I ask the question because as the Edward Snowden story unfolds, more and more he is looking like a true dummy. He is looking like a fool who is being taken advantage of all on all sides by people much, much smart than he is.
The top of the list of course is opportunist extraordinaire Julian Assange, who is trying his damndest to get Wikileaks into a weird position of being an official spokesman for Snowden, even to the point that some people feel that they are writing press releases - perhaps without permission.
The Wikileaks connection is the most amusing, because I don't think that Snowden started out wanting to deal with them at all, but by taking their help he has fallen into their grasp. The diplomatic letter from Ecuador that allowed him to leave Hong Kong appears to have come from the London Embassy where Assange is holed up - a place that some say Assange appears to run now. The leadership in Ecuador was apparently pissed off enough to rescind the letter and leave Snowden high and dry, caught in Russia's transit lounge without a valid passport and without any other valid way to travel.
Moreover, Snowden appears to be an idiot because he didn't figure out his escape route BEFORE going public. Instead, he blabbed in public and then lost 2 weeks in Hong Kong, getting nothing more than a one way flight to Moscow and getting trapped.
The US is taken advantage as well, with Assange and Wikileaks getting involved it has become much easier for the US to get allied countries to line up against Snowden. Not only are most countries refusing his remote applications for refuge status, they are also going to the point of not allowing flights that MIGHT have Snowden on board into their airspace.
Snowden appears to be an idiot. He spoke too soon, spoke too loudly, announced his location too clearly, and in the end, fell into cahoots with potentially the biggest cult of personality on the planet, the cult of Assange. That makes him look like a patsy, a fool, and now he is paying for it.
