Re-visiting the useful idiot, part 2

It looks like Edward Snowden was allowed the opportunity to ask Vladimir Putin if Russia unlawfully spies on individuals' communications. Unsurprisingly, Snowden and his supporters now feel a bit red in the face about the whole experience. What struck me, however, was Snowden's response to the whole episode. The interesting part here is not Snowden's stated desire to get Putin on record on the issue; instead, we're getting some possible insight into Snowden's overall goals in undertaking this whole saga nearly a year ago. I've been perplexed as to what Snowden's intentions might be throughout all of this (given the whole, you know, "championing civil liberties under the protection of the Putin administration" thing), but I think I'm starting to come to a conclusion on him: the guy really just doesn't get it. This is the part of his response that really hits it home for me:

I expected that some would object to my participation in an annual forum that is largely comprised of softball questions to a leader unaccustomed to being challenged. But to me, the rare opportunity to lift a taboo on discussion of state surveillance before an audience that primarily views state media outweighed that risk. Moreover, I hoped that Putin's answer – whatever it was – would provide opportunities for serious journalists and civil society to push the discussion further.

When this event comes around next year, I hope we'll see more questions on surveillance programs and other controversial policies. But we don't have to wait until then. For example, journalists might ask for clarification as to how millions of individuals' communications are not being intercepted, analysed or stored, when, at least on a technical level, the systems that are in place must do precisely that in order to function. They might ask whether the social media companies reporting that they have received bulk collection requests from the Russian government are telling the truth.

Let's be real: did he really expect his question to be a watershed moment for those seeking transparency from the Russian government? It's not as if we're just now beginning to get suspicious of this Putin guy after 14 10 14 years in power. Does he really think the Russian media have the power to unleash a flurry of investigations into Russia's domestic surveillance activities (nevermind certain other events in a neighboring country that are preoccupying the media's attention right now)? I really, really, have trouble believing that Snowden is actually this naive about his relationship with the Russian state. Stuff like this, however, is making that belief harder to hold on to.