Further...that this is from a 29 year old who hasn't a clue what's being negotiated or dealt with Internationally between nations, nor 'the ability' to determine what is harmful or not to those discussions?????
Did you ever think perhaps getting the American people to doubt and question our National Security Protections could very well put us in the position to loose this nation??? They already doubt the leadership?...you attack the credibility and security of a nation and you can take it!
So I'm not playing Snowdens game of tit for tat...he's on the wrong side no matter what he says about "protecting the People"..... If that were true he wouldn't be sitting in a Communist Land trying to pull the wool over dumb downed Americans eyes on why he's there.... But alas...we have become so used to being played ...this doesn't surprise me in the least. Snowdens enjoying the show...you can count on it!..and his moment of being King.
Political ramifications? Most of them matter little, in the long run. The Chinese can call us hypocrites. Yeah, that will change the world. /s I'm more worried about our 4th Amendment, thank you.
Now, maybe Snowden has information that really is damaging to the country - he does essentially make the "threat" that if something happens to him, more will come out. But not all information damaging to the present gov't or individuals in it is necessarily damaging to the USA, especially in the long run. Given what Snowden has NOT released, and the fact that he has not disappeared with the help of China, I see no evidence that he intends harm to this country. My biggest worry would be that the Chinese might try to grab him and break him, but that's a VERY risky move for them, especially since he might not have any truly "big" information to make the risk pay off.
As far as I'm concerned, the threat from this Administration is greater than whether or not some G8 negotiation gets ruffled. It's not like the G8 will decide to nuke North Korea, or even meaningfully curtail Iran. Putin is not going to give up Syria. Even then, 99% of what's supposedly decided at these things has been worked out by lower level diplomats in advance.
Further, not only has Obama shot any credibility we might have had long before Snowden came along, there is no way that "getting the American people to doubt or question" what the NSA is doing presently is going to "lose this country" to some outside entity. If you think that, you have no idea what the true strengths of this country are. So, to be honest, I don't have to think about it 10 seconds - your premise is ludicrous on it's face. But if you think I am wrong, please do explain, in detail, just how it is that we will be taken over from without because ordinary U.S. citizens decide that they don't like being spied on!
Finally... At what point SHOULD we doubt? It seems to me we passed it some time ago.