InfiniteEclipse

As some of you are aware, the US was scrambling recently to warn allies of documents obtained by wikileaks that could damage diplomatic relations. At first I thought you cheated on us America, however, it turns out to be much more than that. Wiki has decided to release these documents on a stage-by-stage basis because "the subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice." - Cable Viewer

The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of "The Iraq War Logs", the world's previously largest classified information release).

Here is a summary of the documents released thus far:

• Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh admits covering up US military strikes by claiming they are carried out by Yemeni forces. "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours," Saleh is quoted as having said.
• American diplomats compared Iran’s President Ahmedinejad with Adolf Hitler and labelled France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy as the “emperor with no clothes”
• Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah repeatedly urged America to attack Iran and "cut off the head of the snake."
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel was depicted as “risk aversive”, while the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin was an “alpha dog”. Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai was “driven by paranoia”.
  
• Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda
  
• US Government was running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at Mr Ban (UN secretary general) and the permanent security council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK. They alleged that the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, called for biometric information on the UN secretary general.
• US requests for forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.
• Washington asked for credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures
• Kim Jong-il, of North Korea, was said to suffer from epileptic fits, while President Medvedev of Russia was “hesitant”.
• Italy’s president, Silvio Berlusconi, was known for his “wild parties” while Libya’s president Muammar Gaddafi had a “sumptuous blonde as a nursing sister”.
• Washington tended to view the world in terms of two super powers with the European Union playing a secondary role, the cables said.
• Chinese government operatives had waged a campaign of computer sabotage targeting the United States and its allies.
• Claims that Iran had obtained missiles from North Korea to give it the capacity to launch strikes on capitals in Western Europe for the first time
• America had mounted a highly secret effort to remove from a Pakistani research reactor enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. Frustrations with Pakistan were reflected in reported comments by King Abdullah who called President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to progress, adding: “When the head is rotten, it affects the whole body.”
• The cables reveal the desperate attempts by the US administration to find homes for former Guantánamo Bay detainees.
  In one instance Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama. In another accepting prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe”.
• The cables also detailed suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government after the vice-president was caught with $52 million (£33 million) in cash on a visit to the United Arab Emirates last year.
• Netanyahu informed the United States of Iran's nuclear advancement in November 2009, but the prime minister's estimate was likely unfounded and intended to pressure Washington into action against the Islamic Republic.
• Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev "plays Robin to Putin's Batman."
• French president Nicholas Sarkozy displayed a "thin-skinned and authoritarian personal style."
• Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is described as "feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader."
• Hamid Karzai, is "an extremely weak man who did not listen to facts but was instead easily swayed by anyone who came to report even the most bizarre stories or plots against him."
• Saudi Arabia's King Abdulluh proposed implanting Guantanamo detainees with an electronic chip containing information about them and allowing their movements to be tracked with Bluetooth. This was done with horses and falcons, the King said. Brennan (White House counterterrorism adviser) replied, "horses don't have good lawyers."

There's more, but I haven't finished reading obviously... personally I'm not surprised by any of it, and I doubt many are... at least it brings to light issues of America turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse by its allies...namely Israel who just 3 days ago bulldozed a mosque. Rest assured any UN resolution will get veto'd

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Shocktroop531

seems like 90% of this stuff would barely even qualify as news. does one of the documents unveil the shocking news that the sky is blue and grass is green?

although there are some juicy ones in there as well.

InfiniteEclipse

I'm wondering if they're saving the best for last when it comes to incriminating cables.... so far they seem to just reaffirm general speculation. It's politics, of course they're allowed to have personal opinions, but none of this seems to really put anyone in danger of anything other than embarrassment

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MunkySpunk

If this is the worst they've got, I'm going to be seriously disappointed.

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"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

10/11 - 24, Smote on Feb 13

PaoloSmythe

really very boring.

governments the world over are 'condemning' the leak but really..... who cares? the Duke of York!!!?

if there is any outrage to be felt, it should be from the american tax payers who fund these agencies in stating the fekkin obvious.

ultimately, with a large part of the leak contents regarding arab nations pleading with the US to strike against Iran, American government could gain much positive PR for their restraint!

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Just coz you don't understand it
Doesn't mean it makes no sense!

Snowfox

I could be wrong, but I think it's just Israel that wants us to strike against Iran. Edit: Apparently Saudi as well. My bad.
Which doesn't help our case with the other arab nations much.

To be completely honest, it's not like any of this is a surprise. Most of the other nations probably have similar (albeit, most of them on a smaller scale) reports. Just think about what China's probably would be...

InfiniteEclipse

Arabs and Persians have been at odds for thousands of years... I find it pathetic for them to say one thing publicly while imploring the US to attack Iran behind closed doors. Pansies

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Shocktroop531

they other arab nations are afraid of Iran and them potentially getting the bomb and they want us to do their dirty work (yet again). we have to stop being the world police. let them handle their own shit.

PaoloSmythe

be happy; that seems to be happening.

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Just coz you don't understand it
Doesn't mean it makes no sense!

InfiniteEclipse

Can Iran be anymore paranoid?

Unless they're secretly pissed but playing it off... hmmm, now i'm reading too much in to it

edit: LOOOOL

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