Opinion: Merkel Must End Devil's Pact with America

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/editorial-merkel-must-end-devil-s-pact-with-america-a-1042573.html



Enough is enough: American spying on Germany is killing the friendship between the countries.

Opinion: Merkel Must End Devil's Pact with America
By Markus Feldenkirchen
July 07, 2015 – 11:37 PM

The German-American friendship no longer exists. It may still remain between citizens of both countries, but not between their governments. Perhaps it has always been an illusion, perhaps the United States pulled away over the course of time. But what binds these two nations today cannot be considered friendship. Openness and fairness are part of the essence of friendship, which is about mutual respect and trust. A quarter century after the United States helped the German people restore their national unity, little remains of this friendship.

As new documents from WikiLeaks and reporting by SPIEGEL show, the NSA has been systematically spying on much of the German government. America's spies not only listened in on Chancellor Angela Merkel's private conversations about sensitive political issues. The NSA also bugged ministries, ministerial offices and other government agencies. Not even journalism is sacred to the Americans -- at least not in Germany. American spies monitored at least one SPIEGEL colleague in Berlin -- spies who represent a country that considers itself a guarantor of freedom of the press, one of the cornerstones of a liberal democracy.

~snip~

Sept. 11 is not a good enough excuse for what has transpired. The terrorist attacks were horrendous, and a turning point for America and the world. It was understandable that the administration in Washington believed that they needed to protect their country against future attacks. Just as friends and family need support after going through a sudden, traumatic experience, the Allies were prepared to show their support for their friend.

But what has come to light has nothing to do with the attacks of Sept. 11 and the fight against terrorism. The US began systematically spying on the German government at least since 1999 (perhaps even earlier); in other words, two years before the attacks on New York and Washington. It is questionable that the German Agricultural Ministry's fisheries department, which the NSA also spied on, had anything to do with Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida.

[LakeVermilion]

1. Do we spy for corporations?

Just asking.

[unhappycamper]

2. Yup

https://wikileaks.org/index.en.html