UPDATED: N.S.A. "Treason" German Chancellor Merkel Accused For N.S.A. Command Of Rogue B.N.D. Spying Since 2008 On Germans Other Europeans

     Thursday, 7 May 2015, BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been charged with "treason" by at least one politician heading the German Left party after Der Speigel reported recently that since at least 2008 a "rogue" division of the B.N.D. German foreign intelligence service working for the N.S.A. has engaged in spying including on friendly German and European "interests" believed to include individuals and businesses perhaps most notably the French-German enterprise European Aeronautic Defense and Space, now known as the Airbus Group about which the B.N.D. "failed to fully inform the Chancellery or Parliament" but apparently did inform Ms. Merkel's government to the extent German Chancellor Merkel "failed in her constitutional duty to supervise the intelligence services and inform Parliament of the services' activities".
     Although not raised as an issue as with United States executive branch "intelligence" services which often on their face lack legal jurisdiction over and authority to engage in any domestic spying and related unconstitutional activities given that the B.N.D. is identified as a "foreign" intelligence service it would appear to have overstepped its ostensible authority by committing domestic spying on German "individuals and businesses" at home. Germans moreover are particularly sensitive to "intelligence" service domestic surveillance given "their memory of the Nazi and Communist regimes that spied on their citizens" (as the New York Times puts it rather blithely omitting Germans' doubtless intense memory also of what outrages, horrors and atrocities those regimes inflicted upon German citizens as a result of their spying on the German people).
     Moreover unlike in the United States where the N.S.A. is warmly embraced by all (at least by all at the N.S.A. and apparently in France) for its indiscriminate domestic and foreign mass surveillance, sweeping metadata collection activities (based on which metadata alone former N.S.A. Director Hayden stated "we kill people") and other N.S.A. other revealed and doubtless unrevealed myriad other unconstitutional abuses nevertheless overseas in Germany "anti-N.S.A. sentiment remains high" including German "revulsion" with the N.S.A. in the wake particularly of the revelations of Edward J. Snowden (a "popular hero" in Germany) of the scope of the N.S.A.'s criminal indiscriminate domestic and foreign surveillance.
     German Chancellor Merkel herself when running for re-election which she won for a third term in 2013 loudly cast herself as "the wronged American ally whose cellphone number was among data sucked up by American intelligence as it kept watch on Europeans" proclaiming that "[s]pying among friends -- that is simply not done". In fact such spying among friends "simply was done" right at that time by her own government B.N.D. intelligence service moreover under the control of the N.S.A. apparently since at least 2008. In any case Ms. Merkel managed to capitalize on her own cellphone privacy invasion exploiting German "outrage" over Snowden revelations but managed to "tamp down" what has become known among Germans as the growing "N.S.A. scandal". The truth of the recent allegations would tend to suggest that Chancellor Merkel is a dishonest hypocrite
     Even as opposition Left party leader Gregor Gysi called Chancellor Merkel's actions "treason" that accusation on Monday unsurprisingly was "angrily rebutted" by B.N.D. spy agency chief Gerhard Schindler (compare former Ninth Amendment post with photo of N.S.A. chief Admiral Michael "Mike" Rogers also "angrily rebutting" an unwelcome suggestion) dismissing with the Cheneyesque response that it was "absolutely absurd" to suggest his agency was "a compliant tool" of the N.S.A. However Schindler apparently still is experiencing technological communication challenges with Chancellor Merkel who on the same day reportedly at the same time stated that in order to best "protect the lives and bodies of 80 million Germans" cooperation with the National Security Agency came "first and foremost".
     Previous to last Monday after the 23 April 2015 Der Speigel reports government spokesman Steffen Seibert attributed the reportedly at least seven year lapse in Chancellor Merkel's government oversight and Chancellery and Parliamentary reporting of the actions of the rogue G.N.D. spy division working for the N.S.A. to "'[t]echnological and organizational deficiencies at the B.N.D." which seemingly in response to the recent Der Speigel reports now had been quickly identified as Mr. Seibert gave assurance the Merkel government had issued "immediate orders that they be rectified". Based on B.N.D. chief Schindler's and Chancellor Merkel's contemporaneous statements arguably implying significantly inconsistent degrees of the scope of the N.S.A. role in controlling German intelligence it would appear the B.N.D. had not as of Monday yet rectified at least technological deficiencies as to communication with the Chancellery in response to its "immediate orders".
     In any case the standing parliamentary committee with oversight responsibility for all  German intelligence services as well as a special parliamentary inquiry specifically into the N.S.A. have been conducting ongoing investigations into the details of the matter and questioning "key officials" including former U.S. intelligence officials which unsurprisingly is revealing a "damning picture of American surveillance practices". Although the specifics of German intelligence collusion with the N.S.A. remain "murky" given the innate unreliability of intelligence officials in providing comprehensible information to the public the German federal prosecutor is considering launching a formal investigation.
     The the substance of the recent allegations of N.S.A. control over the B.N.D. is consistent with a complaint filed by Austria on Tuesday against German and American intelligence agencies grounded on suspicions that the agencies have been spying on Austria according to Reuters. Moreover also last week the French-German enterprise Airbus Group filed a legal complaint leveling charges against "unnamed persons" of economic espionage including requests for more information from the German government. A related "indication that espionage might have occurred" is that "[m]embers of the German Parliament have suggested that Washington may influence how much the German government can reveal to Airbus" the New York Times reports.
     The Ninth Amendment editorial board would suggest that put more bluntly this is to say that the German government cannot disclose B.N.D. intelligence information regarding even economic and/or industrial espionage conducted who knows for what reason concerning an offended German party even of a joint venture German company unless it has permission from its N.S.A. handlers. It is hard to imagine how the B.N.D. could become more of a "complaint tool" of the N.S.A. than that. Furthermore the Airbus complaint highlights the issue of the N.S.A.-B.N.D. reportedly not only spying on individuals but on businesses including very large ones which raises the question of when and why the N.S.A. has "diversified" into business including major industrial espionage in friendly countries and if so given the technology has the N.S.A. been corrupted to the point that it has determined that legal interpretations of its authority can always be contorted to conform to an N.S.A. perception that given the cash its mission and mandate to "suck up" information is infinite?
     Finally as to this matter it appears significant that Germany's No. 2 in power after Chancellor Merkel who is German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and the leader of the center-left Social Democrats disclosed to reporters that Merkel told him there was "nothing" to the allegations and furthermore said that he believed Merkel. However he reportedly followed this immediately by a statement that "what we are witnessing now is an affair, a secret service scandal, which could set off a very grave tremor." A rather ominous sounding warning compared to what preceded it especially coming from the German Vice-Chancellor, Germans particularly high officials generally not being known for lightly tossing off references to such events as "grave tremors".
     Those readers interested in more information concerning the above can go to link to the above-referenced New York Times article below. [UPDATE] Readers interested in further more recently developed information related to the above also can go to the second link added below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/world/europe/scandal-over-spying-shakes-german-government.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Updated link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/europe/intelligence-spying-germany-us.html

Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved

Google Refuses Data Privacy Breach Cure Of 2012 "Policy Changes" Assailed By European Union: Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, The Netherlands And Spain Data Protection Authority To Hit Google With Millions In Fines

       Saturday, 21 February 2015, ROME - In the wake of a flood of investigations and complaints by European nations triggered by Google's 2012 unilateral announcement of its "Privacy Policy Changes" many of which European Data Privacy Actions are cataloged in the second linked-to PC World article of the two below perhaps the most noteworthy to date is Google's agreement announced yesterday to among other things allow the Italian Data Privacy authority to conduct on-site visits of Google United States facilities to insure compliance with an agreement to stop aggregating privacy data on Italian citizens from various Google services even including a record of all "searches" performed so as to assemble essentially "mega-profiles" of all persons making use of Google services. The history and details of this agreement are set out in the first linked-to PC World article of the two below.
       Meanwhile the second linked-to article below details a Dutch demand that Google cease the same practices drawing fire from at least six European Union (EU) nations described essentially as without express and knowing consent combining personal privacy data from users including content of searches, location data and videos watched. Google has "tried the patience" of Dutch authorities since 2012 and faces a $19 million fine if it does not resolve the privacy data violations against Dutch citizens within a week. PC World reports that Google already in the past two months has been fined about $1,250,000 combined by the French privacy authority and the Spanish data protection authority.
       A Google spokesman expressed "disappointment" with the actions of the EU nations as he claimed Google had already made changes to its 2012 "Privacy Policy" even though they apparently still are in violation of several nations' laws. Laws generally of course are enacted by due process as set forth in the establishing enforceable framework of a country and as such are enforceable by things like fines, imprisonment and death. Policies on the other hand although seemingly willingly misunderstood by many American companies in particular are usually self-serving words written on paper supported by no enforceable authority and subject to indiscriminate change by the usual American company nearly always in its favor as part of a larger intentional misconception that its policies are something more than empty words unenforceable against any outside parties. Companies often attempt to circumvent this deficiency by "incorporating by reference" policies and the like into larger incomprehensible unilateral adhesion contracts.
       Large fines by European regulators against massive American "metadata hoarding" companies such as Google and Facebook (with headquarters in Ireland) for practices worthy of spy agencies such as the CIA and NSA are nothing new including for example Facebook's infamous use of "facial recognition" technology of all persons in public places along with Google's apparent efforts to photograph and catalog every person's home and curtilage on the entire planet (better for targeted advertising, right?). It seems fair to say that United States citizens among established civilized Western nations now are afforded by far the least privacy protection by their State which in fact is especially true given the public ties between the CIA with business ventures in Google and the NSA's witless (excuse us, "unwitting" in perjurious testimony before Congress) indiscriminate collection of metadata on all American citizens (See earlier Ninth Amendment post entitled "We Kill Based On Metadata").
       In the uninformed lay opinion of the Ninth Amendment based on nothing but delusion the activities of the CIA and NSA and any other executive branch agencies in this regard are Unconstitutional in plain violation of the Bill of Rights and therefore lack all legitimacy removing any legitimate State power from them and rendering them nothing more than organized criminal enterprises. As for the so-called "private" entities engaged in similar activities either routinely or on demand supplying private citizens' information without a legitimate court order they are in our opinion informed only by delusion co-conspirators equally guilty by knowing complicity and assistance in the commission of criminal activities anathema to the principles established in the United States Constitution.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887192/google-agrees-to-italian-privacy-authority-audits-in-the-us.html#tk.rss_all

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2859712/dutch-authority-to-google-change-privacy-policy-or-else.html

Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved

German Human Rights Group Filing War Crimes Charges Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld And Other CIA Officials For Their Torturous Actions

       Tuesday, 30 December 2014, BERLIN - The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, a human rights group in Berlin chaired by Michael Ratner president emeritus of the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, reportedly is filing criminal complaints indicting former not-really-elected "President" George Bush (Bush 43), former not-really-elected Vice President "Pigheart" Dick "Criminal Notorious" Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and other CIA and possible other Bush Administration officials responsible for the systematic use of torture.
       Germans reportedly became "outraged" upon learning that in 2004 a German citizen was abducted while on vacation by C.I.A. agents and taken internationally to a secret C.I.A. prison torture facility identified only as "Cobalt" in the C.I.A. Torture Report apparently somewhere in Kabul, Afghanistan where he was tortured for four months after which time it was discovered that the C.I.A. had misidentified him in a "mistaken identity mix-up" at which time the C.I.A. continued to hold and torture him at the facility because it realized "it had the wrong man".
       The Ninth Amendment editorial board without comment provides for concerned/interested readers' further consideration the text of the addictinginfo.org article below with permanent link to original source and author information in blue headline text below.

Germany Files War Crimes Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld And Other CIA Officials

AUTHOR: RYAN DENSON DECEMBER 21, 2014 1:35 PM

If President Obama won’t do it, someone else will. Thankfully, a human rights group in Berlin, The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, has begun the process of indicting members of the Bush Administration by filing criminal complaints against the architects of the Admin’s torture program.

Calls for an immediate investigation by the German human rights group was started after outrage ensued on the case of a German citizen, Khalid El-Masri, who had been captured by CIA agents in 2004  because of a mistaken identity mix-up and was tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan.

Wolfgang Kaleck, the general secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, said:

“By investigating members of the Bush administration, Germany can help to ensure that those responsible for abduction, abuse and illegal detention do not go unpunished.”

In an interview with “Democracy Now,” Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and chairman of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, said that he believes Cheney, among others, have no defense for torturous actions and should be indicted.

“I strongly disagree that Bush, Cheney, et al., would have a defense. This wasn’t like these memos just appeared independently from the Justice Department. These memos were facilitated by the very people — Cheney, etc. — who we believe should be indicted. This was part of a conspiracy so they could get away with torture. But that’s not the subject here now.”

“Secondly, whatever we think of those memos, they’re of uselessness in Europe. Europe doesn’t accept this, quote, ‘golden shield’ of a legal defense. Either it’s torture or it’s not. Either you did it or you didn’t.And that’s one of the reasons, among others, why we’re going to Europe and why we went to Europe to bring these cases through the European Center.”

Ratner then hit the nail on the head regarding America’s dangerous exceptionalism path down the road: “But, of course, you know, Cheney just showed us exactly why you have to — have to prosecute torture. Because if you don’t prosecute it, the next guy down the line is going to torture again. And that’s what Cheney said: ‘I would do it again.'”

Khalid El-Masri was on vacation in Skopje, in Macedonia, when he was pulled off of a bus by government agents, sodomized with a drug, and taken to the secret base that was identified only as Cobalt in the CIA torture report. After four months, and after the United States learned of the mistaken identity, they left him there and continued to torture him. They held him further because the U.S. realized they had been torturing the wrong man. Afterwards, they released him, dropping him off somewhere to resume his life.

El-Masri in his own words, in the same interview with “Democracy Now:”

[translated] I was the only one in this prison in Kabul who was actually treated slightly better than the other inmates. But it was known among the prisoners that other prisoners were constantly tortured with blasts of loud music, exposed to constant onslaughts of loud music. And they were—for up to five days, they were just sort of left hanging from the ceiling, completely naked in ice-cold conditions. The man from Tanzania, whom I mentioned before, had his arm broken in three places. He had injuries, trauma to the head, and his teeth had been damaged. They also locked him up in a suitcase for long periods of time, foul-smelling suitcase that made him vomit all the time. Other people experienced forms of torture whereby their heads were being pushed down and held under water.

He finished the interview with some pretty damning words that should make George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld shudder:

“And let me just say, Germany — whatever happened before, between the NSA spying on Germany and the fact that their citizen has now been revealed to have been kept in a torture place, when it was known that he was innocent, I’m pretty sure that Germany is going to take this very seriously.“

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Copyright 2014 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved (no claim to addictinginfo.org content)