Short: Brits bugged Secretary General Bloomberg reports that former UK Development Secretary Clare Short has revealed that the British government spied on the office of the Secretary General of the United States prior to the invasion of Iraq. This could spell trouble for Tony Blair ... isn't he answering questions on the matter right about now? Reuters hits the wire with the UN's response; they're not surprised. You know, all is fair in love and war, but if we're going to bother pretending to get along at all in this world, there are some things you just don't do. This is one of those things that's a toss-up. Either Ms. Short is grievously incorrect, or else it really has come to this. You spy on your friends, you spy on your enemies. It's actually hard to tell which is more embarrassing to be busted by. Although, for the record, I give about as much credibility to the statement that the UN operates in complete transparency and openness as I do to the statement that British security services always act within the law. Nonetheless--all is fair in love and war; nothing is sacred; trust nobody; keep your friends close and your enemies closer ... I just don't see that this has really done a whole hell of a lot for the world throughout time. Tragic, but inevitable. • Bloomberg. "UK Spied on UN's Annan, Ex-Cabinet Minister Says (Update 1)." February 26, 2004. See http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=aDplnXZGshCk&refer=uk • Reuters. "U.N. Says Any British Spying on Annan Illegal." February 26, 2004. See http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4443614§ion=news
whoops ... i just posted the same story in world events ... ( but that´s good ; world events shouldn´t be the place for discussions ) btw , i voted for other : if you spy on a friend , you shouldn´t be surprised that you have no friends anymore Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Strictly speaking... the UN has never been much of friend to the "Coalition of the Willing "but rather more of a wailing rubber stamp. allegations such as these arent going to do much damage, a tight slap on the wrist is the most that can be expected.........
Strictly speaking... the UN has never been much of friend to the "Coalition of the Willing so it´s allowed to spy on an ally ( not an ally for the so called coalition , but an ally for UK and usOFa ..... ) ?
Allies have always been spying on each other. The common axiom for crimes, and criminals is "you aren't committing a crime if no one catches you."
Shows how much "goodwill of nations" the UN inspires- or more precisely how much goodwill there is going around.
In any high level diplomatic system it is more than possible to be surveyed at all times if your security is poor, its well known in the diplomatic system and its something that i personally blame un security for, you never know if information gained could save lives and may never be passed on... so i say well done to our military intelegence system.
