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France, Poland, South Korea react to US spying on embassies




The world, still in shock over revelations that the U.S. government has been spying on 38 embassies based in America, including EU missions and institutions, continues to react to the disclosure. The latest reaction has come from France whose president is seeking a common European position on Washington’s extensive eavesdropping programs on its allies.
French President Francois Hollande has said it’s necessary for a coordinated European position against the U.S. spying.


“It is necessary for Europe to have a coordinated, common position against the requirements that we have to make, the explanations we have to ask,” Hollande said in a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart.


It was Hollande’s second reaction in the past 48 hours to the issue. On Monday, the French President said Washington must immediately stop its spying on EU diplomats. He also suggested that the scandal could undermine free-trade negotiations between the UE and the U.S. “We cannot accept this kind of behavior from partners and allies … We can only have negotiations, transactions, in all areas, once we have obtained these guarantees for France, but that goes for the whole European Union and I would say for all partners of the United States,” Hollande said on French television on Monday.

Meanwhile, Poland and South Korea are seeking explanation from the US government why their embassies have been spied on by Washington.
“We will demand an explanation for NSA actions towards Poland and the EU,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a Twitter post.


Poland is one Washington’s staunchest allies. The spokeswoman for the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Han Hye-jin, told reporters at a press briefing that “We are confirming whether the media report is true. Depending on the result, we will take appropriate measures, if necessary.”
South Korea is also a close ally of the U.S. government.


Ever since the scandal came to light, the U.S. government has been facing an irredeemable failure in trust from its key allies over the top-secret spying programs.
According to reports supplied by Edward Snowden, a former American spy agency contractor, German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) monitors phone lines and bugged embassies of European countries in Washington, New York and Brussels. “Britain was one of a handful of countries exempted”, according to the British Daily The Telegraph.


Meanwhile, in another development, Snowden has released a statement slamming the U.S. government for the campaign it’s waging against him and his political asylum plans.
“While the public has cried out support of my shining a light on this secret system of injustice, the Government of the United States of America responded with an extrajudicial man-hunt costing me my family, my freedom to travel, and my right to live peacefully without fear of illegal aggression,” Snowden said in his statement.
Snowden said he remained free to make new disclosures about U.S. spying activity.

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Lendman: US policies may end up in 'mushroom-shaped cloud'Washington’s illegal spying across the world may end up in a “global war” and “mushroom-shaped cloud”.


American author Stephen Lendman says Washington’s illegal spying across the world may end up in a “global war” and “mushroom-shaped cloud”. “There is a real threat that will explode into something much, much greater. The potential of a global war, the potential of using real weapons of mass destruction is a mushroom-shaped cloud of future”, he said in a phone interview with Press TV’s U.S. Desk.

Lendman also said President Barack Obama downplayed “America’s unconstitutional spying at home, its lawless blind on a global scale”.

“European leaders in Germany, in Italy, in France, in other countries they expressed outrage quote on quote about what America is doing. They know perfectly well what American is doing. They may know more now because of details that Edward Snowden revealed.

He connected a lot of dots that maybe even insiders didn’t fully know about this”, he explained. Snowden’s revelation is “the tip of the iceberg. It reflects America’s imperial agenda.

Obama is waging wars in the Middle East, in central Asia. He’s got other wars in mind”, the analyst said. “Humanity may not survive on Obama’s watch. America has a permanent war policy”, Lendman said. “In the entire history of America, it’s an almost unbelievable fact, but it’s true.

America never in a single year experienced peace”. American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is staying in a transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, has sought asylum from at least 15 countries.

Snowden, who is charged with espionage, has revealed to the news media details of secret surveillance programs under which the U.S. spy agencies collect massive amounts of data on people’s communications via telephone and the Internet. He also said Washington is spying on its European allies.


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