From The International Herald Tribune:
Distrust in Europe for tracing transactionsWASHINGTON — When the European Parliament ordered a halt in February to a U.S. government program to monitor international banking transactions for terrorist activity, the Obama administration was blindsided by the rebuke.
''Paranoia runs deep especially about US intelligence agencies,'' a secret cable from the American Embassy in Berlin said. ''We were astonished to learn how quickly rumors about alleged U.S. economic espionage'' had taken root among German politicians who opposed the bank-monitoring program, it said.
The memo was among dozens of State Department cables that revealed the deep distrust of some traditional European allies toward what they considered American intrusion into their citizens' affairs without stringent oversight.
The program, created in secrecy by the Bush administration after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has allowed American counterterrorism officials to examine reams of banking transactions routed through a vast database run by a Brussels consortium known as Swift. When the program was disclosed in 2006 by The New York Times, just months after the newspaper reported the existence of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, it set off protests in Europe and forced the United States to accept new restrictions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/world/middleeast/06wikileaks-swift.html
Will not time reveal the lasting importance of friends and mutual respect? Be kind to those who think well of you and those you know and try to add positive elements to your world. Promote peace in your heart and sunshine in the minds of those around you by your own good works. Elevate the level of discussion by thinking less of the issues and more of how you can reduce the tension of stress that arises with honest disagreement. Relax by breathing more deeply and consciously.
