German president Joachim Gauck ("enough is enough") and Chancellor Angela Merkel are yet again “indignant and outraged” over a new surveillance scandal - an employee of the German intelligence service (BND), who has been spying on the NSA inquiry commission of the German parliament, for the CIA. (Will any serious consequences follow? Of course not). Yet, to observers of the usual U.S. modus operandi in foreign relations, this is not surprising, but just the tip of the iceberg of a liberal U.S. imperialism that is becoming increasingly illiberal under the threat of the Empire declining, at least economically, and of intelligence agencies (the “deep state”) acting with as much impunity as ever.
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A graffito of the whistle-blower and leaker Edward Snowden in Astoria, New York (July 2013) |
About a year ago, Edward Snowden, whistleblower
and hero to most liberally-minded in the West and elsewhere, traitor
and foe to conservatives and regressives in the U.S., fled Hawaii to
reveal to the “Guardian” and the “Washington Post” documents
indicative of the scale of the scandalous mass surveillance of
citizens of other states by the NSA and other security agencies in
five Anglophone countries (the “Five Eyes”). Later last year it
became clear, that even high-ranking officials, most prominently
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, were spied upon; (official)
indignation was big then, much bigger then among them, in comparison
to their indifferent reaction to the revelations that the
communication channels of the hoi polloi are being tapped. Nothing
followed. But now, after a year of humiliating revelations, even
politicians who are not deemed on the left side of the political
spectrum, such as Gauck and Merkel, are slowly (at least
rhetorically) beginning to doubt the value and sincerity of the
transatlantic partnership, or in Germany's case, the “German-American
Friendship”, that so far had been invoked as the basis of
European-American partnership, security and trust.
Imperial disregard for so-called "friends and allies"
Direct U.S.
influence is now felt not only outside Europe, e.g. in the Middle
East, anymore, where Israel, despite illegal settlement policies and
disproportionate actions in dealing with the Palestinians (and
another full-on war on Gaza pending), has been backed with no
questions asked and all possible U.N. sanctions on Israel vetoed for
decades. In Eastern Europe and the Caucasus pro-capitalist, pro-NATO,
pro-neoliberal revolutions (Georgia, Ukraine) have been more or less
openly supported, financially and otherwise, by Washington. In the
Pacific, a geopolitical confrontation with China in the South Chinese
Sea is slowly, but steadily evolving into a serious conflict. While
Arabs and other non-Western populations are more or less rightfully
accusing the U.S. of meddling into their affairs, if not open
imperialism, for decades, this has now, most recently, also been a
theme for an increasing number of citizens of states that so far
undoubtedly were deemed part of the “West”. The populations of
these countries, the most prominent and most powerful of them being
Germany, are now also increasingly aware of direct instances of U.S.
imperialism in their countries, after decades of indirect U.S.
influence through cultural imperialism, i.e.“soft power”
(Disney, Hollywood etc.) after World War II. The mass surveillance is
just the most obvious instance, that is specifically coming to light
with regard to U.S. behavior towards “friends and allies”, and
that is now even known to the bulk of the population. Many in the
political elites continue to stress the steadfastness of amicable
transatlantic, specifically German-American, relations; however, the
latest scandal is just another sign that the United States couldn't
care less how its “friends and allies” feel about its behavior.
This has started (at least) a decade with G. W. Bush's war on Iraq,
with which he followed through in 2003, against the resistance of
many other states, most prominently France, Germany and Russia, and
has been continuing until today, with the PRISM mass surveillance program, and the spying on the
citizens of “friendly states” coming to light. Today, news broke
that the U.S. intelligence agencies are also spying on some of their
own citizens, i.e. on those that are Muslims.
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logo of the PRISM surveillance program, in existence since 2005 |
Drones/UAV's and PRISM: A fictionalization of human rights, international law, democracy and transparency
It's necessary
to “fight terrorism”, is the less and less credible official
legitimation of the mass surveillance; the use of drones to kill
“terror suspects” without trial (i.e. legal murder) is
legitimated the same way (new Ukrainian president Poroshenko has
quickly learned this lesson in rhetorics and is now also “fighting
terrorism” in Eastern Ukraine by bombing civilians, breaking a
truce brokered by diplomats of all parties involved with impunity).
Those in Guantanamo are not given a fair trial, Osama bin Laden was immediately shot instead of tried (as a trial would have raised interesting questions over inconsistencies with regard to 9/11).
While most of the (Western) world is focusing on the events in Eastern Ukraine and most of the (Western) media is hyping Russia into the the role of the (old and new) antagonist of the “free” world, the rotten, inverted side of the Western Janus face remains largely unseen for many followers of the average mainstream “news”. The covert drone war of the U.S., for example, goes largely unnoticed in the mainstream media. UAV's (“unmanned aerial vehicles”), many of them steered from U.S. bases in Southern Germany, have killed more than 2 400 (not convicted, just declared) terror suspects (with at least 276 civilian casualties as “collateral damage”) since 2004. The latest targeted killings, the biggest U.S. drone attack since December (when at least 12 civilians died (out of 17 victims overall)) went almost unnoticed in the West, as it was overshadowed by the coverage of the anniversary of the Boston marathon bombings, where three people were killed and 264 injured a year ago. While Christians celebrated Easter, at least 13 Yemenis were killed by drones, including at least 3 three civilians; the Yemeni government had officially forbidden the U.S. to carry out further strikes in its territory after the last attacks, but regardless of that, the imperial masters make the rules, not the government of (from the U.S. perspective) a petty Arab state. National sovereignty, who cares? The lawfulness of those targeted killings by drones is doubtful at best, but the U.S. (along with their U.K. poodles) are blocking any resolution criticizing them, let alone initiatives calling for an investigation of the matter. On Monday, April 21, the U.S. government was ordered to release the documents that, from its perspective, legalize the killing of U.S. citizens by drones, by a circuit court of appeals in Manhattan, after the NY Times sued it for doing so; the court ruled that the government waived its “right to secrecy” in the matter by publicly making statements justifying the killings, which means: Had the government remained silent, those documents on the matter could have legally remained secret and the right to secrecy would have overridden the public right to know about the justification, i.e. transparency, that is a vital right in a democratic system.
The policies and strategies behind the "terrorism" rhetoric are mere instruments of power politics, though, and conducive to nothing else but the increased fictionalization of human rights, international law, democracy and transparency, as is the talk of sanctions to “punish breaches of international law” and “free trade for the benefit of everyone”.
Sanctions: Some animals are more equal than others
Sanctions and free trade are the other “principles”, better mantras, of the neoliberal rhetoric, promoting shiny, happy principles of “more humane warfare”, of “democratic capitalism and creation of wealth” and a liberal world order with seemingly equal rules for everyone (but some (U.S., the “Five Eyes”, Israel) are more equal than others (Russia, Arab states)).