As the saga sparked by Edward Snowden continues to rage, more countries around the globe join the chorus of those outraged by the US spying programs. Even America’s closest allies seemed to be surprised by the “elastic conscience” of its long-standing partner.
One of the most offended by the NSA eavesdropping was German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Considering that as a child of the former East Germany, Merkel grew up with her phone being tapped, no wonder that Der Spiegel’s report on the American surveillance agency listening to her phone calls, had a special resonance for Merkel. "This contradicts the interest of German people. There are no grounds for spying. Every German citizen is disappointed. The level of trust between the two countries needs to be restored,"Angela Merkel said. But sentiments aside, there are serious political consequences for this credibility gap. On October 24, the US ambassador was asked to come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany because of the reports of phone tapping of the German Chancellor. Soon after that Merkel herself called the US President, Barack Obama asking for an explanation, Obama replied that the surveillance was carried out without his knowledge and was stopped in 2010. On October 28th, Hans-Peter Friedrich, head of the German Ministry of Interior Affairs announced that Germany should send US diplomats out of the country because of the possible wiretapping on Merkel. Jens Stomber, a coordinator for the NSA scandal with the Pirate Party in Germany, predicts it’s not the end of the story, as not only German politicians, but ordinary people have come to realize that the US is not trustworthy anymore. “I think in the past, maybe our government blindly trusted the US and I think from the Snowden leaks we can, of course, learn that you cannot trust the US in an unlimited way. And what is happening now, of course, in Europe if you look at what happened with the Swift agreement, which was suspended yesterday, or at least there was a decision to question it. So, there will be a vote in the European Council as many steps will follow. We are already in a discussion for a new date of protection reform all over Europe, so Europe is clearly taking steps to stand united against US surveillance and protect their citizens, I think so,”Jens Stomber said. Despite the strong words, experts says it's not likely that Germany and other targeted countries would sever relations with the US, but we are likely to witness an impact on the way they do business. Just a couple of weeks ago, the European Parliament suspended the service used to help the US track terrorist bank accounts known as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program in direct response to the news the NSA monitored the international data-sharing system known as "SWIFT," which is used to transfer money electronically in Europe. Seems like the message that the world sends to the US is clear – even the closest friends don’t like to be fooled. Source: Article,
