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After NSA Spying Flap, Germany Asks CIA Station Chief to Depart
The Washington Post reports that Gemany's government has asked the CIA station chief in that country to leave. From the article, which points out the move comes after several high-profile instances of U.S. spying on German citiens, including Chancellor Angela Merkl:. "A day earlier, federal prosecutors in Germany said police had searched the office and apartment of an individual with ties to the German military who is suspected of working for U.S. intelligence. Those raids followed the arrest of an employee of Germany’s foreign intelligence service who was accused of selling secrets to the CIA. ... For years, Germany has sought to be included in a group of countries with which the United States has a non-espionage pact. Those nations include Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The Obama administration and that of George W. Bush both resisted such entreaties, in part because many U.S. intelligence officials believe that there are too many areas where German and U.S. security interests diverge."
And yet their own intelligence agencies have no issue with sharing and working with the NSA.
http://www.spiegel.de/internat...
http://www.spiegel.de/internat...
http://rt.com/news/germany-nsa...
Germany's government was perfectly fine with the NSA's surveillance until they found out they were being spied on too. It's faux outrage meant to deflect people's attention from them being in bed with the NSA for years.
It's never about the moral high-ground. It's always about diplomatic leverage.
This excludes actions by populist elected bodies or particularly fickle monarchs. But in general if one nation is doing something to another nation, it's maneuvering by state and intelligence departments.
Actually, Germany has a problem with spying on their own citizens, as this was declared illegal by the European Court of Justice.
Actually, it's the German population which has a problem with being spied on. And they were pressuring the government again and again no longer to tolerate it. Being spied on is an issue that has grown in importance within one year that now the German government has to fear to lose the next elections if they don't do anything about it. And that's exactly how it is supposed to work.
This is true for most of Western Europe, I would say. I'm not sure if it is actually reasonable, but very explicit nationalism still triggers memories of certain regrettable events in our not-that-distant past. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say many Europeans find the amount of flag-waving and anthem-singing that's on display in the US frankly shocking.
Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)