Spy Games: Trans-Atlantic Relations Should Not Be Jeopardized

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/us-and-eu-should-not-let-nsa-scandal-endanger-transatlantic-relations-a-931337.html



No one now denies that everyone is spying on everyone else.

Spy Games: Trans-Atlantic Relations Should Not Be Jeopardized
A Commentary By Annette Heuser
November 01, 2013 – 06:01 PM

One week after German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a stark message to President Barack Obama about the inadmissibility of spying on friends, there is little doubt that the issue has fractured trans-Atlantic relations. It has been the focus of nearly incessant debate among relevant government officials, the media and the public at large. But emotion has framed this debate when a deep and mutual understanding of one another's positions is needed. The black-and-white attitudes must give way to more nuanced approaches that reflect the complexities of the issues at hand.

So what have the US and Europe learned from all the clamor? And how can they recoup the understanding that is more characteristic of their postwar relationship?

The silence from the White House and the president has gone beyond irritating the Europeans to frustrating and angering them. They firmly believe that Washington must respond seriously and comprehensively to the spying allegations, and take transparent measures to ensure that NSA encroachments on German civil liberties are permanently terminated.

The Obama administration, however, is occupied with a series of major domestic problems. Its top priority is to turn around the hapless launch of "Obamacare," the president's struggling flagship effort to provide health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. There is also ongoing political gridlock in Congress that continues to hinder progress on issues as diverse as government spending and immigration.