Obama’s fall visit to go ahead despite Snowden affair – Kremlin

[Igel]

3. It's not Russia's fault?

In a sense, sure. On the other hand, the transit zone is a creation of the Russian governments, it still polices the zone and enforces order. It makes the rules. If it wanted to expel him, the Russian government could.

It's like your mother telling you that since you ate dessert first and spoiled your dinner, you're going to be sent to your room without any tv or phone privileges. "It's not my fault you need to spend the evening in your room." Mother made the rule; mother's enforcing the rule. Now mother posits the rule as something that exists apart from her authority, with the penalty being put forward as a kind of law of nature that she has no control over. Like gravity or beta decay.

It's a way for the rule-maker and rule-enforcer to place the blame clearly on others for their actions. In this case, Snowden's temerity to land without a visa (which, of course, is another of those law-of-nature kinds of rules that Russia expects of visitors), and the US' suspension of his passport, making it impossible for him to go anywhere but back to the US.

As it is, this is a non-story. Some unnamed source said something is being considered by somebody in State. RT likes this kind of story. It encourages a sense of being slighted by the US, which many RT readers rather enjoy. It means they're being slighted, and that's better than being ignored. Plus it's another reason to be outraged, also something that many people find apparently very pleasurable.