41–50 of 91 posts
As a German I don't see this as an issue. Some German politicians have deep connections to enemy states, so why wouldn't the NSA spy on them? It's in our best interest even, because those politicans are a danger to Europe and Germany itself. You can also see the problem with Germany and France not behaving as allies of the USA in the war against Russia.
* given the recent news, I do not really consider the USA as an ally. (I'm french)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Didn't the 4+2 treaties restore full sovereignty?
On paper. But the 2+4 treaty is mostly Soviets leave, NATO stays and expands.
Please don’t spread this bullshit. There is (mostly) mutually beneficial strong cooperation with a power-differential. That’s all. Stop spinning your dumb conspiracy theories.
As a German I don't see this as an issue. Some German politicians have deep connections to enemy states, so why wouldn't the NSA spy on them? It's in our best interest even, because those politicans are a danger to Europe and Germany itself. You can also see the problem with Germany and France not behaving as allies of the USA in the war against Russia.
* we are not at war against Russia * given the recent news, I do not really consider the USA as an ally. (I'm french)
As a German I don't see this as an issue. Some German politicians have deep connections to enemy states, so why wouldn't the NSA spy on them? It's in our best interest even, because those politicans are a danger to Europe and Germany itself. You can also see the problem with Germany and France not behaving as allies of the USA in the war against Russia.
I'm intrigued, tell us more about the war against Russia. Which German politicians have deep connections with enemy states, and what are those states?
Merkel doesn't care that much and she --even though I hate to say it-- is right that we shouldn't. This spying case isn't a big deal. It doesn't hurt Germany. Also the spying on her phone last year. She didn't really care all that much. After all, USA is the biggest partner of the EU/Germany. Germany can't afford a dent in the relationship with the US. It's the US who's providing security to most of the western world…
After all, USA is the biggest partner of the EU/Germany. Germany can't afford a dent in the relationship with the US. The problem with "They're assholes but we'll let them do what they like because we need them" is America isn't the only country Germany needs. Germany also imports a lot of oil and natural gas from Russia, for example. And lots of electronics and manufactured goods from China.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
* we are not at war against Russia * given the recent news, I do not really consider the USA as an ally. (I'm french)
We are back to cold war levels, even further than that. And it's a mistake, the USA guarantees our security right now, since the EU states reduced their military to a point that they are unable to deal with an aggressor. Nor is there the political will to deal with it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
* we are not at war against Russia * given the recent news, I do not really consider the USA as an ally. (I'm french)
We are back to cold war levels, even further than that. And it's a mistake, the USA guarantees our security right now, since the EU states reduced their military to a point that they are unable to deal with an aggressor. Nor is there the political will to deal with it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
On paper. But the 2+4 treaty is mostly Soviets leave, NATO stays and expands.
So what you are actually saying is, yes, Germany has full sovereignty. Please don’t spread this bullshit. There is (mostly) mutually beneficial strong cooperation with a power-differential. That’s all. Stop spinning your dumb conspiracy theories.
Merkel doesn't care that much and she --even though I hate to say it-- is right that we shouldn't. This spying case isn't a big deal. It doesn't hurt Germany. Also the spying on her phone last year. She didn't really care all that much. After all, USA is the biggest partner of the EU/Germany. Germany can't afford a dent in the relationship with the US. It's the US who's providing security to most of the western world…
"After all, it's the US who's providing security to most of the western world." If I do what the bully tells me to do, he leaves me alone and attacks other people. That's not security, that's abuse.
Most of the western world and the US have extremely aligned interests when it comes to security. And most of it revolves around making sure that trade routes stay open, and also making sure that instability doesn't end up messing with trade.
As a German, I find the German reaction really pathetic. No, don't ask somebody for assistance who has just proven (again) that you can't trust him on that level. Do your own investigations, and find out who was involved. If any of the involved people were US diplomats, expel them from the country (and escalate to the UN? dunno if that's done). If not, go the normal route through the justice system. On a political le…
The reason they don't do it, in spite of nearly everyone [1] distrusting the US gov't, makes me wonder what kind of leverage the US secret services have. It also lends some credence to the "Germany was never really souvereign" theory. [1] Just check the comment sections in the major German newspapers.
Considering the comments I see on websites like the Guardian, I don't know why I'd trust the comments section on any German newspaper.
Maybe the Germans like that the US is footing the bill for most of the intelligence gathering in the world.