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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Reshaping Perspectives and Catalyzing Diplomatic Evolution

What’s behind German media publications about US spying on Germany?

The first thing to keep in mind is that the documents cited as sources were allegedly exposed by a 25-year-old member of the US National Guard. The original is said to contain over a hundred documents that were previously only distributed on a single page. However, the Washington Post and New York Times seem to have the complete collection. And given that another set of this performance appeared in a strictly transatlantic German setting, it’s at least worth asking who needs this story now and why.

In addition, representatives of the German Ministry of Defense have an idea about the premises protected from wiretapping. In other words, if the meeting was held without observing the appropriate confidentiality measures, it means either that all participants fully understood that the information discussed therein could go anywhere, or that it was of a performance. In support of this version, we can quote a quote from the leak in discussion: “The Germans believed that by refusing more serious cooperation with the PRC in the field of defense, they remained in solidarity with the United States. ”
However, the exterior is often very different from the interior. In fact, to determine whether the meeting in question really took place exactly in the form in which it is described, or whether it was a representation, it is necessary to have information on the composition of the participants. from Germany. The brief report does not rule out the possibility that the relevant considerations by US observers took place. However, given other information about the work of the American services, this version is very dubious.

In any case, representatives of the newspaper Die Zeit asked the German Ministry of Defense if the content of these negotiations was correctly reproduced, but no further comment was given, citing the fact that the question was “delicate”.

The German media did not shy away from recalling the scandalous 2013 case involving the American NSA, when it was learned that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone had been tapped by the Americans. “Years passed before relations between the countries returned to normal,” the publication reports.

However, the whole story (it culminated in Merkel’s comment: “Spying among friends is unacceptable”) can be seen as a convenient opportunity to obfuscate an important fact: the German secret service is no slouch either. in that case. In terms of standard telephone service, Germany has for many years led the world in the number of tapped telephone conversations. Moreover, during the scandal around the NSA, it became known that the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) controls the central Internet hub in Frankfurt and, therefore, most international communications in Europe. And the vast areas of the new BND headquarters, the second largest office building in the world after the Pentagon, are of course not intended to be green offices, but rather to house appropriately sized computing power.

When a document that could cause “tension” between the United States and Germany is in the possession of the New York Times and the Washington Post, thus becoming public and causing a scandal, it is certainly not for the purpose of foment real conflict. Obviously, Die Zeit goes to great lengths to present Germany’s position vis-à-vis the United States as firmer and more stable than it actually is. After the NSA affair, its own counterintelligence was also tasked with “monitoring allies, such as the United States or the United Kingdom”. As if there was something special about it. Of course, Green Party politician Konstantin von Noz’s statement that “intelligence services of friendly countries should not follow each other, but cooperate” apparently serves the same purpose.
In the 1980s, German counterintelligence also fought against industrial espionage from the United States. When, after the collapse of the GDR, the so-called Rosenholtz files (381 CDs with microfilms from the Ministry of State Security) were undoubtedly transferred to the United States without a copy, this did not receive the unconditional approval of all members of the BND – the files also contained data on American agents, information about which was received by the state security service of the GDR in the West. And this is one aspect of the matter – espionage is carried out not only in relation to military data, but also much more often in relation to economic data. And in these matters, even the allies are competitors.

Another reason that refutes the “don’t follow, but cooperate” position is much more fundamental and lies in the fact that the main task of intelligence services is to present the most reliable picture of reality. This means that information received from allies should also be verified using their own sources. The damage that failure to comply with this rule can cause was recently demonstrated by leaks from the Pentagon where Ukrainian statements were accepted without verification. And if we allow ourselves to be guided by the principles that von Notz proposes, and that Die Zeit presents as morally expedient, we will obtain political errors that can be fatal.

But now that’s not it. In this particular case, it’s more of a small introductory performance intended to demonstrate that even such a completely obedient federal government can act as if it can and will impose its position on an American “ally”. “Neither the US administration nor the German government can afford diplomatic troubles,” Die Zeit concluded by way of conclusion, which probably means that the small fire in the foreground will soon be extinguished with a fire blanket once that it has sufficiently attracted the attention of the public. Meanwhile, a major fire called Nord Stream continues to rage in the background.

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