CIA. It’s just bullsh*t. I mean, honestly. America is fed bullsh*t and we buy it. No other alternative.”

Snowden stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the notorious former NSA analyst, who fled to Russia in 2013 and is currently facing espionage charges from the United States government. Stone said he “assumed” the CIA was tapping his phone calls while he and his crew were filming Snowden in Germany. The director said in an interview earlier this year that he moved the film’s production from the United States to Germany to avoid interference from the NSA.

“But we proceeded on the basis of we’re making a movie,” the filmmaker said. “We went there on that basis.”
Stone lists “self-censorship of scared American corporations” as the biggest challenge he faced while shooting Snowden. He said he finds it “very hard to believe” there “wasn’t a political factor” for why every major film studio in Hollywood passed on financing the film. Stone also said he encountered a “catalog of horrors” while making Snowden, including missing his own mother’s funeral because he couldn’t sacrifice the time flying from Germany back to the U.S.

During the Q&A, Stone also praised GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who filmed scenes for the director’s 1987 classic Wall Street that were ultimately cut out of the finished film.“He was good,” Stone said of the real estate magnate. “I have no complaint. . . I talked to him, and he’s a charming man in person. As an actor, he was stunning.”

Last month, Breitbart News reported that Edward Snowden plans to appear live in U.S. theaters via satellite alongside Stone for a special one-night event ahead of the highly anticipated biopic premiere.
Snowden hits theaters on September 16, and also stars Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto, Scott Eastwood and Nicolas Cage. The film makes its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9.

[Belligerent Savant]

Isn't Snowden a blatant CIA asset, btw?

You are certainly not alone in thinking that; been my conclusion for awhile and little has nudged me to reconsider it.

Oliver "World Trade Center" Stone gifting him a hagiography is a strong indicator, too.

Listen to him during interviews. Nary a pause and/or "uhhhmmm". He's clearly a sharp mind, but also far too polished to be an inside asset turned impromptu* rogue whistle-blower. He was the star attraction at a TED conference via remote teleconference from his 'clandestine' location.‎ A documentary was filmed of him while in hiding from Intel agencies and broadcast on HBO. John Oliver interviewed him. He's accessible to media for myriad Q&A sessions -- from his 'undisclosed' location in Russia.

*impromptu, as in not groomed in advance. He's too type-cast and too well-spoken. Or perhaps it's simply a wild anomaly; he just happens to be very well-spoken AND telegenic in a tech-dork way.

But the one tell-tale sign that he's an asset:

HE'S STILL ALIVE.

AND given a continued platform to speak in front of cameras and/or in the press.

How anti-status quo is his message, really, when Bill and Melinda Gates are listening? I'd be interested in the small print in any 'final draft' policy inspired by Snowden's call for stronger 'encryption' methods and better oversight/watchdog groups to oversee internet traffic.

But I'm far too cynical to think clearly anymore -- don't mind this rambling.

This week at TED 2014 - The Next Chapter, the 30th anniversary of the conference series, Edward Snowden, Whistleblower, was invited to address the audience from Russia via the internet in a Q&A session Tuesday moderated by TED curator Chris Anderson, including a brief appearance by Tim Berners-Lee.

TED also offered the NSA equal time and later in the week was represented by Deputy Director of NSA Richard Ledgett, who appeared Thursday, also in a Q&A moderated by Anderson

Plenty of the usual TED celebrities like Bill & Melinda Gates, Larry Page and Charlie Rose appeared as well as some pleasant surprises such as Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, Chris Kluwe and the juggling Raspyni Brothers.