The Apolitical Activist, Ch. 12

It is interesting to note how much more skillfully the Chinese have handled the Snowden affair than the bumbling Russians. To be sure, the arrival of Snowden on their soil was clearly a boon for both countries:   both had been widely criticized for decades by the USA for their ruthless censorship and oppression of their political opposition--to the extent any was allowed to exist.   Now, with Snowden ironically seeking political asylum in their countries, they could manipulate their propaganda machines to suggest that things must not be too bad in China/Russia if this American "hero" is now seeking asylum from the "horrors" of American totalitarianism within our borders.

So Snowden goes to Hong Kong (which for all intents and purposes is China), and gives the Chinese what they want--he gives interviews with Chinese Newspapers and the Chinese propaganda machine manipulates the situation as above.  One can imagine the average Chinese citizen reading the newspapers and thinking something like, "hey, I don't have it so bad, I mean, I can't access any internet sites without government approval, and if I protest the government like in Tiananmen square, I will probably die, but at least my government isn't spying on me."  (lol).   Then the genius of the Chinese response comes into play, having been given what they wanted in terms of a propaganda tool, they quickly realize that if they keep Snowden, its going to piss off the Americans.   And really, what would be gained with pissing off the Americans at that point?  Snowden already has giving you what you want in terms of a propaganda tool--what is to be gained by keeping him?   So they realize it probably makes sense to ship Snowden to some other country and let them deal with the headache. So they respond to America's extradition request with the concocted excuse that the papers were not filled out completely and they ship Snowden to their neighbor to the north.

So Snowden arrives in Russia.  By now Russia knows that Obama is going to be very pissed at whatever country who accepts Snowden.  So what's the advantage in having him?  I bet that Russia thought that they could reach some sort of deal with America for Snowden's release.   And this another of my criticisms of Snowden:  for him going to these totalitarian countries he must have known that these governments would have wanted something in return if they turned him over to the Americans  Again, Snowden is no hero, but that's beside the point.   The point is that if Russia or China would have turned Snowden over, they would have wanted something in return--e.g. the release of some agent in American custody or perhaps more sinisterly, the insistence or outright agreement that the next Russian or Chinese defector (who would probably have much better reasons than Snowden for seeking asylum) would have to be returned to Russia/China.  Kudos to Obama that he probably didn't agree to such a deal.

Going back to my original point:  the skillfulness of the Chinese response.   The achieved their objective with almost no political fallout.   We shall see what future fallout occurs to the Russians.