General Correction: Snowden did not choose to be in Russia.

[struggle4progress]

87. He's made multiple mistakes, many of which seem to flow from his libertarian tendencies,

which apparently convinced him that he could simply ignore political considerations and would have success playing The Lone Ranger, a ploy which often goes awry. He's evidently a bright young man, and he may indeed find himself smarter than many people he's met -- but that experience seems to have prevented him from seeking advice from others, more experienced than himself, leading him instead into a solipsistic idealism. Greenwald, who himself suffers from some similar character disorder, reported Snowden had originally intended to release a unabomber-ish manifesto in Hong Kong, which Greenwald claims to have dissuaded him from publishing, on the grounds it would be misunderstood

There is an old saying, Do a hundred things right and no one will ever notice, but do one thing wrong and no one will ever forget. Snowden's lack of discipline in this matter has perhaps led to the even more complicated situation: he may have done one thing right and a hundred things wrong