251,287 diplomatic cables will be released.
8,000 directives from the State department
15,652 documents are classified ââ¬â¢Secretââ¬â¢- none 'Top Secret
One cable dates back to 1966, but most are newer than 2004
9,005 documents date from the first two months of 2010.
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/250-000-secret-US-documents-released-by-WikiLeaks/H1-Article1-632114.aspx"] 250,000 secret US documents released by WikiLeaks[/url] Quote:Of the quarter million top secret US documents released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks, as many as 3,038 classified cables are from the US Embassy in New Delhi. The documents are being published by several media outlets across the globe today, despite repeated insistence from the US that it may put at risk many lives.
Ahead of the release of these documents, the State Department had reached out to India warning it about the impending release.
Saudi King wanted the US to attack Iran to prevent it from going nuclear and the US wanted to remove weapon grade fuel from Pakistani nuclear reactor are among the revelations in the state department documents leaked on Sunday by whistle-blowing website
The documents show Saudi donors remain chief financiers of militant groups like al Qaeda and that Chinese government operatives have waged a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage targeting the United States and its allies, according to a review of the WikiLeaks documents published in the Times.
Besides, they also provide an insight into a global computer hacking effort initiated by the Chinese government.
China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, according to one cable.
The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government.
They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, the cables said.
The leaks appear to be about everything that others have done to US, and nothing about about what US have done to others <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='  ' />
Nothing about missionary funding, marxist and maoist funding, assassinatiion of the Nepal Royal family, LLTE funding, funding of Baptist terrorists in NE, sociological targeting of Indian underclass, CFR agents in India, and planting of christist propaganda in indian media.
[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable-leak-diplomacy-crisis"] link[/url]
Quote:mong scores of disclosures that are likely to cause uproar, the cables detail:
ââ¬Â¢ Grave fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, with officials warning that as the country faces economic collapse, government employees could smuggle out enough nuclear material for terrorists to build a bomb.
ââ¬Â¢ Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government, with one cable alleging that vice president Zia Massoud was carrying $52m in cash when he was stopped during a visit to the United Arab Emirates. Massoud denies taking money out of Afghanistan.
ââ¬Â¢ How the hacker attacks which forced Google to quit China in January were orchestrated by a senior member of the Politburo who typed his own name into the global version of the search engine and found articles criticising him personally.
ââ¬Â¢ The extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, which is causing intense US suspicion. Cables detail allegations of "lavish gifts", lucrative energy contracts and the use by Berlusconi of a "shadowy" Russian-speaking Italian go-between.
ââ¬Â¢Ã¢â¬â°Allegations that Russia and its intelligence agencies are using mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations, with one cable reporting that the relationship is so close that the country has become a "virtual mafia state".
ââ¬Â¢Ã¢â¬â°Devastating criticism of the UK's military operations in Afghanistan by US commanders, the Afghan president and local officials in Helmand. The dispatches reveal particular contempt for the failure to impose security around Sangin ââ¬â the town which has claimed more British lives than any other in the country.
ââ¬Â¢Ã¢â¬â°Inappropriate remarks by a member of the British royal family about a UK law enforcement agency and a foreign country.
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 political criticisms of David Cameron to requests for specific intelligence about individual MPs.
The cables contain specific allegations of corruption, as well as harsh criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, from Caribbean islands to China and Russia. The material includes a reference to Putin as an "alpha-dog", Hamid Karzai as being "driven by paranoia" while Angela Merkel allegedly "avoids risk and is rarely creative". There is also a comparison between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler.
The cables names Saudi donors as the biggest financiers of terror groups, and provide an extraordinarily detailed account of an agreement between Washington and Yemen to cover up the use of US planes to bomb al-Qaida targets. One cable records that during a meeting in January with General David Petraeus, then US commander in the Middle East, Yemeni president Abdullah Saleh said: "We'll continue saying they are our bombs, not yours."
Other revelations include a description of a near "environmental disaster" last year over a rogue shipment of enriched uranium, technical details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva, and a profile of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who they say is accompanied everywhere by a "voluptuous blonde" Ukrainian nurse.
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Turkey-did-not-invite-India-on-Afghan-meet-to-appease-Pak/H1-Article1-632165.aspx"] Turkey did not invite India on Afghan meet to appease Pak[/url] Quote:Reflecting Islamabad's insistence at every international fora that New Delhi be kept out of any meeting on Afghanistan, a top Turkish diplomat told US officials early this year that India was kept out to address the concerns of Pakistan, WikiLeaks said.
Quote:Soysal, a former Turkish Ambassador to the Pakistan from 2007 to 2009, and his countryââ¬â¢s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in September was appointment by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.
"He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister Singh had requested (Turkish) President Gul's assistance with Pakistan during the latter's visit to New Delhi the previous week.
Acting on that request, Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was skeptical of Indian intentions.
Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year," the cable said.
"Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateal summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm," it said.
Soysal, according to the cable, said the Pakistani military, though displeased with the President, Asif Ali Zardari, remains unwilling to intervene; nevertheless, senior officers' patience may not be infinite.
"Zardari needs to increase the democratic legitimacy of Parliament. Soysal offered. Nawaz Sharif has become a much more constructive player," said the State Department cable as released by WikiLeaks
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/americas/Hillary-called-India-as-self-appointed-front-runner-for-UNSC-seat-WikiLeaks/Article1-632373.aspx"] Hillary called India as self-appointed front-runner for UNSC seat: WikiLeaks[/url] Quote:Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described India as a "self-appointed front-runner" for a permanent UNSC seat and directed US envoys to seek minute details about Indian diplomats stationed at the United Nations headquarters, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks on Sunday.
....
The cable posted by The New York Times gave directions to US diplomats to collect information on key issues like reform of the UN Security Council and Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and pass it on to the intelligence agencies, including on foreign associates' credit card and frequent-flier numbers that could be used to track a person's movements.
It asked US diplomats to ascertain deliberations regarding the UNSC expansion among key groups of countries like "self-appointed front-runners" for permanent UNSC seats-- India, Brazil, Germany and Japan (Group of Four or G-4); Uniting for Consensus group -- especially Mexico, Italy and Pakistan -- that opposes additional permanent UNSC seats; African Group; and European Union, as well as key UN officials within the Secretariat and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Presidency.
It also sought biographical and biometric information on key NAM/G-77/OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) permanent representatives, particularly China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Senegal and Syria; and information on their relationships with their capitals.
The cable also wanted to know about members' plans for plenary meetings of the Nuclear Suppliers Group; views on the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative; besides members' views on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); prospects for country ratifications and entry into force.
Politicsparty guy wonders if wikileaks casualty will be MMS?
AN INTERACTIVE ATLAS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CABLES
http://www.spiegel.de/international/worl...80,00.html
All India related cables are from 2000-2010. After MMS, cable volume increased dramatically.
11-30-2010, 06:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-30-2010, 06:35 AM by dhu.)
Contrary to common sense, The number of cables from Nepal and Colombo each equal those from Pukistan. This signals western-missionary backing of Maoists and LTTE.
Quote:WikiLeaks exposes US, shows India kept out of key meet
November 30, 2010 6:29:53 AM
IANS | Washington
A cache of a quarter-million US cables released by WikiLeaks has exposed secret back-room manoeuvring by the US and has dramatically revealed how India was kept out of a key meeting on Afghanistan that was held in Turkey.
Among the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, 3,038 are from the US embassy in India. Other cables pertain to communications from US missions in Islamabad, Colombo and Kathmandu.
India was one of the countries reached out by top US diplomats before the much anticipated release of what the New York Times described as "an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders".
"We have reached out to India to warn them about a possible release of documents," State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said ahead of their publication Sunday, triggering condemnation from the White House and congressional leaders.
The US had warned WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange that publishing the papers would be illegal and endanger peoples' lives.
A secret cable from the US embassy in Ankara showed that India was kept out of the Jan 25 meeting held in Turkey on Afghanistan to appease Pakistan, though Islamabad was of the view that excluding India from such regional structures would be a mistake.
At a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, then Turkey's deputy under secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs, responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Rauf Engin Soysal, said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghanistan Neighbours Summit "in deference to Pakistani sensitivities".
"He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he claimed, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake," Guardian quoted the message dated Feb 25, 2010 as saying.
Zardari met Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at an international conference in Istanbul that kicked off Jan 25 this year.
"He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had requested (Turkish) President (Abdullah) Gul's assistance with Pakistan during the latter's visit to New Delhi the previous week. Acting on that request, Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was sceptical of Indian intentions. Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year."
"Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateral summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm," the secret cable said.
Among the 251,287 cables provided by WikiLeaks to The New York Times, 2,278 cables are from the US mission in Kathmandu, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad.
Many are unclassified, and none are marked "top secret", the government's most secure communications status. But some 11,000 are classified "secret", 9,000 are labelled "noforn", shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and "noforn".
Publishing the documents would jeopardise "our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government", White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel and a global computer hacking effort by China are among the revelations laid bare by WikiLeaks.
The cables show that nearly a decade after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks, terrorism still dominates the US' relations with the world, said the Times.
"They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.
"They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon - and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal," the Times said.
Detailing "a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel" revealed by WikiLeaks, the Times said: "Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
In May 2009, (US) Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, "if the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons,' he argued."
Another cable said a Chinese contact told the American embassy in Beijing in January that China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country.
The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government, it said.
They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
Quote:WikiLeaks bares world leaders' personal details
November 30, 2010 6:29:55 AM
IANS | Washington
Thousands of US diplomatic cables leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks bares personal details of world leaders and what US diplomats think of them in private, a media report said on Monday.
According to the Washington Post, a memo describes Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi having an intense dislike of staying above the first floor of hotels. The cables say that Gaddafi's fear of flying creates logistical headaches for his staff, who make great attempts to avoid long flights over water.
And Gaddafi is reportedly obsessively dependent on travelling with a Ukrainian nurse described as a "voluptuous blonde" because she alone "knows his routine".
The details on Gaddafi were included in a State Department cable in September 2009 during the leader's visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
In the cable, Gene A. Cretz, US ambassador to Tripoli, says: "While it is tempting to dismiss his many eccentricities as signs of instability, Qadhafi is a complicated individual who has managed to stay in power for forty years through a skillful balancing of interests and realpolitik methods."
This is one of the hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables made available online and select media outlets in the US and Europe by the website. Quotes from the more than 250,000 cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website were also circulating on the Twitter.
Frank and often private descriptions of world leaders include US diplomats quoting sources to describe North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a "flabby old chap" and someone who had suffered "physical and psychological trauma" as a result of his stroke.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy, in the view of US diplomats in Paris, has a "thin-skinned and authoritarian personal style" because of his tendency to rebuke his team and the French prime minister.
An official at the US Embassy in Moscow wrote in 2008 about the relationship between Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Medvedev "plays Robin to Putin's Batman".
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is "feckless, vain and ineffective as a modern European leader", according to a US official in Rome. Another cable remarked on Berlusconi's "frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard".
American diplomats in Rome reported in 2009 on what their Italian contacts described as an extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir V. 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, said the New York Times, one of the media organisations that had access to the leaked cables.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is described in one cable from Kabul as "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".
In 2007 Christopher W. Dell, the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe, calls Robert Mugabe, the authoritarian ruler of the African country, "a brilliant tactician" but mocked "his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics)".
The US government has termed the unauthorised release of classified documents "reckless" and "dangerous".
Quote:WikiLeaks expose: Saudi Arabia urged US attack on Iran
November 30, 2010 6:29:56 AM
IANS | London
Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region urged US to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear facilities, The Guardian reported citing the secret US diplomatic communications leaked on Sunday by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
The revelations of secret memos from US embassies across the Middle East expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme", said the paper which was among the few media outlets that have been given access to the over 250,000 diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.
"He told you (Americans) to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with the US general David Petraeus in April 2008.
King Abdullah warned the Americans that if Iran developed nuclear weapons "everyone in the region would do the same, including Saudi Arabia".
The documents also describe how other Arab allies of the US have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.
Israel's defence minister Ehud Barak estimated in June 2009 that there was a window of "between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable". After that, Barak said, "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage."
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, warned in February that if diplomatic efforts failed, "we risk nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, war prompted by an Israeli strike, or both".
Israeli's military intelligence chief, Major General Amos Yadlin, warned last year: "Israel is not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on Sep 11 2001."
"If the Iranians continue to protect and harden their nuclear sites, it will be more difficult to target and damage them," the US embassy reported Israeli defence officials as saying in November 2009.
The US embassy reported: "The IDF (Israeli Defence Force), however, strikes us as more inclined than ever to look toward a military strike, whether launched by Israel or by us, as the only way to destroy or even delay Iran's plans."
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told US officials in May last year that he and the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, agreed that a nuclear Iran would lead others in the region to develop nuclear weapons, resulting in "the biggest threat to non-proliferation efforts since the Cuban missile crisis".
The leaked US cables say that officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran's nuclear programme to be stopped by any means, including military.
Leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt termed Iran as "evil", an "existential threat" and a power that "is going to take us to war".
In a conversation with a US diplomat, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain "argued forcefully for taking action to terminate their (Iran's) nuclear programme, by whatever means necessary. That programme must be stopped. The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it."
Zeid Rifai, then president of the Jordanian senate, told a senior US official: "Bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won't matter."
In talks with US officials, Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed favoured action against Iran, sooner rather than later. "I believe this guy is going to take us to war ... It's a matter of time. Personally, I cannot risk it with a guy like (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad. He is young and aggressive."
Quote:US wanted to remove uranium from Pakistani reactor: WikiLeaks
November 30, 2010 6:29:58 AM
IANS/AKI | Washington
US diplomatic cables released by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks show that since 2007 the US has been engaged in an effort to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor.
According to the documents released Sunday, the US administration authorised this because American officials feared the material could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
In May 2009, US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson reported to the State Department that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said: "If the local media got word of the fuel removal, they certainly would portray it as the US taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons."
Cables sent by the US embassy in Islamabad to the US State Department also talk of "grave fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme" amid growing instability.
They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, and "assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in the eastern city of Lahore was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American consulate".
WikiLeaks has exposed thousands of US diplomatic cables, thanks to an anti-war activist who got access to the secret files due to a glitch in the computer system.
Quote:WikiLeaks lays bare nuclear standoff with Pakistan, hacking by China
November 30, 2010 6:30:00 AM
IANS | Washington
A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel and a global computer hacking effort by China are among the revelations laid bare by a cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.
The New York Times, one of the newspapers provided advanced access to the papers, Sunday offered a preview of the revelations from a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates that it intends to detail in the coming days.
The cables show that nearly a decade after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States' relations with the world, said the Times.
"They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate."
"They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon - and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal," the Times said.
Detailing "a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel" revealed by Wikileaks, the Times said: "Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.
In May 2009, (US) Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, "if the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons,' he argued."
Dispatches from early this year quote the monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan.
Speaking to another Iraqi official about Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, King Abdullah said, "You and Iraq are in my heart, but that man is not."
The king called Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to that country's progress, the Times said citing a cable. "When the head is rotten," he said, "it affects the whole body."
Another cable cited by the Times said a Chinese contact told the American embassy in Beijing in January that China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country.
The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government, it said.
They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
The White House was quick to "condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorised disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information."
It would jeopardise "our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals."
Quote:Turkey did not invite India on Afghan meet to appease Pak
November 30, 2010 6:30:02 AM
PTI | Washington
India was deliberately kept out of the Turkey-sponsored meeting on Afghanistan earlier this year to address the "sensitivities" of Pakistan, according to WikiLeaks cable.
Reflecting Islamabad's insistence at every international fora that New Delhi be kept out of any meeting on Afghanistan, a top Turkish diplomat told US officials early this year that India was kept out to address the concerns of Pakistan, WikiLeaks said.
At a meeting with the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns; Rauf Engin Soysal who then was the Turkey's Deputy Under-Secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa; said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghan neighbours summit in deference to Pak sensitivities.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in Istanbul for a Turkish-sponsored talks to discuss cooperation against extremists in Afghanistan earlier this year.
"He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he claimed, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake," says the confidential State Department cable dated February 25, 2010.
Soysal, a former Turkish Ambassador to the Pakistan from 2007 to 2009, and his countryââ¬â¢s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in September was appointment by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.
"He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister Singh had requested (Turkish) President Gul's assistance with Pakistan during the latter's visit to New Delhi the previous week.
Acting on that request, Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was skeptical of Indian intentions.
Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year," the cable said.
"Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateal summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm," it said.
Soysal, according to the cable, said the Pakistani military, though displeased with the President, Asif Ali Zardari, remains unwilling to intervene; nevertheless, senior officers' patience may not be infinite.
"Zardari needs to increase the democratic legitimacy of Parliament. Soysal offered. Nawaz Sharif has become a much more constructive player," said the State Department cable as released by WikiLeaks.
Quote:WikiLeaks disclosures involve 3000 cables from Delhi to Washington
November 30, 2010 6:30:04 AM
IANS | Washington
Among a cache of a quarter-million State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, 3,038 are from the US embassy in India, but no details were immediately available on the whistleblower website. Other cables pertain to communications from US missions in Islamabad, Colombo and Kathmandu.
India was one of the countries reached out by top US diplomats before the much anticipated release of what the New York
Times described as "an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders."
"We have reached out to India to warn them about a possible release of documents," State Department Spokesman P J Crowley said ahead of their publication Sunday, spawning condemnation from the White House and congressional leaders.
The United States had warned WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange that publishing the papers would be illegal and endanger peoples' lives.
Among the 251,287 cables provided by WikiLeaks to The Times [color="#FF0000"]2,278 cables are from the US mission in Kathmandu, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad.[/color]
Many are unclassified, and none are marked "top secret," the government's most secure communications status. But some 11,000 are classified "secret," 9,000 are labelled "noforn," shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and 'noforn'.
Publishing the documents would jeopardise "our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Senator John Kerry, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the disclosure "reckless."
"This is not an academic exercise about freedom of information and it is not akin to the release of the Pentagon Papers, which involved an analysis aimed at saving American lives and exposing government deception," Kerry said in a statement.
Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, on Sunday called on the Obama administration to prosecute Assange.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder King said WikiLeaks has provided "material support to terrorist organizations" by releasing the documents.
11-30-2010, 09:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-30-2010, 09:36 AM by dhu.)
Quote:CHINA TELLS US: NOT IN OUR MUTUAL INTEREST TO EXPAND UNSC PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP
B.RAMAN
Wikileaks has released 58 more diplomatic cables.None of them is between the US State Department and the US Embassy in New Delhi. There are some very interesting cables of 2009 relating to the visits of US officials to China and Singapore.
2.The cable from the US Embassy in Singapore on May 30,2009, gives the views of Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister and Minister Mentor to the present Government, on the present situation in China and the Chinese leadership. He was reported to have expressed these views during a meeting with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.
3. Lee has been quoted as saying: " Xi Jinping ( My comment: Hu Jintao's expected successor) is a princeling who succeeded despite being rusticated. When the party needed his talents, Xi was brought in as Shanghai Party Secretary. Xi is seen as a Jiang Zemin protege, but in another three and a half years Jiangââ¬â¢s influence will be gone. The focus now is on maintaining the system. There are no more strongmen like Deng Xiaoping. Jiang did not like Hu, but could not stop him, because Hu had the backing of the system and he did not make mistakes. Vice Premier Wang Qishan, whom the MM (Minister Mentor) saw in connection with celebrations in May of the 15th anniversary of Singapore-China Suzhou Industrial Park, is an exceptional talent, very assured and efficient. Wang handled SARS (?) superbly when he was in Hainan. He excelled in coordinating the Beijing Olympics. Li Keqiang may not get the Premiership and the Party is looking for a way to keep Wang on past his 65th birthday until he is 70. MM Lee said he had met first Wang back in the 1990s but had forgotten their meeting. This time when they met, Wang told Lee he had reviewed the records of all Leeââ¬â¢s meetings with Chinese leaders going back to the days of Deng Xiaoping to see how Leeââ¬â¢s thinking had developed. Wang told Lee he respects him as a consistent man. China is following an approach consistent with ideas in the Chinese television series ââ¬ÅThe Rise of Great Powers.ââ¬Â The mistake of Germany and Japan had been their effort to challenge the existing order. The Chinese are not stupid; they have avoided this mistake. Chinaââ¬â¢s economy has surpassed other countries, with the exceptions of Japan and the United States. Even with those two countries, the gap is closing, with China growing at seven-nine percent annually, versus two-three percent in the United States and Japan. Overall GDP, not GDP per capita, is what matters in terms of power. China has four times the population of the United States. China is active in Latin America, Africa, and in the Gulf. Within hours, everything that is discussed in ASEAN meetings is known in Beijing, given Chinaââ¬â¢s close ties with Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. China will not reach the American level in terms of military capabilities any time soon, but is rapidly developing asymmetrical means to deter U.S. military power. China understands that its growth depends on imports, including energy, raw materials, and food. This is why China is working with South Africa on the China-Africa Development Fund. China also needs open sea lanes. Beijing is worried about its dependence on the Strait of Malacca and is moving to ease the dependence by means like a pipeline through Burma. The best course for the United States on China is to build ties with Chinaââ¬â¢s young people. Chinaââ¬â¢s best and brightest want to study in the United States."
4.A cable of April 30,2009. summarises the views of an unidentified Chinese official at a lunch hosted for him by the US Charge d-Affaires in Beijing.It says: "The Charge expressed concern with Chinaââ¬â¢s defining Tibet as a ââ¬Åcore issueââ¬Â with the apparent expectation that others would ââ¬Åstep back.ââ¬Â Instead, our two sides should agree to continue to discuss the issue in an attempt to resolve our differences. The United States recognized that Tibet is a part of China. Nevertheless, the Dalai Lama is a respected religious leader and Nobel Laureate, and U.S. officials meet with him in that capacity. Future meetings by U.S. officials with the Dalai Lama could not be ruled out. Moreover, there were serious concerns among the U.S. public, the Administration and Congress over the situation in Tibetan areas of China. China should take steps to address Tibetansââ¬â¢ legitimate grievances and engage the Dalai Lamaââ¬â¢s representatives in productive dialogue. Denying a visa to the Dalai Lama was not being contemplated."
5.During this lunch, the unidentified Chinese official has been quoted as saying as follows: "China was concerned by ââ¬Åmomentumââ¬Â that was building on UN Security Council reform, which was ââ¬Ånot goodââ¬Â for the P-5, XXXXXXXXXXXX said. China wanted the United States to maintain its position on UNSC reform and not be ââ¬Åproactiveââ¬Â on the matter, which the PRC feared could result in a UN General Assembly resolution on the subject. The P-5 ââ¬Åclubââ¬Â should not be ââ¬Ådiluted,ââ¬Â XXXXXXXXXXXX said. If we end up with a ââ¬ÅP-10,ââ¬Â both China and the United States would ââ¬Åbe in trouble.ââ¬Â Moreover, it would be difficult for the Chinese public to accept Japan as a permanent member of the UNSC. The Charge replied that the Administration had not completed its policy review on UNSC expansion, so we do not yet have a position on specific proposals. Nonetheless, the United States believed that UN members should be allowed to state their positions freely and openly without undue P-5 influence. Regarding Japan, the Charge said that, while no decision had been made about which countries to support for permanent membership on the UNSC, it was hard to envision any expansion of the Council that did not include Japan, which was the second-largest contributor to the UN budget."
6. A cable of September 29,2009, quotes Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo as telling visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg as follows:"The U.S.-China relationship was of crucial importance, said Dai. China would do its best to cooperate with the United States wherever possible. ââ¬ÅIf we expand the pie for the common interest, the pie will be larger and more delicious.ââ¬Â Together, the two sides should work collaboratively for the good of the world, especially since the two countries were ââ¬Åpassengers in the same boat.ââ¬Â Dai urged careful management of the relationship and respect for each otherââ¬â¢s core interests and concerns."
7. These cables relate to the preparatory meetings held by US officials with their Chinese counterparts before the visit of President Barack Obama to China in November,2009. The atmosphere and cordiality were very good. The Chinese referred to only Tibet and Taiwan as their core interests. They did not refer to the South China Sea as their core interest. It was only subsequently this year that they started referring to the South China Sea also as their core interest. This was one of the factors that contributed to the cooling-off this year. ( 30-11-10)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Now factor in Clinton's statement about India's pretension to high power status..
[url="http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/wikileaks-julian-assange-wants-to-spill-your-corporate-secrets/"]WikiLeaksââ¬â¢ Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets[/url]
Nepal awaits WikiLeaks' dossiers with bated breath
2010-11-30 05:30:00
Kathmandu, Nov 30 (IANS) Whistleblower WikiLeaks' disclosure of confidential US documents could cause Nepal's history of its 10-year insurgency and the transition from monarchy to a republic to be rewritten, once - or if - over 2,000 confidential documents relating to the country are made public.
The Himalayan nation began a vigil Tuesday, awaiting revelations about its own behind-the-scene terrorist, political and diplomatic deals following the discovery that the website had also obtained 2,278 memos sent by the US Embassy in Kathmandu to the US State Department in Washington through a lengthy period of 1996 to February this year.
The Nepal documents are not among the initial 251,287 cables posted by WikiLeaks despite a warning by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the leaks were an attack on the international community.
The WikiLeaks memos on Nepal mainly revolve around the Maoist insurgency, the political upheaval followed by King Gyanendra's attempt to grab power with the help of an army-backed coup and the subsequent overthrow of his government due to a nationwide uprising.
Also featuring are the issues of the Tibetan and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and Nepal's relations with India, its most influential neighbour.
While about 800 of the Nepal documents are unclassified, the rest are confidential with 84 labelled secret.
Nepal's politics remains shrouded with the deals cut by the parties, the then Maoist guerrillas, the deposed king and even foreign governments remaining mostly secret.
The Nepal documents could throw some light on the opaque deals.
The US Embassy in Nepal has declined to comment on WikiLeaks' move.
However, the leaks dominated Nepal's media Tuesday, even the tabloids.
They also sparked a vigil for further details despite the political turbulence at home, including an upcoming meeting of the Maoist party to finalise their future battle strategy.
12-01-2010, 10:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2010, 10:59 AM by dhu.)
Wikileaks cache includes 2278 documents from Nepal
Quote:KATHMANDU: After leaking a cache of confidential United States documents on international backstage diplomacy on Sunday, whistle-blower website Wikileaks is preparing to publicise hundreds of cables from the US mission in Kathmandu.
The recent Wikileaks catch includes as many as 2278 documents related to or from Nepal, all of them originating from the US Embassy in Kathmandu from February 1, 2005 to February 25, 2010.
The documents are tagged with several keywords like Government of Nepal, political parties, U.S.-Nepali relations, India relations, Tibetan refugees, Human Rights, UN, Maoist insurgency, Bhutanese refugees, and acronyms like NP, IN, PINS, PTER, CASC, PGOV, MOPS.
They are expected to be released in a few months.
However, no details about the documents are immediately availabe on the website.
The whistle-blower website had provided 2,51,287 cables--including 2,278 from the U.S. mission in Kathmandu, 3,038 from India, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad-- to The The New York Times.
According to the news agencies, many of the documents are unclassified, and none are marked 'top secret.'
The Times said that the cables are the daily message traffic between the State Department and more than 270 U.S. diplomatic outposts around the world. The newspaper said that in its reporting, it attempted to exclude information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security.
12-01-2010, 12:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2010, 12:09 PM by dhu.)
"human rights" wallahs jittery in colombo that their sponsor will be revealed..
Quote:But the point is that the dataset is even today available as a torrent file directly from Wikileaks. It is unclear to what extent Wikileaks itself has redacted information that can compromise the safety and security of individuals, and this includes human rights defenders. It is likely they have not, since it is impossible for any one organisation to make a judgement call about this kind of information without deep, localised knowledge and context. This means that over the coming weeks and months, there is a high probability that some of the cables ââ¬â and these include cables from the US Embassy in Colombo ââ¬â will place human rights activists, already under scrutiny and a Damoclean Sword at even greater risk.
it seems that only hindus and hackers are welcoming these leaks.. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=' ' />
12-01-2010, 05:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2010, 08:01 PM by Husky.)
1. news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8173703/rape-charges-land-assange-on-interpol-list
Quote:WikiLeaks chaos continues to spread
19:16 AEST Wed Dec 1 2010
By Shaun Tandon
Interpol on Wednesday issued a global arrest warrant for the shadowy founder of WikiLeaks, as the chaos from its massive dump of secret US cables spread from governments to financial markets.
[color="#0000FF"]The United States suspended the military's access to some sensitive US diplomatic correspondence in a bid to stop new leaks, as the leaders of France and Pakistan were the latest to be stung by cables obtained by the website.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian computer hacker, is wanted in Sweden for questioning over the alleged rape and molestation of two women.
Assange has denied the charges.
Interpol, which is based in Lyon, France, said early on Wednesday local time that it had alerted all member states to arrest Assange if he was spotted.
He spends much of his time in Britain and Sweden.
Assange is said to lead a spy-like life of rarely sleeping in the same place twice.[/color]
Ecuador's left-leaning government initially offered Assange residency but President Rafael Correa backtracked on Tuesday.
In one of a series of defiant media interviews, Assange boasted that he was ready with a fresh "megaleak" that could take down a major bank, leading Bank of America shares to tumble more than three per cent on Tuesday on speculation.
Assange told Forbes magazine that the bank leak would "give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume."
In another interview conducted from an undisclosed location over a Skype internet phone, Assange told Time magazine that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should resign over a cable that appeared to show the United States ordered diplomats to spy on foreign officials, particularly at the United Nations.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that Clinton did not draft the document and that her name was affixed systematically to many cables out of Washington.
Crowley said the State Department had temporarily suspended the Pentagon's access to some of its correspondence, halting a trend to greater information sharing within the US government launched after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
"Steps are being made ... to correct weaknesses in the system that have become evident because of this leak," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, who characterised Assange as an "anarchist".
WikiLeaks and US authorities have not fully explained how the 250,000 sensitive cables managed to go public. But suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a disgruntled 23-year-old ex-Army intelligence analyst.
The Pentagon has faced questions on how it entrusted so much sensitive data to the low-ranking soldier, who was arrested in May after WikiLeaks released a video showing a 2007 US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed civilian reporters.
The latest revelations include US accounts that Pakistan's army chief has mused about mounting a coup against President Asif Ali Zardari and that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was so pro-US he considered sending troops to Iraq.
China has called on the United States to "properly handle" the leak after cables indicated that Beijing was frustrated with longtime ally North Korea and may accept its collapse and absorption by the US-backed South.
The head of Russia's foreign intelligence, Mikhail Fradkov, said that WikiLeaks "released a treasure trove of analytical material" and made clear that his service will make use of it.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu poked fun at a leaked memo's description of him as "exceptionally dangerous," saying that he sees only a smiling face in the mirror.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also tried to play down the leak, telling reporters that some reactions have been "significantly overwrought".
"Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for US foreign policy, I think fairly modest," said Gates, a former CIA director and intelligence analyst.
2. news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8173913/assange-rape-charge-could-be-a-set-up-wilkie
Quote:Assange rape charge 'could be a set up': Wilkie
(We - the global populace - kinda worked that bit out for ourselves. The wheels in our minute brains may be a-turnin' slowly, but turn they do. On occasion.)
16:00 AEST Wed Dec 1 2010
By Martin Zavan, ninemsn
Former intelligence official and independent MP Andrew Wilkie says the rape charges brought against WikiLeaks' Australian founder Julian Assange "could definitely be a set-up".
PHOTOS: WikiLeaks founder wanted by Interpol
Mr Wilkie, who controversially went public with his concerns about the case for going to war in Iraq, said governments tended to overreact when faced with individuals who defied their wishes.
"The organisational response to whistleblowers is pretty predictable. Theyââ¬â¢re [portrayed as] troublemakers, they donââ¬â¢t know what theyââ¬â¢re talking about, theyââ¬â¢re mentally unstable," Mr Wilkie told ninemsn.
"When organisations are confronted with people they find they canââ¬â¢t control they often lash out fairly powerfully and savagely."
He said governments responded in a theatrical way to threats because they wanted to send a signal to deter people from speaking out.
(Choosing charges of rape to pin on the guy is specifically to render him wholly unsympathetic. You don't want to be caught condoning let alone championing a guy who's "A Rapist". That makes you guilty by association you know. Nary a quicker way to the block...)
"Of course governments donââ¬â¢t want to be embarrassed. And they will tend to overstate the harm caused by these things."
Mr Wilkie said he did not support WikiLeaks "doing anything that put lives at risk", but said the website had a role to fill if it revealed information that was genuinely in the public interest.
(Is that the same as if the public were interested?)
WikiLeaks this week published of thousands of diplomatic cables sent between US embassies around the world.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the leak an "attack on the international community" and said it would put lives at risk.
It was revealed today that international police organisation Interpol had put Assange on its most-wanted list.
(Oh Interpol, do they *have* to be AmeriKKKa's lackeys? Europe really needs to stop slaving away to foreign commandments.)
But supporters of Wikileaks say it has done nothing more than embarrass some government officials.
In the cables, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev are referred to as "Batman and Robin", while French President Nicolas Sarkozy is called "thin-skinned and authoritarian".
Mr Wilkie resigned as an intelligence analyst at the Office of National Assessments in 2003 and went public about alleged manipulation of intelligence in the government's case for invading Iraq.
He subsequently gave evidence to enquiries about the case for entering the Iraq war, before entering Federal Parliament as independent member for the seat of Denison in Tasmania this year.
3. news.ninemsn.com.au/slideshowajax/134543/wikileaks-founder-wanted-by-interpol.slideshow
Quote:WikiLeaks founder wanted by Interpol - SLIDESHOW
Slide 1/12: Wanted man
Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is wanted by Interpol over allegations of sexual molestation and rape in Stockholm, Sweden. The international agency issued a "red notice" on Tuesday November 30, to assist with his arrest.
2/12: Humble beginnings
The 39-year-old was born in Magnetic Island in north-eastern Australia, moving to Melbourne as a teenager in the 1990s where he discovered a talent for hacking. But he paid for his actions, being charged and fined for 30 counts of computer crime, including allegedly hacking police and US military computers.
3/12: Idea born
Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 with around 10 others from the human rights, media and technology fields. The website went live in 2007.
4/12-5/12: Collateral murder
WikiLeaks made headlines on April 5, 2010 when it released a classified US military video showing a dozen people being killed by US army soldiers in Iraq. Two of the people killed were Reuters news staff.
[color="#800080"][And these are the captions to 2 screenshots of archival news footage to which the above applies:][/color]
Quote:"Just fuckin', once you get on 'em just open 'em up."
Quote:"Good shoot'n."
"Thank you."
(Give it up for the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave."
Yeah, *real* brave.
"Land of opportunity, Liberty, Freedom To Screech" and everything.)
6/12: Arrest warrant
Assange's image was spoiled by allegations he committed sex crimes during a stay in Stockholm in August. Assange denied the allegations but Swedish prosectuors called for an international arrest warrant. (Pictured is Assange's lawyer Bjorn Hurtig)
7/12: Upset
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed Assange, saying WikiLeaks' latest dump of confidential US documents was an attack on America's foreign policy interests. Assange responded by saying Clinton should resign. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />
8/12: Anger
Assange has a number of high profile enemies including US Republican Sarah Palin who took to Facebook to say the WikiLeaks founder should be hunted down "like Osama bin Laden".
(Green Day's track "American Idiot".)
9/12: Revenge
Fox News' right wing commentator Bill O'Reilly slammed WikiLeaks as a "despicable wesbite", calling Assange a "sleazeball". "Whoever leaked those State Department documents is a traitor and should be executed," O'Reilly said.
(Great. Yet another "American Idiot". Some mothers do 'ave 'em.
Small thing: Assange can't be a traitor 'cause he ain't AmriKKKan. He's still Australian I think.
Yupp: )
10/12: Local action
Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland warned Assange's passport could be cancelled and foreshadowed possible legal action against him.
(America's called in some favours from said Australian's own government.)
11/12: Safe haven
But the release of information has also won Assange a number of supporters. On Monday, an Ecuadorian minister invited him to live in the country, saying he could settle there "with no problems and no conditions".
(Ecuador declaring that "The Enemy of my Enemy is my buddy, me old pal." Apparently Not Everyone thinks AmeriKKKa is the land of Liberty and all that other tripe. But the first clipping of this post mentioned that Ecuador reneged on their offer some time thereafter.)
12/12: More to come
In an interview with Forbes magazine on November 11, Assange said the release of Pentagon and State Department documents were just the beginning. Since the leaks, Assange has been constantly on the move. It has been reported that he is living somewhere in Europe.
(Europa, Europa.)
"Age of Dawaganda." <- May have misquoted Green Day's original lyrics there, but my twist is so full of creative poezie, vind ik althans.
Of course, only time will tell (if even time) whether Assange will turn out to be just another "Jesuit Temporal Coadjutor" (common christianist tactic). JTC: think of it as a sort of "double spy": ultimately working for the very side they're pretending to expose, while the temporal coadjutor slowly inches the renegade heretic sheeple back to the true church from their side.
(^ It's a possibility that must be submitted, after all: anything is possible in the great information game that is the race for your mind.)
Ooh, American Idiots/Sarah Palin reminded me. (And here I'd been hoping against better knowledge that Bush Junior's prominent/in-your-face 'genius' would be a one-off malfunction. Can someone please stop the Frankenstein assembly line.... Have these guys heard of Family Planning: "How about none?")
After NK's recent attack on S Korean soil, Miss Talentless came out to do her Act:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/sarah-palin/8159130/Sarah-Palin-in-North-Korea-gaffe.html
Quote:Sarah Palin in North Korea gaffe
By Andrew Hough 10:00AM GMT 25 Nov 2010
Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Tea Party favourite, has been hit by another gaffe after mistakenly declaring the US should stand by its ââ¬ÅNorth Korean alliesââ¬Â.
[...]
ââ¬ÅSo this speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policies.
ââ¬ÅBut obviously we gotta stand with our North Korean allies.ââ¬Â
When the host immediately corrected her Mrs Palin repeated: "Er yeah. And we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes."
While the statement appears to have been a slip of the tongue,
(not even the proverbial Freudian kind I think. Not any sort of 'slip' when her 2nd line is taken into consideration, see above. She's just ignorant, full stop.)
it will likely damage her credibility and fail to shed perceptions that she is weak on foreign policy.
(Oh what an understatement)
Eeek. Ugly AND Brainless. How's that for a winning combination...
More ummm ... "Palinity" follows <- look how I made that up, it's like Palin + inanity and Palin + insanity and Palin + stupidity etc. If you thought that was bad, it still beats the likes of this:
Quote:She was widely mocked in July this year when she used the term "refudiate" - an unwitting combination of refute and repudiate - in a Twitter posting about the Ground Zero mosque debate, calling on Muslims to "pls refudiate".
Unwitting? That's cause she is an Unwit. (If you're gonna make up words, you at least have to do it on *purpose* instead of bumbling in your own first and especially sole language...)
Bastardised her own language there. <- Another thing Bush Jr is famous for too.
^ One of the many pitfalls of Mono-lingualism. She has only the one language - I'm guessing it's her only one, I could be wrong - and she *still* manages to nuke it. (As a pre-emptive: now's not the moment to pounce on my own liabilities in the communication quarter. And the mathematical quarter. And the geographical quarter. Etc etc etc.)
Not one to (under)stand correction, she parroted/parodied herself all over again later:
Quote:Palin claims conservatives have 'refudiated' the extreme left 03 Nov 2010
Is Femme Mentale aiming to be the Classic Joke?
With brains like these - Bush, Palin - one has got to be wondering (as should America's oppressed populace - oppressed, because they're kept woefully ignorant): Who's Running This (Freak) Show?
Though, more likely, Ze Free Peoplez of Ze World have become less sympathetic over time and over the repeat errors and are now asking Zemselves in Grande Peur "If their leaders are this dumb and dumber and dumber er, what's the AmeriKKKan Joe Public like"? (<- And does this mean that American qualifications should henceforth only be weighted at the same level as those who graduate from The Banana Academy? <- Hmmm, don't look at me: it makes itself Mock-Central.)
Husky,
I like your portmanteau word Palinity. It can also be used to combine Palin+Hannity of Faux news.
Good job.
Palin is fine, the one Messiah is terrible. Have you seen his 57 states and corpes?
Palin gets beating from everyone and Messiah gets free ride.
[url="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/amazon-com-pulls-plug-on-hosting-wikileaks/"] AMAZON.COM PULLS PLUG ON HOSTING WIKILEAKS[/url]
![[Image: Wikileaks-pulled.jpg]](http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Wikileaks-pulled.jpg)
[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Indian-Army-lumbering-and-slow-US-envoy-s-cable/H1-Article1-633289.aspx"] Indian Army 'lumbering and slow': US envoy's cable[/url] Quote:If India were to launch "Cold Start" ââ¬â a quick, limited military strike to punish Pakistan ââ¬â its army will not to be able to carry it off as quickly as envisaged by the doctrine, says a leaked cable from US embassy in New Delhi. "Indian forces could have significant problems consolidating initial gains due to logistical difficulties and slow reinforcement," said the cable sent on February 16 this year under the seal and sign of US ambassador to India Timothy Roemor.
Quote:Though admitting to lack of official confirmation of the doctrine, the cable says Cold Start was born in 2004 because of the widespread criticism of the "lengthy process of mobilisation, lack of strategic and operational flexibility" in 2001.
"In order to avoid the Indian Army's slow and lumbering military mobilization process and preserve the element of surprise in attack, Cold Start attacks could begin within 72 hours after the attack order has been givenââ¬Â¦" goes the cable's description of the operation.
The key elements of the doctrine are: speed to pre-empt international effort to prevent it, limited penetration to avoid a nuclear response and overwhelming use of firepower to inflict massive, salutary punishment.
But the cable says that in the "collective judgement" of the mission (the US embassy in New Delhi), if and when Cold Start is used, the results will be mixed. There will be some initial gains because of quick response. But then the problems will kick in.
"Indian forces could have significant problems consolidating initial gains due to logistical difficulties and slow reinforcement," the cable says, adding, "India would have to overcome, challenges that range from road and rail transportation to ammunition supply."
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