Ok I got to say it

[nadinbrzezinski]

since I've spent a few hours going through the documents...

MOST of them are the usual laundry that historians get to look at ten to fifteen years after the fact. Yes. they are that unimportant and only really matter to history geeks... diplomatic historians for the most part.

They are a special crowd that really is into Guv'ment communiques... And truth be told, change the date and the technology but the salacious info is the same... so what if Prince Harry swears like a sailor... most of the time nobody cares. really.

There are a few of these that are a little more important. the kind that would take thirty to fifty years to declass... (Yes what we think of China and Korea comes to mind, a few on HEU and Pakistan)... but reality is, most of this will change nothing, well beyond classification rules...

Now I need to go through them though for fiction ideas.. I am sure there will be a few fictional characters out of those real people and those dispatches... ah nurses and crazee leaders...

But what you are seeing is how diplomacy is done, for real.

[RZM]

1. K + R

[Ramulux]

2. So..

Having our ambassador to Honduras admit that the military coup was totally illegal in internal cables while public officials were defending the coup, isn't a big deal?

There are a bunch of really important documents that have come out that finally provide evidence and documentation that a lot of the shady stuff we all expected our government was up to but could never prove. was actually happening.

Check out this cable about how a handful of wealthy business and political leaders in Kazakhstan control who get to meet with the president and often take bribes, and even tried to force out the vice-president.
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2010/01/10ASTANA72.html

Maybe I am just looking at different cables, but I have seen a lot of really damaging information exposed from these Embassy Files.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Read the history of us relations to central America

Situation normal don't make it moral or right, but this is the same exact crap, different decade...

And Honduras, while bad, is mild compared to other events.

Oh and that one rises to oh 20 year mark.

Just putting this in real world perspective...again don't make it right, but the hyperventilation is funny.

By the way I have dealt with the real world consequences, but this dump is not that impressive, oh and sadly nobody will be prosecuted either. They didn't care after Iran contra, this is small potatoes.

[xfundy]

4. You have been hyperventilating over this whole thing.

Personally, I think republicans are behind this Assange guy, and possibly the CIA, in yet another attempt to fuck America over yet again.

OOooH! Now you can hyperventilate about the "breathtakingly important leaks" and point to me as someone who doesn't give a shit how much you hyperventilate.

[Ramulux]

6. What am I misunderstanding?

Since apparently you have a much better understanding of the information that has been leaked, go ahead and explain to me why I should not be upset at the things I pointed out in my previous post. Am I misinterpreting the information or what?

Can you also please point to the evidence you have that shows the republicans and CIA are behind Assange, I had not heard that.

[Luminous Animal]

5. I'm with you. The Honduras situation is sickening. Of course we know that Clinton was lying

through her teeth. But the proof has got to give justice activist in Honduras and their allies in the region and around the world some added ammunition.

Good article today about this cable on why this matters for Hondurans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/wikileaks-honduras-state_b_789282.html

"Why does this matter now?

First, the constitutional and political crisis in Honduras is ongoing, and the failure of the U.S. to take immediate, decisive action in response to the coup was a significant cause of the ongoing crisis. After nominally opposing the coup, and slowly and fitfully implementing partial sanctions against the coup regime in a way that did not convince the coup regime that the U.S. was serious, the U.S. moved to support elections under the coup regime which were not recognized by the rest of the hemisphere, and today the U.S. is lobbying for the government created by that disputed election to be readmitted to the Organization of American States, in opposition to most of the rest of the hemisphere, despite ongoing, major violations of human rights in Honduras, about which the U.S. is doing essentially nothing.

Second, the relationship of actual U.S. policy -- as opposed to rhetorical pronouncements -- to democracy in the region is very much a live issue from Haiti to Bolivia. "

[jberryhill]

9. Everybody else at State was supposed to agree with one dude's opinion?

Putting aside the substance of the thing, why do you think it is odd that the entire State Department does not agree with the legal conclusion of one guy at the embassy?

Is it supposed to be a hive mind of some sort?

[dkf]

7. Hillary says her contacts told her that these leaks were nothing compared to what they say about us.

Lol. I can imagine.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. That's diplomacy for you

Let's put it this way...around the world uncle Sam is not that popular...you know the eccentric uncle at thanksgiving.

It just that most Americans don't like to hear that.