NATO and NSA Spying: We are 'All American Agents Now' (Causeur, France)

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"Intelligence is a drug and the U.S. is the planet's dealer. They have means that are absolutely out of reach of any other state … France's return to NATO is the original sin that has put it into this situation of dependency. Revelations of these acts of American piracy against our institutions are only a secondary phenomenon. The indignation is just a facade because no politician today is proposing that France withdraw from NATO. Neither Alain Juppé, nor Sarkozy nor Hollande – and still less [Prime Minister] Manuel Valls, is willing to break with France's subjection to the United States. They swallow all snakes, tolerate all insults, and will suffer any pressure."

By Xavier Théry*

Translated By Pierre Guittard

June 28, 2015

France - Causeur - Original Article (French)

Liberation and Mediapart just revealed that the last three French presidents had been wiretapped by the American government. It has been understood for the past several years that the NSA has engaged in an intensive spying program. What we've now discovered is that it is without limit – even those that would impose a degree of restraint among allies.

It appears that the United States is operating an enterprise of widespread espionage that spares no person and no nation. The U.S. is the pivot point, because the alliance system embodied in NATO seeks to compel every member of the organization to be dependent on norms, technologies and standards that are American. It is now nearly impossible to imagine evaluating the mission of a French aircraft over Mali without the data first being picked up by American satellite reconnaissance. Daesh, however, plans its bombings without being integrated into a complex system dependent on American technology.

Intelligence is a drug and the U.S. is the planet's dealer. They have means that are absolutely out of reach of any other state, the technological superiority of which exerts a dual effect. Initially fascination: military and civilian technocrats of all European states are fascinated by the American system – despite its viciousness and the way it does away with our liberties. We in France have watched the government of Francois Hollande introduce a law on information comparable in its principles to the USA Patriot Act. So much for ambition. Then political dependence: Hollande is unable to take retaliatory measures against the United States following the eavesdropping revelations because he knows he depends on the goodwill of the Americans in a number of operational theaters.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

This situation is not the result of chance or necessity. It results from a policy begun under [Prime Minister] Édouard Balladur, pursued by [Presidents] Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, and amplified by Holland. I refer to the policy of reintegration and then full integration into NATO. It was precisely to avoid this logic of integration that General de Gaulle wanted to quit the organization. By returning fully to NATO's political, operational and technical bodies, France chose to submit to these principles of integration. These are not principles of multilateral cooperation among allies, but of a series of bilateral agreements that are solely to the benefit of the United States: the English help the Americans spy on the Germans; the Germans are under contract with the NSA to spy on France. We will likely discover in the months to come that the DGSE [Directorate-General for External Security] has an agreement with the NSA to spy on Germany ...

Reading social network comments after the WikiLeaks revelations, a phrase that came up most often was "in any event, everyone spies on everyone." Aside from the fact that this assessment is false (it's doubtful that France has tapped Obama's phone), this is very revealing of a generalized submission to Atlanticism. This state of mind wasn't born by chance. It is the result of two factors: First, the disorientation and lowering of moral values under the influence of Hollywood cinema, (TV series in particular), that glorify technological espionage and portray torture in a benevolent light; Then the construction of an imaginary enemy through a Russia-phobic policy relayed complacently by the Atlanticist media (Le Monde's Arnaud Parmentier, in particular). By reintegrating into NATO, our policies have made all of us American agents. It's too late for us to complain.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

France's return to this Atlanticist organization is the original sin that has put it into this situation of dependency. Revelations of these acts of American piracy against our institutions are only a secondary phenomenon. The indignation is just a facade because no politician today is proposing that France withdraw from NATO. Neither Alain Juppé, nor Sarkozy nor Hollande – and still less [Prime Minister] Manuel Valls, is willing to break with France's subjection to the United States. They swallow all snakes, tolerate all insults, and will suffer any pressure.

*Xavier Théry is a partner at Les Ateliers Corporate public conultants.

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