The latest Guardian news item on the Snowden revelations says that that Spain has also been subjected to massive NSA surveillance. The story was in initially broken by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
It looks like the Snowden documents are being released to those outlets and at those times where they will have the greatest impact. This one was on the eve of a European delegation being sent to the US about this issue. Spain had earlier rejected joint action with France and Germany but the latest revelation seems to have changed its mind.
The news comes as a parliamentary delegation from the EU prepares to visit Washington to discuss the scale of US spying on its allies. The EU’s civil liberties committee will meet members of Congress to express their concerns over the impact on EU citizens’ fundamental right to privacy.
Last week Spain rejected a move by Germany, which wants the EU’s 28 member states to sign a “no-spy deal” along the lines of an agreement wanted by Berlin and Paris.
“We’ll see once we have more information if we decide to join with what France and Germany have done,” Rajoy said at a press conference in Brussels on Friday.
The US ambassador has also been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain US actions. I am guessing that US ambassadors around the world are spending a lot of time in their host countries’ foreign ministries.
I would not be surprised if, in a day or two, we will learn that the Spanish leader’s private phone was also tapped.
I bet the US ambassador was not expecting that…
I don’t know why this action surprises me. I guess I expect all the countries to equally outraged by the fact that the US is spying on its allies, period. I guess it’s less of a moral position for them (the political leaders) than a political decision.
That’s almost as sad as the revalations about spying in general. 🙁
Good one!
By way of contrast, the most recent Private Eye includes a cartoon picturing James Bond and a Bond villain, the former looking downcast, and the latter saying: “Ah, Mr. Bond, I’ve been expecting you”, and holding a copy of The Guardian with the headline “Leaked Intellligence Data”.
The fecal solids will really hit the air conditioning equipment if it turns out the NSA has been monitoring the communications of really important people, such as major corporate CEOs!
I can only assume that they’ve known full well that it’s happening for years now; the only thing that’s changed is that their electorates now know about it too. It’s easy to swallow indignities when nobody but you and the bully knows about it, but much harder when it’s in full view of everyone.
In other words, they’re being shamed into being moral. Well, if that’s what it takes. As Mencken said, the only good government is a bad government in a hell of a fright.