I haven’t seen any evidence, in any of his statements or actions, that suggest that he is looking for fame or fortune. He sounded sober and resigned to his semi-doomed fate. He had a pretty cushy, comfortable life in Hawaii with a great job, and a slutty GF. It really appears that he is one of a handful of gov agents that have acted on principle.
At the end of the day, most Americans believe that these dragnet monitoring programs, focused on citizens, are wrong.
Putin’s condition that he quit leaking stuff on the admin... could mean let US do the leaking, privately, to each of the US maggots that need taking out.
Russia tried to help us with Boston... if Snowden asks to release stuff about it -ESPECIALLY in light of Al-Aharbi being invited to the 4th of July in the WH - Putin may accede. He hates jihadis, too, and he suffered the most heartbreaking case of jihad.
"I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." "I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy, and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity." And he then asks for asylum in Venezuela (now Russia). Only Zimbabwe, Cuba, and North Korea are less free, according to Heritage. Obama loves Venezuela. Communists. "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end." "There’s no saving me." "The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night." "I do not expect to see home again." His actions (not including the actual "whistleblowing")and movements can hardly be considered heroic or selfless. Fears for his family? What family? He has no family of his own. His father was a coast guard officer who lives in Pennsylvania, his mother a federal court clerk in Maryland.
I think this whole thing is an operation to transfer through a noble patsy whatever secrets are valuable to the Communists, and long term, to accomplish this (contrary to Snowden's expressed fear): "The great fear (replace fear with desire) that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things... And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it's only going to get worse. [The NSA will] say that... because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny."
Soften the resistance to universal surveillance. Get it out there; let everyone have the thought, continuously, that they are being recorded at all times.
Snowden asks the question for Obama, Putin, Maduro, Chavez, Stalin, et. al., Will you have tyranny?
Then see what happens. My bet is nothing at all, just as nothing at all has happened in any of these other scandals. They do these things with impunity. And so they will have their answer.
Then tyranny can begin in earnest.