CLOUDS ARE PILING UP OVER THE ATMOSPHERE OF TRUST

The exposing materials of Edward Snowden, who previously worked for two US secret services, have led to disruption of a trust-based relationship in international affairs. 

It turned out that for many years telephone conversations have been comprehensively wiretapped and the electronic correspondence and data of millions of people, including the leaders of 35 countries, have been tracked. The row has dealt a powerful blow to the image of Washington, which has been presenting the United States as a country playing the role of a beacon of the liberal-democratic values and basic human rights around the world.

But the most aggravating point of this scandal for Washington is the fact that the list of the people whose communications were wiretapped included the leaders of all the European Union member states, as well as most international and regional organizations (even the United Nations).

Better safe than sorry? 

First, Washington was bluntly declining to admit the unflattering fact. Then an attempt was made to lay the blame for it on the National Security Agency, which was allegedly acting on its own. But since the former and acting intelligence officers pointed the finger at the US authorities, it was impossible to "hide an awl in a sack". Ultimately, Washington, having admitted the blame, made several reconciliatory steps. President Barack Obama ordered to stop listening in to the phones of the Washington-based IMF and World Bank. Also, restrictions were imposed on tracking the UN headquarters in New York. He also expressed readiness to sign orders to ban tracking by the US secret service of the leaders of allied countries, in a bid to appease the European allies, which were frustrated by the actions of the US intelligence bodies.

But this option did not satisfy the EU and the U.S. was called upon to conclude an agreement on ending mutual espionage across the board.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on denunciation of the agreement on the international banking system regarding exchange of information and making payments, which grants the U.S. access to the banking data of the Europeans. Though this is not a binding resolution, it is a political signal nonetheless. The US actions have drawn the most ire from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose opinion has become a dominant one in recent years essentially in all European affairs. According to her, having phoned President Obama, she made it clear that tracking friends is absolutely unacceptable. In addition to this step, Merkel, in conjunction with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, appealed to the UN, offering passage of a resolution on the protection of electronic communications.

Brazil also intends to pass a new law that would oblige the Internet companies operating in the domestic market to have their servers on its soil.

"Informed means armed" 

The temptation to wiretaps and tracking is as old as humanity itself and has increased as technological development progressed. There is an expression saying "informed means armed". In the present-day world, electronic and virtual communication networks, including cellular communication, play the key role in the process of collecting information. The very emergence of the information paradigm has become a new geopolitical reality of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which has shaped up as a result of the information revolution. The information paradigm lays out a different interpretation of the nature of the global balance of power in world politics. According to that paradigm, information becomes the deciding factor in the contemporary phase of the world's geopolitical evolution and the system of international relations. In other words, the path to global dominance lies through absolute control over information communications, including the means of communication. In this context, close cooperation of the Microsoft and Apple companies with the US secret service does not appear to be a mere coincidence at all.

The same holds true for a secret infiltration of the National Security Agency into the communication networks, which connect the datacenters of the online search engines Yahoo and Google around the world, which allowed collecting information from hundreds of millions of user accounts. And though representatives of the latter cited the agency's acting on its own, the allies are unlikely to have believed that to be the case.

It is hard to believe that world leaders, who are indignant over the US actions which have gone public, are na?ve romantics who have no clue about the principles of bitter and at times even brutal political realism. As for their indignation over the unacceptability of this between allies, it would be enough to refer to the view of the expert in geopolitics Nicholas Spykman, expressed in the book "America's Strategy in World Politics: 'The United States and the Balance of Power'", which was written back in 1942. "The U.S. must wage the fight until it beats not only the enemies but also the allies". That is, according to Spykman, continuous rivalry and fight is waged even between the allies, and an allied relationship does not entail absolute trust.

The same stance was taken by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has spoken out in support of Washington. According to Cameron, the U.S. and Britain were listening in to their allies as part of their effort to fight terrorism.

What are the grounds?! 

It is also noteworthy that the lack of Washington's confidence in its European allies, particularly Germany, has grounds. The White House has always been somewhat suspicious of Berlin's behind-the-scenes advances toward Russia, which was also getting France involved in this game during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. Moreover, the persistent opposition of Chancellor Merkel to taking tough action against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya did not go unnoticed by the U.S. Washington could not have been left unruffled by Berlin's steps, and it intensified the process of wiretapping. Moreover, such game-playing was unpleasant for the U.S., which not only played an indispensable role in Europe's economic revitalization after World War II, but also became the founder of the system of European security and has been its guarantor to this day. It is quite possible that in appreciation for its indispensable efforts, Washington deems tracking the phone conversations of the EU leaders as quite justified. Actually, this is just an assumption. But one thing is clear for sure: the U.S., which always takes as a basis the principle of its dominant role when it comes to allied relationships, has never considered the EU as a full-fledged and absolute political entity. The U.S. may recognize the EU as an economic giant, but in political terms the united Europe is deemed by Washington as a dwarf. It is remarkable that in this situation Washington is not focusing on deep defense. Namely, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the House of Representatives intelligence committee that his European colleagues are probably collecting information about the US authorities. Even more shocking was the statement by the Director of the mentioned controversial National Security Agency Keith Alexander, who noted that, in fact, information was being collected by European intelligence bodies and then it was occasionally shared with the U.S.

In a nutshell, the chiefs of two intelligence services made it clear that wiretapping and tracking others is done by anyone in the world who can and has the capabilities to do so. But others are envious of America, which does it more successfully.

In this context, the conclusions of some Western analysts are worth referencing. They charge that certain European countries, having capitalized on the emerging situation, are trying to meddle in the US spying activity and reap the benefits from it. Thus, the European NATO members are planning an attempt to enter a close circle of intelligence called "Five eyes", which currently includes five English-speaking countries - USA, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. According to a pact of this group, its participants do not spy on each other and share "the innermost secrets". 

At the same time, a number of European countries plan to demand that US companies such as Google or Yahoo abide by European laws to avoid the expected hefty fines they would face. Therefore, it is possible that the international row over the comprehensive wiretapping and tracking of information could turn into another behind-the-scenes political bargain, and it will be then soft-pedaled in great favor of the interested countries.