this is an interesting piece, but its premise is totally ludicrous. we don't spy on europeans because they bribe, we spy on them because we spy on everyone, to

this is an interesting piece, but its premise is totally ludicrous. we don't spy on europeans because they bribe, we spy on them because we spy on everyone, to have intelligence to act upon in any domain. spying on diplomats and politicians gets orders of magnitude more attention than airbus paying off saudis, and probably any other catgeory besides perhaps security. we spy on these types of people so that analysts can make informed policy recommendations, with better sources than the public media, and any country that doesnt is either underresourced or incompetent. this article is essentially a (literal) joke, thumbing the nose at any outraged europeans who would read it and a collective laugh in their direction for its actual american audience