I Spy, You Spy, We All Spy?
Among the documents that Edward Snowden released are reports showing that the NSA had been picking up email and phone conversations by and among foreign leaders. Among the alleged targets were officials from the EU, individual EU member countries, Brazil, and Mexico. While each subject of this reported surveillance has expressed outrage, perhaps no state has been more agitated than Germany. Revelations about NSA activity directed at the EU have posed significant problems for the German government, given East Germany’s history of widespread surveillance of its own citizens by the Stasi. Chancellor Angela Merkel is under political pressure as she runs for re-election, and opposition parties have threatened to delay US-EU trade talks unless and until they obtain greater clarity about these NSA allegations.