Have the American intelligence services lost all sense of proportion? Have they forgotten the difference between allies and adversaries? For Poland’s Polityka, columnist Marek Ostrowski suggests that in the United States, technology has superseded policy, making America appear unconcerned about democracy and the rule of law.
For Polityka, Marek Ostrowski starts off this way:
The weekly magazine Der Spiegel says that the cell phone of the German chancellor was tapped, similar to earlier charges made by French diplomats. A statement by Angela Merkel’s office is full of indignation: how can one eavesdrop on the chief executive of a friendly government?
It is hard not to consider this a naive approach to espionage, which is as old as the world. But something else is surprising: the enormous scale of operations in Europe – among the allies. It seems that the U.S. intelligence services have lost the sense of proportion between the scale of the operation and the threats to security. There is also serious doubt as to whether U.S. operations have any legitimate basis in law, and they certainly confer no glory on the United States, which in its political rhetoric, emphasizes the values of democracy and rule of law as its own.
Concern also follows from comments by Jean-Jacques Urovas, chairman of the French National Assembly Committee on Laws and author of a report on the legal framework for activities of the French special services. The United States, says the lawmaker, “has no allies, only targets or vassals.” It doesn’t treat its partners as equals.
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