The US and Brits and French ( much of western Europe for that matter) are biological kin. They are not only essentially from the same biological egg but they are also culturally bounded in the head.

asj trying hard

      extremely hard.

Hollande: Bugging allegations

threaten

EU-US trade pact

French President Francois Hollande has said allegations that the US bugged European embassies could threaten a huge planned EU-US trade deal.

He said there could be no negotiations without guarantees that spying would stop "immediately".

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he did not know the truth of the claims but sought to down play them.

Meanwhile, Russian and US security agencies are reportedly discussing how to deal with the man behind the leaks.

Former CIA-analyst Edward Snowden is believed to be at an airport in Moscow, seeking a destination safe from the US where he is wanted for prosecution over the leaking of thousands of classified documents.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US's President Barack Obama have ordered the chiefs of their respective agencies, FSB and FBI, to find a way out of the impasse, a senior Russian official said.

'Disturbing news'

The allegations that US security services bugged EU missions and the embassies of friendly European countries - including the French, Italian and Greek embassies - were published at the weekend by Der Spiegel in Germany and the Guardian in Britain.

The claims have angered many in Europe.

The European Commission called it "disturbing news if proven true" and said it expected "clarity and transparency" about the issue from Washington.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said "bugging friends is unacceptable... we are no longer in the Cold War".

Italy's Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said Rome had requested from Washington "clarification of a very thorny affair".

Talks over the EU-US pact, the biggest bilateral deal ever negotiated, are due to start in Washington DC on 8 July.

France only cleared the way for the talks in mid-June, after EU members accepted its demand to shield movies and online entertainment from the might of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

But France's President Hollande signalled on Monday that the negotiations could be further delayed if the US cannot give a guarantee it had ended its surveillance of the EU.

"We cannot accept this kind of behaviour between partners and allies. We ask that this immediately stop," he told journalists during a visit to western France.

"There can be no negotiations or transactions in all areas until we have obtained these guarantees, for France but also for all of the European Union, for all partners of the United States."

Steffen Seibert has said that Germany wants the deal to go ahead but "mutual trust is necessary in order to come to an agreement".

'Must stop'

John Kerry said he did not know the truth of the allegations, but that he had been asked about them by the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and would report back to her.

But at a news conference in Brunei, he said: "Every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs of national security undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that.

"And all I know is that is not unusual for lots of nations. But beyond that I'm not going to comment any further until I have all the facts and find out precisely what the situation is."

Edward Snowden has been charged in the US with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.

He left Hong Kong after revealing his identity, and is reportedly staying at an airport hotel in Moscow from where he has applied for asylum in Ecuador.

Green parties in France and Germany on Monday called on their governments to offer Mr Snowden asylum.

"Someone like that should be protected," said Juergen Trittin, leader of Germany's Greens.

"He should get safe haven here in Europe because he has done us a service by revealing a massive attack on European citizens and companies. Germany, as part of Europe, could do that."

Green Party leaders have also called for existing US-EU agreements on the exchange of bank transfer and passenger record information to be cancelled

As I would expect, you seems to be the leader of "three blind mice"

Die Welt, Germany:

"It is not nice to eavesdrop on friends or to read things they would really want to keep to themselves - but it happens in private life as well as in politics. In private life, it can end in divorce, in politics a lasting separation is only allowed on a temporary basis."

Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany:

"How and when have US agencies spied on Europe, and at whose request? If there are no satisfactory answers soon, then the EU should suspend its free trade talks with the Americans until the matter has been cleared up."

Il Giornale, Italy:

"The Cold War is back, without the atom bomb but with the web. "

Corriere della Sera, Italy:

"It's evident that the explanation given by Washington that its gathering of information is tied to anti-terrorism activities and the need to keep its aggressive enemies at bay is only partly true."

Mr Kerry's words did little to calm the anger coming from France, Germany and Italy.

"We cannot accept this kind of behaviour from partners and allies," Mr Hollande, the French president, said. He insisted that the US explain its practices and end the eavesdropping immediately. And he issued a veiled threat that France would dig in its heels on negotiations on the free-trade deal.

"We can only have negotiations, transactions, in all areas, once we have obtained these guarantees for France, but that goes for the whole European Union and I would say for all partners of the United States," he said.

Italy also stepped up its criticism of the surveillance, with Foreign Minister Emma Bonino saying Italy had asked the Americans for the "necessary clarifications for this very thorny issue".

The European Parliament has demanded an explanation from Washington over its actions and warned of a chill in EU-US relations as a result.

Obama seems like another Hitler in the making

NSA abbreviation is NAZI SOCIETY OF AMERICA. Obama is doing exactly what Hitler did to Germany. Spy on the citizens , order killing the citizensis a good example etc. Every fair trial is public. Why cannot USA allow trial in a third country of Manning, Assange, Snowden , or may be under UN.

keep pluggin away bai...who knows

He could lay claim to having precipitated the collapse of the Great US of A

the man fail to realize that all these countries spy on each other, why yuo think they have spy agencies...of course when it hits the news, the country being spied on has to act offended as if they didn't know...they have to come out with plenty bluster to show their citizens how offended they are...

Because of your fanaticism the do need to keep a good check on your behind, and ever vigilant if you for example buys a pressure cooker. Who knows; it is not a reach to believe you are inclined to use it to kill some of us because of your nutty beliefs. It is indeed a comfort that they watch *******s like you.

Those fools broke American laws. There is no such thing as a nation forgoing its legal system for others. We do not even do it inter jurisdictionally in our federal republic so why the hell should we do it for these degenerates who want to destroy the country.

The common enemy of all humanity are these Islamist terrorists.  In the end, that's the real enemy.

Just focus on the Islamist terrorists and that would be fine.  Leave others out.

What happened, are you suffering from head blows? Redux slams you in the head so many times, seems now you become obsolete. Focus again and come with something better.

Islamic terrorist has nothing to do with this issue. Stop getting bassidy