'No friendship, just interests'

If it's technically - and technologically - possible, it will happen, without the least consideration of "friendships" or alliances. The most recent Wikileaks revelations should make one thing clear for everybody in Germany: Charles de Gaulle was right.

"There are no friendships between states, only interests," the former President of the French Republic once said.

The United States of America appears to believe that its interests were served by watching the German government at work over decades - in real time. The latest leaks show that the NSA had its sights set on the chancellery, with a list of "selectors" including 56 telephone numbers - in Bonn and Berlin, under Merkel, Gerhard Schröder, and Helmut Kohl. The Americans were even interested to hear what went through the Chancellery's switchboard.

Together with the revelations from last week, we know now that 125 telephone numbers were tapped over decades. This is only a fragment of the lines that were tapped with the help of German intelligence, operating out of Bad Aibling. There were 300 times more there - around 40,000 lines! And ironically, this list is now being kept secret - to protect Washington - by the very chancellery that the Americans were spying on. Only the retired former justice Kurt Graulich is allowed to see it, and in autumn he will present his findings to the Bundestag.

The German government doesn't want to investigate

One month ago, Germany's Attorney General, Harald Range, closed the case on Merkel's tapped mobile phone. The evidence that had been gathered, Range said, weren't adequate for any legal action. But let's not forget: Germany's Attorney General is in no way impartial. He is bound to the directive of the Federal Justice Ministry.

The government thus far has left anything but the impression that they're taking the allegations of NSA espionage seriously. From the very top, it appears that measures are being taken to avoid any clarification - in deference to Berlin's powerful partner. These don't appear to be the actions of a sovereign state. And in the face of the growing evidence, both the German public and its politicians are moving quickly from harboring vague misgivings about US surveillance to having certainty, consternation, outrage - and even resignation.

Espionage is espionage

It is no triviality when a foreign power has covered a country in a dense network of technical surveillance. And no naive statements are going to help, like those of NSA spokesman Ned Price: "We do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose." These national security purposes are being very widely construed, and they serve much more than the "War on Terror."

This can be seen by how far back US surveillance extends. In June 2001, three months before 9/11, the European Parliament issued a report on the US interception system ECHELON, concluding that the US used its surveillance capabilities for economic gains as well. The report contained concrete examples of industry espionage. And, it stated explicitly that the US government since 1990 had "increasingly equated economic security and national security."

Strong signal needed

So it's true: Espionage has always been taking place. But Germany doesn't have to just sit and watch, or be taken for a ride, like Great Britain. In 2001, in response to a German inquiry, the British said that a radar dome placed on the roof of their embassy in Berlin had been put there for "artistic reasons."

Paragraph 99 in the German penal code states that intelligence activities carried out in Germany are punishable by law. This doesn't apply only to the Russians, the Chinese or the Iranians. This paragraph should be used against the Americans, the British, or the French.

Germany can send stronger signals to Washington than just summoning an ambassador. A truly strong signal, for example, would be to grant Edward Snowden asylum here.