In terms of how the other nations responded? Of course it was. They had to put on a good show for their citizens.
The other eyes nations all understood the NSA & Co. had cooked up exceptionally broad technology. They all lied and pretended to be surprised and outraged. That faux outrage was for domestic propaganda consumption, because the alternative to that is to admit they were party to some of what the NSA has been up to for decades.
All major affluent nations - without exception - understood the US had an intense global spy machine. That has been true for ~70 years now. Many of them are part of that machine. Of course they don't all know every program the US is working on, that makes little difference in whether they grasp the basics though. The know what the NSA does, they all have their own intelligence agencies, and they all partner with the US in one way or another.
And some of those faux outrage nations are top tier spying nations themselves, including Russia and China. They lied and pretended to be surprised or shocked at what the US was doing. The point of that is similarly pure propaganda (in that case both for a domestic and international audience, it was a good opportunity to jab the US on propaganda).
You are wrong. Most nations either don't have the capability to spy on foreign diplomats to this degree or it would be too risky for them to try - because they don't have the political power to survive repercussions.
Then there's also nations - which may be surprising to US citizens - where government agencies respect laws, international agreements, and diplomatic immunity as a matter of process. It takes a particular kind of arrogance and belief in their immunity to repercussions to disregard these out of their own volition - without any instruction from country leadership.
The ones from government officials certainly was. You seriously think governments don't spy on each other? As if any politician in the world can poop without it being recorded.
adventured|4 years ago
The other eyes nations all understood the NSA & Co. had cooked up exceptionally broad technology. They all lied and pretended to be surprised and outraged. That faux outrage was for domestic propaganda consumption, because the alternative to that is to admit they were party to some of what the NSA has been up to for decades.
All major affluent nations - without exception - understood the US had an intense global spy machine. That has been true for ~70 years now. Many of them are part of that machine. Of course they don't all know every program the US is working on, that makes little difference in whether they grasp the basics though. The know what the NSA does, they all have their own intelligence agencies, and they all partner with the US in one way or another.
And some of those faux outrage nations are top tier spying nations themselves, including Russia and China. They lied and pretended to be surprised or shocked at what the US was doing. The point of that is similarly pure propaganda (in that case both for a domestic and international audience, it was a good opportunity to jab the US on propaganda).
chmod775|4 years ago
Then there's also nations - which may be surprising to US citizens - where government agencies respect laws, international agreements, and diplomatic immunity as a matter of process. It takes a particular kind of arrogance and belief in their immunity to repercussions to disregard these out of their own volition - without any instruction from country leadership.
beebeepka|4 years ago
unknown|4 years ago
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