The real question you should be asking is if it's "based" to persecute your political opponents and whistleblowers to such a degree that they can only turn to the most ideologically opposed (and nuclear armed) country there is for "safety". I'm sure Snowden is REALLY HAPPY to live in Russia. Dare I say positively glowing. Ahem...
I don't have a strong opinion about Snowden, but I do not think Russia was his only option by any means. From Wikipedia's article about US extradition treaties:
The United States does not have an extradition treaty with China, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine, Vietnam, the GCC states, most African states, and most former Soviet states, among others. Some countries with US extradition treaties have refused to extradite includes: Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Iceland, Pakistan, Egypt, Switzerland, Venezuela, Zimbabwe etc.
He’s a Russian citizen now. He could have gone to Ecuador after he got citizenship, and possibly even before, but I think because he’s not a moron he correctly assumed that he’d end up at a CIA black site within a week of leaving Russia.
Is Snowden a “mouthpiece for Russia”? I don’t think he is. I don’t see why Assange would be either. I just don’t see how he’d be able to continue his work _anywhere_ in the West. We have so much “freedom” these days that we imprison foreign citizens on foreign soil and fabricate rape accusations against them.
