What's Snowden's real mission?

Young people are often--shall we say, not well-grounded in reality.  That is, not having had certain experiences, their assessments of how things really work are...not necessarily accurate.

I'm guessing no one over, say, 40 will take issue with this.  If you're under that age and find this statement callous, demeaning, insulting or similar and would like to discuss it, feel free to comment.  But as I say, older people will back it up.

The point of this preamble is Edward Snowden, the 20-something "intel analyst" for the NSA who's told the world that our government is spying on Americans' phone calls and emails.

There's no doubt that Snowden is a strange cat.  I understand that a young, idealistic guy might have been horrified to discover his employer was spying on Americans, and decides to blow the whistle.  And if he'd confined his revelations to that, the story would be over.

Problem is, Snowden didn't do that.  Instead, he went a great deal further, gratuitously telling the Chinese that the U.S. had managed to tap a fiber-optic cable on the ocean floor and to intercept communications the Chinese had reason to believe were protected.  (For the record, cutting into an optical cable on the ocean floor is a pretty challenging problem.)

In a second non-domestic revelation Snowden told the Russians that the U.S. had intercepted communications to and from Putin when he took a trip outside Russia.

While this probably didn't surprise the Russians, the obvious question is, if Snowden is trying to arouse Americans against NSA spying on *us*, why reveal other, unrelated intel to the Russians and Chinese?

Some analysts have speculated that the whole Snowden episode is actually an elaborate disinformation ploy, designed to divert the attention of the American public from some other, more potentially damaging issue facing the Obamoids.  Sorry, can't buy it, because Obozo takes more of a hit to his popularity from the spying revelation.  So no way.

Second:  Mainstream publications have now printed that Snowden took the Booz Allen job specifically to gather more info on U.S. intel gathering techniques.  I have no way of knowing if that's true, but if it is that would pretty well put him on the "traitor" list as far as I'm concerned.

Finally, I think Snowden--like many or even most young people today--probably laughs at the very idea of allegiance to ones country.  Far too many young people seem to have bought into the socialist/leftist/"progressive" propaganda that being a "citizen of the world" is far superior to identifying as a citizen of just one nation.

For someone who believes this, the only cure is bitter experience--and even that doesn't always work.

Look at all the American actors and actresses who absolutely *swoon* over how dreamy Che Guevara was, ignoring the reality that he seems to have been a psychopathic killer who got off shooting victims in the head at point-blank range.

But...but...but...revolutions are SO COOL, comrade!  Power to the people!  To each according to his need!  The people, united, cannot be defeated!

Chances are, Snowden will eventually realize it would have been better to stay here and go to [spit!] the NY Times or similar with his stop-the-presses story.  But meanwhile the Left will lionize him.