'Out of Hand': Europe Furious Over US Spying Allegations

[lied_ohne_worte]

The newest allegations of US spying have unleashed a torrent of criticism and concern in Europe. If suspicions unearthed by SPIEGEL that the US tapped Chancellor Merkel's cell phone turn out to be true, the ramifications for trans-Atlantic ties could be immense.
Leading politicians and media commentators in Germany expressed serious concern on

Comments

[zinnia_rose]

Not that I necessarily think it's a good idea, but I kind of thought it was a given that the US government has eyes and ears everywhere. It's like Israel's nukes -- everyone knows they have them but nobody will say so.

Maybe I'm just overly cynical.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Well, yes, but some things shouldn't be done. The fact that I can go through my friends' things when I visit them doesn't mean I do it. The newest suspicion I've read in newspaper editorials, which some voices from the EU summit have also hinted at, is that this isn't about preventing terrorism, as the US actually claimed when caught bugging EU buildings (and really, were they thinking EU diplomats were al-Quaida members?), but about economic espionage. And if so, I really can't see how anyone can negotiate international agreements with them.

[alexvdl]

But just because a country is currently our ally doesn't mean it's always going to be. Frankly, Germany is a pretty good example of that.

[lied_ohne_worte]

So you think they are doing that because they are afraid that Merkel uses her phone to discuss her secret plans for world domination?

[mistress_siana]

Aaaand watch out for a hundred 'spies spy? news at 11' comments. As if that made it okay.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Oh, I'm sure I'm going to get those. Because as long as one can do it, and as long as it's the US doing it, it's automatically great to do it.

[redstar826]

although there is a difference between not being shocked that something happened and thinking that 'it's automatically great to do it'. I think we will see more of the former than the later and I don't think we should confuse the one with the other.

[robintheshrew]

I'm surprised it took this for other countries to be sick of our shit

[omimouse]

From what I can tell, the citizens of other countries have been much less happy with their governments getting all cozy with the US. This isn't just pissing Merkel off because the fucking cell phone of the head of state of a *close ally* should be considered off limits. This is going to cost her politically, and it will likely cost her party and any other pro-American party as well.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Hm, I don't fully agree. It's not as if the Social Democrats were "anti-American". What people here were mostly annoyed with so far wasn't Merkel being pro-American, it was their incredible inactivity in disclosing in which way we as citizens had been spied on, and how the German intelligence services cooperated or did their own spying. We just didn't get any information, and it was pretended that everything had been satisfactorily resolved; Merkel is good at that.

[omimouse]

Fair enough; it's been years since I lived in Europe so my handle on the social and political climate there is kinda out of date.

From the reactions, what kind of fallout do you think is likely? Is this going to come up in the next set of elections, for example? Is it going to be a politically good idea to put some distance between Germany and the US, or does Germany really feel they've got much choice on that?

(This would be one of the many reasons that the whole idea around 'American exceptionalism' needs to die, and soon, because it leads to truly believing that we have the right to do this kind of shit.)