Snowden has to be in Russia. Russia is now the only place asylum for him can be meaningful. If he is anyone’s captive, he is a peculiar kind of captive of the United States, which, having canceled his passport, will not allow him to safely leave Russia’s borders, trapping him there.

Snowden Deserves Better

Even if Russia may not be kind to its journalists or its dissidents, granting Snowden asylum was a good thing to do and it deserves praise. Thanks to Russia (and thanks to WikiLeaks), Snowden remains free. Only someone with a „Manichean world view“ would be unable to acknowledge this.