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| Europe |
| German Vice Chancellor's Chief Of Staff Fired For Spying For America |
| 2010-12-04 |
| The WikiLeaks affair has claimed its first victim after Germany's vice-chancellor Guido Westerwelle sacked his chief of staff for spying for the Americans. Mr Westerwelle's chief of staff, Helmut Metzner, admitted that he gave regular information to the US embassy in Berlin, and has been "relieved from his duties," a spokesman for the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) said in a statement. Another official in the spotlight is Swedish diplomat Johan Frisell who briefed the US on internal talks between EU ministers about the 2008 Georgia war. The Candian ambassador to Kabul, William Crosbie, has also offered to resign if future cables damage his relationship with the Afghani administration. In Italy, pressure is mounting for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down, after a series of revelations concerning alleged bribe-taking from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The WikiLeaks cables may also have burned the leader of the Communist Party in Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, who is said to have offered $10 million last year for one of the ruling party leaders, Marian Lupu, to defect to his side. The revelation comes in a sensitive post-election coalition-building moment. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #5 "Damage" is a harsh word but you don't take unfair advantage of a friend either. Mr Westerwelle is Germany's Foreign Minister. It is not a friendly act when the other side has his negotiation points before the talks. We are friends, we are partners. But we are also competitors. I think Hillary Clinton would not be amused to learn that her chief of staff is handing over confidential/secret information to the German ambassador. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-12-04 19:50 |
| #4 of course they do - they don't use it to damage an ally, though. I can virtually guarantee Germany does it as well, as they should, especially with Oblahblah "Citizen of the World" in office |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-12-04 19:02 |
| #3 Friends do not spy on friends, ok? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-12-04 18:06 |
| #2 Damn, lost a good German. Ah well, ende gut alle gut, amirite? |
| Posted by: Zombie Hillary Lover 2010-12-04 10:38 |
| #1 ION TOPIX > WIKILEAKS CABLES CONFIRM USA HAS TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN TURKEY [20 tacnukes alone stored in GERMANY, + Netherlands + Belgium]. * SAME > [SperoNews] IS AN APOLCALYPTIC VIONS DRIVING AL-QAEDA'S QUEST FOR THE BOMB? ARTIC = Among other, 'TWAS ALWAYS OSAMA'S + AYMAN'S INTENT TO PROCURE NUCWEAPS in support of their Islamist Agendum = ISLAMIC, GLOBAL VISION??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-12-04 01:39 |