Editor’s Note – Of all the people, and/or nations to watch closely, why was the NSA so focused on Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor? As Tyler Durden posted at Zerohedge: “With friends like these, who needs Russians?”

The Obama Administration apparently ignores historical data like the Wikileaks cables we reported on this week that showed Putin’s intentions in 2008, we ask again, why so much interest on Germany, our staunch NATO ally?NSA economist bridge

The chart posted below shows that she ranked above Bashar Al Assad of Syria in manual CIA station chief directives/reports and was in the top of those being watched including some of the most nefarious characters and governments including Malaysia, a nation so in the news of late due to the missing flight MH 370.

We know Malaysia is a hotbed, but is Germany, or their Chancellor? And look who made the list at 122, yes Ukraine’s now freed former President, and new candidate for the same office again, now that Russia has forced such dire changes to Ukraine, Yuliya Timoshencko.

From Tyler Durden at Zerohedge:

With friends like these, who needs Russians?

In the summer of 2013, a big diplomatic spat erupted when as a result of Snowden’s revelations, it became clear that among the countless world leaders the NSA was spying on was none other than US “best buddy forever”, German chancellor Angela Merkel. Why would the US spy on one of its closest strategic allies the Germans wondered: after all is it not Germany where the bulk of NATO forces are stationed (a topic that is sure to gain more prominence in the coming months now that the second coming of the USSR is just around the corner). Little by little, the diplomatic fallout was put to bed after US ambassadors across Europe were summoned, and given a stern talking to, resulting in promises that never again will the US abuse its bosom, if broke, buddies in Europe. And the whole spying scandal disappeared as if it had never happened.

Naturally, what the less naive ones knew and anticipated, was that if it had emerged that the NSA was spying on Merkel, there was about to be a waterfall of other unpleasant revelations about how deep the NSA’s tentacles stretched inside Germany, all contained in Snowden’s seemingle endless bag of goodies. (Read the rest here.)

With all the secret reports on Merkel, you would think she was more like Hitler than Putin is like Stalin.

NSA Kept Hundreds of Reports on German Chancellor Merkel: Report

By Sam Laird – Mashable

The NSA stored more than 300 secret reports on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the White House’s most important allies, in a database that also contained information about scores of other foreign heads of state, according to a Saturday report from Der Spiegel.

The prominent German news magazine said this is just the latest revelation to emerge from the massive collection of sensitive and damaging documents released by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower who began leaking top-secret information about United States intelligence-gathering operations last June.

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The database of foreign leaders included more than 100 people, according to Der Spiegel, who were listed alphabetically according to first name. In addition to Merkel, heads of state from Peru, Malaysia, Guatemala, Colombia, Belarus and Somalia appeared on the list. Der Spiegel did not specify what types of information the more than 300 reports on Merkel contained.

A separate Der Spiegel report from Saturday said the NSA and its British equivalent also targeted private German companies for clandestine intelligence-gathering operations. German authorities are reportedly considering whether or not to open their own formal espionage investigation into the NSA’s activities.

Saturday’s news is the latest Snowden leak to strain the relationship between the U.S. and Germany. Last October, it was revealed that the U.S. likely spied on Merkel’s personal phone, according to multiple reports. That led to a conversation between Merkel and President Barack Obama in which the German chancellor reportedly warned Obama that, if true, such actions by the U.S. would be “completely unacceptable” and a “grave breach of trust.”