(Politics) Edward Snowden: Snowden affair gone from Whistleblower to mystery

Edward Snowden, the EX-CIA whistleblower has now become the George Kaplan of international politics but the problem with Snowden is that he actually exists. While it is always an asset to be elusive especially when you are a fugitive of a superpower with the largest spy network on the planet (he should know being ex-CIA and all), it doesn’t lend well to the status he gained among liberals as a hero as the US government is doing its best to make Snowden look like a common criminal afraid to face justice for his “crimes”.

While US Secretary of  State John Kerry may label Snowden  a traitor despite there being no evidence of him selling America’s secrets to its enemies, he is definitely not doing himself any favours as while running makes  sense given what has happened to whistleblowers who have leaked information to the press in the past, making a round trip to Hong Kong then Russia ,who of late have been following a foreign policy of sticking a finger in the eye of American power whenever the chance presents itself , is not so easy to fathom.

While his trip to Hong Kong was strange, his trip to Russia was perplexing considering the fact that he criticised US officials for secretly keeping more of a closer eye on US citizens that he and many others are comfortable with yet leaves Hong Kong for a country that not only watches it’s citizens like a hawk but destroys the ones it doesn’t like.

The US, none too pleased about Hong Kong (after getting an OK by China) allowing Snowden to make his trip to Russia after sending and extradition request, have turned their attentions to Russia stressing that Snowden’s escape from Moscow would be a blow to their relations as if Russia’s decision to back the Syrian government wasn’t enough of a smack in the face.    

NSA director Keith Alexander may pretend that Snowden has “damage(d)” the US, it would be a solid wager to suggest that the news that the US security apparatus was spying extensively on its own citizens as well as other nations was not news to anybody.  

Any suggestion that Snowden is a criminal for exposing the further corrosion of the fourth amendment at the hands of the executive branch is ridiculous as he did not reveal the US’s bevvy to secret bases or out a CIA operative a la the Bush Administration. His only crime was not sticking around to suffer a fate much like Bradley Manning revealing the darker and gruesome dimension of American power.

In sum, Edward Snowden may have to live somewhere in South America for the rest of his life for revealing the extent of how American power is being used against its own citizens to the detriment of the fourth and potentially the first amendment and the George Kaplan of international for a while longer but what is the real problem is that he will never step foot in US soil without cuffs.