Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers abroad:
Khaleej Times, Dubai, on the spying row:
There isn’t any break from spying revelations ”“ at least for the United States. The latest to have caught Washington off guard is the complaint from Berlin that it needs sufficient clarifications over a man who was purportedly spying for the U.S. in the German intelligence service.
This tendency of going over the board by sleuths has literally harmed inter-state relations, and both the countries are in a bad patch since the whistleblower Edward Snowden made his disclosures. What makes America’s allies jittery is the reported large scale spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. The surveillance targets are no more conventional but encompass high-profile figures such as presidents and prime ministers, and peeping deep into their personal lives and preferences.
This new standoff between the U.S. and Germany incidentally had come close on the heels of an assurance from President Barack Obama, who had consoled German Chancellor Angela Merkel by saying that as far as he is in office the issue is gone for good. That is why Berlin thought it important to summon the U.S. ambassador after the mole was formally arrested. Though no word has come from the White House, it is widely hoped that immediate steps would be taken to reconcile with the situation and reassure Germany that wolves in the woods would be hunted down.
The point is whether Merkel is ready to accept that or not. Too much eavesdropping has spoilt Washington’s relationship with the world at large, and it is ironic that a polity that preaches values of freedom and free speech could turn out to be so inward looking in intent.
President Obama, who had promised an overhaul of the electronic surveillance program to the Congress and (to) bring in new curbs not only on the government agencies but also telecommunication wizards, should walk the talk. It’s time to cut down the tall shadows of espionage.
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