…how this is related to the liberty and privacy of Americans.
A Brazilian newspaper reported Tuesday that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has cancelled a state visit to Washington, DC in October.
Rousseff was reportedly angered by media reports that the United States spied on her and other Brazilians’ personal communications. O Globo newspaper said Rousseff was not swayed to go forward with the meeting by a 20-minute phone call from President Barack Obama Monday night, giving no source for the information, according to Reuters.
Did America spy on Brazil? Probably. Do we spy on all of our allies? Probably. Do they spy on us, too? Most likely. Do we spy on our enemies? Yes. Do our enemies spy on us? Yes.
Everyone spies. And I know this may seem counter-intuitive or hard to believe, but spying can, on occasion, lead to diplomatic solutions that avoid confrontation.
As for what this has to do with the liberty and privacy of Americans — I don’t know.
From my perspective this stopped being about the privacy of Americans long ago and is now about simply hurting America.
It’s likely that the government of Brazil is aware that everyone spies, but airing that out in public forces them to condemn it as if it’s a major revelation. And it’s convenient that this comes at a time when Brazil is facing social upheaval.