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Edward Snowden slams Nvidia's RTX 50-series 'F-tier value,' whistleblows on lackluster VRAM capacity (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 30 points 2 years ago (23 children)

Think of it from Snowdens perspective. You get to choose: either be tortured for the rest of your life, or chill in Russia and pretend Putin is a nice guy. I know what I’d pick.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (22 children)

    He is not simply pretending Putin is a nice guy, he is clearly collaborating with russian security services. Just look at his comments on internal US politics. And he also was spreading misinformation that russia wasn't going to invade Ukraine in Feb 2022.

    He might be a hero for many, but if you're Ukrainian (like I am), he is clearly a piece of shit.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago* (10 children)

    Still it's 100.0% USAs decisions that pushed him to Russia, it's not like he went there immediately (2013), he was on the run and in shitty conditions for years before he finally had enough and went to Russia (2022).

    USA still wanted to disappear (torture) him, not even allowing him to stay in other NATO or non-NATO countries.

    A USA hero is safer in Russia, and Putin had nothing to do with setting that situation up (safe for not deporting him to USA ofc, which otc lol).

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    And how does this justify Snowden promoting russian genocidal imperialism in Ukraine?

    He did a good thing, so now he is an untouchable saint?

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    I'm guessing that was a deal Russia made with him, he gets to live as long as he's useful to Russia.

    I don't think anyone is calling him a saint. He's a whistleblower whose best option was to defect to Russia, after a period of trying not to do that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (6 children)

    Treating him as a saint; because he revealed the NSA stuff, all his subsequent actions are justified and he should not be subject to criticism.

    This is an extremely common view in some part of the English speaking internet.

    I reject this approach. As far as I am concerned, I hope him and his family get to experience what they the wish upon Ukrainians in the occupied territories (getting sent to to a torture camp for speaking Ukrainian).

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    all his subsequent actions are justified

    You're putting words in my mouth. I'm saying his actions are understandable. He has no chance of returning to the US, his only real chance at a somewhat normal life is playing into Russia's hand.

    Whether someone thinks those actions are justified is an opinion. I'm merely stating the most likely explanation for his actions.

    As far as I'm concerned, his usefulness to Americans concerned about government spying ended as soon as he exposed internal NSA docs. Everything else is merely him trying to survive. Make of that what you will.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    I am not putting words in your mouth. You literally state that it is impossible that Snowden made a decision to support russia for more malicious reasons. The only scenario you are even willing to consider is that he is innocent by default and he was pressured, without even a drop of nuance.

    I’m merely stating the most likely explanation for his actions.

    How do you know this? Can you read russian? Have you ever had any type of contact with russian officials or members of the elite (in any capacity)? What do you know about russian doctrine on foreign propaganda? What other historical examples can you cite to strengthen your argument?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    You literally state that it impossible that Snowden made a decision to support russia for more malicious reasons

    I didn't say that, I said it's the most likely explanation.

    he is innocent by default

    First of all, that's what I assume by default until given enough information to assume otherwise. I don't have that information, so why would I assume he's not being pressuresd by Russia?

    How do you know this?

    I certainly can't know for sure, but I can see how Russia treats its citizens that oppose it (e.g. Alexei Navalny). You know, the whole "committed suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head twice" thing. His value to Russia has run its course by now. I'm not saying he was threatened with death or anything, I'm saying there's a good chance he was made to understand that opposing Russian interests isn't in his interests.

    One does not simply oppose Putin as a public figure in Russia.

    That said, I don't think it's particularly important anyway. He's not really an expert on anything, certainly not Russian foreign policy.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    This is exactly the type of narrative about Snowden's alleged sainthood that I was talking about.

    Snowden publishes content in his social media that directly aligns with russian propaganda messaging (and can be directly correlated with calendar events) and also openly boosts and promotes anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. For example, statements like "all Ukrainians are Nazis" by Glenn Greenwald, (who I will add says this without being stuck in russia). I will also add that Snowden is clearly deeply engaged in his social media fame. Surely if he had reservations about being forced to promote russian genocidal messaging he wouldn't be shitposting about the Nvidia 5000 series GPUs.

    I say Snowden is a piece shit for doing this.

    You reply that we must ignore this and we must always assume that under any and all conditions the bad things he does is because of someone else and he always innocent.

    You're making a claim of innocence that goes against the evidence that we do have (his social media account, that Snowden himself states is not run under pressure), yet you weren't (initially) willing to make any arguments to back up your claims.

    You then bring up Navalny. What does he have to do with what we are discussing? Did you bring him up because that's all you know about russia?

    When did Snowden start a russian political party that opposed putin's rule? How did he start such a party without knowing russian? Did he do it remotely from the US? And russians supported him even though he worked for US intelligence? This does not sound realistic.

    What sort of information did Navalniy reveal about US domestic spying? Are you saying he left Germany and returned to russia because he was afraid of being captured by US authorities for revealing classified US intel info?

    This is a very sophomoric argument that assumes the russians are some star wars bad guys that are incapable of any kind of sophistication in their external influence operations.

    I never said anything about Snowden being a bad guy for not publicly opposing russian interests. I said he is a piece of shit for going along with supporting russian genocidal imperialism. These are two very different things and I don't understand why you are bringing up "opposing putin".

    All that Snowden had to do was to not promote russian genocidal imperialism. Or at the very least to not be so casual about it if as you claim (for which you provided no arguments) he was pressured.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    I totally get it, I live next to that big pain in the ass as well. Luckily, he hasn’t invaded us yet, but I feel it’s only a matter of time. And what Snowden does here certainly doesn’t help.

    But he could have just done nothing and lived a very happy life. Instead, he chose to give up his happy life to uncover the NSA scandal, knowing full well that it will absolutely wreck his life.

    Personally, I think he did enough for the greater good there. This isn’t his war, and if he has to post some lies to get a bit of normalcy back in his life, I can understand that. I wish it wasn’t that way, but I can understand it.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    The issue is that he is supporting russian genocidal imperialism. His messaging clearly aligns with russian propaganda goals.

    Is it not reasonable for me to consider him my enemy (he directly supports doing harm to me, my family and my fellow citizens)?

    As far I am concerned, I hope Snowden and his family will one day be on the recieving end of russian brutality.

    I don't buy the logic of "he did one good thing, so it's fine for him to promote russian genocidal imperialism".

    If he can't stay consistent, he should have never got involved in the NSA issue in the first place.

    He clearly enjoys the attention (just look at this post). He could have simply shut up and not worked with russian security services (the russians wouldn't kill him, they need him alive).

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (7 children)

    His messaging clearly aligns with russian propaganda goals.

    Well yeah, he's in Russia. What's he supposed to do?

    He did one good thing. Now he's in Russia, so ignore pretty much anything he days says that could in some way benefit Russia.

    Why do they need him alive? Any information he has is a decade old at this point. He's only useful to them alive while he has a platform.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    No, he had a choice to keep quiet, but instead he chose to support russian genocidal imperialism. That makes him a bad person.

    He is a PR win for russia, they are not going to harm him as that would undermine their interests.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Were you there? Were you privy to the circumstances? It could very well be the case that he was threatened. We don't know, I just think it's super sus that he started spewing pro-Russia nonsense only after his importance uncovering US govt documents was waning.

    I think it's highly likely he was pressured to make those statements.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    What does me being or not being there have to do with anything?

    He did have a choice to not support russian genocidal imperialism. He made a decision to support the russians even though they do terrible things (both in context of violent imperialism and spying on their own citizens).

    The tone of his social media posts suggests that he rather enthusiastic about using his fame and social readership to promote an agenda. One that is explicitly aimed at harming those who oppose russian genocidal imperialism.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    What does me being or not being there have to do with anything?

    So when others give their opinions (clearly identified as such) you demand evidence, but when you do the same you provide none? You're either a troll or an idiot, which is kinda sad 'cos most of the english-speakers here were actually trying to be rational for a change.
    KTHXBYE

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    He did have a choice to not support russian genocidal imperialism

    And I'm saying neither you or I know the consequences of making a different choice. Given what has happened to other public figures who oppose Russian interests (e.g. Navalny), I can't take anything Snowden says without a grain of salt, because it's impossible to know what's genuinely his opinion and what Russia wants us to hear.

    If pressured to guess, I'm going to assume that Russia has made it clear that saying anything against Russian interests won't end well for him. I don't see him as a credible source for much of anything anymore, since he's certainly under Russia's thumb.

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