During the Cold War, the USA or the Soviet Union would periodically eject some diplomat or suspected spy who worked in the embassy of the other nation. It was the sort of tit for tat system that required each side to eject someone if something untoward was discovered. The USA discovered a Soviet spy ring run out of the embassy and we asked all the diplomats involved to leave the country. The Russians responded by throwing out a similar number of diplomats. It was a messy situation, but it was a lot better than an exchange of nuclear weapons. The ousting of the diplomats was a belligerent step that caused no death or injuries.
With the end of the Cold War, one would have thought that this sort of ousting of diplomats engaged in spying was over. That thought would have been wrong, however. Just this afternoon, the German government demanded that the chief CIA officer in Berlin leave the country immediately. This was in retaliation for both the spying by the NSA/CIA on German government figures like chancellor Merkel and the just discovered continuing spying by the CIA on the Germans. This is an unprecedented act taken by a country we consider our close ally. Remember, Germany is the strongest country in Europe and the anchor of American policy on that continent. Since the end of World War II, the USA and Germany have been extremely close. We have tens of thousands of troops still in Germany with bases that are used every day in the fight against terrorism. It would greatly damage the position of the USA were we to lose the close relationship with the Germans.
So how can the Obama administration be so stupid as to have the CIA blatantly spying on the Germans. Just imagine the reaction of the American people if it came out that there were German spies across the USA engaged in espionage. How could the administration allow this to go on?
No doubt, there will soon be talking points released in Washington which somehow blame George Bush for all this mess. Don't allow yourself to be misled. The one thing that we know is true is that the CIA/NSA was listening to Angela Merkel's phone calls. We were bugging the German head of state's private calls and that became public months ago. At that point, any rational American president would have demanded a detailed accounting of all NSA/CIA operations in Germany and he would have issued a directive to stop the spying on the Germans.
Obama did none of this. Was he playing golf? Maybe he was on vacation. Most likely no one told him about the spying on Merkel-- yeah, that's the ticket.
Lately, as each day passes, I think that things cannot get worse around the world. Then they do. It would be nice to have a president who was trying to reverse this negative tide of events. Unfortunately, just because it would be nice does not mean that it is true. We got nothing. Okay, we got Obama, but that's the same as nothing. No, it's actually worse than nothing.
With the end of the Cold War, one would have thought that this sort of ousting of diplomats engaged in spying was over. That thought would have been wrong, however. Just this afternoon, the German government demanded that the chief CIA officer in Berlin leave the country immediately. This was in retaliation for both the spying by the NSA/CIA on German government figures like chancellor Merkel and the just discovered continuing spying by the CIA on the Germans. This is an unprecedented act taken by a country we consider our close ally. Remember, Germany is the strongest country in Europe and the anchor of American policy on that continent. Since the end of World War II, the USA and Germany have been extremely close. We have tens of thousands of troops still in Germany with bases that are used every day in the fight against terrorism. It would greatly damage the position of the USA were we to lose the close relationship with the Germans.
So how can the Obama administration be so stupid as to have the CIA blatantly spying on the Germans. Just imagine the reaction of the American people if it came out that there were German spies across the USA engaged in espionage. How could the administration allow this to go on?
No doubt, there will soon be talking points released in Washington which somehow blame George Bush for all this mess. Don't allow yourself to be misled. The one thing that we know is true is that the CIA/NSA was listening to Angela Merkel's phone calls. We were bugging the German head of state's private calls and that became public months ago. At that point, any rational American president would have demanded a detailed accounting of all NSA/CIA operations in Germany and he would have issued a directive to stop the spying on the Germans.
Obama did none of this. Was he playing golf? Maybe he was on vacation. Most likely no one told him about the spying on Merkel-- yeah, that's the ticket.
Lately, as each day passes, I think that things cannot get worse around the world. Then they do. It would be nice to have a president who was trying to reverse this negative tide of events. Unfortunately, just because it would be nice does not mean that it is true. We got nothing. Okay, we got Obama, but that's the same as nothing. No, it's actually worse than nothing.
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