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posted by janrinok on Friday June 26 2015, @10:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-spy-on-your-friends-NSA! dept.

The Intercept reports that in the aftermath of the NSA's sweeping surveillance of three French presidents, French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira thinks National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange might be allowed to settle in France.

Taubira was asked about the NSA's surveillance of three French presidents, disclosed by WikiLeaks this week, and called it an "unspeakable practice." Taubira's comments echoed those in an editorial in France's leftist newspaper Libération that France should respond to the U.S.'s "contempt" for its allies by giving Edward Snowden asylum.

France would send "a clear and useful message to Washington, by granting this bold whistleblower the asylum to which he is entitled," wrote editor Laurent Joffrin in an angry editorial titled "Un seul geste" — or "A single gesture." (google translate)

If Paris offers Snowden asylum, it will be joining several other nations who have done so in the past, including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. However, Snowden is still waiting in Moscow to hear from almost two dozen other countries where he has requested asylum.

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira thinks National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange might be allowed to settle in France.

If France decides to offer them asylum, she would "absolutely not be surprised," she told French news channel BFMTV on Thursday (translated from the French). She said it would be a "symbolic gesture."

Taubira was asked about the NSA's sweeping surveillance of three French presidents, disclosed by WikiLeaks this week, and called it an "unspeakable practice."

Her comments echoed those in an editorial in France's leftist newspaper Libération Thursday morning, which said giving Snowden asylum would be a "single gesture" that would send "a clear and useful message to Washington," in response to the "contempt" the U.S. showed by spying on France's president.

Will France deliver the rebuke to Washington that Germany has failed to?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2015, @07:21AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2015, @07:21AM (#202007)

    Germany is the strongest economic power in Europe. What they decide, Europe does, more or less. Sanctions on Russia? You need Germany's buy-in on that. Any policy that the US wants Europe to adopt needs to be presented to Germany, and the US can persuade them more effectively when they know what cards the Germans are holding. That's why the diplomatic service is so close with the intelligence services: they need intel in order to function optimally.

    Ask yourself which European nation was strong enough to cause the most trouble for the US in the early twentieth century.

    You don't choose who to spy on based on friendship, but on strength: spy on the most powerful ones.