Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Jochen. If I were Frau Merkel, I'd be damned mad myself. As today's NY Times put it, the National Security Agency "emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks; the agency's official mission list includes using its surveillance to achieve "diplomatic advantage" over such allies as France and Germany and "economic advantage" over Japan and Brazil, among other countries."
So the atmosphere is changing in the U.S. too. I quoted from a front page article, not an editorial. Pamela On Nov 1, 2013, at 5:54 PM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good question, Pamela. I don't know. Yes, there is a chance. > At the moment probably not, the pressure from the US is too > strong, but the situation is about to change slowly. > > The German government already denied asylum to Snowden > a few months ago. Now the situation has changed, though. > The Chancellor has been reelected and a new government is > about to be formed. If the Green party would rule, I think > asylum would be granted immediately. The Green party is like > the political arm of Greenpeace, it is strongly against any > kind of war, environmental pollution or nuclear energy. They > support nonviolence, social justice, sustainable development > and renewable energy. And by the way it is my favorite party. > Unfortunately they are probably not part of the government > this time, although they got 8.4% of the votes in the federal > election. Hans-Christian Ströbele who visited Edward Snowden > is a leading member of this party, and he also is the longest > serving member of the Parliamentary Control Panel, the > part of Germany's parliament which supervises the intelligence > agencies. > > The ruling conservative party is tradtionally in favor of strong > trans-atlantic relationships, but the recent revelations > have changed a lot. Until now, the German government seems > to have thought they could trust the American government, > at least to a certain degree. That trust is largely gone. > When she learned that US intelligence agencies tapped and > monitored her cell phone for years and decades, chancellor > Angela Merkel was really upset and angry. She uses her > phone quite frequently, and she is still deeply > disappointed and frustrated. > > As a first step, I have heard she is currently preparing > a UN resolution together with Brazilian president Dilma > Rousseff against spying and snooping on the Internet. > But I believe the anger and frustration is still not > strong enough to act against the interests of the US, > which has issued a warrant for Snowden's arrest. > > I wonder what will happen if it goes on like this. Will > the European governments finally change their mind about > the US? Or will something change in the US? I am currently > reading "The last train from Berlin" from Howard K. Smith, > where he describes life in Germany at the time of WWII. > He says the Third Reich was like a rotten apple with a > thick, shiny skin. The skin that's the army, the > military, and the secret state police. The core that's the > society, the infrastructure, the cities and the economy. > America under the Bush administration started to look > like this, a rotten apple which looks shiny on the outside, > but bad within. Impressive aircraft carriers in the Persian > Gulf, but rotten cities like Detroit at home. I wonder if > Obama can really change anything/something for the > better. I think he can. > > Jochen > > > On 11/01/2013 03:13 PM, Pamela McCorduck wrote: >> Any chance Germany will give Snowden asylum, Jochen? >> >> >> On Nov 1, 2013, at 9:04 AM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> A high ranking German politician has spoken with Edward Snowden in Moscow. >>> Here is the letter he brought back: >>> http://www.spiegel.de/media/media-32616.pdf >>> >>> -J. >>> >>> Sent from Android >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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