Posted on 06/11/2013 5:00:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
German outrage over a U.S. Internet spying program has broken out ahead of a visit by Barack Obama, with ministers demanding the president provide a full explanation when he lands in Berlin next week and one official likening the tactics to those of the East German Stasi.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman has said she will raise the issue with Obama in talks next Wednesday, potentially casting a cloud over a visit that was designed to celebrate U.S.-German ties on the 50th anniversary John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech...
In a guest editorial for Spiegel Online on Tuesday, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said reports that the United States could access and track virtually all forms of Internet communication were "deeply disconcerting" and potentially dangerous...
Markus Ferber, a member of Merkel's Bavarian sister party who sits in the European Parliament, went further, accusing Washington of using "American-style Stasi methods".
"I thought this era had ended when the DDR fell," he said, using the German initials for the failed German Democratic Republic.
Opposition parties have jumped on the issue, keen to put a dampener on the Merkel-Obama talks and prevent them from boosting the chancellor as she gears up for a September parliamentary election in which she is seeking a third term.
"This looks to me like it could become one of the biggest data privacy scandals ever," Greens leader Renate Kuenast told Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Please view, The lives of Others, a foreign drama regarding the Stasi. Look for its new relaease in which obama plays the role of Snoop Dog!
Then, Germans warn us away from totalitarian police state wiretapping and eavesdropping.
The world has inverted, and Reagan would call *US* the Evil Empire these days.
Ich bin ein Buglistener
LOL, thanks for that.
We are now the enemy of freedom and democracy. What free people’s are left on earth?
But, but but, obama is a hero for protecting us and Snowden is a traitor! Well, some FReepers think so.
Bullsh*t. These were the people who massed in the street when their “savior” BHO visited. The Germans can go screw themselves and suck on their delusions.
“Gettin’ close.”
Close? The Stasi were pikers. In their wildest imagination, they never dreamed of having the ability to spy on it’s citizenry that the US government routinely uses.
The STASI used to sneak into peeps houses to move stuff around to mess with them. The US is better on the info tracking, not yet up to speed on the physical presence in the ‘hood.
But that’s basically juvenile hijinks. The Stasi never approaches our near total surveillance state. They were limited by the human element.
The actual ubiquitous man in the fake leather jacket is simply not needed. They have one standing in every household in America (figuratively speaking)
Can our intel community destroy an individuals life easily?
Do they claim the right to kill citizens without due process?
Do they use secret courts, to obtain warrants that cannot be revealed by the targets?
Do they claim a right to arrest and hold incommunicado any citizen they deem a threat to the state?
Is it widely known that they brazenly lie to the people?
Is it openly expected that they would murder the leaker if they could simply arrange it?
Are they 100% beyond the reach of any aggrieved citizen to hold them accountable?
All yes. We have a super Stasi now.
NSA
Stasi is right! Because the Germans know their history, unlike some, who immediately bring up some mythical Nazis.
Yeah but it looks like some of their politicians truly are the adults here. You, not so much.
Some of their politicians, LOL! They’re only complaining because they’re being bugged as well and it’s a vote getter for them. Politics comes before everything for politicians. The tools who swooned for Obama should have known better.
Yes but he’a actually going to be questioned for once by another nation...someone is DARING to question Mr. Hope and Change.
NAZI = COMMIE BUMP
So you agree and then question my adulthood? Sheesh...
Yes I did question your initial l’il tantrum.
It was an observation based on the two faced nature of many foreigners who complain about what we do while having governments who are often worse. If that’s a tantrum, so be it.
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