Germany nixes surveillance pact with US, Britain

Germany nixes surveillance pact with US, Britain

www.newsdaily.com

BERLIN (AP) — The German government has canceled a Cold War-era surveillance pact with the United States and Britain following concerns about their alleged electronic eavesdropping in Germany.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday that ending the agreement was "a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy."

(visit the link for the full news article)

hoo boy, things are heating up. Russia and Cuba and Snowden;
new Iranian president saying Israel MUST go,
Muslim Brotherhood upset at Kerry,

I'm really worried now.

What do they mean it's just 'symbolic', though?

A government official says the move is largely symbolic and has no practical consequences for intelligence cooperation.

Does that mean they'll still go along with it, and it's just a rhetorical gesture?

Worse still, what if they DID really stop cooperating? This the day after an article on alternet stating "Planet Earth is a U.S. Military Base."

Is it just me, or does everything seem to be unraveling suddenly? What are your thoughts?? Will the USA lose all their allies? Wowz.

I couldn't find the headline anywhere but Reuters, so, no additional news links, sorry. But the embassies closing in the Middle-East is all over the news - and it's not looking good at all.

www.newsdaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue of alleged National Security Agency spying with President Barack Obama when he visited Berlin in June.

I wonder if that was before Snowden's revelations, or after? I'll go check it out....

Originally posted by wildtimes

Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue of alleged National Security Agency spying with President Barack Obama when he visited Berlin in June.

I wonder if that was before Snowden's revelations, or after? I'll go check it out....

I think before - He leaked the information, primarily to Glenn Greenwald of London's The Guardian, in spring 2013 while employed as an "infrastructure analyst" at NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.

The Guardian in turn published a series of exposés in June–July 2013 and revealed programs such as the interception of US and European telephone metadata and the PRISM, XKeyscore, and Tempora Internet surveillance programs. Snowden's disclosures are said to rank among the most significant NSA security breaches in United States history.

Does anyone here still believe that ES hasn't changed the political/intelligence structure of the entire world?
Even to the point that the leader of the free world, V Putin was able to 'bitchslap' the American strong-arm president.

reply to post by YodHeVauHe


Thanks for that - I hadn't found it yet (got distracted by other news). WELCOME to ATS! Your first post!

Look forward to future correspondence with you, YodHeVauHe (wow, that's quite a handle - significance?)

So, it looks then, like Merkel is ticked off that she was as unaware as everyone else. I think it's HUGE what he did - things are in high gear now for even more conflicts, and that's not good.

The revelations of widespread NSA snooping into phone records and the Internet have raised concerns in privacy-conscious Europe, especially since the Obama administration said the surveillance on the Web has targeted only data from overseas.
Mr. Obama tried to reassure his German hosts that the U.S. hasn’t invaded their privacy.
“This is not a situation in which we are rifling through the ordinary emails of German citizens, or American citizens, or French citizens or anybody else,” Mr. Obama said.

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...
Hmmm....this article from 19 June seems to be referring to AFTER Snowden's leaked info. In Germany, Merkel has blunt words for Obama on right to privacy

I'm kind of skeptical about this one. Angela Merkel has already been caught lying about what she knew about the US governments PRISM program and the German governments involvement(Inbed). It's more likely that this was just put out there to give the appearance that the German government is doing something and that they haven't really scrapped any agreements. The question remains, if you had the means (through PRISM) to get all this information or could easily get information on anyone or anything in the world would you give that up???

reply to post by wildtimes


There is no practical consequence at this time, and Germans will go along with secret cooperation.

However Germans may also build alternate systems and safeguards in secret.

So this is a cat and mouse game.

German government cannot disregard public opinion which is against blanket surveillance.

It's the rise of the Fourth Reich!

Ha, just kidding. The United States already did that.

Stealth advertising for Jim Marrs accomplished.

reply to post by DivisiveConformity


Star for participation, but, could you please explain (or provide sources) for Jim Marrs? Never heard of him.
???

reply to post by wildtimes


It was just an incredibly lame joke. I was joking that this action by the Germans would spark the rise of their "Fourth Reich", but I instead tied that into a book by author Jim Marrs called "The Rise of the Fourth Reich", in which he basically outlines the exportation of fascism to the United States following World War II.

Originally posted by wildtimes
hoo boy, things are heating up.

just another wave of media-entertainment-hype while the world pretty much stays the same that its been for thousands of years.

Russia and Cuba and Snowden;

Snowden did the right thing exposing Big Brother. Russia being the spymasters are being hypocrites.

new Iranian president saying Israel MUST go,

Just the usual anti-semitic steam.

Muslim Brotherhood upset at Kerry,

The guy couldnt even beat unpopular George Bush, how on earth is he supposed to deal with the Mideast?
What a joke.

I'm really worried now.

Turn off the news and spend wonderful times with your loved ones.

What do they mean it's just 'symbolic', though?

A government official says the move is largely symbolic and has no practical consequences for intelligence cooperation.

Does that mean they'll still go along with it, and it's just a rhetorical gesture?

Exactly. Germany has been greatly benefiting from the NSA and will continue to do so.

Is it just me, or does everything seem to be unraveling suddenly? What are your thoughts?? Will the USA lose all their allies? Wowz.

Been reading ATS since 2005 and every day there is someone saying "things are suddenly unraveling".

I couldn't find the headline anywhere but Reuters, so, no additional news links, sorry. But the embassies closing in the Middle-East is all over the news - and it's not looking good at all.

Meh. Just Al-Qaeda making a fuss.