Mrs Merkel seems strangely reluctant to accept that the price for the removal of the malevolent and blackmailing STASI in Berlin is the acceptance of all-seeing computers near Washington.
Mr. Clapper in a hearing makes it clear that there is a market in the NSA information on non-americans, and that national intelligence authorities in Nato countries contribute their own citizen data which is then processed by the NSA.
Of course, Mrs Merkel having lived in a surveillance state, knows that a surveillance state thrives on the private trivia of random individuals, because knowledge can be used to create fear of the regime. It may be that she is against an atmosphere of fear for "ideological " reasons, just as she seems to be in favor of democracy and free elections.
By emphasizing the fact that US organisations are legally empowered to procure, warehouse and especially share information with whomever it pleases them, the US has in fact done more political damage to Mrs Merkel than by any actual "spying": She has been shown to be powerless to protect her Stasi-shocked citizens from mass surveillance.
What is interesting is that Mrs Merkel may in the end be the sole extant specimen of a mythical species - an honest politician. The Snowden affair gives the US a chance to lose what it most needs in its fight against terror -allies- by calling her dumb to her face.
No comments:
Post a Comment