14 DAY TRIAL // Guess who’s too big of a coward to prosecute the NSA over the extensive surveillance practiced within the country? If you guessed Germany, then you’re right and you get to jump on board the “disappointment boat” with the rest of us.
For months until now, the world has been wondering whether Germany will have the courage to go through with pressing charges against the United States, especially after conducting a very public investigation into the surveillance practices of the NSA, and particularly into the hacking of Angela Merkel’s phone.
It looks like diplomacy won over this time, even though the German politicians have been some of the most vocal in their disapproval of the NSA spying on Merkel and others, saying several times over that this is not something that is done among friends.
German media reports indicate that state officials don’t believe they have enough evidence to press charges. This is, of course, a weak excuse that indicates the country would rather protect its relationship with the United States than the millions of citizens the NSA spied on.
Media reports over the past year have revealed leaked NSA documents indicating that the intelligence agency has been collecting some 500 million data connections in Germany each month, including phone calls, emails and chat logs. In fact, In January last year, there was a peak day when the agency collected 60 million communication connections.
Considering that the entire country has 80 million citizens, the impact of the collection program is extensive.
Then, not much later on, it was revealed that the NSA was spying on state leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. The reaction was swift at the time, with Germany not fearing to point the finger at the United States.
The White House reportedly assured Merkel that she’d be taken off the spying list, but it wasn’t long after that that new reports indicated the NSA had chosen to spy on a close advisor to the Chancellor instead.
Discussions among German politicians in recent months have been laced with arguments about whether or not to bring Edward Snowden to the country to testify. Some believe that everything can be done via a letter or through a video conference, while others consider that Snowden would offer more valuable information if he were there in person.
Ever since this bickering started, it was obvious that lawmakers feared about how inviting Snowden over would impact Germany’s relationship with the United States.
Now, it’s obvious that Germany would rather pretend the leaked documents do not exist and choose to let the United States continue to run the show despite them being the victims in this entire affair.