You know things are not going your way when a long-time ally and peer in the world's power structure 'shuns' you. On the heels of the exposure of a 2nd "spy case" [7], Germany has had enough...
- *GERMANY EXPELS U.S. DIPLOMAT OVER ESPIONAGE AFFAIR
- *GERMAN GOVT TAKING ISSUE 'VERY SERIOUSLY,' CHANCELLERY SAYS
- *EXPULSION LINKED TO INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED U.S. SPYING
It appears the US surveillance efforts was crossing Merkel's red line and the 'diplomat' appears to the CIA station chief. Of course, we are sure President Obama knew nothing about this spying...
As Bloomberg reports,
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government asks representative of U.S. security services at embassy in Berlin to leave Germany.
• Expulsion tied to investigations into U.S. espionage activity in Germany, Federal Chancellery says in e-mailed statement.
• “The government takes these activities very seriously,” Germany’s Federal Chancellery says in e-mailed statement.
• Trustful cooperation with U.S. “indispensable” to Germany, though must be reciprocated
As DPA adds,
The chief US Central Intelligence Agency officer in Germany is to be expelled in a sign of Berlin's anger at two cases of possible US espionage uncovered in the past week, a senior German legislator said Thursday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel declined to confirm the impending move, which would be an act of diplomatic hostility unprecedented in the seven decades the two nations have been the closest of allies.
"I am not going to speculate," she told reporters. "When we have a sufficient factual basis ... we will decide what can be done. I can't offer more precise information than that." The intention to ask the head of the CIA's Germany station to leave was disclosed by Clemens Binninger, chief of the German parliament's intelligence committee, after his group received a confidential briefing from intelligence officials in Berlin.
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Making friends and influencing people wherever we go...
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As we noted above Merkel has been oddly quiet...
Curiously, while Merkel had much to say about the historic Germany
trouncing of Brazil in the world cup, she had no comment on either of
the spy cases. One wonders just how much dirt on the German chancellor
the NSA has. Here's a hint: "New Biography Causes Stir: How Close Was Merkel to the Communist System?" [8] Then again, considering the public fury over US spying, maybe the recent two "unmolings"
are an indication that just as the US prepares to punish Commerzbank
and Deutsche Bank, Germany will no longer stand idly by and allow its
"closest ally" to dictate its fate much longer.
[9]
