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Thursday, March 28, 2024

“Angry And Embarrassed” France Calls US Spying “Unacceptable”, Demands US “Repair Damaged Relations”

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden.

We were wondering where Obama got his idea to tax the rich, and now courtesy of last night’s Wikileaks disclosure that the NSA had been spying on three consecutive French presidents in the period between 2006 and 2012, we now know: all it took was for Obama to eavesdrop to French socialist president Hollande (whose brilliant idea to impose a 75% tax on millionaires nearly crushed the French economy). 

But while we joke, it is no laughing matter for the French government which, two years after a similar humiliating episode struck Germany, has to explain to the population why their biggest western “ally” had been spying on French presidents for over half a decade.

And as AP reports, “angry and embarrassed, France summoned the U.S. ambassador Wednesday to respond to the revelations by WikiLeaks that the U.S. National Security Agency eavesdropped on three successive French presidents and other top officials.

The release of the spying revelations appeared to be timed to coincide with a final vote Wednesday in the French Parliament on a bill allowing broad new surveillance powers, in particular to counter terrorism threats.

Who would have thought that the only reason France needs to expand its broad spying measures is to be able to spy in retaliation on its own allies, and failing that, to at least catch the countless bugs that had been planted by the US.

The top floor of the U.S. Embassy, visible from France’s presidential Elysee Palace, reportedly was filled with spying equipment hidden behind trompe l’oeil paintings of windows, according to the Liberation newspaper, which partnered with WikiLeaks and the website Mediapart on the documents.

As a result, French President Hollande, calling the U.S. spying an “unacceptable” security breach, convened two emergency meetings. The first was with France’s top security officials, the second with leading legislators, many of whom have already voted for the new surveillance measure.

Hollande was to speak Wednesday with President Barack Obama on the issue. The NSA is expected to release the transcript shoftly after their conversation.

Further from AP on the released documents, they appear to capture top French officials in Paris between 2006 and 2012 talking candidly about Greece’s economy, relations with Germany, and American spying on allies. While there were no huge surprises, the release of the documents late Tuesday angered and embarrassed French officialdom.

U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry. Hollande is also sending France’s top intelligence coordinator to the U.S. shortly, to ensure that promises made after earlier NSA spying revelations in 2013 and 2014 have been kept, the spokesman said.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the U.S. must do everything it can, and quickly, to “repair the damage” to U.S.-French relations from the revelations, which he called “a very serious violation of the spirit of trust” between the allies.

Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told reporters “France does not listen in on its allies.” He added, “we reminded all (government) ministers to be vigilant in their conversations.”

The U.S. Embassy had no comment on the WikiLeaks revelations.

The NSA of course promptly washed its hands of the whole affair: “U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price released a statement Tuesday evening saying the U.S. is “not targeting and will not target the communications of President Hollande.” Of course, Price did not address claims that the U.S. had previously eavesdropped on Hollande or his predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

In other words, hurray for the “US Freedom ACT” according to which the actual spying going forward will be done by the private telecom companies themselves, so the state department can wash its hands of any such futures embarrassing incidents.

And while the pompous populist rhetoric promptly surged in the aftermath of the revelation…

Le Foll, who was heading Wednesday to Washington on a previously scheduled trip, said it wasn’t a diplomatic rupture, riffing that France was sending not an aircraft carrier to the U.S. but a replica of the Hermione, the ship that carried General Marquis de Lafayette from France to America in 1780 to offer help in the Revolution.

But, he added, “when you see this between allied countries it’s unacceptable and, I would add, incomprehensible.”

… the punchline came from Prime Minister Valls who added ominously:

“If the fact of the revelations today does not constitute a real surprise for anyone, that in no way lessens the emotion and the anger. They are legitimate. France will not tolerate any action threatening its security and fundamental interests,” he said.

Or else what? Sell the mothballed Mistral ship to Russia? Or, better yet, surrender?

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