US 'bugged Merkel's phone from 2002'

[minestrone]

I pity the poor buggers who had to transcribe those calls.

[AtW]

I pity the poor buggers who had to transcribe those calls.

It was probably a form of internal punishment.

[darmstadt]

BBC News - US bugged Merkel's phone from 2002 until 2013, report claims

Which was 3 years before she became chancellor, what were they afraid of? Amerikkka, the new stasi/gestapo/SAVAK/PIDE/whatever...

[AtW]

Which was 3 years before she became chancellor, what were they afraid of?

They wanted to know her views in advance since she had chance to become head of state.

There isn't much about NSA success in listening into Chinese, Russian leaders - I get this feeling that allies were just soft target that could get somebody easy promotion/bonus.