Americans, be aware: this is an extremely important cover story
This cover from the English-language edition of Germany’s leading news magazine Der Spiegel (the original in German can be found here) is much more important than it might at first appear. Leaving aside the sensitive diplomatic question a hypothetical visit by Edward Snowden to Germany to testify before Parliament might raise for the United States, which has already made it clear that it will not consider changing its position toward somebody that has blown the whistle on its abuse of power and technology, what we are dealing with here is a challenge to many established practices. A challenge that is widely supported and cheered by a German society that openly sympathizes with a powerfully expressed thesis: “telling the truth is not a crime”.
Germany’s request for more information about how the United States breached its communications systems and listened in calls made by its Chancellor is utterly reasonable and legitimate. And wanting to question one of the people who divulged the information in the first place is also reasonable and logical, and all the more so when all we have heard from Washington are comments along the lines of “everybody is doing it”, or an even less credible “we won’t do it again.” If Germany wants the information it needs, it could take the decision to temporarily suspend its extradition treaty with the United States and allow Edward Snowden to visit the country, and even grant him political asylum.
The recent votes taken in the US Senate show all too clearly that the government there does not intend to stop it mass surveillance activities, but instead to increase them.
We are talking about a United States prepared to track anybody who dares to reveal its dirty secrets to the ends of the earth, despite the clear shift on the part of many countries, thanks to Snowden, who are now aware of the excesses Washington has been committing. Saying that all countries have secret services and spy is not a valid excuse. Not all countries happen to be where the vast majority of internet-related companies are located, or where most of the entities tasked with regulating it are based. This “everybody does it” approach reveals a worldview that is nothing less than megalomaniacal and unbalanced.
The fact that Snowden is currently holed up in Moscow and that Russia is desperate to find allies to share its ongoing confrontation with the United States only adds another dimension to the affair. This is a standoff between the United States, the country responsible for more spying than any other, and that has breached the rights of its citizens and those of other countries, and Germany, which is surely among the nations with the greatest respect for privacy and civil rights. The country that spies on half the world, including supposed friends and allies, against a country which still has the excesses of the Stasi fresh in its memory: two radically different approaches to managing information, security, civil rights, and international relations.
We are witnessing an important moment in history: the information age and the balance between freedom and security interpreted in two very different ways: a Pax Americana that is closer than ever to George Orwell’s 1984; and a Germany that has first-hand experience—twice in the same century—of the totalitarian state. You decide which side you are on.
