Pres. Hollande pretends to be angry at US spying

Ramin Mazaheri

Press TV, Paris

New documents released by WikiLeaks reveal that the U-S has been spying on the last three French presidents. The revelation has angered many in France, but as our correspondent Ramin Mazaheri reports, few expect Paris to do anything more than just complain.

New revelations from WikiLeaks that the US has spied on the last three French presidents have sparked angry condemnations from French politicians, but many question if their reaction is simply just for show.

It’s speculated that the nearly decade-long US spy operation is run from the roof of the enormous American embassy, which is just a few hundred meters from President Francois Hollande’s official residence, Elysee Palace.

Hollande responded by convening a defense council summit, summoning the US ambassador, and telephoning US President Barack Obama, but many in France believe he has no real intention to punish the US.

But while elected officials may be ok with playing spy games, does that mean the French people must tolerate such illegal activity on their own soil?

The revelations come on the same day that France’s Parliament definitively adopted a massive spy program dubbed “France’s Patriot Act”, which severely undercuts the ruling Socialist Party’s claim of a moral high ground.

Both the US and France are spying on a scale exponentially larger than anything the Stasi or KGB ever did, and yet there appears to be no consequences. And despite their rhetoric about personal freedoms, they seem to apply a “dog eat dog” mentality to everyone, including their allies.

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