I have to say that I find that what I have seen from the latest WikiLeaks dump, does not rise to the claims that they threaten national security. I trust that as more material reaches my attention, I will find it of interest, but for now, there is little there that I had not already speculated. Here’s a summary of highlights.
…Here is a look at some of the main substantive revelations in the cables, published by the New York Times:
– China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the U.S. Embassy in January, as part of a computer sabotage campaign carried out by government operatives, private experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into U.S. government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
– King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and is reported to have advised Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
– U.S. and South Korean officials discussed the prospects for a unified Korea should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans considered commercial inducements to China to “help salve” Chinese concerns about living with a reunified Korea that is in a “benign alliance” with Washington, according to the American ambassador to Seoul.
– Since 2007, the United States has mounted a secret and so far unsuccessful effort to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor out of fear it could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
– Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting Western Europe, and the United States is concerned Iran is using those rockets as “building blocks” to build longer-range missiles. The advanced missiles are much more powerful than anything U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged Iran has in its arsenal.
– American diplomats in Rome reported in 2009 on what their Italian contacts described as an extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and business magnate, including “lavish gifts,” lucrative energy contracts and a “shadowy” Russian-speaking Italian go-between. They wrote that Mr. Berlusconi “appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin” in Europe.
– When Afghanistan’s vice-president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered he was carrying $52-million in cash that a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul said he “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” He denied taking the money out of Afghanistan.
– American diplomats have bargained with other countries to help empty the Guantanamo Bay prison by resettling detainees. Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Barack Obama, and Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees. In another case, accepting more prisoners was described as “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe,” a cable said.
– Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups such as al-Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar was the “worst in the region” in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December. Qatar’s security service was “hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals,” the cable said.
– The United States has failed to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a huge stockpile since its 2006 war with Israel, the cables said. One week after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised a top State Department official he would not send “new” arms to Hezbollah, the United States complained it had information that Syria was giving the group increasingly sophisticated weapons. [emphasis added]
Inserted from <The Globe and Mail>
Is anyone actually surprised by any of this?
20 Responses to “WikiDrips”
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“have broken into U.S. government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.” — China was suspected of hacking German govt websites not a while back; the leaked documents now “proved” it.
Warfare in cyberspace has become the next most dangerous type of war.
Cyber warfare can be launched by any non-nation group, eg., Al Qaeda, against the West that, if successful, could criple institutions, eg, defence systems and govt machineries, cut off power and communication lines, bog down banks and financial institutions, etc., and place the world in total shambles.
NATO itself has been thwarting thousands and thousands of cyber attack attempts daily over the last few years. In fact, it is the looming threat of cyber attacks that has pushed the United States to form a new 4-star military command: The Cyber Command (under a 4-star general).
Do you think these 2 generals even know how to turn on their computers? A cyber attack by any of our enemies (and there are plenty) could devesate this country in a matter of minutes;
Not to worry Lisa… the US has more counter-measures in its arsenal 😉
We need to take the threat seriously.
One could pretty much equate the leaking of hundreds of thousands of documents to a form of warfare against the United States, a form of treason of the highest order.
Bush and Cheney leaked them! 😈
At the beginning of the leaks, I thought could have been done by one in Obama’s administration 😉 to embarass George Bush.
The original source of this batch is still; unknown. In the US, treason is defined in the Constitution as either serving in an enemy army or giving aid and comfort to the enemy, both in time of war. Only Congress can declare war, so despite US rhetoric about the war on terror, war on drugs, etc., we are not at war. Therefore there can be no treason. I’m sure that so other charge would be appropriate.
Well ASSange may have done the world a “service” with his ego but Bradley Manning pvt 1C sits in a solitary confinement jail cell waiting trial and I wonder how he will feel when he has the full force of military law pushing down on his treasonous self. And will ASSange pay for an attorney for this prick or will he leave him twisting in the wind. This will go far in showing ASSange’s motivation in even having Wikileaks. My bet is Pvt 1C Manning is doomed to a fifty or sixty year no parole stretch.
There is trouble in the world, great trouble in the world and now that the WORLDS diplomacy has been compromised there are not many avenues left are there. Now we can bomb the shit out of Iran and North Korea, Syria and Qatar. Yeah why the hell not, there is no more diplomacy that will work with these nations.
What pray tell is the difference between this and someone in Portland trying to blow up a bunch of people in the market square, someone burning down a Muslim center and this leak of sensitive information that changes the safety and diplomacy that had been going on with some of our fiercest critics? Tell me how is this a help and not a hindrance to peace in the world?
Mark, in general, I tend to side with whistle blowers, when the information they reveal exposes illegal actions or lies intended to deceive the public for political, not true security ends. This round of leaks does not appear to rise to either of those conditions.
On Manning, there is too much I do not know for me to render an objective opinion.
its possible these “leaks” might just be a false flag op…an excuse to unveil the internet kill switch…
RJ, anything is possible. I have no evidence to support that possibility.
Our government has become all too enamored of the phrase “national security leak.” It has become a concept by which we are led into totalitarianism by those who see a communist or terrorist under every bed.
True Jack. While that is less true under Obama than it was under Bush, it remains a problem.
I’m not surprised by any of this – if any of us have been paying attention, this would not be a shocker.
Maybe because VP Massoud had been doing such a good job, the US gave him a nice vacation to Quatar with the $52 as spending money. And maybe monkeys fly out of my ass. 😯
I bet those monkeys were REALLY happy to escape! 😈
Most of this stuff is meaningless. Maybe the government should concentrate on keeping secret stuff that is really secret and quit trying to cover up their own stupidity. Most of these documents had no business be classified as secret.
My advice — watch what you put in writing, dumb shit! 😛
Exactly, Jerry.
rjs has a point with the Internet kill switch. 76 sites were shut down and their domain names were taken by DHS under the DMCA. Supposedly to stop people selling counterfeit goods and copy write material like songs and movies. So anything is possible.
As to prosecuting those who leaked the private communications between diplomats to the public one would think that if we really did have a Department Of Justice they would be prosecuting the War Crimes of the Previous Administration. You know like Crimes Against Humanity the greatest War Crime of them all, the invasion and occupation of a Sovereign Nation (Iraq) to steal their resources among the other War Crimes like Kidnapping, Torture and Murder of those in Our Custody.
Sadly though we do not have a Department Of Justice nor do we live under a Constitution which is based on The Rule Of Law. Those who destroyed under the previous administration and the current one refuses to re instate either.
Look out world, here comes another third world country that was once called the United States Of America now being lead by the Republican Nazi Party and its called America The Fourth Reich.
AP, I think DOJ should be prosecuting crimes that were committed by both. That they have failed in their duty to prosecute the Bush Reich, is not a reason not to prosecute Assange and Manning.
They shut down the sites with a legal court order to do so. While there are wing-nuts proclaiming this is a freedom of speech issue, it is not. The sites facilitated the theft of copyrighted material. I consider it hypocrisy for people to hide behind the First Amendment to steal music, porn and software. I’m not saying RJ is wrong, just that I have seen no evidence supporting his suggestion.
A minor detail, the Fourth Reich failed after eight years. They’re bucking for #5. 😉