Snowden’s silence on Putin

last updated 8 January 2015

Michael Daly

TheDailyBeast.com

“Time to come home, Edward Snowden,” said Michael Daly. Since he leaked thousands of top-secret government documents before fleeing the U.S. last summer, the former NSA contractor has been living under the protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the “would-be czar” who is making a mockery of everything the whistleblower claims to champion. Just last week, Snowden appeared via video at the South by Southwest conference, denouncing U.S. government surveillance—while saying not a single word about his thuggish host’s invasion of Crimea or his suppression of what was left of Russia’s independent media. In the softball SXSW interview, Snowden played up his own heroism, saying he felt morally obliged to spill NSA surveillance secrets “regardless of what happens to me.” But Snowden wouldn’t have fled to an autocrat’s embrace if he weren’t worried about personal consequences. If Snowden truly is a moral paragon, then he should announce that he can no longer stomach Putin’s oppressive behavior and is returning to the U.S., regardless of the consequences. That would take some real courage—and some real moral backbone.