By Tyler Durden
Once upon a time, not that long ago, the biggest outrage in the world of politics was the “shocking” revelation made possible by Edward Snowden’s exposure of the NSA’s deep state operations, that the Obama administration had a penchant for spying… on everyone, and especially its top allies such as Angela Merkel who BlackBerry was notorious breached by US spies (yes, even the ultra-partisan outlet CNN covered it “Obama administration spied on German media as well as its government“).
Of course, the outrage eventually died down with nothing changing – after all, the US deep state can and will spy on anyone and everyone it chooses, and it’s not like the president has any control over it, but over the weekend the story reemerged when in an investigative report on Sunday, Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio and other European media outlets “discovered” the the NSA had eavesdropped on Danish underwater internet cables from 2012 to 2014 to spy on top politicians in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France (we of course knew all this from Snowden’s original NSA leak but let’s pretend it’s news).
The NSA was able to access (and accessed) text messages, telephone calls and internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services — including those of Merkel, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then-opposition leader Peer Steinbruck, DR said.
This, too, was not news, but since most don’t remember yesterday’s news cycle let alone that from 2013, European leaders had no choice but to address, which they did when the leaders of Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that they expected the US and Danish governments to present explanations over allegations of spying by Washington on European allies with Copenhagen’s aid (the alternative would give the impression that the US can do whatever it wants without any accountability to anyone… which of course is the correct impression).
“This is not acceptable between allies, and even less between allies and European partners,” said Macron after a French-German summit meeting held via video conference between Paris and Berlin. “I am attached to the bond of trust that unites Europeans and Americans,” Macron said, adding that “there is no room for suspicion between us”.
At this point the background laughter could be clearly heard.
As for Merkel, who supposedly told Germany’s Stasi secret police Stasi that she could not keep secrets well enough to be an effective spy when told to spy on her colleagues, she said she “could only agree” with the comments of the French leader, adding that she was “reassured” by statements by the Danish government, especially Defense Minister Trine Bramsen, condemning such actions.
“Apart from establishing the facts, this is a good starting point to arrive at relations that are truly based in mutual trust,” she said.
Alas, she was not reassured by Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, who was last seen facing immense challenges trying to determine what year it is.
And since Merkel isn’t that much younger, we will leave the last word to Macron who said that “what we are waiting for complete clarity. We requested that our Danish and American partners provide all the information on these revelations and on these past facts. We are awaiting these answers.”
Considering that Obama spied on his own Congress (“A Brief History of the CIA’s Unpunished Spying on the Senate“) just as generously as he spied on foreign leaders, we urge Macron not to hold his breath, especially since even having bad thoughts about Obama automatically makes the French president a racist.
