His Life. His Fate.

I'm not going to tell you how old I am...well.....because I'm a woman....and that's like...not okay or something. Just assume I'm 24 and you'll be pretty close. :)

Anyhow, I am old enough to remember when Russia was our enemy. Like the REAL enemy. Like when you closed your eyes and imagined "bad guys", they were always Russian. Remember the Rocky movie with the Russian boxer? Yeah. That was as bad as you could get then.

In public school, I was shown an "educational movie" about a fictional Russian invasion that ended with all of the American teachers in a school being replaced by Russian ones. In the movie, the substitute teacher began using propaganda (one of my vocabulary words) to brainwash the children. She attempted, sweetly, to convince the children that Communism was the better way so that the kids would choose to follow her voluntarily. The Russian teacher in the movie was pretty and polite, but she was pure evil. I grew up believing that the Soviet government enslaved and subdued its people. It wanted to manipulate and control them. Anyone who questioned the government's supreme authority was dispatched immediately. It was NOT a free country like America. That's why we hated it.

I remember hearing about Russian athletes and dancers who had attempted to flee Russia and defect to the United States. Who could blame them? I wouldn't want to live under Communist rule. If I were them, I would want to be free, too. I would want to be able to make my own decisions for my life.

Since the Cold War ended things have been different. Mostly I think of Russians with pity rather than animosity. It's not like we're best buds or anything, but I don't hate them...and I'm not terrified of them.

But I never thought I'd live to see this day.

Today we have an American citizen...a young man who has not been convicted of any crimes...who is seeking asylum in RUSSIA.

Why?

Well, he didn't intend to end up in Russia...but..well, ....our government asserted it's powerful influence EVERYWHERE and effectively blocked his travel to any other destination...

Setting that aside...He still seeks asylum from the U.S. in RUSSIA!

Why?

Because he doesn't think he will be treated fairly here. In his home.

Because the government...our AMERICAN government...cannot be trusted.

HE'D RATHER TAKE HIS CHANCES IN RUSSIA THAN HERE IN THE "LAND OF THE FREE".

It turns my stomach.

The pressure from the U.S. is making Russian President Putin nervous. When he was asked what will happen to Snowden, He replied, "Why should I know? It's his life. His fate."

Yes. as an American, Edward Snowden had the ability to choose. He made a choice for his life - He sealed his fate when he decided to try and protect us, his fellow Americans, from the evil our government has become. Our government's response to his courageous choice has reduced his life to this: begging the Russians for protection from America.

That's just wrong.

Rocky would never stand for such a thing.