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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrenemies: Spying on Allies Fits Obama's Standoffish Profile
Diplomats are not surprised that the security agencies under US President Barack Obama have reportedly been monitoring close allies like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He has failed to foster close relationships with other heads of state, causing much frustration around the world.
US President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit the Church of Our Lady cathedral in Dresden during a June 2009 whistle-stop visit to Germany. Diplomats from the German Foreign Ministry had painstakingly planned every last detail. They were looking forward to the photographs of Chancellor Angela Merkel with the US president in front of cheering crowds.
But the White House bristled. The president didn't want to do that -- that was the word in Washington. He reportedly placed little value on such photo ops, and he had to leave as quickly as possible, to get to an appearance at the Buchenwald concentration camp. The haggling went back and forth for weeks, and in the end the White House gave in, but only a little. Obama raced through Dresden. After their visit inside the church, Merkel had to shake hands with visitors by herself. The president had already disappeared.
On this day, at the latest, it must have dawned on diplomats that this US president was different from his predecessors. He was someone who did not attach value to diplomatic niceties nor to the sensitivities of his close friends, which he already had proven as a presidential candidate. At that time he put Chancellor Merkel in an awkward position by wanting to make a campaign speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate. This site was traditionally set aside for sitting presidents, which Obama also knew.
The Democrat, who prefers to spend his evenings with his family or alone in front of his computer, has made it no secret in Washington that he does not want to make new friends. That maxim especially applies to his foreign diplomacy. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama is loved by the people of the world, but much less by their heads of government. On the heels of recent revelations that US spy agencies might have monitored Chancellor Merkel's cell phone, the complaints about Merkel's "lost friend" Obama are misplaced. Obama doesn't want to be a friend.
US President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit the Church of Our Lady cathedral in Dresden during a June 2009 whistle-stop visit to Germany. Diplomats from the German Foreign Ministry had painstakingly planned every last detail. They were looking forward to the photographs of Chancellor Angela Merkel with the US president in front of cheering crowds.
But the White House bristled. The president didn't want to do that -- that was the word in Washington. He reportedly placed little value on such photo ops, and he had to leave as quickly as possible, to get to an appearance at the Buchenwald concentration camp. The haggling went back and forth for weeks, and in the end the White House gave in, but only a little. Obama raced through Dresden. After their visit inside the church, Merkel had to shake hands with visitors by herself. The president had already disappeared.
On this day, at the latest, it must have dawned on diplomats that this US president was different from his predecessors. He was someone who did not attach value to diplomatic niceties nor to the sensitivities of his close friends, which he already had proven as a presidential candidate. At that time he put Chancellor Merkel in an awkward position by wanting to make a campaign speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate. This site was traditionally set aside for sitting presidents, which Obama also knew.
The Democrat, who prefers to spend his evenings with his family or alone in front of his computer, has made it no secret in Washington that he does not want to make new friends. That maxim especially applies to his foreign diplomacy. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama is loved by the people of the world, but much less by their heads of government. On the heels of recent revelations that US spy agencies might have monitored Chancellor Merkel's cell phone, the complaints about Merkel's "lost friend" Obama are misplaced. Obama doesn't want to be a friend.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/merkel-cell-phone-affair-fits-obama-neglect-of-personal-diplomacy-a-929871.html
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Frenemies: Spying on Allies Fits Obama's Standoffish Profile (Original Post)
FarCenter
Oct 2013
OP
Obama has been told that he absolutely has to do these things otherwise
Warren Stupidity
Oct 2013
#1
The Bundesnachrichtendienst and the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik investigated
FarCenter
Oct 2013
#5
Do you think tapping the phones of the leaders of our closest ally nations is a good policy?
Warren Stupidity
Oct 2013
#13
Might as well drag out the FOX News psychologist to give us their take as well.
BluegrassStateBlues
Oct 2013
#3
Republican poll numbers plunging in the wake of the shutdown? Have no fear!!
Cali_Democrat
Oct 2013
#4
What a trashy, gossipy piece. We don't even know whether this eavesdropping
geek tragedy
Oct 2013
#6
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)1. Obama has been told that he absolutely has to do these things otherwise
men with boxcutters will blow up buildings.
So he does what he is told, for the most part. I think he is deliberately incurious about most of the machinations of the the Great Global Security State.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)2. What a bunch of idiot drivel
Report: U.S. Spied On 35 Foreign Leaders
The National Security Agency tracked "phone conversations" of 35 foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by the Guardian from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The NSA encouraged executive branch officials to share their contact lists with the spy agency so that it could monitor the phone calls of foreign leaders, according to a 2006 memo. The memo notes that one U.S. official gave the NSA contact information for 35 foreign leaders, but the it does not include any names.
This news follows a phone call between President Obama and Angela Merkel, in which Merkel complained to Obama about reports that the U.S. may have been spying on her mobile phone. The White House said Wednesday that the U.S. is not currently monitoring Merkel's phone.
The NSA document provided by Snowden also includes an acknowledgment that tracking the phone calls of foreign leaders generated "little reportable intelligence."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-calls
The National Security Agency tracked "phone conversations" of 35 foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by the Guardian from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The NSA encouraged executive branch officials to share their contact lists with the spy agency so that it could monitor the phone calls of foreign leaders, according to a 2006 memo. The memo notes that one U.S. official gave the NSA contact information for 35 foreign leaders, but the it does not include any names.
This news follows a phone call between President Obama and Angela Merkel, in which Merkel complained to Obama about reports that the U.S. may have been spying on her mobile phone. The White House said Wednesday that the U.S. is not currently monitoring Merkel's phone.
The NSA document provided by Snowden also includes an acknowledgment that tracking the phone calls of foreign leaders generated "little reportable intelligence."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-calls
These media reports are taking on a life of their own, no dates, sources, names, just editorialized garbage now attempting psychoanalysis.
Drivel.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)5. The Bundesnachrichtendienst and the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik investigated
The unusually strong reaction from the Chancellery was prompted by SPIEGEL research. After the information was examined by the country's foreign intelligence agency, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and the Federal Office for Information Security, Berlin seems to have found their suspicions plausible enough to confront the US government.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/merkel-calls-obama-over-suspicions-us-tapped-her-mobile-phone-a-929642.html
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)7. other than that, drivel of idiots.
the reaction is so very predictable.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)9. So you're defending the claim that Obama's dislike of photo ops and desire
to spend time with his family explains NSA spying that occurred on unspecified dates in the past but is no longer occurring.
Nah, ODS isn't real.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)13. Do you think tapping the phones of the leaders of our closest ally nations is a good policy?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)14. No, it's a shitty policy. But, let's get some facts like dates, etc
before latching onto every psychobabble piece on the subject.
By the author's 'logic' here's proof that Bush's NSA never spied on Merkel:
BluegrassStateBlues
(881 posts)8. But what did the Weinerschnitzel Intzernellywelzer have to say? nt
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)12. Bo and Sunny can't stand to look at him.
BluegrassStateBlues
(881 posts)3. Might as well drag out the FOX News psychologist to give us their take as well.
Getting real sick of this kind of shit.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)4. Republican poll numbers plunging in the wake of the shutdown? Have no fear!!
Revive the NSA story.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)6. What a trashy, gossipy piece. We don't even know whether this eavesdropping
occurred under Obama or Bush. Nor do we know whether Obama knew of this hacking.
To attribute NSA snooping to Obama's feelings re: other leaders is pathetic.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)10. So is this piece trying to suggest PBO spends his evenings surfing DU?
denverbill
(11,489 posts)11. Why would Obama want to be buddies with Merkel or particularly Netan-yahoo.
Merkel's just another conservative right-winger. Netanyahoo has repeatedly bashed Obama in the media. Why Obama should do them any favors politically is beyond me. I doubt you'll see him glad-handing Darrell Issa or Ted Cruz in their home states either.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)15. This is weakness.
" Obama doesn't want to be a friend" give me a break!
" they were looking forward to photos with Chancellor Angela Merkel with the US president in front of cheering crowds" "But the white house bristled" waaah! She had to shake hands with people alone. How did she survive!!
Oh shut up!!
"And Obama promised the Asian diplomats that he would be the "Pacific president," but he just cancelled his trip to the continent because the budget debate was more important to him."
Yes, America is more important to him. It should be.
All these fuggin mind readers we have analyzing him are amazing . I mean they know what he's thinking before he's thinking it better than he knows. He doesn't even know he thought what they think he's been thinking. They know what he prefers, what he wants, what he values, and what he knows.
This was a nothing.
