I've been listening to the book Spycraft, and if there's one theme that keeps recurring, it's that things never end well for the agent informing against his country.
The handlers often turn the guy over once he's outlived his usefulness to his homeland, or eventually he gets gotten.
Snowden's play here seems to be that he assumes the U.S. is going to lock him up for life or worse, so he's throwing his lot in with China and showing up with, "Hey, here you go! Loads of free stuff!"
But he apparently doesn't know much about the Chinese, or the history of turncoats and how these things usually play out.
Nobody trusts a traitor, not even if he showed up with plentiful offerings. It's like having a gal cheat on her husband with you, then tell you she wants to divorce him and marry you. No chance of her doing the same thing to you now, right?
The handlers often turn the guy over once he's outlived his usefulness to his homeland, or eventually he gets gotten.
Snowden's play here seems to be that he assumes the U.S. is going to lock him up for life or worse, so he's throwing his lot in with China and showing up with, "Hey, here you go! Loads of free stuff!"
But he apparently doesn't know much about the Chinese, or the history of turncoats and how these things usually play out.
Nobody trusts a traitor, not even if he showed up with plentiful offerings. It's like having a gal cheat on her husband with you, then tell you she wants to divorce him and marry you. No chance of her doing the same thing to you now, right?