re: #3 dragonath

At this point, I wonder how enthusiastic Snowden is about Russia. The guy didn’t show any kind of allegiance to America and likely has even less for Russia.

Last thing Putin needs is a loose cannon destroying established intelligence protocols.

I think Putin appreciates that. Russia and America cooperate from time to time, e.g. when the Boston Marathon bombing turned out to have roots in Chechnya.

I’m confident that Putin realizes that Snowden is a potential liability to anyone who takes him in (including the NSA itself, when they hired him). He’s capable of wild swings (e.g. he said leakers should be “shot in the balls”, then became a leaker himself). He feels “betrayed” that Obama didn’t place major restrictions on the NSA; Putin knows that Snowden won’t be enthusiastic about Russia for very long. And talk about “wild swings”, Snowden couldn’t even maintain his family and romantic relationships.

We seem to be converging on a bottom line here, that it’s not in any country’s self-interest to “harbor” Snowden, for any significant time period.