"May I speak to Mr. Edward Snowden, please?"
"May I ask who's calling?"
"Certainly, this is the President's office."
"Would that be President Putin or...?"
"Yes, President Putin. Is Mr. Snowden available?"
"Speaking."
"Good. Mr.Snowden, the President will be taking questions from the public, and he asks if you would like to pose him a question."
"Um, sure. When would this be?"
"Tomorrow afternoon."
"Ok, well sure. I can be there. Just let me know when and where."
"Actually, we thought that for your convenience we could tape your question ahead of time. Would that be all right?"
"Um, ok. Yeah, I don't see why not. Now, about my asylum extension. Is this the right time to ask?"
"You should continue to work that through our legal system, of course. I don't think your participation in this event with President Putin should hurt your case, if that is what you are asking."
"Sure. Ok."
--- Or ----
"Hello, may I speak to someone who knows about the President's next public questions event?"
"May I ask who's calling?"
"This is Edward Snowden."
"The Edward Snowden?"
"Yes, the Edward Snowden."
"Yes Sir. How may I help?"
"I thought that in the interest of the privacy rights of Russian citizens I would tape a question for President Putin."
"Well, that is not such a good idea, Mr. Snowden. President Putin is under a great deal of pressure saving our good Russians in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine from terrorists. He prizes civil liberties like no one else, but he is just too busy to take your inquiry."
"I insist, Sir! It is my intention to hold President Putin's feet to the fire; I want to ensure that Russian children will know what it is like to have a private thought and to have a say in how their government is run. I think I am the one to do that if you will only assist me."
"Mr. Snowden, do you realize what you are asking? You want me to allow you to tape a question for my President that will embarrass him on television? You want me to keep it a secret from him?"
"Yes. It must be a secret between you and me. What's your name by the way?"
"That's not important is it?"
"You're right. It's better for you that I don't know. The plan is that I will tape the question. Then you make sure that it gets on the show."
"It will get me in trouble. They will know it's me."
"Do it for your countrymen, dammit!"
"I see. You are very persuasive, Mr. Snowden. You have won me over to your cause."
"I'll get you the tape and you will make sure that it surprises President Putin?"
"Yes. I will do that. I'll do it for Pussy Riot."
"Make sure that the President doesn't see my tape in advance. Heh. I'll be taping in English. I want the President to have to ask for an interpreter live. Make sure one is there! Remember, we don't want him rehearsing a joke about how he and I are both ex-intelligence professionals or anything like that. That would just play into his hands. We want to surprise him."
= new reply since forum marked as read
Well played. The sad part is that some of the more demented Snowdenites will actually see Option #2 (or some only slightly less comical version of it) as plausible. They're living in Crazytown now.
I actually laughed out loud reading your OP, well done!
Better to move on to something else....
sorry I missed the thread this morning.
Sid
I'll quote Charles Pierce to address the OP.
"Snowden ought to be embarrassed for helping to catapult it into the dialogue."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024833461