Ride the Lightning

Snowden Being Manipulated by Russian Intelligence?

May 27, 2014

As my British friends would say, "Bollocks." But that is what former NSA Director, General Keith Alexander, has claimed. He has stated, "I think he is now being manipulated by Russian intelligence. I just don't know when that exactly started or how deep it runs"

I know how much this statement aggravated me because it has stayed in my Inbox until I had time to write about it.

Did Snowden want to go to Russia? No. Was he trapped there? Yes.

Does Alexander have a scintilla of evidence to back up his claim? Of course not. The tarring and feathering of Snowden just continues to run amok – and each such incident only deepens the skepticism of most Americans about what the heck their government is doing.

As for Russian manipulating Snowden, given his history, that seems laughable. Why would they bother? Hey, Putin is NOT a nice guy, but the smart play (and he is a smart guy) is to leave Snowden alone to "be Snowden." He'll continue to be a gadfly to the NSA and others. He doesn't need any puppet strings.

I'm sure many RTL readers will be watching the Brian Williams' interview with Snowden tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern. It will no doubt spark plenty of water cooler conversations the next day. And I heard on the news this morning that, shortly (whether in the interview or elsewhere) we will have revelations about some of the people the NSA has been keeping tabs on. Should be interesting, to say the least. Stay tuned.

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