May 14 I posted a story about US the Justice Department getting records of journalists. That was before the whole Snowden affair.  Over here in China, many expats consider Snowden to be something of a hero.  I note that George Bush came to Obama’s defense by saying that he was responsible for the program, and that Snowden hurt the security of the US.  Bush wouldn’t label him a traitor though.

It is a hard subject for everybody.  Don’t we want young people to have ideals? When we tried the Nazis, they said that they were just following orders.  That wasn’t good enough to get them off the hook.  Your conscience is supposed to come into play somewhere along the line.  If Snowden believed that the US was breaking the law, what was he supposed to do? He was a subcontractor of a contractor. So perhaps the public doesn’t want to know the truth . . .

It is really hard to decide this one without knowing more, but it is a little troubling that the controversy is over Snowden, more than the charges he makes. It is clear that most Chinese are happy with him, but China didn’t want to help him.  China has too many relations with the US to risk that kind of a confrontation, that is what I am told.  Maybe there is a concern that young people in China might take Snowden to be a hero and emulate him over here.  Who knows what they were thinking.  Well maybe it is best to leave this one alone.

Let’s hope that this gets talked about within and between the countries.  Maybe we can avoid the kind of cyber-war that everybody is preparing for.