Wikileaks: US 'routinely spied' on Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

Wikileaks: US 'routinely spied' on Brazil
1 hour ago



The Wikileaks website says it has evidence that a number of senior Brazilian government officials were routinely spied on by the National Security Agency in the United States. It says the NSA was particularly active in economic espionage against Brazil.

Wikileaks published a list of 29 phone numbers of Brazilians in banking, finance and the economy.

According to the website the espionage apparently began in early 2011 or even earlier.

President Dilma Rousseff cancelled a state visit to Washington two years ago when former CIA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that her phones and emails were being spied on.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33398388

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. At this point in time, if there is any country whose leaders we did NOT routinely spy on,

I think they'd have to be more insulted that we didn't think it worth our time to do so. It's becoming obvious that we spied on friend and foe alike, as long as we thought it was worth so doing.

[cstanleytech]

9. I kind of doubt that there is any country in the world thats not being spied by some other country.

The US, Russia and China are just the 3 who probably do the majority of it.

[elfin]

2. No surprise here. With Bush, Cheney and the "Patriot" Act, I knew no privacy existed anymore

Knowledge is Power. The U.S., China, Russia etc. know that aphorism and have an insatiable hunger to know all. Whether or not they can decipher it or react to bad news in time.

With us to stay.

Someone like Bernie could issue an Exec. Order to scale it back, but this crap now has a life of its own. Thanks Dubya.

As a Wisconsinite, I am nearly crazed at this point to get Russ ("No!" To the P.A.) back in the Senate.

[Judi Lynn]

3. That goes for people outside Wisconsin, too. Believe me! He is missed, isn't he? n/t

[joshcryer]

4. The US will always spy on other countries...

[Leontius]

5. OMG, water is wet

[malthaussen]

6. I'm sure we "routinely spy" on everybody.

Our spooks would not be doing their jobs if we were not.

-- Mal

[reorg]

7. Thank you Wikileaks

Once again the revelations make clear that the main target of the National "Security" Assholes' data theft is 'officials responsible for ... financial and economic matters' as well as major companies like Petrobras.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/04/nsa-top-brazilian-political-and-financial-targets-wikileaks/

[JDPriestly]

16. Interesting isn't it. Yet our excuse for the snooping is national security.

How can they look in the mirror?

[Demeter]

8. And yet, all this effort yields no fruit

Instead, our alliances crumble, our global partners seek new friends, and the People are inflamed to rebel...

shades of 1776!

[cstanleytech]

13. Really? I didnt realize that it didnt yield any fruit but then again I dont have access to

our governments intelligence gathering so of course anything I would say on its ability to yield fruit would just be an uninformed opinion

[Blue_Tires]

10. The Snowald/Assange privacy rights junta waits until an official visit to release this non-story

Which pretty much fits the pattern of the past two years...Why am I not surprised?

Some "transparency"

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. This "non-story" is appearing in the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Telesur, USA Today, Bloomberg...

Among others. You wish it was a non-story.

[Adrahil]

27. Nothing illegal about gathering foreign intelligence.

In fact, I WANT our leaders to have all the info they need in conducting foreign policy.

[iandhr]

11. And I am sure

Brazil spied on us. Every spies on everyone

[JDPriestly]

17. Tell that to the Americans whose personnel files were spied on by, who knows?

China maybe?

We need international protocols, agreements and punishments for this kind of personal spying.

[joshcryer]

19. Brazil Says It Spied on U.S. and Others Inside Its Borders

Brazil’s government acknowledged on Monday that its top intelligence agency had spied on diplomatic targets from countries including the United States, Iran and Russia, putting the Brazilian authorities in the uncomfortable position of defending their own surveillance practices after repeatedly criticizing American spying operations.

Brazil’s Institutional Security Cabinet, which oversees the nation’s intelligence activities, contended in a statement on Monday that the spying operations, involving relatively basic surveillance about a decade ago of diplomats and diplomatic properties in Brazil, were “in absolute compliance” with legislation governing such practices.

The statement followed a report in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo describing how the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, commonly known as Abin, had followed some diplomats from Russia and Iran on foot and by car, photographing their movements, while also monitoring a commercial property leased by the United States Embassy in Brasília, the capital.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/world/americas/brazil-acknowledges-spying-on-diplomats-from-us.html

Everyone does it, when they get caught, they complain. If Brazil had the same resources the US does you can bet your bottom dollar that they'd use those resources. Abin in particular has its hands in everything in Latin America.

The questions shouldn't be about whether anyone is spying on anyone, the question should be about effectiveness, and there's zero evidence that these spying programs have stopped terrorism. It's more about industrial sabotage and trade than it is anything else. Terribly unethical, but it is what it is.

[hobbit709]

12. The U.S. routinely spies on everybody.

Friends, enemies, neutrals, and its own citizens.

[brooklynite]

15. ...and they spy on us.

[brooklynite]

14. Psst...here's a national security secret:

Governments spy on each other.

Do you imagine that President Sanders is going to decommission the CIA?

[JDPriestly]

18. So if our government knows that other governments spy on our it, who is it keeping secrets from?

Are the secrets being kept from the other countries or are the secrets being kept from us?

If we know there is so much spying going on, why do we bother to try to keep so many secrets? It's futile.

Or maybe there isn't really all that much spying going on. Rather, maybe, we tell ourselves there is so much spying going on in order to rationalize the fact that we are overly nosy about what is going on in the economies of other countries.

We have been caught spying on finance ministers, companies, etc., not on military installations. It makes sense to spy on military installations. Why are we spying on economic institutions and companies?

[brooklynite]

20. Spying is an action, not an accomplishment...

We spy on Governments, they try to keep us from finding things out; and vice versa...

[brooklynite]

21. Take China for example...

...yes, it's useful to know what their military capabilities are; it's also useful to know their economic situation what what impact their business practices may have on us.

I'll reframe my question; do you imagine that President Sanders will release every Government secret for your perusal?

[JDPriestly]

23. No. I don't think that President Sanders will release every government secret for our perusal.

But I think he will take a very reasonable approach to the intelligence gathering that we do. I think that because he takes a reasonable approach to pretty much everything.

He is on the budget committee. He probably has a pretty good idea about where we could save money if we approached the size and scope of our government so as to benefit the American people and let multinational corporations that do everything they can to avoid paying American taxes on their profits do their own economic espionage.

I think we should be asking what we are getting, we the American people, for our espionage dollars.

[treestar]

26. Notice how that question is not answered

Too bad Sanders will never be POTUS so he can create "disappointment" when he handles the CIA.

[Comrade Grumpy]

25. I hope would at least decommission the CIA's cowboy secret armies.

[MTJ]

22. Well now thats shocking..

I mean haven't they spied on pretty much EVERYONE?!