I think even snowden agrees fleeing the country is not what he wanted to do.. rather he was forced to do it.

Manning got 35 years today, but he faced, at one time, the possibility of the death penalty.

Snowden’s responsibility (as he saw it) was to provide the US public with the information that they were being unlawfully spied on, and he did.

He was under no responsibility to suffer his life for that disclosure.