Category: Dayo Sobowale

Aside  the  realignment of political forces on the Nigerian political terrain inherent in the defection of five governors from the ruling PDP into the nascent APC,  two  issues on  the Lagos state style of governance engaged my attention and time this last week. The first was the way  the state  under its Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola  is handling  the issue  of achieving its set  goal of  food security through the strategies and plans of its Ministry  of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The second was  the focussed determination  of the Governor  to keep traffic flowing  in the Lagos  Metropolis  for the comfort of its citizenry.  In  stark terms and clear words  the  State Governor told a gathering of  Lagos State Traffic Management Authority – LASTMA  personnel, executives and stakeholders that if they have to choose between booking a traffic offender  and obstructing the flow of traffic, they should let the offender go and let the Lagos traffic  flow  like water at all times.

Given  the merger of APC  and  PDP  mentioned earlier,  an immediate  media analysis of the political  spread, strength  and national power of the  two  major  political parties in Nigeria has 18 states for the ruling PDP, 16  for  the APC, one  for APGA in Anambra and one for the Labor  Party in    Ondo  State.  If  you do a mental arithmetic  that the governors  of Jigawa  and Niger State did not append their signature to the APC  merger  because they would rather wait till the new year,  together with the EFCC investigations   or  harassment of the Jigawa governor’s sons for  money laundering, you may safely add  two states  to APC’S 16  to  get 18. In addition,  if  you  recall that Ondo’s Labor Party  is closer to APC and  is indeed in its catchment area, then you  can give APC 19 states  out of 36  nationwide.  That  is really  over 50 per cent of the states in Nigeria and that is before the 2015 elections. Indeed the PDP  scribe in reacting to the merger of the New PDP  and APC seemed to  be accepting defeat before the elections when he said that the defectors would come back to the party after the 2015 elections and the PDP  would welcome them with open arms.Which  means that the PDP  has given up  on its defectors while acknowledging their strength and its loss in electoral  and voting prospects  in these  governors’ states.

However  it  is with regard to the Anambra State elections on which a supplementary election is slated  for today that I want to make some observations. After  this I will  go  back  to  how  Lagos State  is tackling agriculture  and transportation  with focussed  innovation and commitment.

Almost  all parties  that took part in the Anambra State  elections last Saturday  admitted that it was  and shoddily  organised and that  INEC  officials performed below expectations in terms of availability of materials on time and  on integrity. Post  election, however Anambra State outgoing Governor Peter Obi,  whose party APGA  won the elections said that his government only prevented the other  parties that wanted to rig from doing so and that if the elections were held ten times over APGA  would still win. Which  is not surprising given the fact that no less a person than the President of the Republic came to Anambra to campagn  surprisingly  not for the PDP  but for the return of Obi’s APGA  successor. The President even announced that he was not going to Commonwealth Heads  of Governments Meeting –  CHOGM –  in Sri LANKA    because  of the Anambra state guber elections. Since this was after the President’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem during which he was very much in the company  of the sole APGA  governor in Nigeria,  it is not difficult to guess  why personal loyalty has taken pre eminence over party loyalty. This is because even as the PDP,  the President’s  party  was announcing  that it will take part in the supplementary elections  today,  its candidate at the elections who could not find his name and that of members of his family on the ballot last  Saturday,  was  calling for fresh elections like the other parties that contested last Saturday’s Anambra  state  guber polls. Which  shows that the Anambra state elections has just  jump  the usual  and expected post election razzmatazz and rig marole peculiar  to Nigeria’s elections. These invariably end up in legal gymnastics at the law courts where lawyers and judges determine who wins  elections in a blantant usurpation of the rights of voters who in a free and fair election  in a genuine democracy should choose the winner  the ballot box as at last Saturday in Anambra State.

As  elections in Anambra  State  were  making a mockery  of democracy in Nigeria, the two events I attended  in Lagos State this week provided a silver lining in the cloudy  horizon of Nigeria’s murky electoral politics, first in agriculture and secondly in transportation. An  army,  it was often  famously said  in ancient times, marches  on its belly. In  modern times however, so also do states, and nation -states, and no state in Nigeria knows and aims at achieving  this more than  the present BRF Administration through its Ministry of Agriculture under the leadership  of its permanent Secretary  Dr  Bashorun.

I  got  a rare  insight  of  the lagos State food security strategy when  I attended  a retreat organised by the Favorites Club of Lagos under its flamboyant president and the State Commissioner  for Home Affairs,  Prince Oyin Danmole in Badagry last weekend.  The  theme of the retreat was – ‘Social Clubs and Economic Empowerment‘. The State  Ministry  of Agriculture’s  Permanent Secretary-PS-led a team of the Ministry’s Directors  on a presemtation on Agriculture in Lagos State  but it was the PS himself who  was the high priest  and

high pitch salesman  of the State’s people oriented  approach  to agriculture.  This  strategy  has  the  sole aim of making Lagos State feed its awesomely large population from within the state in all aspects of food  availabilty, production  and sufficiency. More importatntly the state is asking anyone who cares to come and have a stake in the ‘food basket’ project as investors because it knows it cannot go it alone. Which is like asking Lagosians to  come and get wealth and prosperity on a platter of gold by investing in Agriculture with the state providing the infrastructure and helping out with the needed credit and facilities for potential investors and stake holders. To  me that was unbelievable and almost un Nigerian but then, when we  went to the Songhai farm project and I ate an harvested sweet corn,  uncooked  and so delicious, I  knew  something great was happening in Lagos state.  When  I saw Nigerian youths on  training on the farm on the YES- Youth Empowerment Scheme – then  I conceded that there is still hope for Nigeria  in    terms  of meaningful economic planning and development,  starting with the way  Lagos State    government is tackling  food security  pragmatically  and heads on  for positive, socio  economic  transformation of society and the environment in Lagos State.

The  state’s  transportation strategy has been no less proactive than that in agriculture. I was at a ceremony at which the state governor inducted volunteers from a certain social niche like social clubs and professional bodies as Special Traffic Mayors -STMs.  More importantly the State government made  sure that LASTMA  personnel and officials were present  at  the ceremony. Before  that day my opinion of Lastma  and its officials  was that of  overzealous and crooked street and highway officials bent on ruinning the business land scape of Lagos through daily extortion of road users and business vehicles for one traffic violation or the other. Such  bad eggs in LASTMA – including  the one caught  on video soliciting for bribe mentioned by the governor who said his dismissal was  a fait accompli even though he was still on the run-will certainly sit up knowing that STWs  are on  the prowl and can identify them  if they are involved in corrupt practices . The  way the governor showed his commitment to flowing traffic  left no one in doubt that he knows the importance of transportation to the growth of trade and commerce and political stability of Lagos state and the entire Nigerian nation.

It  is necessary to look  again  at what Lagos state has done,  from an historical and global  perspective. In  Egypt  where  the government is clamping down on  protests on the streets and in the universities because it deposedthe  elected government of President Mohammed Morsi, a  government  had  been brought down before by food riots in Cairo  and the major cities in Egypt. This was the regime of Anwar Sadat  who brokered peace with Israel.  Sadat  himself was assassinated by a soldier who was a member of the Islamic Brotherhood which resurfaced    recently to win Egypt’s first  free  elections in history. Before  Sadat  was assassinated his regime was unpopular because of the high prices  of bread,  the staple food of Egyptians.

Since Sadat was a dictator he repressed the food riots until an assassin caught up with him. That clearly  illustrates the importance and relevance  of  food security to political stability in any political system.

Similarly  in Brazil  during the  last  FIFA  organised Confederation  Cup  won by Brazil  there were riots in  many cities in that nation  as the competition approached  and during its duration. The  protesters were agitating that even though they love soccer their  standard  of living did not reflect that of  citizens of a nation hosting the  Confederation Cup  not to talk  of the World Cup which Brazil  is hosting next year and the Olympics  which it is hosting in 2016. Which  meant  all  the hard work Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva did to  secure hosting rights for Brazil would have come to nought because the Brazilian government did not carry its people along while gunning for  the highly  prestigious  sports

hosting rights for their pleasure while they suffer in the midst of plenty. Really  what  did the protesters ask for? They complained of long hours – about 4hours- in commuting to work daily to and  fro, high food prices, poor infrastructure and high education costs. The Brazilian government has reacted favourably and has committed  a certain percentage of its new oil revenues to education and infrastructure especially transportation.  But really the Brazilian government  not need to wait for street riots before looking after the welfare of  its people by carrying them along  government  plans to  entertain  them  as  well as look after their welfare.  May  be the  Brazilians  need  to borrow  a leaf  from the Lagos State  book on agriculture and transportation  that I narrated before    Perhaps Lagos State can offer  a helping hand  to  our Brazilian brothers especially as they  and our Governor have a mutual love of the lovely game  of soccer . That will certainly be  a pleasure and  yet another people  and export-  oriented  approach following on the clear  success in agriculture and transportation  in Lagos State, here in  Obodo  Nigeria.

Edward  Snowden , the  American  whistle  blower on spying was like a traitor when the news broke on the internet that he had exposed intelligence on the US government spying on its allies. Last week however there was serious talk that he was being considered for the Nobel prize for transparency. In  Europe , the EU  court ruled  this week, that Africans asking for asylum in Europe on grounds of persecution in nations where gay  marriages and homosexuality are banned,  can be considered for asylum in Europe. In  Nigeria, at long last , the president of the Republic finally met with University teachers who have been on strike for four months , asking that funds be provided to make infrastructure available to teach in the  nation’s university environment for which the Coordinating Minister of Finance had  earlier  said  the  striking lecturers were asking for the moon.  In  Italy  the Catholic Pope Francis called  a conference on what he called modern slavery including child labor and prostitution to save the world’s poor and fight global poverty. In similar mood  the World Bank and the EU  pledged $8bn in aid to develop the Sahel from where Al Qada  and Boko  Haram  have sprung to threaten  the political stability of not only Nigeria but the entire  ECOWAS  sub region and indeed Africa as a continent.

The  news items  and issues I have highlighted today look  interesting and  innocuous enough,  but they  are deceptively so, as they concern  matters  that I have labeled as ‘changing cultures’ but which  are in reality  – culture shocks  – that are highly polemical as my analysis will show. Let  us first dwell  on the amazing and unbelievable situations  that these news items have thrown up  at least  this week alone  . In Britain , the security chiefs  of Britain’s spy industry  were summoned to open questioning by Parliament and these were the bosses  of M5 , MI6  and  GHCQ, powerful  institutions which  have  been the stuff  of James Bond and other spy films that one once thought that such institutions were the stuff  of fiction  and do not really exist.  Again,  who  could have thought that the same EU providing money for African nations to fight a security threat  in the Sahel  they don’t see yet, let alone appreciate,  is also giving asylum to  African  gays and lesbians who are  just  aberrants against the way of life  and culture of the people amongst which they live? Also  who  could have thought that a president –  whose wife went to S Korea to receive an honorary degree whilst  the  universities in her husband’s  nation were closed on strike by lecturers-could have compunction and decide to talk directly to the striking lecturers  that the nations funds  minister had earlier  branded as unreasonable? Similarly, one had  been used to  Catholic Popes living in Palaces  in the Vatican and being chosen  as, ’the best dressed’  men in the world, but now we have the pleasant and humane surprise of a Pope planning how to stop children  and prostitutes drifting into a life of crime, drugs and terrorism. Really  it is a new day  and dawn  in terms of the changing cultures of our times and  the  expectations and  import  of that for  world peace,  security  and economic development. Yet  as we will  soon see,  it is not all that glitters  that is gold.

Let  us start  our journey  again by looking at the cold facts of the issues raised today and  see the lessons to learn to  improve our world  and  ease  the tensions of  international relations  and diplomacy .First  the downside  of the Snowden revelations is that it has endangered international relations  and introduced conflict and suspicion amongst friends and allies spying on each others citizens and institutions not to talk of incumbent leaders. But as one of the spy bosses told British parliamentarians,  spying involves getting information from other nations that they may not want to give and protecting information that are vital to national interests  and security.

The  comforting side is  that Snowden or not,  both the British and American legislatures  were impressed with  the response of their spy bosses to the questions prompted by the Snowden revelations  and that was apparent in the hushed reverence with which the spy bosses were  treated, in spite of the hullaballoo that accompanied their summons to the two legislatures. Which  shows again that where security is concerned,  transparency has a limited flight of fancy  and accountability, and that is  a lesson indeed for developing nations adopting democracy hook, line and sinker as the panacea  or solution to every    problem  of  governance,  economic management and environmental equilibrium in the real  world.

In effect then,  the Snowden revelations have blown the cover of Western intelligence and spy bosses but the governments are adopting a response strategy of crisis management that  I  have called ‘dog does not eat dog’ – which is another way of allowing sleeping dogs to lie in the overall  security  interest  of all  friends, stakeholders and parties  concerned. That  to me is a sensible  response to an embarrassing intelligence  quagmire  that  Snowden willfully created to bring the  security  roof  down  albeit  unsuccessfully  in  the western hemisphere.

I  shall  take the three  issues  of asylum for gays fleeing homosexuality ban  in Africa,  the EU  and World  Bank  fund to develop the Sahel  and the Pope’s devotion to help children and prostitutes escape modern slavery as he put it, together. Again the issues that bind the three developments together  are cultural  and humanitarian with a tinge of ethnocentrism  and  urgent security need.  I see ethnocentrism in the European court ruling in a case brought from Holland on Africans alleging persecution on account of being gays. Though the European Court has ruled that such Africans can be considered for asylum which is binding on all EU nations, the court also asserted that the existence of a ban is not sufficient ground for granting asylum as evidence of persecution has to be shown. Which is what brings in the issue  of ethnocentrism. The EU Court has deemed European culture superior to those of nations like Nigeria  and Uganda where homosexuality is banned, and that is a sociological blunder as no culture is really superior  to the other. Indeed the implementation of the ban in the nations concerned is not a problem as that is the African way of life. The implication of the EU ruling is to provide cheap  opportunities for those Africans  fleeing from other problems to cash in on the persecution proviso  when indeed they cannot really stand up to be counted on their sexual disposition in such societies.

On the massive $8bn  aid  to the Sahel , I see the hand of the World Bank boss Jim Yong Kim  at play . This new Group MD  of the World Bank  has committed himself  and the global bank to poverty alleviation by 2030  and is pursuing that goal. He deserves commendation for bringing  the EU  on board. The EU  is contributing $ 6.75 bn – 5bn euros  and the World Bank, $1.5bn . But, again, the EU  is  investing in its security as it knows that the Sahel  has been the new home of militant terrorism especially Al Qada that fled Afghanistan  only  to show up in Islamic Maghreb  and North Africa and has resurrected in Boko  Haram in Nigeria’s North East  and  lately the Syrian  crisis.

That  was why France had to intervene militarily in Mali to stop the invasion of that nation  when ECOWAS was getting too slow to act. The rationale for the World Bank  and EU aid is to provide infrastructure, jobs and security for the nations bordering the north of west Africa which is called  the Sahel  in the hope that that would reduce ready recruits for Al Qada from the jobless, roaming and idle millions of Africans youths looking for ways to make ends meet and make a future  for themselves. By  strengthening the Sahel economically  and sustaining its growth the EU hopes to reduce terrorism targeted at the European mainland by Al Qada and militant groups recruiting African youths effortlessly by giving them  training and  ammunition to  disrupt the stability of African nations in the Sahel  on religious grounds  and excuses. That  really  is a promising venture  and one expects the EU  and World Bank  to have enough monitoring skills to ensure that the funds are used for the desired purposes  and not high jacked for selfish ends by politicians and thieving bureaucrats very active in the Sahel environment.

It  is in such light that I look  at the never too late intervention of the Nigerian president in the ASUU  strike  and pray that it  is concluded positively and the students return to their schools.

Inevitably  such idle students  have drifted to prostitution, drugs, terrorism  and crime  from  which the EU, World Bank, and the Pope are trying    to help  out. One  expects this president not to yield to pressure from the owners of the private universities who think they cannot prosper except they kill the public universities by making sure that they encourage government to starve them of funds. It  is not in the interest of such private universities as the environment will be so charged that sooner than later they too  will not function on security grounds. That  is the stark truth to face on the  urgent need to resuscitate  university education in Nigeria  in the best interest  of the future  and  security  of our nation. What  is good for the goose should  surely be sauce for the gander.

Today  I deal with personalities  as I  take  on the topic of the day. The aim is to show  how the personalities, reputations  and even utterances of  certain leaders precede them in what they do   or   say, in or out of office. We  take on global  leaders, incumbents in position of power   including   those widely regarded  as opposition leaders,  alternative leaders, or leaders in waiting in their various political systems  or sub regions   on   the actions   and news concerning them in the last one week.

 We  focus on    first on     Nigeria ‘s  APC  leader  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu  and the business lecture delivered on his behalf by the Governor of Oyo State Senator Abiola Ajimobi   on the topic – Nigeria: Charting a  New Path to National Rebirth, last  Wednesday  at the 70th Anniversary  of Nigeria’s premier social club, the Island Club.  We  then take  a look  at US  President Barak Obama’s legacy project Obamacare and the challenges   facing it when its web site collapsed as people tried to access it  and the socio- economic  impact of   that development on Obama’s   legacy as  the first US  president to initiate such a  massive  Health Care project in the US. Next  we consider the views of Nobel Laureate Aung San Su Kyii  of Burma that Burma’s dictatorial  constitution has to be changed before she can ever hope to be president. We also  examine the US bugging of the phone of German Chancellor  Angela Merkel and the insistence of the German Iron lady  that the US  must be called to order  in spite of the very close ties   between both nations.

We  go back to the Island Club 70th Anniversary lecture  of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu  whose  announced topic was Nigeria :  Yesterday, Today  and Tomorrow  until  Senator Abiola Ajimobi  announced the n topic’s  theme as  –  Nigeria: Charting A New Path  to National  Rebirth,   a title   which also determined the topic of this column  today. Naturally one would expect the Asiwaju,   as Nigeria’s virtual  and  foremost    opposition   leader  to do justice to the   announced  topic given his well known   devotion  and dedication  to analyzing Nigeria’s political and historical problems  as a pragmatic  and respected  participant observer of the growth and development of the Nigerian nation state. But  Asiwaju  switched   the topic and praised the Island Club  to high heavens before  dissecting and analyzing   the nation’s history  and growth or descent to decay, in his  usual vivid and enticing style reminiscent of the  witty anecdotes in his book – Financialism –  Water From An Empty Well; How  the financial system drains the economy, co  authored with former US  Consul, Brian  Browne.

According to Asiwaju – ‘Drawing its  members from innovative  and   creative  segments of society, Island Club  was  from the start  set  to be great …Though   older than  Nigeria, the Club still shines. Unfortunately the glow of Nigeria has turned to dross ; the nation is a gem  obscured  by the grime  of      venal  and  menial leadership.‘   Actually  in adopting the new title as his theme, one   could again expect at  the lecture the usual  tirade of an opposition leader against a present political leadership that he has scant respect for,  which perhaps would have made the lecture boring. But  that was not to be, and that was due to the genius of Asiwaju’s  representative who delivered the lecture with such humorous  and witty jokes such that there was not a dull moment throughout the business lecture. Senator Abiola Ajimobi showed at the lecture what Former Minister of Sports Chief Akinyele meant  when representing former head of State  IBB at  a similar function  he said –  ‘when you  have seen the hand  of the tiger, you  have seen the tiger’  . The  Oyo  State Governor was in his element in terms excellent service delivery in the way and manner he   presented his leader’s paper. His jokes had the audience reeling with laughter  most  of the time. His  assertion during the Question and Answer Session, anchored  by  me, that he was  speaking for himself  on the answers  but was sure that his views and that of Asiwaju would coincide on most matters because they have been together for so long,  earned him and his leader  the respect and attention of a captive audience at  the lecture.

 The  witty Oyo  state governor set the ball rolling with the funny  story of how he came to be chosen by the Asiwaju to represent him at the lecture. At  a meeting in Abuja,  he said, Asiwaju wanted to show his APC  colleagues that he was fully fit after his knee surgery so he asked the governors to join him in a 100 meter dash with the proviso that the last man would represent him at the Island  Club lecture  –  and while Asiwaju came first  he Senator Ajimobi  came last and that why he was in Lagos. In addition he told his  wildly  cheering and laughing audience that he was selected because he was the oldest of the APC governors who were members of Island club – and there  was  no way the result of the race could  have  been different.

Humor aside,  the contents of the lecture were brilliant,  decisive and vintage Asiwaju. I will  illustrate with  some juicy comments and quotes . Asiwaju  lamented in the lecture   thus  – ‘And  where  does  Nigeria   stand today? Today  we  loiter on the road of confusion because we are guided  by leaders who  themselves need guidance. The dream of a robust and great nation hood has been deferred . Nigeria now limps  and pleads for crutches  to help it,  just to stand.’  On  the proposed National  Dialogue which he called a Greek gift  on his return  from surgery  Asiwaju  noted – ‘Yes   we  need to talk. I remain an ardent supporter of the  call for a national conference  that is sovereign and open to all . That  is the only route out of the woods. We  must bring Nigeria back  on the path of true federalism. A  stage managed  affair  scripted   and monitored  to achieve the narrow political aims of narrow  political minds in Abuja will do nothing but whet  confusions appetite . Anything short of a Sovereign National   will be  like trying to apply a bandage to a tornado ‘. On  manufacturing Asiwaju noted that – No  populous nation ever reached   prosperity without a vibrant manufacturing sector. It is this sector that is  the  mainstay of urban employment, just as farming is the main stay of rural jobs. However our manufacturing sector shrinks under the policies of the present government. As   it shrinks so do the job opportunities of that vast army of city dwellers‘

On security,  Asiwaju noted that the present administration said  it has the situation under control. ‘If  this is control he  concluded,‘ I  dread to  see how lack  of control looks. In  Boko  Haram, the nation faces  its largest challenge since the civil war. In  conclusion the APC  leader lamented painfully –‘We live in a land that is ours but is ruled by a government  that does not belong to the people because it does not like them. Nigerians want   democratic  governance, economic development, broad prosperity, justice, equality, moral purpose and human dignity. At  that point,   he   concluded  the state of the nation can be a state in which we are all proud and in which we  can live as a free people‘

Surely  it  is such sentiments that Asiwaju has highlighted to drive Nigeria forward from  premises  of the Island club that has motivated the other world leaders we are focusing on today  albeit  in a different context. Obamacare is about more Americans getting heath care access and insurance  in the richest nation on earth where such favors are absent . President Obama has made this the flagship achievement of his administration and Congress has approved it. Yet  at the last dialogue on expanding the US debt ceiling, the Republicans wanted to make it a bait for discussion and scuttling it and Obama put his foot down that the deal had been done and that was why he was elected for two terms and Obama care was  not to be debated. Now  the website for accessing Obamacare  by an enthusiastic millions of potential beneficiaries has led to a crash but Obama  is not fazed. He  has acknowledged the problem and  has announced that the best IT brains in the world have been assembled to sort out the problem and keep Obama care afloat by all means. That  is how leaders should behave as they are not   expected to sleep on their watch  and see their  legacies derailed either by design, unintended results, sheer sabotage or outright enmity and lack of goodwill as in the issues surrounding ObamaCare and its implementation in the US.

The  same dilemma faced  Burma’s Opposition leader  over a law directed at preventing her personally  from becoming president of her nation . This is a law  that bars women with  sons for foreigners from becoming president of Burma.   Suu Kyi  has two sons for a Briton who died while she was  in prison. The law was put in place when Suu Kyi was in detention after the Military  prevented her from claiming the victory  in the presidential election she won in that nation before. Now  the Military government through her role and intervention is getting global recognition  for  moving towards  democracy,  but has not removed the vile law and Suu Kyi  is not ready to buy that and is crying foul. She  is also alerting a gullible world  that the dictatorship  in Burma while seeming to move towards  democracy on the surface, is still a wolf in sheep’s clothing, until it amends  the obnoxious  part of Burma’s constitution concerning her.  Again,  the Burmese Nobel  Laureate  has  spoken boldly no matter whose ox is gored especially as the amendment concerns her and not with standing the fact that the military  in Burma still has total control  of the constitution  and any intended amendment. Again  a global leader  has shown bravery  in drawing attention to a human right flaw in the face of great personal danger and I cannot but doff my hat to her.

Similarly German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that the US and Germany must reestablish the  trust  in their relations over the bugging of her phone is brave, timely  and correct.The US  has denied as expected  and has assured Germany that this never and would not happen ever. Yet  the US  is feverishly looking for the US security contractor whistle blower that Russia has given asylum somewhere  in Russia. It  was interesting seeing the German Chancellor fretting with her hand phone while seated by  US President Barak Obama  at a previous state  function on CNN. One  was left wondering what could have  been going on in the US president’s mind in the light  of Angela  Merkel’s phone being bugged as now revealed. Anyway,  the German leader has shown the US that even though their two nations may  be close allies and Germany may be a junior military ally  of the US  and in NATO,  such bugging of friendly leaders is indecent and is not to be tolerated. Which  is like saying  clearly  that  even amongst friends ‘your freedom ends  where my nose begins’. Which, again  is fine by me, no matter  the security or diplomatic closeness, protocols  or camaderie   of all parties  involved.