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Spying among friends

Reader comment on item: Spy vs. Spy, America vs. Israel
in response to reader comment: America will sacrifice Israel if its global interests require dismantling Israel.

Submitted by Martin Kaufman (United States), Aug 10, 2012 at 16:53

My own view is somewhat "agnostic." The interests of the US and Israel are not necessarily identical. Whether they converge enough, not enough or too much is a matter of opinion. The same can be said of US-United Kingdom, US-Canada, US-Germany, US-Japan, US-India, US-Pakistan, US-Russia, etc., etc. relations. The degree of convergence/divergence may well change over time. That being the case, each side of the bipartite relationship will want/need to gather intelligence about the intentions of the other; hence they spy on one another. That is "fair game."

But each side also wants to keep its intentions/capabilities secret, not only from adversaries, but also sometimes from its allies. And of course the rule is that if one person other than yourself knows a secret, it's no longer a secret. The US hasn't been perfect about keeping secrets -- its own or those of its "friends." Hence the need for each country to have counterintelligence. It is disingenuous for the US to complain that Israel -- or any other country -- is vigorously guarding its secrets. In many cases those secrets [e.g. the capability of the Patriot missile defense system] would, if made public, harm the US.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Israel spying on the United States [76 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Daniel FlanneryApr 23, 2013 21:36205518
1Spy vs. Spy, America Vs. Israel...Money laundering is a part of supporting terrorism too. [188 words]AnneAug 10, 2012 16:16197798
sensible blog [163 words]john w mcginleyAug 8, 2012 11:41197751
3Israel as espionage threat [101 words]Martin KaufmanAug 7, 2012 16:58197737
4Great minds think alike! [24 words]There is NO Santa ClausAug 8, 2012 23:01197737
7America will sacrifice Israel if its global interests require dismantling Israel. [422 words]IanusAug 10, 2012 07:46197737
1Spying among friends [196 words]Martin KaufmanAug 10, 2012 16:53197737
5The price for Islam's contribution to America's war on China is dismantling Israel. [458 words]IanusAug 11, 2012 01:49197737
3The USA Vs. Israel James Bond type relations [203 words]NuritGAug 7, 2012 15:47197732
1I disagree, Nurit [79 words]There is NO Santa ClausAug 9, 2012 08:23197732
2Spy vs. Spy, America vs Israel- I wouldn't trust the U.S. government as far as I could throw it! response to Nurit G [207 words]AnneAug 10, 2012 16:02197732
4The world is a crazy place where the inmates run the asylum. [439 words]NuritGAug 10, 2012 17:58197732
1The World is a crazy place where inmates run the Asylum--Very Well Said unequivocally True. reply to Nurit G. [376 words]AnneAug 10, 2012 18:41197732
Telling the truth, one set of eyes at a time! [289 words]NuritGAug 12, 2012 00:20197732
1The World is a place Where inmates run the Asylum. More evident everyday. [319 words]AnneAug 12, 2012 20:52197732
7If you stand back from the trees and look at the forest... [38 words]There is NO Santa ClausAug 7, 2012 15:46197731
Whom should we believe ? [227 words]Göran BurensteinAug 7, 2012 15:01197729

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