Above: The UN Security Council
Now that the extent of US spying on foreign leaders, including US allies, is known it is creating major blowback against the United States. No doubt anger at the United States for its aggressive leadership of the largest empire in world history which has military, economic and political implications has been building up for a long time. Countries have been pulled into wars based on lies, forced to participate in torture and rendition, drawn into negotiations on trade agreements that undermine their national policies in favor of profits for US transnational corporations among many examples of abuse of power. The spying on foreign leaders is an issue in its own right, but in fact the issues are much broader.
Regarding the spying, Reuters reports:
A delegation of lawmakers from the European Union will travel to Washington on Monday to seek a response to allegations of widespread spying by the United States against EU citizens and governments, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The three-day visit by members of the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee follows reports this week that the U.S. National Security Agency accessed tens of thousands of French phone records and monitored Merkel’s mobile phone.
The revelations have drawn condemnation from EU leaders meeting in Brussels, with Merkel demanding that the United States sign up to a “no-spying” agreement with Germany and France by the end of the year, in line with similar deals with Britain and others.
The nine-member delegation will meet senior U.S. government and intelligence officials and explore “possible legal remedies for EU citizens” resulting from the alleged surveillance, although it is not clear what such remedies might entail.
The European Parliament has already opened an inquiry into the impact on Europe from leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and has led a push for tougher data protection rules and the suspension of a major transatlantic data-sharing deal.
There have been reports of spying in Brazil, France, Germany and other countries, but this week the Guardian reported that the NSA monitored the calls of 35 world leaders. According to the Guardian, this is routine: “The NSA memo obtained by the Guardian suggests that such surveillance was not isolated, as the agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world leaders – and even asks for the assistance of other US officials to do so.”
The Guardian described how another agency had provided NSA with the numbers of foreign officials. Documents released by Wikileaks from the Chelsea Manning whistleblowing indicated that Hillary Clinton had ordered US State Department foreign service officers to spy on diplomats, so it is evident that there is coordination between US intelligence agencies, the State Department, military and other agencies.
According to the Guardian:
The confidential memo reveals that the NSA encourages senior officials in its ‘customer’ departments, such as the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their ‘Rolodexes’ so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems.
The document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately ‘tasked’ for monitoring by the NSA.
The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.
Earlier this week the Associated Press reported that Germany summoned the US Ambassador to explain the spying and reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying the US actions had destroyed trust “We need trust among allies and partners. Such trust now has to be built anew. This is what we have to think about.” She said alliances even between allies “can only be built on trust.” France also demanded an explanation of a report the US swept up tens of millions of French phone records, and also summoned the American ambassador.
The Guardian reported that President Obama is making phone calls to world leaders to minimize the damage from the US spying, writing: “Earlier in the week, Obama called the French president François Hollande in response to reports in Le Monde that the NSA accessed more than 70m phone records of French citizens in a single 30-day period, while earlier reports in Der Spiegel uncovered NSA activity against the offices and communications of senior officials of the European Union.”
Foreign Policy reports that the issue is being brought to the United States:
“Brazil and Germany today joined forces to press for the adoption of a U.N. General Resolution that promotes the right of privacy on the internet, marking the first major international effort to restrain the National Security Agency’s intrusions into the online communications of foreigners, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the push.
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“Brazilian and German diplomats met in New York today with a small group of Latin American and European governments to consider a draft resolution that calls for expanding privacy rights contained in the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights to the online world. The draft does not refer to a flurry of American spying revelations that have caused a political uproar around the world, particularly in Brazil and Germany. But it was clear that the revelation provided the political momentum to trigger today’s move to the United Nations. The blowback from the NSA leakscontinues to agonize U.S. diplomats and military officials concerned about America’s image abroad.”
Foreign Policy points out that the spying violates international law, writing: “The International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights was written in 1966 and came into force in 1976, decades before the internet transformed the way people communicate around the world. A provision in the international covenant, Article 17, says ‘no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation.’ It also states that ‘everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.'”
On The Real News, Michael Ratner points out that this spying is not only about terrorism but “about business and politics. This is about the U.S. getting advantages and finding out ways in which it can get advantages in business and in which it can understand what the political situations are in other countries so that it can make moves in the way it wants. In other words, it’s about continuation, in a way, of empire, business advantage, and politics.” He points out that the US intercepted 70 million phone calls in France in one month, about that Le Monde wrote, “it’s not about terrorism, but about people who work with businesses or politics.” In Brazil the US was spying on “the state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.” In Italy Ratner says: “U.S., and British intelligence services have monitored Italian telecoms.” So, this is not all about terrorism, it is about the United States seeking business advantages for its transnational corporations.
US officials tend to blame these international reactions on the leaks on Edward Snowden, just as they blamed Manning for the impact of his whistleblowing on the military and State Department, but the reality is that blame lies with US policy. US foreign policy makers see the United States as “exceptional” and as the only superpower in the world and therefore with the power to take the actions of an all-powerful Empire. But, in fact there are international norms and international laws that the United States has been routinely violating. US leaders who mock the UN, the Geneva Accords, Covenant Against Torture and other international documents, or who think international law is irrelevant need to rethink their approach to dealing with the people of the world. The US Empire needs to be ended and the era of colonizers and empires must come to an end.