Brazilian President Cancels State Visit Over NSA Surveillance
The President of Brazil has canceled a state visit to the White House over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs:
Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported Tuesday that president Dilma Rousseff was so miffed over the National Security Agency snooping into her communications that she decided to cancel her trip to the White House on October 23.
According to Reuters, President Obama spent twenty minutes on the phone with Rousseff last night but she still refused to come. Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed Tuesday afternoon that, yes, Rousseff will no longer be visiting Washington. Obama agrees this is the right thing to do because “the relationship is so important,” Carney told reporters Tuesday. The White House also released this statement:
The President has said that he understands and regrets the concerns disclosures of alleged U.S. intelligence activities have generated in Brazil and made clear that he is committed to working together with President Rousseff and her government in diplomatic channels to move beyond this issue as a source of tension in our bilateral relationship.
The White House hopes they can reschedule. But you know how these things can go.
Of course, the NSA probably knew about her decision before the President did.
Obama should send Mark Sanford down there to smooth things over.
Greenwald is gloating about it on twitter. You can tell he’s quite proud of what he has achieved with his localized Brazilian media, both TV and Print, stories / leaks.
Wow, that’s some grade A bullshit right there.
No, this is the unmitigated BS.
@Jeremy R:
I find it increasingly difficult to believe Greenwald is doing this for any reason other than Greenwald.
@Gold Star for Robot Boy: What was your first clue? When Snowden was stuck in a Russian airport for a month and a half?
@Gold Star for Robot Boy:
He’s a hero to the Brazilian people (/sarc):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html?pagewanted=2
@Gold Star for Robot Boy: Ad hominem much?
@Ben Wolf:
I think it’s quite appropriate, in this instance, to examine the reporter’s motivations along with his reporting.
@Ben Wolf:
Greenwald does a fine job outing himself as he’s all too willing to blurt out his anti-western-intelligence motivation in interviews and in his constant twitter flame wars:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html?pagewanted=6&_r=0
Snowden’s essentially been disappeared somewhere in Russian since the airport & temporary asylum. Every once in a while we get an update on how he’s living freely and happily from his FSB-associated lawyer / handler, but that’s about it. It’s now Greenwald and Poitras in charge of the classified document trove, cherry-picking what to leak for maximal damage, targeting releases to the biggest papers in countries mentioned in the documents, slow walking releases to keep the outrage alive, in their roles as aggrieved activists:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/british-embassy-approached-new-york-times-about-snowden-docu
Note that the president said he understands and regrets the concerns disclosures of alleged U.S. intelligence activities have generated in Brazil — that is, he regrets that they found out about it, not that we’re doing it.
Similarly, I understand and regret the concerns disclosures of my alleged extra-marital activities have generated in my wife.
@Gold Star for Robot Boy:
Why? Who cares? Seriously, who cares? All this focus on Greenwald is just a diversion tactic, and you’re falling for it (or are going along with perpetrating it).
@Rafer Janders:
I can walk and chew gum, you know.
Actually if I was a leader of a nation I’d be kind of surprised (and maybe even a bit insulted) if foreign spy agencies weren’t trying to get information on me. She seems quite intelligent, I find it hard to believe she doesn’t expect that the Russians and Chinese (not to mention the Argentinians and Columbians) aren’t also spying on her.
Or maybe she’s just miffed that the NSA was so clumsy as to get caught – having amateurs instead of pro’s on your case is probably somewhat degrading.
Now the NSA spying on normal citizens is a different matter. Though again, that kind of electronic spying on both foreign and their own citizens is probably being done by every major country.
@al-Ameda: good one, just lock up all the hot Brazilian chicks!
but seriously, is this a bad thing for us, brazil giving us the shaft for stuff they all do?
@bill:
This is a freebie for her – she gets to be “appalled” and show those “damned Americans” that Brasil will do as Brasil pleases. It’s a predictable kabuki – short term it is crappy PR for us, long term — ummm … what’s that, what happened?
Greetings:
I’m sure that the moral superiority of her leftist suasion will have Brazil’s President immediately paying off President Obama’s petro loano to her predecessor.
@11B40:
Of course, as we all know, those on the Right approve of being the subjects of electronic surveillance.
@al-Ameda:
Greetings, al-Ameda:
I’m afraid you got me on that one. I didn’t realize that “those on the Right” (and thanks for the capitalization) had been granted the right to approve or disapprove of anything. Ms. Lerner, somewhat of the IRS, will be shocked.
Well of course because conservatives are nothing more than victims of the evil liberals, media, Hollywood, academia, unions, etc. etc. etc….
@al-Ameda: they’ll look good to their SA brethren i suppose, i’ll forget about it by friday, maybe tomorrow- hell maybe after this bottle of wine!