NSA Spying Allegations: Are US Allies Really Shocked?
If the US National Security Agency really has been listening in to Angela Merkel’s cell phone, as the Germans believe, then, courtesy of the fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, the Americans have broken a cardinal rule in the espionage play-book.
Put simply, they have been caught. There have over recent days been a flurry of reports indicating the reach of US surveillance activities - to France, Germany and Italy. European governments friendly to the United States are somewhat upset and the Obama Administration is somewhat embarrassed.
I say “somewhat” because, as much of the commentary in the wake of these disclosures has indicated, there is a kind of shadow game going on here.
It is a bit like that moment in the classic film “Casablanca” when the police chief expresses his shock that gambling is going on in an establishment he well knows is a casino, only moments before being handed his own winnings by a clerk.
Almost all governments conduct surveillance or espionage operations against other countries whose activities matter to them.
Some are friends; some are enemies; some may just be in interesting locations or have ties to other countries that are of interest.