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Die Snowden-Operation - Eine Folgenschwere Enthüllung (Kindle Single) (2014)

by Edward Lucas(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

AmazonCrossing

review 1: interesting book decrying the snowdenistas. written from the government's point of view. spying is simply a part of life. allies on allies, allies on enemies, allies on us, us on us. I don't deny this nor do I consider it absolutely evil. that is, except for the us on us. I am for the government bugging illegal aliens, foreigners, especially Arabs. I am for all espionage carried out on any and all countries by the US. however, when the US stores meta data of its own citizens to be used at some hypothetically future time, problem. I am not knowledgeable enough on the Snowden case to be dogmatic either way. I am for strong defense which includes espionage on many levels. I am not for selling our freedoms in the name of security.
review 2: The author is... more a journalist with The Economist who has covered the Soviet Union/Russia for many years. Contrary to other reviewers of this book, I didn't find Lucas to be a conspiracy theorist or given to undue speculation. Lucas's book has two main arguments: (1) Snowden's revelations have done more than good, and (2) Snowden may be an unwitting pawn of the Russian intelligence services. Lucas supports the first argument with plenty of evidence; and Lucas admits that the second argument is a hypothesis that fits certain of the facts but that he cannot prove. First, Lucas argues that Snowden's conduct has been disastrous. Lucas is not an apologist for the American intelligence services. He thinks that National Intelligence Director James Clapper should have resigned for telling the Senate in 2013 that intelligence officials did not collect data on Americans. And Lucas believes that it may have been beneficial for Snowden to leak certain documents, such as the FISA order regarding Verizon's provision of call data to the NSA. Lucas faults American intelligence services for being too vast, too eager to harass whistleblowers, and too ready to classify information.But Lucas writes that the volume and kinds of data leaked by Snowden surpassed Snowden's purported goal of seeking to spark a debate about surveillance and privacy. What was Snowden's point in revealing how the NSA intercepts radio transmissions of Taliban fighters in Pakistan? Or in revealing a self-assessment by U.S. intelligence that it lacks sufficient information on China's next-generation fighter aircraft? Lucas notes that this is the kind of intelligence work that most Americans would probably expect/hope the country's intelligence services to perform. Lucas wonders who elected Snowden, Greenwald and Poitras to determine U.S. foreign policy and intelligence capabilities?And Lucas criticizes the naivete of people who believe that American interests are so closely aligned with its allies' interests that there is no need for spying among allies, such as listening in on Angela Merkel's phone calls. Not only have these revelations compromised America's access to valuable information, they have driven wedges between the U.S. and the its Western allies. Second, Lucas argues that Snowden could be the naive pawn of Russian intelligence services. Most reviewers criticize Lucas for this hypothesis. But, while people may disagree with Lucas's idea, it is unfair to criticize him for presenting it. Lucas admits that Snowden could just be a misguided whistleblower with reckless allies. But he also argues that we cannot foreclose the possibility that Snowden is a pawn in an intelligence war between Russia and the West. Given Lucas's upfront disclosure that he lacks adequate information to confirm this hypothesis, what is wrong with Lucas's presentation of a theory that matches certain of the known facts? These includes: the odd absence in Snowden's extensive revelations of surveillance practices of the Russian or Chinese governments, possible Russian involvement in past intelligence leaks (e.g., regarding the Echelon program in the 1990's) that divided the U.S. from its allies, the Soviet Union's use of anti-war/nuclear demonstrators to influence American capabilities, and Snowden's escape to Russia. Lucas wrote his book before Snowden asked Putin on Russian television in April 2014 about Russia's surveillance practices (and Putin gave his answer about Russia's respect for the rule of law). But Snowden's willingness to participate in Putin's propaganda lends further support to Lucas's hypothesis--as does Putin's response that Russia's intelligence services don't have as much money as U.S. counterparts, implicitly suggesting that Russia needs to look for other ways to blunt America's electronic spying. less

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