America supposedly seeks the secrets of European wealth

That taking SWIFT codes is a violation of privacy is a bad angle for European businesses to take. Germany, especially, prides itself on privacy laws but, hey guys, you don't let your government access SWIFT information when investigating corporate fraud and graft? My keyboard, you don't. But now, a new dimension has been added to accent the accusation -- it's economic espionage. It's a bid to find out more about what the American intelligence community is doing with the information, and it's a bit shameless.

Every intelligence community wants to know more about every economy in the world, but this is pushing it a bit. America has bigger fish to fry. And who's behind this new current of inquiry? France, you say? A thief lives in fear of people stealing from them, I guess.

I must admit, though it's a little off-topic, it's permissable to mention because of the sheer import:

The move comes after the US Supreme Court ruled last month that the military commissions of Mr Bush created to try prisoners at Guantanamo Bay contravened both US law and the Geneva Convention. The court said Mr Bush's administration had exceeded its authority in constituting the controversial commissions, concluding that they did not offer defendants sufficient legal rights.

Strange that Bush should go down for something Clinton [more gently] advocated, but his profile invites it, I guess. That's what you get when you try to be a big-timin', go-it-alone president. A senseless crusade for revenge. One's man's quest to drink up all the oil in the world. Oh, sorry, been working on my German by reading newspapers lately.