[Flatuscents]

We are treaty bound to protect you and possibly die to do so in times of war, just like you have for us. Let’s keep it in perspective. If you really think the US is no different from China, I’m not sure there is anything I could ever say to convince you otherwise. If you live long enough, you see governments make bad decisions, some in retrospect, some from the beginning, and when you dig deep, you can often find it is associated with some individuals who had a lot to gain from those decisions. We spy, you spy, we all spy. Defense is at the base of the pyramid in terms of national security. I can see some well intentioned individual in the CIA thinking that spying re: Airbus is important because it could impact our national security in terms of aircraft manufacturing and production, and how do we accommodate for the future as we lose market share and lay off skilled workers? There are legit reasons to know how the world is changing so you can adjust to it, but yeah maybe the US Government should have just asked. But I doubt they wanted to use this knowledge to bury Europe or keep them under or thumb, or whatever. Yes we compete but it is more flag football than ultimate fighting. With China I am not so sure - we will see.