The diplomatic farce in the aftermath of the most recent revelations that Obama had tapped not only Hollande [7]'s but Merkel's cell phone [8]as well, continued when moments ago Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to explain if it was indeed true the NSA "may be spying" on Merkel, a ministry spokeswoman said. They used the word "may" loosely. John B. Emerson [9], the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Germany, will meet Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Thursday afternoon.
But while the latest diplomatic escalation will have zero impact whatsoever on either US spying intentions, mostly of US citizens let alone foreigners, or German-US relations, what is missing is that had this "scandal" happened four short months ago, the farce would have been truly complete as the summoned US Ambassador would be none other than former Goldman senior director and head of Goldman Germany, Philip Murphy [10], who alas stepped down in August. Had that been the case someone may have just put two and two together.
From the WSJ [11]:
The German government's position will be clearly presented to [Mr. Emerson]," the spokeswoman said. The U.S. Embassy referred questions back to the German Foreign Ministry.
Germany's Parliamentary Control Committee, which oversees the intelligence services, will meet for an impromptu session on the cellphone scandal at 1200 GMT, said the head of the committee, Thomas Oppermann.
Ms. Merkel spoke by phone with President Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss the claims that the U.S. monitored her communications. The chancellor made clear that surveillance among allies would be "fully unacceptable" and a "grave breach of trust," her spokesman said in a statement released late Wednesday in Berlin.
The White House said Mr. Obama assured Ms. Merkel in the call that the U.S. "is not monitoring and will not monitor" her communications. "The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
In other news, the German Parliament security committee meets today on merkel phone tap, German govt spokesman Seibert comments in text message. A text message which it goes without saying, was intercepted by the NSA.
And here is Angie herself showing just where the NSA's bug was planted:
[12]