I'm not entirely sure, either. But I think the guy made a joke when testifying in parliament about the spy service being behind so far technologically that they had just recently bought a copy of "Internet for Dummies" to catch up.
In this article, it's supposed to set up the surprise that they were not, after all, completely stupid.
The translation is a bit off, I think. I can't really figure out what to make of all these apparently self-aggrandising statements, and I can assure you that no German bureaucrat would use the term "Yanks".
> I can assure you that no German bureaucrat would use the term "Yanks".
Well then let me assure everybody your assurance is mistaken. Two examples:
> Wir haben den Amis ja was versprochen und Mitte März ist AL [Harald Fechner] dort.
and
> Das, was wir jetzt haben, wäre ein guter Stand, um mit den Experten der Amis zu reden.
When reading "Yanks", I automatically assumed it's a translation of "Ami". How would you translate it better? "Yankee" has negative and benign connotations, as does "Ami", and in this context they're clearly benign. While looking into the word I came across this:
> New York Press Sports Editor Jim Price coined the unofficial nickname Yankees (or "Yanks") for the club as early as 1904, because it was easier to fit in headlines and because "Yankee" was and is a commonly-used synonym for "American".
Where's the biggie?
bonus rant:
German bureaucrats use all sorts of words in all sorts of contexts. If you mean for public communications, you're right of course, but at the workplace and in internal emails all sorts of things are possible. It's not like repression and conformity generates civility, they just generates masks, a pretense of civility. That's why the stereotypical bureaucrat, nationality irrelevant, will sign off the murder of millions as long as the paperwork is in order, but apologize profusely if they spill their drink on your clothes, and that outwardly gentleman-like behavior is compensation supposed to ward off the inevitable collapse of a house of cards built on a sinkhole, not an actual expression of the inner reality.
Ask any high ranking prostitute who has the weirdest kinks or the most destructive fantasies. Maybe it won't be German bureaucrats, but it will be people who behave the total opposite in real life, and are considered super proper or even admirable. It usually won't be the guy who spits on the ground all the time and calls everybody names. Okay, maybe because he can't afford a prostitute, but at any rate, the idea that a German bureaucrat is less likely to be abusive than the average person just doesn't sit at all with me.
In this article, it's supposed to set up the surprise that they were not, after all, completely stupid.
The translation is a bit off, I think. I can't really figure out what to make of all these apparently self-aggrandising statements, and I can assure you that no German bureaucrat would use the term "Yanks".