> What is the threat posed by, say, Germany?

Well they're one of the world's major industrial powers and just a couple of generations ago they threatened to take over all of Europe.

So much of the outrage over NSA spying (abroad) is predicated on this foolish idea that we live in a time outside of history, that while the West may have spent the better part of the last millennium embroiled in warfare with each other, that our generation is the first to be so enlightened as to make that unthinkable.