German leader, Angela Merkel, is considered to be one of the most powerful politicians in Europe, if not the world. Germany and US has had a good relationship so far, however, recently Merkel found out that the US government, specifically NSA, had been spying on her. They had tapped her phone, and it was not the first time this has happened. They had been spying on her since she became German Chancellor back in 2005, and 3 additional years before that. Then NSA stopped after they were discovered. Or so it seemed. Edward Snowden, an American computer specialist, revealed this information to the Germans, and is now confined in Russia. According to a reliable source, 60% of Germans believe that what he did was right. Only 17% disagreed. Due to this incident German and American relations are quite tense. Merkel said that if Obama simply called to ask what she was thinking about she would have told him, since they were very close, politically speaking.
Charlotte Potts is very effective. She starts out by introducing Angela Merkel and the issue at hand, for the readers who are not as informed in politics (like me). She also offers statistics to show how disgruntled the Germans are about this whole spying incident. I believe the purpose for this article is mainly to inform, however, Potts also concludes with her own opinion of the matter (she believes that the US should rebuild the trust between them and Germans by limiting the NSA and trying to understand each other's culture, Europeans included). The tone is serious, since the subject in itself is serious. The audience is targeted to more politically- interested readers, but readers like me that do know much of the jargon can understand the vocabulary as well. Overall, Potts offers a reliable and diversified writing that keeps us informed and keeps us thinking (was NSA right or wrong? Should Germans give them a third chance?).
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/28/opinion/opinion-potts-merkel-spy/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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