The Snowden NSA spying story is getting bigger by the minute and threatens the relationship of the US with our European allies. As diaried yesterday, there was a bombshell yesterday that came out in Der Spiegel, that the NSA spied on and cyberattacked European Union institution offices.
There is an official German reaction today by Germany's justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. The reaction is very strong:
Germany Compares Reported US Bugging to 'Cold War'
From the link above:
A top German official accused the United States on Sunday of using "Cold War" methods against its allies, after a German magazine cited secret intelligence documents to claim that U.S. spies bugged European Union offices.
Here is what the German minister said:
"If the media reports are accurate, then this recalls the methods used by enemies during the Cold War"
"It is beyond comprehension that our friends in the United States see Europeans as enemies"
This is huge and threatens the US-Germany and US-European Union relationships altogether. It is hard to predict how this will evolve, but the whole things seems to be much bigger than it appeared originally.
UPDATE 1: Not Just Germany, but the whole EU
It is clear that this has gone beyond just Germany at this time. There are several links posted below by posters to this diary. This is huge and getting bigger by the minute.
UPDATE 2: The President of the European Parliament reacts
The president of the European Parliament said he was "deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices" made in a report published Sunday by German news weekly Der Spiegel.
Also:
Green Party leaders in the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, called for an immediate investigation into reports published by Der Spiegel and suggested that further negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty be put on hold.
UPDATE 3:
The French government has also reacted.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that if confirmed, the activities would be "totally unacceptable".
UPDATE 4:
French and German fury over claims US bugged EU offices