Those looming espionage charges kind of back him into a corner.

I don't think we have enough information yet. I'm reserving my judgment.

To our knowledge, he hasn't released any critical information to anybody. I don't even think he's a whistle blower. He confirmed that the government is collecting the exact type of data the Patriot Act allows. Like it or not, the Patriot Act has been law for a long time and obviously both parties have endorsed it.

I'm not sure. The fact that he took the job with the sole purpose of gaining access to and revealing classified information to me makes him not hero. Now I'm not sure if that makes him a traitor, especially considering how narrow the definition of traitor is.

Is that a fact? Or is that something reported in the Chinese media? Because, as biased as our news can be, anything coming out of China is completely and totally censored.

He's admitted to it in interviews that he did while in Hong Kong. Several articles have come out in recent days with the exact quote, but yeah, it sounds like he infiltrated the NSA with the explicit purpose to steal and release classified information.

Also, I don't think China or Russia would ever admit to receiving any classified information from Snowden as it will cause them to lose the upper hand in terms of intelligence gathering. It would be in their best interests to stay quiet about the whole issue and just keep us guessing as to what they do or don't know.

But as I said earlier, they are making a lot of special accommodations for this guy in the face of potentially damaging relations with the U.S. that leads me to believe that they are getting something out of this.

The Hong Kong newspaper reported that he admitted it. That doesn't necessarily mean he did actually admit it. I've seen our own media twist people's words to say what they want and I know China's would also.

No, neither China or Russia would admit to receiving the classified information from Snowden. I agree.

Russia and China have an agenda for sure. This guy showed that the US does the same thing China and Russia do (kinda sorta). The US tends to act as though they would never censor or monitor the way the other countries do. This hurts their credibility. He's applying to several countries (Iceland and Ecquador) for asylum.

I'm not basing judgment on one quote that supposedly came from him printed in a Hong Kong newspaper. If he does, in fact, release more information publicly that I think is actually harmful to our national security, then I will make a judgment. He hasn't been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to me.

I understand what you are saying about media twisting people's words but I think China would be treading into potentially dangerous waters (domestically) by creating that narrative. The last thing they would want to do is glamorize his actions and create their own Snowdens. Russia too for that matter.