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MindMover

(5,016 posts)
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:06 AM Mar 2014

Journalist Tom Ricks believes in 7 degrees of Separation and reports on them ...

"Journalist Tom Ricks 'Beginning To Believe The Worst' About Greenwald And Snowden"

Tom Ricks has a growing suspicion that Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden are up to something.

On Saturday, the Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter posed a question to Greenwald on Twitter.

"Glenn, any comments from you or Edward Snowden on the recent round of media shutdowns in Russia?" Ricks asked.

After initially referring Ricks to Snowden's representative at the ACLU, Greenwald asked Ricks if he had any comment on "Peruvian police corruption," "corporate waste dumping in E Africa," or a U.S. drone strike from last year that killed 13 people en route to a wedding party in Yemen.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tom-ricks-glenn-greenwald-edward-snowden?utm_content=buffer1de71&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
1. It is curious that Snowden and Greenwald will say nothing bad about the Russian government
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:09 AM
Mar 2014

Why not just condemn the actions of Putin? Why is it so hard?

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
8. I wonder if he was standing in front of a curtain when he said that.
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:38 AM
Mar 2014

For all we know somebody put a gun to his head to say that. I mean I doubt it, but this is Russia we are talking about. If he doesn't think he is living in Hell right now, wait til they run out of uses for him.

MindMover

(5,016 posts)
10. The main reason he was even allowed to stay in Russia was because Putin ...
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 01:07 PM
Mar 2014

wanted to say Fuck Off to the USA ...

Let us all remember where Putin came from, the KGB ...

Here is a list of defections to the west from former Soviet and Eastern Bloc ... note the last four

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Soviet_and_Eastern_Bloc_defectors

Profession/Prominence Birthplace Defection Notes

Kanatjan Alibekov bioweapons chief Kazakhstan 1992 Former director of Biopreparat; defected to United States

Stanislav Lunev GRU Russia 1992 Defected to the United States; revealed KGB weapons caches in the west

Vasili Mitrokhin KGB Russia 1992 Defected in Riga, Latvia to British Embassy; Archivist who was shocked by records of Soviet political repression

Sergei Tretyakov SVR; Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia) Russia 2000 Defected in New York City to C.I.A.; Deputy Rezident Station Chief in New York City; Revealed many political and intelligence secrets from the New Russia; sudden death in Sarasota County, Florida on June 13, 2010; his death has been associated with allegations of foul play

Cha

(297,149 posts)
5. Well, Snowden would get put in jail.. and Greenwald doesn't want to upset papa bear..
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:34 AM
Mar 2014

so he does what he does best .. Deflect.

<<<<Greenwald

Cha

(297,149 posts)
3. "OK, I've Had It With The Moral Posturing of Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden"..
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:30 AM
Mar 2014

snip//

"He did mockingly tweet this morning, "Has Snowden condemned the earthquake in LA yet?"

His point being, I suppose, that Greenwald and Snowden are not required to comment on all events. My point being that the LA earthquake has not enabled Snowden's actions."


http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/03/17/ok_i_have_had_it_with_the_moral_posturing_of_glenn_greenwald_and_edward_snowden

"Moral Posturing", Indeed. Tom Ricks lasted longer than a lot of did on the net.

QC

(26,371 posts)
11. His "think tank" is funded by the defense contractors.
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 01:18 PM
Mar 2014

Perhaps they reminded him who's paying his bills and he decided it best to get with the program.

http://www.thenation.com/article/coalition-shilling

We won't even get into the fact that Ricks works for a Murdoch paper.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
12. Here's the article: "Coalition of the Shilling" and a snip:
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:01 PM
Mar 2014

(The "Nation" Link is behind paywall but this is the full article re-printed by "Common Dreams&quot

Published on Saturday, March 13, 2010 by The Nation
Coalition of the Shilling
by Nathan Hodge

On February 25 journalist Thomas Ricks published an important scoop on his blog at ForeignPolicy.com: Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, had requested keeping a brigade in northern Iraq beyond President Obama's deadline for the withdrawal of combat forces. The timing of the story was intriguing. Just two days earlier, Ricks had published an op-ed in the New York Times calling for US troops to remain in Iraq long term. "I think leaders in both countries may come to recognize that the best way to deter a return to civil war is to find a way to keep 30,000 to 50,000 United States service members in Iraq for many years to come," he wrote. The op-ed coincided with a policy brief by Ricks issued by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), the Washington think tank where he is a senior fellow.

Ricks, a longtime military correspondent for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and author of the bestseller Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, had been a prominent critic of US policy in Iraq. Recently on his blog, he called the decision to invade "one of the biggest blunders in American history." But his op-ed, along with the rollout of the policy brief and the news story, was selling the idea of a long stay in Iraq.

CNAS, like most think tanks, bills itself as "independent and nonpartisan"; its leadership says that it takes no positions as an institution. But it played a key role in selling the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and now it could help prepare the ground for the president to reverse course on Iraq and keep a large force in the country.

It's part of a new influence game in Washington. Think tanks, once a place for intellectuals outside government to weigh in on important policy issues, are now enlisted by people within government to help sell its policies to the public, as well as to others in government. Institutions like CNAS are also heavily funded by major weapons manufacturers and Pentagon contractors, creating potential conflicts of interest rarely disclosed in the media.

Indeed, the presence of journalists on the payrolls of think tanks is crucial to their clout, lending them the imprimatur of neutral, nonpartisan news organizations. Since its founding in 2007, CNAS has played host to a string of reporters from major US newspapers: Ricks worked on his most recent book, The Gamble, at CNAS; Post reporter Greg Jaffe and former New York Times reporter David Cloud worked on The Fourth Star, a book profiling four Army leaders, while in residence; Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, veteran military and intelligence reporters for the Times, are researching a book on counterterrorism there. And CNAS isn't the only place where national security reporters have set up shop. Times military correspondent Michael Gordon is a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a new think tank founded by Kimberly Kagan, the wife of Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a cheerleader for the "surge" strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MORE AND A GOOD READ AT:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/13-5

MindMover

(5,016 posts)
14. You are linking a 2yo article written by a cut and paste tabloid owned by a jerkster from the 1% ...
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:11 PM
Mar 2014

nice try ...

there has been a lot of shekels float under the bridge for Ricks to figure out which side of the bridge he should beholden tooo.

Autumn

(45,056 posts)
15. Could it be that at this time Snowden is a "guest" of Russia?
Tue Mar 18, 2014, 02:13 PM
Mar 2014

This journalist may want to consider the problems that could bring about. It's not a wise thing to go into someones house and shit on the person giving you "shelter". Not like the US would give a shit what Putin could do to Snowden.

Come to think of it, if Snowden disappeared that would help the US immensely. Stands to reason he would say this considering his connections.

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