Posted on 07/31/2013 1:33:39 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Moscow, July 31, Interfax - Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Church and Society Relations, said he welcomed Russia's stance regarding granting asylum to former CIA employee Edward Snowden.
"It is pleasant that Russia shows independence in this case, as well as in many others, regardless of serious pressure," the priest told the Interfax-Religion correspondent.
The situation with Snowden is a landmark and is very widely discussed in Russia and in the world, and "Russia's image as a country supporting true ideals of freedom depends on how Russia will act in this situation," Father Vsevolod said.
Snowden reminded the world of what many Orthodox Christians have been saying for many years - "the prospect of the global totalitarian electronic regime to appear becomes real," he said.
"First, people are hooked up on convenient communication means with authorities, business and each other, then people find themselves bound to certain services and as a result economic and political owners of these services get huge and awful power over people, they can not but be tempted to use this power to control an individual and such control could be much more strict than all totalitarian systems known in the 20th century," the priest said.
Whatever anyone says, ideal rule of people never existed anywhere and never will, Fr. Vsevolod said.
"Any political system establishes the power of few [people] over many [people] and if in the 20th century the roughest forms of such power worked though brutal enforcement, now they work through soft power, through total information gathering and through 'mild' imposing on a person first via slogans, then via laws of strict ideological sets - such as declaring the western political system as the only possible one, marginalizing the religion, criticizing market fundamentalism, left political ides etc.," the priest said.
In these circumstances, Russia "could quite possibly be urged to protect real freedom, freedom from global ideological dictatorship, from electronic concentration camp," he said.
In order to do this, it is probably worth developing a system of electronic communications, national and possibly global one, independent from existing global centers, the church representative said. "The country has brains for this, there will be the will as well, I hope," he said.
Who are they kidding? Everyone knows that he is must another defector.
This is my opinion, of course.
Vlad Putin and his countrymen are really gonna enjoy rubbing our noses in it and telling the world that “we are the guardians of free speech and liberty, the USA spies on their citizens and oppresses people”.
Payback for the Cold War.
Yeah Putin is still really angry at the USA for defeating the evil communist tyranny he spent his whole life loyally serving.
Gee, do you think that Russia is really doing this just so they can look like defenders of liberty to other countries? Naw! Or am I just being too cynical here?
BTW, let them keep the !@#hole. He will never see the light of day again as long as he lives. He will live a life like Assange does in London. He cannot go out and if he ever does he will arrested before he goes one block. Let them feed, clothe and house him. At least I am not paying for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.