Also according to some sources he has been planning for years (according to some sources he held off in 2008 because he was hoping for action by Obama). He is uncommonly bright and prepared. I don't think the choice of regions or timing can be a coincidence at all. He announced he was in Hong Kong when the leaders of both Hong Kong and China were in the US, and he has managed to very skilfully play various groups off eachother.
He almost comes across as too prepared. Occasionally I have wondered if someone was coaching him, but if he has been planning for years, he could have half a million dollars stashed somewhere (or at least a sizeable fraction of that), and he may simply have spotted his opportunity and known it wouldn't come again.
On the other hand, I would have thought that he might have been better off just letting himself get arrested in the US. He has the attention of the world, and every time his case moved in court he would be on the front pages again. I can't imagine the US government having the courage to face the public opprobrium that would come with placing a whistleblower acting for the people in prison. This guy is no Bradley Manning - he wasn't revealing legitimate US state secrets that could put innocent people in danger, he was revealing potentially illegal behaviour of the US government with respect to its own citizens.
Whilst on the run however he can be "disappeared". How do we tell the difference between a Snowden lying low in some forgotten corner of the world, and a Snowden chained up in some forgotten US prison cell, or a Snowden burned to ashes in a car in Afghanistan? In both cases he is invisible to us. Dangerous, dangerous game. In fact it's so dangerous it's bordering on unbelievable for me.
Let's not forget he's also been able to see how the US has treated cases like Manning and Assange and learn from those situations.
I'm fully expecting that Snowden has prepared some kind of "insurance file" ala Assange and made sure it's set up and triggered to go in case he's suddenly taken into custody and rendered into parts unknown. He's hinted as much in his initial Guardian interview (e.g. "there's a lot more here but I don't want to hurt anybody personally").
