A Year Ago Today: NSA Leaks – Top 8 Political Scandals Sparked by Edward Snowden’s Revelations

From RT.com -  June 03, 2014- http://tinyurl.com/m9yrpp5

June 5th marks the 1 year anniversary since the first trove of Snowden leaks was realeased.

The Snowden revelations hit like a bomb, sending out shrapnel which risked severing US ties with friendly and not-so-friendly states alike.

Here are the top eight bilateral debacles sparked by NSA spying, whose fallout could be felt for years to come.

8. Afghanistan and Bahamas: Wiretap paradise

One is an economically prosperous island paradise which doesn’t even have a military, the other a landlocked and war-torn nation racked by poverty and an extreme climate. So what could they have in common? Both countries have almost all of their domestic and international calls recorded and stored by the National Security Agency (NSA) for up to 30 days. Rumblings in the Bahamas have been muted, as a nation with roughly the population of St Louis can’t make too many waves with its northern neighbors. The Bahamian minister of national security said he does intend to launch an inquiry into the NSA’s surveillance, though behind the scenes arm-twisting might keep it under wraps. As for Afghanistan, so many literal bombshells have come their way over the past decade, a figurative one is probably the least of their worries). The biggest political fallout from all comes from already NSA-weary western allies, who are asking Washington one simple question: why do you need to record the phone calls of law-abiding citizens in a neighboring state who have about as much experience with terrorism as they do with shoveling snow?

7. Here’s to the Reset!

American spies operating out of the UK intercepted the top-secret communications of the then-Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, during the 2009 G20 summit in London. Barack Obama definitely came out of the situation looking as two-faced as Harvey Dent, as Medvedev’s missives were seized just hours after his first meeting with the US president, where they struck a warm tone and promised a “fresh start” in US-Russia relations. The leaks came just before Obama met incumbent President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of what just might be the last G8 summit in history. One only need to follow the arc of the last 12 months to realize that the US-Russia reset was not only on its last legs by that point, but a sarcophagus was being built around it.

6. Spying on Israel

“America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East” was seemingly taken for a ride when it was discovered that the NSA had been spying on the country’s leadership for years. “The secret is out,” Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said. “The US is systematically spying on the defense and diplomatic leadership here in Israel. Is this how friends treat each other?” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained silent at first, and then asked for “an examination of the matter,” proving himself to be uncharacteristically taciturn in contrast with not only other politics from the Jewish state, but other state leaders targeted by US snooping. Perhaps Bibi knew something the rest of them didn’t.

5. What was that you said about Chinese hackers?

The US has been beating the China cybercrime drum for years, so when it was revealed that the US was not only spying on the country’s top leaders, but also Chinese telecom giant Huawei, national banks,and the Chinese Trade Ministry, well, Washington had a lot of explaining to do. The United States tried to split hairs, claiming that everyone engaged in military espionage and that intellectual property theft was the real issue. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Yang Yujun, however, certainly didn’t see it that way, accusing the US of “double standards” and “hypocritical conduct” regarding the internet.

The fallout can still be felt today. After the US Justice Department (DOJ) accused five Chinese officers of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets and pass them on to Chinese state-owned enterprises, the Chinese Foreign Ministry showed the spying scandal had not been put to bed.

Washington “shouldn’t be rigorous on others, while being lenient itself,” ministry spokesman Qin Gan said. When it comes to the ceaseless war of words between Washington and Beijing, Snowden certainly appears to have gifted China with a thesaurus.

4. Que diabo??? Brazil gets quite irate

Most leaders did their best to keep up appearances after finding themselves with NSA egg dripping down their faces, but Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff threw everything but the kitchen sink at her northern neighbor for spying on her, the country’s citizens, and its strategic industries. Rousseff canceled an official trip to Washington, blasted the US on the floor of the UN for breaching international law, and called on the world body to oversee a new global legal system to govern and safeguard the internet. For Rousseff, the issue was cut and dry: “The right to safety of citizens of one country can never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another country.” Ouch.

Brazil’s Senate unanimously adopted a bill which guarantees online privacy of Brazilian users and enshrines equal access to the global network. The so-called “internet constitution” could ultimately form a cornerstone of a world wide web truly global in vision and scope.

3. Ich bin ein Berliner?

For a child of the German Democratic Republic who grew up under the shield and sword, revelations that the NSA was tapping her phone were particularly hard on Chancellor Angela Merkel.To add insult to injury, the US government has refused to grant her access to her NSA file or even answer formal questions from Germany about its widespread snooping. To this day, some in the German government are doing their best not to rock the boat, while others believe Washington has long since lost its mooring. In April, the German government opened parliamentary investigations into NSA spying. The question on whether or not to let Snowden into the country to testify is still a political hot potato. Germany is still trying to push on a bilateral no-spy agreement with Washington, though Obama virtually said the prospect of such a pact was virtually dead in the water.But while the rifts are yet to echo beyond the electorate, there are many voices arguing US and UK meddling risk alienating Europe’s powerhouse economy. Berlin’s already scrapped a 50-year-old surveillance pact with the transatlantic duo following the snooping revelations. As John Kennedy once said: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’” Indeed.

2. You don’t know how lucky you are…

Perhaps one of the biggest political rifts inspired by the Snowden scandal had nothing to do with actual NSA spying, but rather the fate of the whistleblower himself. After revealing his leaking while ducking out in Hong Kong, Snowden managed to flee the city state despite having an invalidated passport. While the former NSA contractor has set his sites on sunnier South American pastures, he ended up stranded in the transit zone of a Moscow airport. At the time Putin said Snowden could stay in the US if he stopped damaging “US interests.” After nearly a month in limbo and mutual diplomatic posturing, Moscow granted Snowden temporary asylum, immediately prompting an angry reaction from US Senator John McCain, who demanded that Washington reexamine its relations with Russia. Snowden’s legal representative shot back, saying Russia was not “a US colony” and could not expect “legally groundless” extradition requests to be recognized.

Obama would later snub Putin by canceling a visit to Moscow on the eve of G20 summit in St. Petersburg last September. Russia said the move proved Washington was not yet ready to deal with Moscow on an “equal footing.” Snowden certainly didn’t start the US-Russia drift, nor did he create the massive rift that erupted this past February over Ukraine. But as things have gone from bad to worse between the two former Cold War rivals, Snowden’s definitely played a part in that drama, though it was never his choice. When asked what he was doing in Russia by those on Capitol Hill who accused him of spying for the enemy, his answer was simple: “Ask the State Department.”