In June, when President Obama was in Europe for a visit, Harald Range, Germanys top public prosecutor, toldthe German Parliament that he was undertaking an investigation. Former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden had claimed that the United States government had bugged Chancellor Angela Merkels phone, as part of the country'slarge-scale electronic espionage, and listened in, for years. In May, Obama saidthat Snowdens disclosures about spying on an ally had created strains in Americas relationship with Germany.Merkel had called him onthe phoneprobably ona landlineto seek clarification, and Obamahad apologized.Considering the leaders were about to see each other, for a summit in Brussels,the timing of Range's announcement was a little awkward. <\/p>\n
But this week, according toReuters, Range announced that there is no proof that U.S. Intelligence had, in fact, tapped Merkels phone. He said, \"The document presented in public as proof of an actual tapping of the mobile phone is not an authentic surveillance order by the NSA. It does not come from the NSA database.\" <\/p>\n
\"There is no proof at the moment which could lead to charges that Chancellor Merkel's phone connection data was collected or her calls tapped.\" <\/p>\n
The document presented in public as proof of an actual tapping of the mobile phone is not an authentic surveillance order by the NSA. <\/p>\n
Harald Range, German prosecutor <\/p>\n
Range said that neither Snowden, nor Germanys foreign intelligence agency, nor Der Spiegelwhich held a document that seemed to be evidence of tappinghad offered further evidence for his prosecution. <\/p>\n
Which leads to a whole bouquet of new questions: could Snowdens information possibly be inaccurate, or could it be some sort of disinformation? What was the Der Spiegel document that seemed so convincing a few months ago? And: if the tapping wasnt real, why did Obama rush to apologize and make nice to Merkel? If true that there was no wiretap, an entire diplomatic drama needs to be reinterpreted. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Germany's Green and Left parties have rallied to bring Snowden to Berlin (from Moscow) to furnish evidence about NSA machinations. Buton Friday, according to the Guardian, Germanys constitutional court ruled against them. The German government maintained that Snowden's presence in Germany could be detrimental to relationships with the U.S. <\/p>\n
Whats behind this sudden new friendliness? Possibly, it will require a new Snowden to find out. <\/p>\n
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