Commentary: New phone hacking scandal puts Obama back in hot seat

A new scandal involving the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) wiretapping of French leaders has put President Barack Obama back in the hot seat.

High-level French officials, including President Francois Hollande, ex-Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, and cabinet ministers, were surveilled by the NSA, according to a press release by WikiLeaks.

Relevant documents classified as "Top Secret" by the NSA were released online by WikiLeaks on Tuesday and first reported in partnership with French newspaper Liberation and the Mediapart website, revealing that the spying was conducted between 2006 and 2012.

The revelations came not long after Germany opened an investigation into the United States' tapping the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German officials.

Although both France and Germany are close allies of the United States, and play a key role in a number of U.S.-associated international institutions, including the Group of 7 (G7) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their leaders have not been spared being spied upon by the United States. Clearly, Washington has an insatiable appetite for monitoring and controlling everything all over the world.

The scandal broke just weeks after Obama signed into law landmark legislation ending the government's bulk telephone data dragnet.

"It is unacceptable between allies," French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said, shortly before an emergency meeting called by Hollande with his security chiefs Wednesday.

Le Foll blasted the alleged spying as "unacceptable methods as a general rule and more particularly between allies," while French media described this American indignity as "provocative" and "disgraceful."

In 2013, documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had revealed mass U.S. surveillance activities, sparking global outrage.

British newspaper The Guardian reported at the time that the NSA has listened in on the phone calls of 35 world leaders. According to different reports they include the leaders of France, Mexico and Brazil.

Repeated wiretapping scandals have indicated that Washington has never made a true friend by treating "allies" only as followers or servants.

Using the Internet and the most advanced technologies it has developed, Washington has gained access to a lot of private and classified information. Sadly, it has abused the advantage it has gained over other countries through its sophisticated spying and hacking skills.

Ironically, science and technology are a double-edged sword, which has also enabled Snowden and WikiLeaks to enlighten the world about the less than honorable things the United States has been conducting in the dark. Endi