Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 20:42:44 GMT

Ooooooh, conspiracy theories, yeh!!

Maybe the French secret service put the bug there to cause a rift? Maybe it was the Israelis? Hey, maybe it was the German secret service?

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Francisco Gomez — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 20:40:02 GMT

I guess you're right. I just thought that maybe a politician with so much media attention would prefer (thinking wrongly that it is safer) to have a conversation on a mobile phone with someone, instead of meeting with that someone (everyone will know that the meeting took place and questions about it would arise) ...

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 20:33:41 GMT

[quote user="Francisco Gomez"]I guess it depends of what 'sensitive' means? Something as simple as discussing the introduction or the scrapping of a tax can have ramifications that could affect decisions of foreign investors in the country... [/quote]

Well, a politician should know that. Why would a senior politician need to discuss any sort of government business down a mobile phone? Why would Frau Merkel need a mobile phone at all except maybe to remind Joachim to pick up the dry-cleaning and while he was about it to see if the supermarket had any fresh persimmons?

I f you've ever had the misfortune of travelling on a train in anything other than the quiet coach you will know that the volume, length and degree of detail of mobile-phone conversations on business matters are in inverse proportion to the seniority and importance of the user.

I once sat behind some young woman who was obviously some sort of rather junior sales rep. First she called the person in charge of company cars - obviously also a woman - to get her car fixed because she'd bent it. This call was all girly and mock-useless 0h-you-know-how-we-girls-are-with-cars. Then she called somebody senior to her – this was all feminine boot-licking with a bit of subtle flattery. Finally she called somebody junior to her and took it out on that poor woman with a severe telling-off for some supposed failure. Bah.

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Francisco Gomez — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:29:44 GMT

I guess it depends of what 'sensitive' means? Something as simple as discussing the introduction or the scrapping of a tax can have ramifications that could affect decisions of foreign investors in the country...

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Dagmar Steele — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:36:10 GMT

I must say I hope Merkel is not such an idiot tbh :-)

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 15:04:50 GMT

What kind of idiot would reveal anything sensitive on a mobile phone?

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Rob Loxley — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 13:26:33 GMT

Spies in spying shocker! I'm not surprised allies are spying on each other, just they're usually better at not being caught at it!

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Dagmar Steele — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 09:47:49 GMT

The question why is one many Germans wonder about. Myself I think she hasn't been the only one, and it is common policy of the US secret agencies to do so. And I also bet it is not only the policy of the US secret agencies, but many other countries do the same things, only they haven't been caught red handed yet. Collecting any information available is what secret agencies obviously do. Many of them maybe not very valuable, but every now and then they stumble upon a little gem. I'd be interested in a question if they spied on other European leaders as well, are if they only considered Merkel important enough to do so?

Re: Biggest diplomatic rift between Germany and US in living memory

Francisco Gomez — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 09:26:13 GMT

Germany isn't going to start a war, at least not under Merkel ;-) The real question here would be: Why? And how can this benefit the US? Surely they didn't take this sort of risk just in the hope to get naughty stuff so they can publish it in a gossip newspaper...