> Nonetheless, one of two things is true: > > 1) the U.S. actually threatened Germany that it would refrain from notifying them of terrorist plots against German citizens and thus deliberately leave them vulnerable to violent attacks, or > > 2) some combination of high officials from the U.S. and/or German governments are invoking such fictitious threats in order to manipulate and scare the German public into believing that asylum for Snowden will endanger their lives. >

I'm sure it's the second one. A scared public accepts reforms that strengthen government power and budget shifts to allow more surveillance and less privacy.