• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama

Montecresto said:
You have met Obama personally over a dozen times??
Click to expand...

I'm from Chicago and he was a "community organizer" or still is actually.. I've been to lots of "events" er whatever. I've never met him as the POTUS tho.

I don't know if it's a dozen but numerous times - yes.

I don't like the guy, but I have shook is hand - which is why I think the hand shaking thing is insanity.

Obama is a blatant communist tho....

It's amazing (but not) how he was elected in the first place.
 
Last edited:
US Conservative said:
Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama

German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone

Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama | World news | The Guardian

In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up. The German chancellor also told the US president that America's National Security Agency cannot be trusted because of the volume of material it had allowed to leak to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to the New York Times.

Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi."
Click to expand...

I have to agree with Mackeral. I will up the ante and compare NSA to Gestapo.
 
RDS said:
I have to agree with Mackeral. I will up the ante and compare NSA to Gestapo.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why people believe our government is benevolent or something - is it the free social welfare or money?

They want something in return for that **** - obedience!
 
Mr.Nick said:
I don't understand why people believe our government is benevolent or something - is it the free social welfare or money?

They want something in return for that **** - obedience!
Click to expand...

The superpower mentality to many is "domineering". "I command and you obey" weather you like it or not.
 
Mr.Nick said:
I'm from Chicago and he was a "community organizer" or still is actually.. I've been to lots of "events" er whatever. I've never met him as the POTUS tho.

I don't know if it's a dozen but numerous times - yes.

I don't like the guy, but I have shook is hand - which is why I think the hand shaking thing is insanity.

Obama is a blatant communist tho....

It's amazing (but not) how he was elected in the first place.
Click to expand...

Ha yes, I can understand that. People who knew George Bush in business and other settings couldn't understand how he was elected either.
 
Montecresto said:
Ha yes, I can understand that. People who knew George Bush in business and other settings couldn't understand how he was elected either.
Click to expand...

I never met Bush.

IMO, a lot of people or commentators say "Obama came out of no where" that's not true at all - he was on the **** talking circuit for quite some time .....
 
RDS said:
The superpower mentality to many is "domineering". "I command and you obey" weather you like it or not.
Click to expand...

Well it is pretty close to 1984-ish, Orwellian ideals these days...

How isn't it?...

I reserve the right to do what? oh yeah - those some bad words we need to ban...
 
Mr.Nick said:
I never met Bush.

IMO, a lot of people or commentators say "Obama came out of no where" that's not true at all - he was on the **** talking circuit for quite some time .....
Click to expand...

No, I didn't figure you had. People that personally knew Bill Clinton have said the same thing. I have a lake house in Hot Springs and know a lot of people that know him and his brother. It's not that big of a thing. Not defending Obama, just saying.
 
shrubnose said:
[/COLOR]Wrong. The NSA is worse than the Stasi. The Stasi didn't spy on everyone in East Germany like the NSA does on everyone in the USA.
Click to expand...

You apparently know nothing about the Stasi.

But in any case this remark might have been a warning to the American people as much as a response to Barrack Obama. Obama is not respected much anywhere in the world except by the American left and those with no political or economical knowledge. Same thing I suppose.
 
Montecresto said:
Ha yes, I can understand that. People who knew George Bush in business and other settings couldn't understand how he was elected either.
Click to expand...

The people of Texas re-elected George Bush with 69% of the popular vote so perhaps its those unnamed business people who got it wrong.
 
Grant said:
The people of Texas re-elected George Bush with 69% of the popular vote so perhaps its those unnamed business people who got it wrong.
Click to expand...

No, I'm talking about people that personally know/knew most presidents before they were president can't believe that the country elected them. But that's just it, we never "know" the president we vote for and elect.
 
Montecresto said:
No, I'm talking about people that personally know/knew most presidents before they were president can't believe that the country elected them. But that's just it, we never "know" the president we vote for and elect.
Click to expand...

I almost womped Ayers one day at Northwestern - I went out for a walk in Evanston and who did I see - Ayers....

Total non-maniphobe I might add..

The left looks up to him and he was frightened by me and my politics (or just the potential of getting beat up) .... This was when I was younger - I wanted to fight him, and he was shaking like a baby - I just let him be - his shaking somehow made me feel bad for the guy - you would think after everything he has done you would want to bust him up nice but no, I saw a confused old man in his 60's or 50's at that time (certainly older than me)..

I know this story sounds like bull**** but it absolutely happened.

If they had cameras in phones in 2001-2002 that **** would be on Youtube right now...
 
Grant said:
You apparently know nothing about the Stasi.
Click to expand...

But in any case this remark might have been a warning to the American people as much as a response to Barrack Obama. Obama is not respected much anywhere in the world except by the American left and those with no political or economical knowledge. Same thing I suppose.
Click to expand...




I know that the Stasi tried to keep those that were seen as a threat to the East German state under surveillance.

It didn't waste its limited abilities on those who were no threat.
 
Gipper said:
Likening the NSA to the Stasi is making her look like a world class idiot.

The NSA frequently oversteps boundaries and makes FISA look like a standing joke, but the Stasi? Retarded.
Click to expand...

An American is going to tell the Prime minister of Germany how SHE should think of the Stasi. Brilliant. :roll:
 
Mr.Nick said:
I'm a libertarian - however, I don't understand why the Germans (or anyone) thought the US wasn't spying on them..

I damn well know the government has a file on me - they probably record ever keystroke I make, to assume they don't would be naive considering they have the resources...
Click to expand...

ITS NOT THE POINT what they "thought". Its the fact that we were publicly outed for betraying several of our closest allies. And it puts everyone in an embarrassing spot-even more our allies (rightly) trust us less and cooperate with us less.
 
Ikari said:
i think it's very clear we're under single party rule. Partisanship is just maintained as propaganda to make people think there's a difference.
Click to expand...

So, you don't think there's a difference between dems and repubs, left and right.

:screwy



Tell us, what kind of party would you create, which would be SO different. The anime party?
 
US Conservative said:
ITS NOT THE POINT what they "thought". Its the fact that we were publicly outed for betraying several of our closest allies. And it puts everyone in an embarrassing spot-even more our allies (rightly) trust us less and cooperate with us less.
Click to expand...

That's all any of this does. This is why those that keep complaining that Snowden is a traitor and has disclosed state secrets, are wrong. National security isn't what's being harmed at all. The NSA is being harmed. Senator Church, of the Church Committee told us in 1976 already that the NSA had what it took to make any dictators dream come true. Same thing with PVT Manning, Secretary Gates said nothing he disclosed was damaging to national security, just embarrassing. The surveillance state has been nearly fully exposed, and with any luck "genuine" (Jim Sensenbrenner's word) reform will happen at the NSA and any other intell agencies that need it to ensure that Americans fourth amendment rights aren't being violated. Who argues with that. From the founding of this country we were told we could not ever compromise our liberties for security, because of course it's the liberty that purchases the security.
 
In the final count, no, there is a dimes thickness of difference in the two parties. Both of them are responsible for our state of affairs. Fourth amendment violations began to alarm some of us during the Bush admin. And have continued and ratcheted UP during Obama's administration. Bush took office with a 5 trillion dollar debt and doubled it to 10. Obama took office with a 10 trillion dollar debt and is on schedule to double it to 20. Federal aid programs have increased right on through Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama. Is somebody here going to tell me that if the next president is a republican, Surveillance of US citizens is going to be reigned in, the ND is going to be slashed and federal aid rolls are going to be rolled back to their guru Reagan's numbers. Is he going to bring mfg. back to the states, or do something to close the widening income gap or kick the lobbyists out of Washington? HE'LL NO. There is no damn difference.
 
Montecresto said:
No, I would prefer to doubt none of that would be true, I was trying to be a wee bit cheeky with that. However, things start somewhere, and as the outspoken SCOTUS judge said during Bush's administration, concerning illegal (warrantless wiretapping) these are the sort of things that can cause a country to degenerate into dictatorship, and we should avoid that end, by avoiding this beginning. As to Merkel's comments to Obama, first of all, she was probably pissed. Could she have compared the NSA to an aspect of Stasi, without taking that comparison to its end? Even a former Stasi agent has stated they would have loved to have had the NSA's capabilities. It blew his mind.
Click to expand...

nicely stated.The NSA is on/going down the "slippery slope", to dimunition of the 4th amendment to the point of irrelevance.
Constitutional rights have to be ACTIVELY enforced/protected - otherwise they only exist on paper, and are not really there.
 
US Conservative said:
An American is going to tell the Prime minister of Germany how SHE should think of the Stasi. Brilliant. :roll:
Click to expand...

Any American would have the same firsthand knowledge as she does. She wasn't even alive during the original commencements of the Reichstag.

If she survived the death camps, maybe her opinion would hold more merit. It, however, does not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom