US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis• More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreig

[Catherina]

US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis• More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies

• Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies
• Hillary Clinton leads frantic 'damage limitation'

David Leigh guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 November 2010 18.13 GMT Article history

The release of more than 250,000 US embassy cables reveals previously secret information on American intelligence gathering, and political and military strategy.

The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables - many of which are designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN's leadership.

These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.

These include a major shift in relations between China and North Korea, Pakistan's growing instability and details of clandestine US efforts to combat al-Qaida in Yemen.

Among scores of other disclosures that are likely to cause uproar, the cables detail:

• Grave fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

• Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime.

• Devastating criticism of the UK's military operations in Afghanistan.

• Claims of inappropriate behaviour by a member of the British royal family.

The US has particularly intimate dealings with Britain, and some of the dispatches from the London embassy in Grosvenor Square will make uncomfortable reading in Whitehall and Westminster. They range from serious political criticisms of David Cameron to requests for specific intelligence about individual MPs.

The cache of cables contains specific allegations of corruption and against foreign leaders, as well as harsh criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, from tiny islands in the Caribbean to China and Russia.

...

More http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable-leak-diplomacy-crisis

[Goldstein1984]

1. When truth becomes an enemy of the state

That state has become an enemy of the people.

[Individualist]

2. Well said!

[CJCRANE]

3. This is going to be interesting.

Assange is almost an agent of chaos, shaking things up, then saying "let the chips fall where they may" to the world.

[ananda]

5. I love it!

What a brave soul Assange is.

[Catherina]

6. US Government is just about to find out what it feels like to go through a nudie-scanner

Yes indeed.


Great comment from funmoi: RT @BeetleCarDriver: "US Government is just about to find out what it feels like to go through a nudie-scanner." #cablegate

[leftstreet]

7. lol

:spray:

Clever!

[egoclothes]

8. Ha Ha. Good one.

[Catherina]

12. Yeah. Right on the money too n/t

[martymar64]

4. The movie "Sneakers" comes to mind . . . No More Secrets

[xchrom]

9. And to think there is so much worse that isn't revealed.

Let the Sun Shine in.

[Catherina]

Read the NYT's version, they did quite a job sanitizing the leaks.

Let the sun shine in!

[SpiralHawk]

13. At this point, the NYT (R) is a rag published by The Villagers

Ptoooey -

[Catherina]

14. +1 n/t

[Generic Other]

10. What a tangled web we've woven!!

<snip>
The cables published today reveal how the US uses its embassies as part of a global espionage network, with diplomats tasked to obtain not just information from the people they meet, but personal details, such as frequent flyer numbers, credit card details and even DNA material.

Classified "human intelligence directives" issued in the name of Hillary Clinton or her predecessor, Condoleeza Rice, instruct officials to gather information on military installations, weapons markings, vehicle details of political leaders as well as iris scans, fingerprints and DNA.

The most controversial target was the leadership of the United Nations. That directive requested the specification of telecoms and IT systems used by top UN officials and their staff and details of "private VIP networks used for official communication, to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys".
<snip>

State Department in major damage control mode. This is serious stuff. The idea of ambassadors spying at this level pretty much guarantees they will not be welcome abroad. I will be surprised if we don't end up being evicted from some countries over this!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. As a historian this is shocking how?

I am sorry but this is situation normal in diplomatic relations, and not huts the US...

So they got released now instead of in fifty years...

[mrdmk]

16. Very true, 50% of the embassy workforce are spies. Now going after the head of the U.N.

for dirt (made-up or not) will piss-off the peasants of a nation. Not only that, these documents concern present policy that everyone can read. This is a major embarrassment to the U.S. State Department that secret documents are in the news.

Just knowing that governments do this type of crap to each other is one thing, getting caught at it is a sign of incompetence, mistrust and other awkward situations. Just ask Richard Nixon.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. how many years does all this 'leak' go back? How about the Reagan years and Iran Contra?