5 ms·

The title is wrong. A correct translation from German would be "Germany plans to to defend against USA spying."

michael_storm 13y ago
Looks like the poster copied Chrome's translation word-for-word. Although to me, "counter-espionage" == "counterintelligence", which means steps taken to prevent intelligence gathering. And that's close enough to "defend against USA spying" for my taste.
mpyne 13y ago
I was about to say it can't be right... Germany already has counter-espionage agencies working against the USA (and Russia, and France, and ...).
Havoc 13y ago
The title is not wrong. "Regierung plant Einsatz von Spionageabwehr gegen USA" = Government plans deployment of Counter-espionage [entities] against USA. "Spionageabwehr" is a noun and in this case refers to counter-espionage entities in place already ( Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz & Militärische Abschirmdienst ) Ultimately it comes down to the same thing. I just find it weird that you'd shoot down a near flawless translation and offer a decidedly inferior one in its place.
viraptor 13y ago
I don't understand the article, but does that mean they'll at least start getting rid of the us bases? I keep waiting for that to happen. It's the most visible and real thing they can do in my opinion. I'm not sure how anything else can be viewed as progress if they're happy still happy to host the camps and equipment.
- f_salmon 13y ago
  > does that mean they'll at least start getting rid of the us bases? It doesn't talk about that. And I doubt it's going to happen b/c literally nobody of the current European politicians has the balls to piss off the US (as for France, Obama has declared their president to be the new lap dog, recently, calling it another "special relationship" and saying he couldn't choose between the UK and France, would he be asked to). It's really a freak show nowadays.
  - mfwoods 13y ago
    Not only that, but these bases usually also have a non-trivial contribution to the local economy. Especially in smal(ler) towns, I'd expect there are quite some people who'd rather have a job because of those bases (directly or indirectly) than stop some of the spying (maybe).
    - weinzierl 13y ago
      As a German who lived near the bases Grafenwöhr (the base where Elvis Presley served) and Hohenfels I can confirm this. Wikipedia says Grafenwöhr alone supplies 3600 jobs for locals civilians. I've heard there has been resistance against the bases in the past, but now they are part of the local economy and every reduction in personnel has caused a small outcry.
  - sirkneeland 13y ago
    The current President may be clueless on this, but I'm sure that if the rest of America were asked whether they have a more special relationship with Britain or France (be they military members who share bases, business people who do far more inbound and outbound investment with Britain than with France, academics who collaborate far more with the higher ranked Oxford and Cambridge than any French Ecole, or just regular Americans who watch 'Sherlock' and Monty Python and listen to Britpop) that America has a more special relationship with Britain than France. No offense to France as I am sure they prefer it this way anyway ...
- Havoc 13y ago
  >getting rid of the us bases This is unlikely to ever happen - ever. Germany sees the US as an ally in the military context. Its just that the spying thing touches a really raw nerve for most Germans. With public opinion so united on a topic its easy for politicians to get behind that. Plus no German politician will ever dream of suggesting getting rid of the US bases, much like they'll never suggest stopping damage payments to Israel.
- pgeorgi 13y ago
  The US bases are the one kind of US controlled space in Germany the german government has a right to inspect. Which is why the assumption is that any espionage happens through the embassies (ie. as usual). There's quite some unused space in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - maybe we should just tell the Five-Eyes countries to relocate their embassies there, instead of keeping them right next to the most important political (Berlin) and economical (Frankurt) places of the country.

Looks like the poster copied Chrome's translation word-for-word. Although to me, "counter-espionage" == "counterintelligence", which means steps taken to prevent intelligence gathering. And that's close enough to "defend against USA spying" for my taste.

mpyne 13y ago

I was about to say it can't be right... Germany already has counter-espionage agencies working against the USA (and Russia, and France, and ...).

Havoc 13y ago

The title is not wrong. "Regierung plant Einsatz von Spionageabwehr gegen USA" = Government plans deployment of Counter-espionage [entities] against USA. "Spionageabwehr" is a noun and in this case refers to counter-espionage entities in place already ( Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz & Militärische Abschirmdienst ) Ultimately it comes down to the same thing. I just find it weird that you'd shoot down a near flawless translation and offer a decidedly inferior one in its place.

viraptor 13y ago

I don't understand the article, but does that mean they'll at least start getting rid of the us bases? I keep waiting for that to happen. It's the most visible and real thing they can do in my opinion. I'm not sure how anything else can be viewed as progress if they're happy still happy to host the camps and equipment.

f_salmon 13y ago
> does that mean they'll at least start getting rid of the us bases? It doesn't talk about that. And I doubt it's going to happen b/c literally nobody of the current European politicians has the balls to piss off the US (as for France, Obama has declared their president to be the new lap dog, recently, calling it another "special relationship" and saying he couldn't choose between the UK and France, would he be asked to). It's really a freak show nowadays.
- mfwoods 13y ago
  Not only that, but these bases usually also have a non-trivial contribution to the local economy. Especially in smal(ler) towns, I'd expect there are quite some people who'd rather have a job because of those bases (directly or indirectly) than stop some of the spying (maybe).
  - weinzierl 13y ago
    As a German who lived near the bases Grafenwöhr (the base where Elvis Presley served) and Hohenfels I can confirm this. Wikipedia says Grafenwöhr alone supplies 3600 jobs for locals civilians. I've heard there has been resistance against the bases in the past, but now they are part of the local economy and every reduction in personnel has caused a small outcry.
- sirkneeland 13y ago
  The current President may be clueless on this, but I'm sure that if the rest of America were asked whether they have a more special relationship with Britain or France (be they military members who share bases, business people who do far more inbound and outbound investment with Britain than with France, academics who collaborate far more with the higher ranked Oxford and Cambridge than any French Ecole, or just regular Americans who watch 'Sherlock' and Monty Python and listen to Britpop) that America has a more special relationship with Britain than France. No offense to France as I am sure they prefer it this way anyway ...
Havoc 13y ago
>getting rid of the us bases This is unlikely to ever happen - ever. Germany sees the US as an ally in the military context. Its just that the spying thing touches a really raw nerve for most Germans. With public opinion so united on a topic its easy for politicians to get behind that. Plus no German politician will ever dream of suggesting getting rid of the US bases, much like they'll never suggest stopping damage payments to Israel.
pgeorgi 13y ago
The US bases are the one kind of US controlled space in Germany the german government has a right to inspect. Which is why the assumption is that any espionage happens through the embassies (ie. as usual). There's quite some unused space in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - maybe we should just tell the Five-Eyes countries to relocate their embassies there, instead of keeping them right next to the most important political (Berlin) and economical (Frankurt) places of the country.