THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE SNOWDEN.

          Fugitive from justice, Edward Snowden, was flushed into the open recently, but the results were closer     to plumbing than to hunting. Mr. Snowden has been in hiding since stealing defense secrets from the National Security Agency and making them public. Once Judge Richard J. Leon ruled, however, that one of those secret programs - phone-related intelligence gathering - was probably unconstitutional, Snowden emerged to take the moral high ground. It was higher than he thought.

         

         The only response to a judge saying something is probably unconstitutional is, “That’s probably bad.” If the same judge calls a government program “almost Orwellian,” one should reply, “That’s almost literate.” Instead, Edward Snowden took it as a blanket endorse-ment of his activities and mounted the world stage to accept what he no doubt thought would be universal applause. After all, he was protecting his country from the “almost Orwellian” threat of unrestricted government surveillance, wasn’t he? Hmmm.

His intentions may have been good, but the road paved with them leads to Moscow - where Snowden currently lives. Moscow, capital of Russia, the country that inspired George Orwell to write 1984 in the first place. He’s a demi-citizen in a nation that could easily make him a “non-person.” One where there’s no shame - and a good bit of wisdom - in address-ing pro-government views to the nearest lamp or chandelier. Where they make  news by letting billionaires out of jail instead of putting them in.  Not that he would know. The best thing you think you can say about Russian newspapers is that there’s no “truth” in Pravda and no “news” in Izvestia.

         

    Another thing Snowden may not know is that ten days after his friend, Judge Leon, said the NSA might be doing something illegal, Judge William H. Pauley III ruled that they definitely weren’t. So, he should stop worrying about “Big Brother.” Put it, as Orwell wrote, in the “memory hole.”

     It’s not all bad news, though. Apart from embarrassing himself, the biggest danger Snowden now faces is getting too comfortable in Russia. That could lead to him criticizing their government and – with his record of thinking ahead and considering consequences (TFT 11/7/13) – something he should avoid.

So, Edrushka, for your own sake, put away the “Free Pussy Riot” t-shirt and remember that before he was President of Russia, Vladimir Putin ran the KGB. Yeah, the “secret police” or in terms that you and Judge Leon would understand, “The Ministry of Love.”