'US allies begin to question value of relationships with Washington'

The alliance of countries that have lock-stepped and marched behind the US for so long is falling apart now, and the situation with US spying on Germany only confirms this trend, Caleb Maupin from International Action Center told RT.

RT:How is the German government going to react to this latest scandal do you think? What's the fallout going to look like?

Caleb Maupin: Since of the end of the WWII there has been an understanding between the Western countries, this sort of alliance so to speak, but now, in the time of a global financial crisis, we are seeing that alliance is essentially falling apart in the struggle to control markets.

We are seeing the US alienated itself from so many its former allies. And the reality is that German banks are drawing source of competition to Wall Street, so there could be break coming. What is the most interesting about this is the growing relationship between Germany and China. China is at the center of the global alliance of countries that are really breaking out of Wall Street’s financial hold and developing independently along with Russia, Venezuela, Iran and other countries. So we are seeing a real division within the Western European powers and the US. It is a shocking trend.

RT:Why does the US feel it needs to spy on its close ally?

CM: It shows a growing level of insecurity among the leading officials in the US. They do not seem to really trust their allies. They seem to suspect that they are maybe discontent. And the reality is, with so many leaks that we have recently seen, so many countries that have historically worked with the US are starting to wake up and say, “Hey, what are we getting out of this relationship?” That seems to be something that is happening in so many countries, whether it is the tapes released recently in Poland, or some of the memos that are coming out, everywhere it is happening that long-time allies of the US are beginning to question what they are really getting out of this relationship. And that is something that I am sure Obama and many others are very concerned about because it is a real threat to the US power.

For so long, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the geopolitics has really been defined by the US being a senior of the world’s economy and getting exactly what it wants. But that is changing. The geopolitical stage is drastically changing, and this is a real threat to Wall Street and their control of the markets. The fact that Germany is getting closer to China, and Russia and China are cooperating with each other – this is a really big game-changer in the field of global politics.

RT:We've seen the US was caught out just months ago spying on Chancellor Merkel's phone. How could this steady trickle of allegations affect German and US relations? Are they going to deteriorate?

CM: I think they will. The thing at the root of that deterioration is the fact that German banks are rising as the source of competition with Wall Street banks and the US. But we have seen a clear lack of respect and that has been communicated. Diplomacy is often a language of officials speaking very politely and shaking hands, while behind the scenes there is a real distrust and a real disrespect and the fact that the NSA is spying.

In the backroom there is a real tension between the US and its allies. That is the reality. And the countries that have lock-stepped and marched behind the US for so long, and this king of global alliance of countries that a kind of obey the US – that is coming apart and we are seeing that, it is falling apart. The fact that the US is getting so desperate in its financial times is maybe the source of that division.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.