NSA Surveillance Blowback: Brazil's President May Cancel Washington Visit

[DeSwiss]

Source: Common Dreams

A day after Rousseff demands public apology for being target of NSA surveillance, Brazil cancels advance team's trip to US

Published on Thursday, September 5, 2013 by Common Dreams
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer


[font size=1]Brazil's President Rousseff arriving at the
G20 in St. Petersburg on Thursday. (Photo:
Ichiro Guerra/Blog do Planalto/cc/flickr) [/font]

In the fallout of the revelations of vast spying by the NSA, there are signs Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff may be canceling her scheduled Oct. 23 visit to Washington. On Sunday, journalist Glenn Greenwald reported that the NSA had spied on the phone calls and electronic communications of Rousseff as well as Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Reuters reported Wednesday that would Rousseff possibly cancel her formal trip to the White House in October unless she received a public apology for the surveillance. An unnamed senior Brazilian official told the news agency, "She is completely furious."

"This is a major, major crisis .... There needs to be an apology. It needs to be public. Without that, it's basically impossible for her to go to Washington in October," Reuters reports the official as saying. And on Thursday, another sign the visit could be canceled emerged.

Various news agencies are reporting that Brazil canceled a visit by a team of aides in preparation for Rousseff's trip. The team was expected to head to Washington this weekend.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/05-3

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- An apology? In public? With an admission of wrongdoing? Nah, she ain't coming......


There's an even bigger Brazil/NSA story coming Sunday." - G. Greenwald

[Katashi_itto]

1. This is just the start...

[Peace Patriot]

2. There is more to this than NSA spying.

In truth, I think it's mostly about U.S. plans to bomb Syria.

Back when the U.S. drone-bombed Libya, President Obama committed a huge insult against Rousseff and Brazil by announcing that bombing FROM BRAZIL (on his visit there). Rousseff and other Brazilians were outraged. I therefore think that Rousseff is not about to get caught at a banquet and other festivities at the White House while the U.S. is bombing Syria.

This is not to say that the U.S. spying on Rousseff's emails and phone calls is not a big deal. It certainly is. Spying on Brazil's president is almost as bad--as to perhaps THE most important issue in Latin America, Latin American sovereignty--as announcing U.S. aggression from Brazil, aggression that President Rousseff did not endorse, did not approve of and was not a party to. However, the Leftist leaders of Latin America would be fools if they didn't realize that the U.S. was spying on them, and they are not fools. They can now claim it as fact and fight it more openly, but it cannot have been a surprise. But getting photographed smiling and shaking hands with President Obama, as he violates international law and further ravages world peace--another set of issues that Latin Americans feel strongly about--is quite another thing. The U.S. may have tried to make it look like Rousseff endorsed the bombing of Libya, or, at least, that she was a mere chattel of the U.S. as it occurred--and THIS situation (planned Rousseff visit to the U.S. which might coincide with U.S. bombing of Syria, and will certainly coincide with on-going U.S. saber-rattling)--smells very similar.

I don't think that Rousseff will risk it. And, while the NSA spying and lack of U.S. apology may be the public reason given--and is certainly an insult or worse (part of CIA political planning to sabotage Rousseff's Workers Party government?)--I tend to think that, if it is only NSA spying that is causing her to hesitate, that some accommodation would be arranged through diplomatic channels to answer hers and the Brazilian government's concerns in some way. Being fete'ed in Washington while the Imperium's bombs are falling is something else again. That cannot be handled diplomatically, and further, Rousseff may fear, with good reason, that 'Washington' may want to rub Brazil's and Latin America's nose in their helplessness before U.S. military power, by bombing Syria quite deliberately while she's there. Not a biggie in our "military-industrial complex"'s considerations--more of a flip-off, a sidebar, an added perk in the Great Oil War, to give the finger to Brazil and to the Leftist democracy movement in Latin America, again.

[DeSwiss]

3. Just before the Golden Age begins......

...there is a cleaning of clocks and a settling of accounts.

- Americans are in for a surprise because they've slept so long......

[fujiyama]

4. Is this president reading a book called

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People"?

[DeSwiss]

5. ....

[center]
''Would you buy a used talking-point from this man???''[/center]

White House Office of the Maintenance of Turmoil:

[center]MEMO [/center]
TO: Mr. Chet Mayer, Asst. Media Director of Enhancements
FROM: POTUS
Subj.: UPDATE-- The ''POing All of America'' Project

My request for more attention and coverage of the kinds of Americans we're alienating from our party is moving right along. I know this must all seem counter-intuitive to each of you. But trust me, I'm a eleventy-dimensional chess player. You wouldn't understand. It's for the best.

I'd also like to report success in throwing a monkey-wrench into the Republican's reelection campaigns and making them try to out Tea-Party each other, when I Barack H. Obama publicly supported and endorsed the Family Research Council's request for prayer in public meetings. We even filed a lawsuit in federal court! Even I was amazed how devilishly clever this would be! But it just shows that prayer can conquer anything! I know this'll drive them absolutely nuts for years to come! Allah Be Praised!

Further, it occurred to me that I haven't significantly PO'd the liberals lately and nothing gets them cranked up like a little warring and killing. So I've decided to approve the ''It's Not-A-War©'' concept for Syria.

This is the plan John Kerry hatched where we promise to make all our bombs behave and go to the correct addresses that we give them and not hurt any little children. If, possible. Remember our motto: ''Keep ALL the liberals pissed-off ALL the time and they'll never leave you. Cause where can they go?''

I look forward to seeing your ideas on the matter. Staff with the *best ideas* get to go with me to Russia Sweden St. Petersburg.

Barack