Brazil-EU pact to set up direct contact cable ‘rebuff to US’

The recent agreement by Brazil and the European Union (EU) to set up a direct undersea communications cable to shield their electronic data from US spying is an act of “rebuff” to the United States, an analyst tells Press TV.

On February 24, Brazil and the EU agreed to set up the cable from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, to Fortaleza, a city in Brazil, bypassing US cables that have been being used to carry Brazil’s communications to the EU and vice versa.

The agreement came following leaks that the US has been intercepting the communications of top officials in Brazil and the EU, particularly those of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“It is a rebuff to the United States,” James Fetzer, an academic, told Press TV on Tuesday, referring to the agreement between Brazil and the EU to set up their own independent communications line.

“It shows that the United States has mismanaged its intelligence operations and has betrayed its allies,” added Fetzer, who is a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The revelations about US spying on top officials were made by American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is now wanted in the US but has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.

Speaking at a joint news conference with the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council in Brussels last Monday, Brazilian President Rousseff announced the agreement to set up the USD 185-million cable project, which she said was central to “guarantee the neutrality” of the Internet.

However, no public criticism of the US was made during the summit.

Rousseff postponed a state visit to Washington last year apparently in protest at the revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying on her email and phone communications.

US President Barack Obama has reportedly banned spying on the leaders of close allies following the revelations, but trust between the targeted countries and the US has been damaged.

Referring to the independent cable between Brazil and the EU, Fetzer said, “I think this is a brilliant stroke… It shows initiative and intelligence by other nations to take a situation that is deplorable where the United States, by prior agreement, is sending all of its intelligence information directly to Tel Aviv and to find a way to cope with it. I think this is an excellent idea.”