That is actually the wrong question, but one that needs an answer nonetheless. Merkel has been such a loyal servant of the USA in fact she would have gone to Iraq with you if she had had the chance back then, and now this? the US is spying on us just as much as on Iran, and calling us third class partners, according to Spiegel. This just might impact the election result in September, since Merkel and Interior minister Friedrich did not handle the initial revelations well a few weeks ago. We'll see, but the SPD would have to act like it were election campaign time for once.
The right question is: why is the US spying on us more than in any other European country? The terrorism nonsense is just that, and some Americans are actually aware that Hitler died a while ago, and since then we have played nice with our tanks. So is the NSA conducting industry espionage? That would at least make more sense than finding out every single day that Germans kinda liked the US until this weekend.
The comments seem divided between "good, that we have a big brother watching over us *snark*" -> "the US is no friend", and "third class? Fuck off 'Muricans. We need new friends." Guess it is time to spy some more on the German government to find out if Merkel is happy to share all her secrets with the NSA. Last time a Bundeskanzler was betrayed by a friend who abused his trust to spy on him, he had the common decency to resign.
It will be a few interesting weeks. The timing could not have been better. Since, Merkel time and time again has shown that she follows public opinion, this just might have actual consequences. There was no way at all that the SPD could win the election in September until today. Merkel knows that she cannot side with the US on this and that the population expects at least a strong message. Therefore she cannot tolerate this and since Friedrich went out on a limb by calling critics of PRISM "anti-American" and "naive" my guess is that he is now more of a liability than anything else, and she gets rid of those fast.
I just hope this brakes the neck of the pseudo-liberal FDP, who have given up any interest in freedom other than "economic freedom", a long time ago. That would be the best that can come from this.
'The right question is: why is the US spying on us more than in any other European country?'
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty bizarre and without any perceivable justification. We in the UK apparently don't warrant the same level of surveillance, and despite our 'special relationship' with the US, it's hard to see why Germany would be such a target. It'll be interesting to see how reaction pans out to this in the next week.
Great blog, by the way. Enjoying what I've read so far.