

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.


Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

This is according to secret documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and exposed Saturday by Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark writing for Der Spiegel.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, along with 121 other foreign state leaders, is included in what Der Spiegel describes as a key NSA database "of government leaders who have been tasked as targets." Code-named Nymrod, the database is revealed in a classified 2009 presentation document from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction. Arranged in alphabetical order, only 11 names of world leaders targeted by NSA surveillance are shown on the released document, including Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko, and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA kept over 300 reports on Merkel alone in this database.
The Der Spiegel report also reveals that in March 2013 the NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany.
The latest news follows revelations last fall that the NSA had spied on Merkel's mobile phone for up to a decade, causing a significant diplomatic row. While the revelations created a public diplomatic row, German intelligence agencies also closely cooperate with the NSA.
Furthermore, British intelligence agency GCHQ hacked into the servers of German cyber companies and spied on staff communications, Der Spiegel's report reveals. "Is it time for the country to open a formal espionage investigation?" ask the authors.
_____________________
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |

This is according to secret documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and exposed Saturday by Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark writing for Der Spiegel.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, along with 121 other foreign state leaders, is included in what Der Spiegel describes as a key NSA database "of government leaders who have been tasked as targets." Code-named Nymrod, the database is revealed in a classified 2009 presentation document from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction. Arranged in alphabetical order, only 11 names of world leaders targeted by NSA surveillance are shown on the released document, including Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko, and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA kept over 300 reports on Merkel alone in this database.
The Der Spiegel report also reveals that in March 2013 the NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany.
The latest news follows revelations last fall that the NSA had spied on Merkel's mobile phone for up to a decade, causing a significant diplomatic row. While the revelations created a public diplomatic row, German intelligence agencies also closely cooperate with the NSA.
Furthermore, British intelligence agency GCHQ hacked into the servers of German cyber companies and spied on staff communications, Der Spiegel's report reveals. "Is it time for the country to open a formal espionage investigation?" ask the authors.
_____________________

This is according to secret documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and exposed Saturday by Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark writing for Der Spiegel.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, along with 121 other foreign state leaders, is included in what Der Spiegel describes as a key NSA database "of government leaders who have been tasked as targets." Code-named Nymrod, the database is revealed in a classified 2009 presentation document from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction. Arranged in alphabetical order, only 11 names of world leaders targeted by NSA surveillance are shown on the released document, including Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko, and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA kept over 300 reports on Merkel alone in this database.
The Der Spiegel report also reveals that in March 2013 the NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany.
The latest news follows revelations last fall that the NSA had spied on Merkel's mobile phone for up to a decade, causing a significant diplomatic row. While the revelations created a public diplomatic row, German intelligence agencies also closely cooperate with the NSA.
Furthermore, British intelligence agency GCHQ hacked into the servers of German cyber companies and spied on staff communications, Der Spiegel's report reveals. "Is it time for the country to open a formal espionage investigation?" ask the authors.
_____________________