I spy with my little eye, something that is ......

Remember that game we used to play in the car, when the kids were small...  what a lot of fun it was.
Well, now all of Europe is in an uproar, because they found out that the USA has been spying on them. 
There are so many aspects to this story, that one could write a Novel about it. (Somebody probably will.)
The one which I find most interesting is the reported "Shock" and "Consternation" which the papers report as being experienced by the European politicians.
One of the often used expressions is that "one does not do this to a friend"...   what a naive almost childish belief this is: There have been spying activities not only amongst enemies, but also amongst friends since "International Relations" began. Do you think that the Department of External Affairs, for instance of Germany, does not have its well placed information gatherers in France or in England? Of course they do.
And if indeed it is so despicable to spy on your friends, why do your friends have information they are not willing to share? Why does the E.U. not say: Hey, don't waste your money and effort, we have no secrets, because you are our friend. The Europeans do not take this approach, neither do the Americans. 
Because every political entity is most concerned with the well being of its own citizens, as, of course, they should be. When the chips are down, everybody is his own best friend.
The gathering and storing of telephone calls, e-mails, and other electronic means of communications, as evidently practiced by the USA is, I suspect, directed to the on-going fight against international terrorism, and not primarily to find out military or economic secrets.
Being an ardent defender of individual rights, among many others, the Right to Privacy, it does not make me deliriously happy to hear that my telephone calls with my golfing partner are being monitored by the Secret Service Institutions of America or any other country. When he tells me that he "got a hole in one" I would not want this to have any meaning other than that he is a damn good golfer.
When I call home and say:" Hi, I'll be home in an hour"... and my wife says: "Drive carefully"...I don't really care who else hears it.
But when the equivalent of the Austrian Secret Service  listens in on a phone conversation in which a non-farmer orders 10 tons of fertilizer, and by further investigation they discover a plot to blow up the Giant Ferris Wheel, then I say: Great Job.
Yes, it seems that giant computers are being used to intercept almost all electronic communications.
Since it is quite well known that organized Terrorism communicates in this way, I see not much wrong with the effort to undermine their plans. And since it is also quite well known that at the moment America is the main target of International Terrorism  I think that it would be criminally negligent if they did nothing to defend themselves.

Bertstravels.