President Carter Decries Loss of Democracy

For John, BLUF:  Former Pres Jimmy Carter worries about NSA spying.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This is old news, having an 18 July dateline, but still it is interesting.  From Salon we have a headline "Jimmy Carter:  US 'has no functioning democracy'".  The reporter is Mr Alberto Riva.  The gist of the story is that former President Jimmy Carter thinks that the NSA spying revelations have impacted democracy in America.  The other interesting thing is that this got big play in the German Edition of Der Speigal, but not in the English Edition, nor in US publications.  Here is the lede and subsequent paragraph:

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is so concerned about the NSA spying scandal that he thinks it has essentially resulted in a suspension of American democracy.

“America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy,” he said at an event in Atlanta on Tuesday sponsored by the Atlantik Bruecke, a private nonprofit association working to further the German-U.S. relationship.  The association’s name is German for “Atlantic bridge.”

OK, I grant you it is President Jimmy Carter, who is dismissed on both sides of the aisle, but still, he raises interesting questions.  And that is about it.  There isn't much substance at the article, but we are given a couple of things to think about.

Regards  —  Cliff