So I'm beginning to think Snowden has done a snow job on the US.

[Cleita]

I don't think he was ever in Moscow. I believe all this crumb strewing was orchestrated by him with the help of Wikileaks to throw our CIA off his trail. The dummy plane ticket for Havana that he never showed up for giving a load of reporters an unwanted stay in Cuba was funny to say the least. But no one has seen a sign of him in Moscow or elsewhere. I don't believe he is with President Morales on his way to Bolivia either. I think this is part of the plan to throw us off his trail. Whether Morales is in on it or not, we probably will never know.

I even wonder if he ever left Hong Kong. If he did, he's traveling incognito to a secret destination that we may never know where it is. Anyway, if I were him, that's how I would have done this cloak and dagger stuff. If I'm right, it's pretty impressive and clever of him to dupe the biggest superpower bully on the planet. He has made our intelligence spy network look like a bunch of circus clowns.

Even though I don't approve of what he did, I will say well done. Also, I really don't blame him so much as I blame our government who has outsourced our security to private companies for their profit. They deserve what they got. So I hope this lesson will force our Congress to pass a few laws preventing the outsourcing of our security in the future.

[HipChick]

1. You are dreaming aren't you..

The infrastructure will fall apart...outsourcing has been happening for about 30yrs..

Snowden made the story about him, not the message...

[Cleita]

2. Oh, I'm sure it was about him but he also pointed out a major gaping wound in our

espionage apparatus inadvertently.

[HipChick]

4. What exactly did he point out that wasn't known before?

[Cleita]

6. Apparently, if you believe what's reported, he hasn't even begun to release the

information he has. I can't see our government going to the lengths it's going to to get him back if he's not holding on to some pretty damning stuff.

But you go ahead and believe that he doesn't really have anything. It's all speculation up to this point anyway and quite honestly this is a where's Waldo post, not a what does Waldo have post.

[Fumesucker]

3. Snowden certainly had an inordinate amount of help on DU making it about him

Hundreds of OPs over the last few days with his name in the title, I counted over twenty on the front page of GD several times.

[Democracyinkind]

5. Cleita, have you seen this?

I think your take is interesting and very possible. But there might be plausible reasons why nobody ever saw him at the airport hotel. Have you seen this piece?

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/trapped-transit-orwellian-moscow-airport-hotel-19520480#.UdScHtgcXk8

[Cleita]

7. Thanks for the article. I hadn't seen it. The reason I don't think he's there is

that he has to eat and take care of bodily functions which means someone will see even if it's an attendant bringing him some food. I'm not sure, but I read that those transit rooms are just sleeping capsules, which means one has to use a public rest room occasionally. Soooo.....

[Cleita]

8. And Ezra Klein doesn't think he exists at all.

Thanks to kentuck for pointing me to this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/24/wonkbook-does-edward-snowden-even-exist/

[Recursion]

9. At this point I'm 95% convinced Snowden exists, and 40% convinced he's in Moscow (nt)

[Cleita]

10. So where does the 60% of you think where he is? n/t

[Recursion]

12. Someplace quiet with umbrella-covered rum-based drinks

I hear Zanzibar is nice.

[Cleita]

15. That's as good a place as any. I see him somewhere in China or a country

under China's thumb with the Chinese providing him with a new identity in exchange for whatever information he has.

[Catherina]

11. I don't think Putin would publicly and blatantly lie that he was in Moscow

but kudos and rec for thinking out of the box.

[Recursion]

13. Because former heads of the KGB are known for their honesty? (nt)

[Cleita]

14. Maybe he believes he was just like the rest of us did. We just accepted their word that

he flew to Moscow and was holed up there, but surely there would be some proof. On the flight from Hong Kong to Moscow, didn't the flight attendants take notice? If he had been on the flight by this time reporters would have tried to pry information out of crew and passengers that were on that flight. In these days of cameras in cell phones and on laptops, why haven't some candid photos been snapped of sightings of Snowden in the airport? Didn't desk clerks and maids see him in the hotel? It seems impossible to me unless he's figured out how to become invisible.

[Recursion]

16. Which brings me back to the 5% of me that questions whether he is a real person or not

[Cleita]

17. Yeah, it's not crazy to think that.

All these airplane tickets and crumbs strewn as to his possible location could have been orchestrated by Wikileaks as a diversion.

[roamer65]

18. Probably in mainland China.

Where else could you go and practically disappear?

[Cleita]

19. Or one of their vassal states, like Mongolia or Tibet.

He would have to have the protection of the Chinese government though and I believe that's what he has.