I think it’s a sneaky thing, to spy on one’s allies, especially when you already have the information you are looking for. It’s a sure way to turn off friends to the extent that they start to look for alternative alignments. What makes the whole sordid episode even more ridiculous is that, according to the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, President Obama apparently didn’t know that the US was listening in to the conversations of allied leaders! The NSA chief had apparently spread his net to include Brazil, France, Spain and Mexico. The Guardian newspaper, quoting a confidential memo allegedly obtained from the NSA, suggested that the US had monitored the phones of 35 world leaders! When quizzed by the house intelligence committee, General Alexander, in his defence, maintained that the reports on which most of the accusations were founded were based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which were false. The Spaniards were so miffed, their foreign office summoned James Costos, the US ambassador in Spain. Costos acknowledged the worries and anxiety of the Spanish people about the surveillance programmes. Then, as if he was standing at the foot of some vertiginous summit that disappears into the clouds, he indulged in the kind of language for which diplomats are famous: “Ultimately, the US needs to balance the important role that these programmes play in protecting our national security and protecting the security of our allies with legitimate privacy concerns.” By now you must have gotten the drift.
Every country has a right to defend itself, or so the saying goes. It’s just that they have different ways of doing it. The US spy chiefs have stated that spying on allies is necessary and the collection of millions of phone records was conducted with the help of European governments. James Clapper, the US national intelligence director, didn’t mince his words when he said “spying on allies was a hardy perennial and a basic tenet of intelligence work”. Several US politicians have lined up to condemn the NSA’s reach and have asked for a thorough review of the programmes that have been set in place. Back in the land of the pure, where nobody gets shocked by anything anymore, the spying scandals haven’t caused the slightest stir. One of my German friends wanted to know what they expected to find on Merkel’s phone. “What worries me in that they might have found the new recipe for Apfelstrudel (an apple pastry) prepared by her Tante Anna (aunt).” I said, “That would be terrible.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2013.
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@khan of quetta: And what about the mobile phones which enables even a private citizen to listen and see the movements of the individual even when the phone is not in use?
Rex Minor
stop using ms office use libre or kingsoft stop using chrome,ie,use fire fox or opera(ot sure about it), use twitter instead of facebook,use yandex instead of gmai,aol,my opera,yahoo,hotmail ,use mozilla thunder bird instead of outlook, use linux (Zorin because it resembles windows) instead windows and never ever connect without tor you got youre self a hard to crack system partner
If the first-world countries can be spied upon by the U.S. once need not be a genius to surmise how its going to be in our countries, where anybody can be bought out cheaply...
The author has choosen a very serious subject which is currently causing anger and frustration among the European allies of the USA as well as Brazil and Mexico.
National Security Agency or NSA in short of the USA is reported to have currently a million odd employees including computer Hackers, the whistle blower Edward Snowdon now in Russia has exposed the illegal cyber acivities of the USA against the USA as well as the European citizens. NSA efacto now contrls the activities oof the Free world digital communication net work including E mails and phone calls. It is frightening, a total control of the people and their democratical elected leaders. America will receive the response and pronto; the European parliament representtives are now in Washington; discussions on the Free Trade Agreement are being suspended until the Trust with the USA has been restored.
Rex Minor