Analysis: Embarrassment, anger keep Washington quiet while Germany fumes over spying

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WASHINGTON - The White House has erected a wall of silence about being called out for spying on one of America's closest allies. That reflects the embarrassment over the public spat with Germany and anger with Berlin for telling the world about U.S. intelligence programs.

The strain in U.S.-German relations grew dramatically last week when Berlin expelled the CIA station chief in reaction to news that two Germans, one in the intelligence organization and another in the military, were spying for Washington.

The White House on Friday implicitly criticized Germany for making the spying allegations public but gave no explanation for the intelligence activity.

"Allies with sophisticated intelligence agencies like the United States and Germany understand with some degree of detail exactly what those intelligence relationships and activities entail," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "Any differences that we have are most effectively resolved through established private channels, not through the media. These private channels include regular discussions between intelligence officials, diplomatic officials and national security officials from those two countries.

http://www.canada.com/news/Analysis+Embarrassment+anger+keep+Washington+quiet+while+Germany/10030042/story.html

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1. Moronic spying may turn German friends into enemies

US spying on America’s most important ally in Europe is not just criminally stupid, but counterproductive, writes John Hulsman. His conclusion: It’s high time President Obama gets some grown-up advisers.

"If one looks with a cold eye at the mess man has made of history, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he has been afflicted by some built-in mental disorder which drives him toward self-destruction."

--Arthur Koestler

Given the extent of the damage that the CIA's myopic spying has done to US-German relations, now is certainly not the time to mince words. Rightly, I have been viewed as an American hawk all of my working life. While wholly committed to the transatlantic alliance, I have not been sparing of the feelings of America's European allies: of their strategic unseriousness, of their free-riding off of Washington's vast defence outlays, of their terminal flirtations with juvenile anti-Americanism.

I have thought and said all these things through the years not because I do not love Europe and Europeans, but for precisely the opposite reason. If the transatlantic alliance is to endure, hard truths must not be shunted away but must be discussed head on, dealt with, and mastered. But, as we would say in America, what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. For it is Washington, and not Europe, that is presently - in the most stupid manner imaginable - endangering the most important alliance in the history of the world.

http://www.dw.de/moronic-spying-may-turn-german-friends-into-enemies/a-17786286?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf

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2. Germany 'may use manual typewriters' to fight cyber espionage

German security services are considering using manual typewriters for sensitive documents to bypass cyber espionage as the US double agent scandal continues.

Patrick Sensburg, chairman of Germany’s inquiry into NSA spying, told the ARD Morning Show new security measures were being examined.

The Parliamentary committee was originally tasked with investigating the extent of electronic surveillance uncovered by the Edward Snowden leaks but revelations that the committee itself has allegedly been targeted by a US spy unexpectedly widened its scope.

Mr Sensburg said: “Unlike other inquiry committees, we are investigating an ongoing situation. Intelligence activities are still going on, they are happening.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/germany-may-use-manual-typewriters-to-fight-cyber-espionage-9607697.html

[DetlefK]

3. How the Mafia used to do it:

A handwritten note, delivered by courier.

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4. Popular with insurgencies too, Occupy movements, jihadis, the old ways are best sometimes.

Cell phones are for recording things.