Re:Leak Suggests NSA Was Deep in Middle East Banking System
by nyolfen on Monday April 17, 2017 @02:14AM
(#14129494)
this is an interesting piece, but its premise is totally ludicrous. we don't spy on europeans because they bribe, we spy on them because we spy on everyone, to have intelligence to act upon in any domain. spying on diplomats and politicians gets orders of magnitude more attention than airbus paying off saudis, and probably any other catgeory besides perhaps security. we spy on these types of people so that analysts can make informed policy recommendations, with better sources than the public media, and any country that doesnt is either underresourced or incompetent. this article is essentially a (literal) joke, thumbing the nose at any outraged europeans who would read it and a collective laugh in their direction for its actual american audience
"Why do you bribe? It's not because your companies are inherently more corrupt. Nor is it because you are inherently less talented at technology. It is because your economic patron saint is still Jean Baptiste Colbert, whereas ours is Adam Smith. In spite of a few recent reforms, your governments largely still dominate your economies, so you have much greater difficulty than we in innovating, encouraging labor mobility, reducing costs, attracting capital to fast-moving young businesses and adapting quickly to changing economic circumstances. You'd rather not go through the hassle of moving toward less dirigisme. It's so much easier to keep paying bribes."