Is the NYT Editorial Page going to demand the extradition of their sources, too, or just other newspapers’ sources? http://t.co/2jyIPoDz7W

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 7, 2013

Has NYT Editorial Page once condemned the USG for refusing to extradite, or is it only bad when others do it? http://t.co/2jyIPoDz7W

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 7, 2013

@DavidMizner A pathetic editorial - like the Obama war on whistleblowers - which they’ve condemned - doesn’t exist.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 7, 2013

Maybe one reason people are reluctant to leak to the NYT is because they’ll call for the *extradition of sources http://t.co/pDe78LRJA2

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 7, 2013

As you can see above, Glenn Greenwald has been repetitively freaking out about this New York Times editorial all day, as if he were expecting something very different: What’s the Point of a Summit?

Most of the debate about whether Mr. Obama should attend has centered on Mr. Snowden, who fled to Russia after his disclosures. The administration wanted him returned to the United States to face charges of leaking national security secrets.

Russia’s decision was provocative. Asylum is for people who are afraid to return to their own country because they fear persecution, unlawful imprisonment or even death because of their race, their ethnicity, their religion, their membership in particular social or political groups, or their political beliefs.

Mr. Snowden undoubtedly fears returning home because he would be arrested and prosecuted. But those fears do not qualify him for asylum. And does he really feel safer in a country where Mr. Putin, an increasingly authoritarian leader, has jailed and persecuted his critics?

The bigger problem is that the partnership that Mr. Obama sought to build with Russia is seriously broken. Ever since Mr. Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012, he has been profoundly at odds with the administration over the Syrian civil war, missile defense issues and further reductions in nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Mr. Putin is a repressive and arrogant leader who treats his people with contempt, as the recent crackdown on gays and lesbians demonstrates.

Greenwald is extremely quick to nitpick when someone criticizes him; he insists on being quoted verbatim, so he can waffle, and pretend to avoid responsibility, and change meanings after the fact.

But here he is, ranting over and over that the New York Times is “demanding the extradition” of Edward Snowden, when that’s simply not what the editorial says. At all. The strongest statement the NYT’s editors make is that Snowden’s fears of prosecution “do not qualify him for asylum.”

There are no demands for extradition in this piece.