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Press TV has conducted an interview with Sarah Flounders, Co-Director of the International Action Center, about Australia’s role in the US spy program and the pervasiveness and invasiveness of NSA spy programs.

- Everyday we’re seeing more and more of these accusations against Washington as far as spying. We’ve heard before about spying on foes, but now more and more about spying on friends.

Why are we seeing this? What do you think the United States is trying to accomplish by basically monitoring all of these telecommunications against their own friends?

- What the US corporate were trying to accomplish was to control every aspect of life on the planet and of course they can, but to secure every possible piece of information.

And it meant spying on opponents and allies; spying on political leaders, political parties, but also major corporations, banking institutions using every form of information and communication and they have a lock on it, on every leader in the world.

You can think of major US allies, completely corrupt themselves, who have often bought their way into influence and now they realize when they are facing the US that all of their secrets are known, can be pulled up, can be gleaned through years into the past - the last ten years at least. Every transaction they’ve made; where they have secret bank accounts; if they’ve been involved in payoffs.

But it also means that corporations who have trade secrets, who have all manner of transactions, all of this is held now by the US military, but the Pentagon - the National Security Agency (NSA) is an arm of the Pentagon and they have access to everything at this point.

And that is creating far more rage and anger than the information itself is worth. So, there is a whole new reality.

- How likely is this information to be used to actually blackmail these individuals?

- Well, everyone in the world now has to know that the US has information on them and will use it for blackmail.

If they will carry out drone attacks and targeted assassinations and secret rendition and kidnapping all over the world and they assert they have that right, which they don’t - this is all criminal activity - then they know that it will be used against them.

Friend or foe alike, the US will do whatever it takes and that is creating great anger and the rage will be a stronger force than the information they have secured because no one will trust any US official at this point. It is clear it is all built on lies and threats.