it is rational to flee from torture

As I write this, the media is working itself into a frenzy about Edward Snowden fleeing Hong Kong, possibly for Ecuador, and is passing through other countries on the way there. (Frome RED CHINA to COMMUNIST RUSSIA!) The usual suspects are arguing that this is proof positive that he's a traitor, or whatever, under the unassailable logic that only a guilty man would run from the brutal regime whose crimes he's exposed. I would merely like to remind them that a United Nations functionary last year confirmed the obvious, which is that the United States tortured Bradley Manning for actions similar to that of Snowden. It is profoundly rational to flee imprisonment and torture. Indeed, I have a hard time thinking of anything more rational. Might be relevant.