Allies’ Trust

During one of his speeches at the start of his presidential campaign in 2008, Barack Obama stated in front of 200,000 Germans that allies must “trust each other.” He has spoken these words in an effort to reassure the European allies that if he won the election, he would not follow in the footsteps of his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, who made and executed decisions on his own without taking advice from anybody. Obama was referring to the invasion of Iraq when Bush’s administration went to war, despite the fact that the entire world was against it. It has been six years since Obama said these words about allies trusting each other and today he is under pressure to prove what he said, considering the recent number of scandals involving eavesdropping on his allies.

It appears that the trust of the allies was broken and met with backstabbing. Right now, Germany is in shock after the exposure of the American secret eavesdropping operation. The matter peaked when the CIA spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany had to expel an American official working for the CIA. Following that, a high profile German official stated that Washington’s misconduct made him “want to cry.”

Consequently, Washington’s eastern and western alliances are going through a difficult time. The American alliance with Germany, as well as with other eastern countries was at one point an essential pillar for Washington to [be able to] impose its power in the Middle East.