NSA spying outrage: Berlin outraged by alleged US spying

RT
Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:00 UTC

© Reuters/Osman Orsal

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier

The arrest of a German intelligence employee for allegedly spying for the US has caused an uproar among German politicians. The country's foreign minister has demanded an immediate clarification of the situation from Washington.

"If the reports are true, then we're not talking about trifles," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on a visit to Mongolia, DPA reports. He added that prompt clarification of the details in the case were in the "US's own interest."

Earlier, US Ambassador to Germany John B. Emerson was summoned to the German Foreign Office to answer questions concerning the recent arrest of a 31-year-old German foreign intelligence agency (BND) employee, who confessed to having spied for the US.

German tabloid Bild reported that the man had been a double agent for two years, during which time he exchanged bundles of secret documents for €25,000 ($34,100).

The harshest reaction so far has come from German President Joachim Gauck. If the spying allegations are confirmed, "one really has to say, enough is enough," he told the ZDF broadcaster Saturday.

© AFP Photo/DPA

Activists of German Pirate party wearing mask featuring US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden attend a rally on May 22, 2014 in front of Bundestag, German parliament, in Berlin.

Angela Merkel on Sunday expressed surprise and disappointment over the possible involvement of US intelligence in the BND espionage scandal, according to German businessmen, accompanying her on her trip to China, Spiegel Online reports. She has not made any comment so far, however.

Last October, Merkel was enraged to learn she was allegedly on the NSA's tapping list since 2002. The Chancellor called the alleged spying, which became known thanks to Edward Snowden's leaks, "unacceptable."

A German parliamentary committee has been holding hearings on the NSA's spying activities in Germany.

© Reuters/Thomas Peter

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Ironically, the classified materials from the hearings on US spying could get into the hands of US intelligence, as they allegedly were part of the documents stolen by the suspected double agent.

"If the suspicion of espionage is confirmed, that would be an outrageous attack on our parliamentary freedom," said Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary leader of the SPD party, a coalition partner of Merkel's Christian Democrats.

Opposition parties have called for caution in future cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies.

"All cooperation of the German security authorities with friendly services needs to be reviewed," Green Party leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt told Spiegel Online.

The German government is demanding that the US replace its employees at the Joint Intelligence Staff based in the US Embassy in Berlin, Bild reports.

While most of the criticism is focused on the US, some believe it's the German leadership's inability to react properly to the NSA tapping leaks that's led to the yet another spying scandal. Merkel's opponents have repeatedly blamed her for too mild a response to the NSA global surveillance revelations.

"That's a result of Merkel's transatlantic hypocrisy," co-chair of the Left Party Katja Kipping said, Der Tagesspiegel reported.

Comment: As Sott.net editors made clear on last night's Sott Talk Radio show, there is growing evidence that the USA's days as the dominant world power are numbered, and indeed, that the 'Number 1' position that the USA has enjoyed for the last 100 years has been an aberration, an anomaly that has caused untold suffering on the planet and only came about through manipulation, threats, dirty tactics and aggression.

The reality of the situation is that the majority of the world's resources are found in Eurasia, and that the nations of the Eurasian landmass have been kept artificially divided and 'down' by the machinations of the US elite and their ideological kin in Western Europe. With the resurgence of Eurasian nations, primarily Russia and China, and the increasing exposure of the US economy being backed mainly by military force rather than tangible assets, the old status quo is being seen as no longer tenable, and the USA is increasingly being exposed as a failing and desperate Empire that is acting in increasingly erratic and irrational ways as it sees the writing on the wall.