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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Snowdenski walked right into a bizarre alliance between Wikileads and Russia
2013-08-04
[Business Insider] One thing that has become clear as the Edward Snowdenski saga unfolds is that WikiLeaks and Russia have both been integral to the No Such Agency leaker's arrival and extended stay in Moscow.

The Kremlin and the renegade publisher haven't overtly coordinated moves in regards to Snowdenski, but they certainly haven't been working against each other. And the two had a shared history before Snowdenski arrived in Moscow.

Here are a few notable details from a tentative timeline of Edward Snowden and his associates created by former senior U.S. intelligence analyst Joshua Foust:

November 2, 2010: An official at the Center for Information Security of the FSB, Russia's secret police, told the independent Russian news website LifeNews "It's essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever."

December, 2010: Israel Shamir, a long-standing associate of Wikileaks traveled to Belarus, a close ally of Russia, in December with a cache of Wikileaks files. Belarussian authorities published the cables and cracked down, harshly, on pro-democracy activists.

April 17, 2012: Government-funded Russian TV station RT gives [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange his own talk show.
They have Assange, we have 'The View'.
June 23, 2013: Izvestia, a state-owned Russian newspaper, writes that the Kremlin and its intelligence services collaborated with Wikileaks to help Snowden escape from Hong Kong (Wikileaks did not mention any official involvement in Snowdenski's departure from Hong Kong in their press statements).
Ever since the 30-year-old ex-Booz Allen contractor got on a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow, Russia and WikiLeaks have been working parallel to each other.
I thought that was a given.
When informed of this, President Obama said, "Tell him to call on my grandpop's friend Vasili. He's a hoot!"
On June 23, after the U.S. voided Snowdenski's passport while he was in Hong Kong, WikiLeaks tweeted that the organization "assisted Mr. Snowdenski's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers ans [sic] safe exit from Hong Kong."
As an aside, I guess the Wikileakers aren't mad at Mr. Assange anymore.
That was followed by the update that "Mr. Snowdenski is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors."

It turned out that Assange convinced Ecuador's consul in London to provide a travel document requesting that authorities allow Snowden to travel to Ecuador "for the purpose of political asylum." The country's president subsequently said the document was "completely invalid."

When Snowdenski arrived in Moscow with void travel papers, all signs suggest that Russia's domestic intelligence service (i.e. FSB) took control of him.
That would certainly be a safe assumption.
That day a radio host in Moscow "saw about 20 Russian officials, supposedly FSB greeters agents, in suits, crowding around somebody in a restricted area of the airport," according to Anna Nemtsova of Foreign Policy.

WikiLeaks, meanwhile, insisted that Snowden was "not being 'debriefed' by the FSB."
"They're teaching him to properly appreciate Russian tea. Would you care for a cup?"
Nevertheless, Snowdenski's FSB-linked Moscow lawyer, Colonel Anatoly Kucherena, has been speaking for Snowden ever since Snowden accepted all offers for support and asylum on July 12.

On July 11 WikiLeaks had said that Snowdenski and it had "made sure that he cannot be meaningfully coersed [sic] by either the US or its rivals," even though that cannot be guaranteed when Russian intelligence is in play.

On Thursday a smiling Colonel Kucherena announced that Russia has granted Snowden temporary asylum -- giving him "the same rights and freedoms possessed by [Russian] citizens" -- and led him to a car that would take him to a "secure location."
This is your new safe house, these are your new minders.
"And here is your voter registration i.d. Don't forget to pull the lever for Putin when the time comes."
Posted by:Besoeker

#9  Yep, unlike Three Days of the Condor, today walking into the NYTs with the info would be like Winton Smith trusting OÂ’Brien.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-08-04 16:13  

#8  Conspiracies not needed. SNowden was a tech, not a spy. And he walked the info out the door with the "right intent" in his own mind, due to the possibly unconstitutional aspects of the program he was revealing.

Problem is, its not like in the moves - and he's simply not field savvy nor anything but book smart. He's now being played by people far more clever than he is, and with far different motives than he likely had. Snowden is now oficially just another chump, the poor bastard.

Too bad we don't have a free press here in the US he thought he could trust - but if you want to be a whistleblower these days, you know that handing incendiary stuff over to an "investigative" reporter for NBC/CBS, the NY Times or WaPo is like living in the Soviet Union and giving it to a Pravda reporter - even if the reporter is straight up his editors are clearly in the pocket of the government regime in power.
Posted by: OldSpook   2013-08-04 15:10  

#7  If I were a tad more cynical

Is that actually possible, Pappy dear? I realize my experience in the area of cynicism is limited, but even so... ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2013-08-04 14:10  

#6  Possible, but unlikely. His actions, whereabouts, and communications will be under constant surveillance. His profile is far too high. Much easier to recruit one their well placed [Russian or former Soviet Satellite] malcontents and collect reporting and periodic updates over time.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-08-04 13:22  

#5  Hey, is it possible that Snowden is a CIA mole? I mean, he drops all that information and then conveniently winds up in Moscow? Nah, I think the KGB FSB would be wasting its time looking into that, and I'm sorry I started the rumor.
Posted by: Matt   2013-08-04 13:04  

#4  They feel the same way about tanks and nukes. Great for them to use against other people, bad for other people to use against them.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2013-08-04 11:09  

#3  What's Bizarre about it? Russia likes using NGO's as weapons against other people.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2013-08-04 11:09  

#2  I dunno. If I were a tad more cynical, I'd say Russia and Wikileaks have been working together for quite some time.
Posted by: Pappy   2013-08-04 10:20  

#1  I miskeyed Wikileaks, but somehow it doesn't seem inappropriate.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-08-04 02:55  

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