SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Is Edward Snowden's return from Russia on more than just a U.S. intelligence community wishlist? NBC's anonymous sources say so:
An NBC News report citing U.S. intelligence sources says Russia may consider handing over Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor turned whistle-blower, to the United States as a favor to President Trump. NBC News, the only major news outlet to report the development at this point, wrote that "highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations" suggest Russia is mulling over sending Snowden back to the U.S. as a favor to Trump. NBC News reported it is one of several tactics Russia could use to cozy up to the president.
Snowden called the report "irrefutable evidence" that he wasn't colluding with Russians, despite allegations from U.S. House members.
Also at The Guardian.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by shortscreen on Sunday February 12 2017, @06:21AM
But wait, why does Russia even need to 'cozy up' to Trump, I thought they already owned him?
Since we're on the subject of Russia, I just want to tell everybody what I learned from my own anonymous sources. They said there is an alien base beneath lake Baikal and the land giveaways in the far east are meant for the aliens and humans to interbreed. This is why Russia doesn't import GMO corn, because the aliens are allergic to it. Keep checking NBC, this story should be posted there any day now.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2017, @06:26AM
But wait, why does Russia even need to 'cozy up' to Trump, I thought they already owned him?
Putin's a gentleman. Of course he's gonna buy trump dinner before he fucks him.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fritsd on Sunday February 12 2017, @09:30AM
In the same category, I read an article in the Guardian about a new Russian TV show:
Russian reality TV show Game2: Winter to 'allow' rape and murder in Siberia [theguardian.com]
OMG the Lizard Aliens are running Russian TV !! :-/
Strange country. I always thought the "unit cell" of survivalism was "1 small village" not "a bunch of selfish competitive rapists and murderers".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2017, @05:18PM
I would watch the rape and murder show.
Siberia is a magical place where people go to die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2017, @07:49PM
Strange country.
I find it stranger that the USA gives a single guy the power to initiate global nuclear war, supposedly for "defense".
Compare: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2011/02/an_unsung_hero_of_the_nuclear_age.html [slate.com]
But you've probably read about Richard Nixon acting erratically, drinking heavily as Watergate closed in on him. You may not have read about the time he told a dinner party at the White House, "I could leave this room, and in 25 minutes, 70 million people would be dead.
With the saner USSR (and presumably Russian) approach: https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/?currentPage=all [wired.com]
By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, Zheleznyakov says, was "to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished."
And Perimeter bought the Soviets time. After the US installed deadly accurate Pershing II missiles on German bases in December 1983, Kremlin military planners assumed they would have only 10 to 15 minutes from the moment radar picked up an attack until impact. Given the paranoia of the era, it is not unimaginable that a malfunctioning radar, a flock of geese that looked like an incoming warhead, or a misinterpreted American war exercise could have triggered a catastrophe. Indeed, all these events actually occurred at some point. If they had happened at the same time, Armageddon might have ensued.
Perimeter solved that problem. If Soviet radar picked up an ominous but ambiguous signal, the leaders could turn on Perimeter and wait. If it turned out to be geese, they could relax and Perimeter would stand down. Confirming actual detonations on Soviet soil is far easier than confirming distant launches. "That is why we have the system," Yarynich says. "To avoid a tragic mistake. "
p.s. How many reality TV shows have real participants instead of actors faking or doing staged stuff so the "ratings are better"? Why would you gamble on "real people"? Can you imagine how many takes you would have to do with "members of the public" compared to if you were using paid actors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by axsdenied on Sunday February 12 2017, @12:57PM
Putin may already own Trump but there will be backlash in the US if Trump starts doing what Putin wants. Trump must act like he is pulling the strings.
So, people will be much more "understanding" if "good guy" Putin does a "favor" to the US first by gifting Snowden.
(Score: 3, Informative) by linkdude64 on Sunday February 12 2017, @04:14PM
"Trump must act like he is pulling the strings."
If Trump acts in Russia's best interests, then Russia is pulling the strings.
If Trump acts in the USA's best interests, then Russia is pulling the strings.
Do you believe yourself to be an objective thinker, by any chance? Last I checked, the FBI (Not "ABC reporting from the sidewalk in front of FBI HQ") has said that they have no evidence of Russian involvement whatsoever in the "hacking" of the DNC - and Wikileaks (Real News) has come out and said that they did not receive the leak from any state source.
It was not a hack, it was a fucking LEAK by the DNC IT worker Seth Rich who was found dead, having been "robbed" by being beaten up and shot in the back twice, with his wallet, shoes, and clothing still on his person. Hell of a coincidental "robbery" right?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by butthurt on Sunday February 12 2017, @06:48PM
> [...] LEAK by the DNC IT worker Seth Rich [...]
There's no evidence for that.
Roger Stone, a veteran black-ops propagandist who occasionally advises Donald Trump, has declared, without evidence, that Hillary Clinton ordered Rich killed to prevent him from talking to the FBI. Assange doesn’t go that far, but his offer of reward money helps legitimize such conspiratorial talk. The police suggested the killing resulted from a robbery gone wrong, an opinion shared by Rich’s grieving parents.
-- https://www.thenation.com/article/is-julian-assange-exposing-innocent-people-to-persecution-with-reckless-leaks/ [thenation.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2017, @08:44PM
"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations." [dni.gov] It's definitely the official position of the US government that the DNC hack was done by the Russian government. They could be wrong or lying, but it's misleading to say the FBI officially claims no evidence when the U.S. Intelligence Community officially claims they are confident.
Of course, the claims of Trump being a Russian puppet are unproven and wanting more concrete proof than the writer doesn't like Trump is reasonable. Currently there is hard evidence that at least one person in Trump circle (Flynn) has improper relations with Russia.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Sunday February 12 2017, @01:52PM
> why does Russia even need to 'cozy up' to Trump, I thought they already owned him?
Because Trump needs to score in the eyes of his fellow Amerikans. Both mobsters are on a quest to restore authoritarianism so they naturally support each other.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2017, @02:18PM
Do we get to rule over qt3.14 little girls as master of the female in the end?
Like in the Old Testament (Dt 22, 28-29, hebrew, Numbers 31, etc)
I'd rather rule some cute girls than a have political power.