Germany and the US – a special relationship. After the war, the
Americans were the friendly liberators: they brought chocolate for
children, nylon stockings for ladies, and democracy for everyone.
Money flowed from the Marshall Fund, bringing about an economic miracle in our war-ravaged country. The US later protected us and our eastern border. Again: a special relationship, but by no means a normal one.
This history is certainly part of the reason for the uproar over the NSA spies in Germany. Washington has given us Germans so many good things – so we are offended and outraged when our former benefactors turn into perpetrators. We expect systematic spying from the Russians and Chinese. They're not part of our political family, after all. Germans would be surprised if Russia and China were not interested in our political and economic plans and deliberations.
But it's an entirely different story when it comes to our American friends, who are supposed to share our values. We expect them to cooperate and to ask us questions. But they don't. They treat friend and foe alike:
They want to know everything, and they go about procuring information in much the same way as they do in Havana and Pyongyang. US spies are here, and active. It's just that we never looked for them. This realization makes us angry because we didn't expect it – and because we can't do anything about it. How naïve of us!
Read more: Opinion: The spies who didn't love us | Germany | DW.DE | 10.07.2014
Money flowed from the Marshall Fund, bringing about an economic miracle in our war-ravaged country. The US later protected us and our eastern border. Again: a special relationship, but by no means a normal one.
This history is certainly part of the reason for the uproar over the NSA spies in Germany. Washington has given us Germans so many good things – so we are offended and outraged when our former benefactors turn into perpetrators. We expect systematic spying from the Russians and Chinese. They're not part of our political family, after all. Germans would be surprised if Russia and China were not interested in our political and economic plans and deliberations.
But it's an entirely different story when it comes to our American friends, who are supposed to share our values. We expect them to cooperate and to ask us questions. But they don't. They treat friend and foe alike:
They want to know everything, and they go about procuring information in much the same way as they do in Havana and Pyongyang. US spies are here, and active. It's just that we never looked for them. This realization makes us angry because we didn't expect it – and because we can't do anything about it. How naïve of us!
Read more: Opinion: The spies who didn't love us | Germany | DW.DE | 10.07.2014
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