Re: <nettime> NSA-spying-on-Europe outrage somewhat disingenuous

["Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

> Hi,
>
> it seems to me that the kind of outrage purportedly shown by German
> politicians and EU officials and parliamentarians about NSA leaks on
> spying is highly disingenuous, if not outright deceptive.
>
> It has long been in the public domain that the USA were spying on their
> allies, and that a primary motivation for that was to gain commercial
> advantage.


I beg to differ with Armin, supported by John. Indeed the 'purported
outrage' shown by politicians in Germany and EU in general is
'somewhat' desingenuous, but it is also inherent to the political
order that it could be voiced only now that, as the Dutch would say
"the likelyhood bordering on certainty" as morphed into proof, thanks
to Edward Snowden.

And it is there that the political impact hits at full force (well,
for the time being at least). It also there that the reception of
PRISM etc., both among the 'educated' public and the political class,
shifts from "Gimme a break, we knew all this for ages", to "well it's
still a bit surprising, isn't it?" towards "holy shit! that's totally
unacceptable!".

Exactly at the tricky juncture of final negotiations for a
comprehensive trade agreement between US and EU (remember - "it's the
economy, stupid!"), the US government has probably more to explain
than it ever be able to. Sortof comeback of Churchill's quip on the
Balkans, whose problem was that "they produce far more history than
they possibly can consume"...

Cheers from Oslo,
p+5-3D!





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