Schily, Schäuble, von der Leyen - federal ministers are slicing away freedoms and safeguards in Germany piece by piece in a salami technique that's already in use since 9/11.
The latest slice aims at the parliamentary control over our foreign intelligence agency. Luckily, it's just an attempt so far and won't be done before the elections next Sunday.
Many other countries have no parliamentary control of their intelligence services and live adequately with it, but that's no good reason to massacre our parliamentary control.
Nations have different sets of safeguards and rules to preserve freedom and citizen's rights and to keep the Leviathan in check. You can take a away a few or reform them, but a wide-angle massacre among almost all safeguards is in my opinion an enemy of our free and democratic order.
The parliamentary control of the BND, an intelligence agency that eavesdrops on international phone calls and has a history of scandals, is not debatable. A minister who even proposes to remove this control should be fired. Actually, there are dozens of reasons why Schäuble should be fired and I really, really hope that he gets dumped after the election even is his party remains in power.
Sven Ortmann
.
The latest slice aims at the parliamentary control over our foreign intelligence agency. Luckily, it's just an attempt so far and won't be done before the elections next Sunday.
Bundestag bald ohne Geheimdienst-Kontrolle?
(Federal parliament loses control of intelligence service?)
(Federal parliament loses control of intelligence service?)
Many other countries have no parliamentary control of their intelligence services and live adequately with it, but that's no good reason to massacre our parliamentary control.
Nations have different sets of safeguards and rules to preserve freedom and citizen's rights and to keep the Leviathan in check. You can take a away a few or reform them, but a wide-angle massacre among almost all safeguards is in my opinion an enemy of our free and democratic order.
The parliamentary control of the BND, an intelligence agency that eavesdrops on international phone calls and has a history of scandals, is not debatable. A minister who even proposes to remove this control should be fired. Actually, there are dozens of reasons why Schäuble should be fired and I really, really hope that he gets dumped after the election even is his party remains in power.
Sven Ortmann
.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteWas parliamentary control set up back in Gehlen's time to keep him in check?
If so was it because of the fear of his organization spying on the political opposition/ Or perhaps because he was also working for the Americans?
The parliamentary control dates back to the beginnings, and control was improved in steps till at least the Schmidt era.
ReplyDeleteThe whole FRG was kinda working for the Americans early on, so the only really problematic links in the early FRG were Eastern ones (or links to red light districts).
The recent BKA Geetz is said to have influence on the BND as well, but I don't recall what exactly.
This hachneyed caricature "Schäuble/STASI 2.0" is as boring as slogans in the eighties which tried to set minister of the interior Zimmermann on a level with the SD .(remember horrible things like "Volkszählung" or "maschinenlesbarer Ausweis"...)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heinzrudolfkunze.de/musik/songs/sicherheitsdienst.html
"Funny" equations with STASI or SD do not hit the point.