Washington, we have a problem!

[Aberlour10]

And the problem is named Wikileaks once again. The site is still offline ( cyber war? ) but the main european magazines have just published first secret cables sent by US diplomats with a lot of derisive remarks about the officials from the allied countries f. ex. This could be a real diplomatic desaster for the US administration under the title "How our american friends do really think about us";-)

[PassedOut]

It is estimated that thousands will die as a result of these disclosures, most from apoplexy.

[hrothgar]

And the problem is named Wikileaks once again. The site is still offline ( cyber war? ) but the main european magazines have just published first secret cables sent by US diplomats with a lot of derisive remarks about the officials from the allied countries f. ex. This could be a real diplomatic desaster for the US administration under the title "How our american friends do really think about us";-)

 

Yawn...

 

NPR covered the release of a bunch of British diplomatic documents that referred to allies and adversaries in less than flattering terms. I'm not gonna get too worked up from this.

[kenberg]

Until your post, I had not heard of this. Apparently it will be a disaster. I googled a bit and got to a recent (within the last hour) LA Times article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-1129-wikileaks-20101129,0,4635772.story

 

 

An excerpt:

 

The cables provide reports of Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, urging the U.S. to attack Iran to end its nuclear program, lay out U.S. efforts to stem corruption in the Afghan government and cite the widespread use of hacking by the Chinese government.

 

The cables report U.S. diplomats' view that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has become the European "mouthpiece" of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

[/Quote]

 

Certainly untactful language about Prime Minister Berlusconi but this is pale stuff in comparison with the paragraph above it. And I suppose it will only get worse.

 

 

I take it for granted that some European diplomats do not think highly of some U.S. officials, or of some other European officials, and vice versa. I don't need leaked cables to know that GWB was not well-regarded. So I hope we can avoid handing out dueling pistols over leaked candid remarks. But it will cause problems, no doubt.

 

But I really would not want to be an Arab diplomat identified as advising the U.S. to attack Iran.

[hrothgar]

 

But I really would not want to be an Arab diplomat identified as advising the U.S. to attack Iran.

 

 

Because, of course, there is deep love between the Persians and the Arabs....

 

Andrew Sullivan had a couple decent articles about this:

 

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/11/will-israel-attack-iran-by-christmas.html

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/11/the-wikileaks-cable-leak-vs-the-war-on-jihadist-terror.html

[kenberg]

OK, I sit corrected.

[Winstonm]

If the U.S. had genuine news organizations instead of a highly-paid stenographer corps, there would be no Wikileaks.

[luke warm]

The cables provide reports of Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, urging the U.S. to attack Iran to end its nuclear program, lay out U.S. efforts to stem corruption in the Afghan government and cite the widespread use of hacking by the Chinese government.

 

The cables report U.S. diplomats' view that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has become the European "mouthpiece" of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

and this one may be far more explosive

But with the damage already done, the WikiLeaks information reveals some stark communications made among U.S. officials and foreign leaders. The New York Times reported that one cable captured a conversation between Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then leader of U.S. Central Command, that detailed a deal in which the Yemenis would take credit for bombing terror outposts as a means to prevent anger at the government by allowing U.S. forces to conduct operations.

from fox news... sounds like a "go ahead and bomb them and we'll say we did it"... i even read where they'd use materials proving it was actually them and not us

[kenberg]

The fact of the leaking may well be more important than what is leaked.

[Winstonm]

You got to love Hillary's chutzpuh (spelling?). She calls out Wikileaks for a "Crime again civilization" for leaking the actual crimes (stealing credit cards from U.N. members) that she approved.

[kenrexford]

Seems sort of like a truth or dare game at a party that goes way off the rails. Been there. Everyone gets all truth on everyone.

[ggwhiz]

I like the one that described Canadian policy as living in Wonderland.

 

Kim Jung Il, Ahminejad, Hugo Chavez, throw in a Bush or two and the aptly named Tea Party and this diplomat was bang on. We fell down the rabbit hole in the early 70's.

[helene_t]

French president chasing a dog chasing a rabbit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11883611

[hotShot]

Revealing secrets like that will shake earth foundation .......

 

what will be next?

 

Revealing that a rice bag was dropped in China?

[helene_t]

Ahmedinejad thinks wikileaks is a project from the US government intended to undermine the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

 

Putin says "Some experts believe that somebody is deceiving Wikileaks to undermine their reputation, to use them for their own political purposes later on"

[kenberg]

Ahmedinejad thinks wikileaks is a project from the US government intended to undermine the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

 

Putin says "Some experts believe that somebody is deceiving Wikileaks to undermine their reputation, to use them for their own political purposes later on"

 

 

Do these views come from leaked cables?

 

People simply speak differently when they expect to be quoted. If I am to be quoted, I might describe someone as methodical and careful. In private I might describe them as not very creative. Pretty much, it's the same description of the same person.

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/11/cable_ready.html

[Winstonm]

The most chilling aspect to me of this release of documents is the number of people who agree with Sarah Palin that an Australian citizen should somehow be found guilty of "treason" B) and he should receive the death penalty for his act of serial embarrassings.

[PassedOut]

The most chilling aspect to me of this release of documents is the number of people who agree with Sarah Palin that an Australian citizen should somehow be found guilty of "treason" B) and he should receive the death penalty for his act of serial embarrassings.

You must be one of the dreaded elite who claim that words have definitions.

[blackshoe]

"Words mean what I want them to mean, neither more nor less." -- Humpty Dumpty

[helene_t]

Do these views come from leaked cables?

 

People simply speak differently when they expect to be quoted. If I am to be quoted, I might describe someone as methodical and careful. In private I might describe them as not very creative. Pretty much, it's the same description of the same person.

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/11/cable_ready.html

OK, if I expect to be quoted I call Putin a strong leader who is highly influential in Russian society through his wide-reaching network beyond the bureaucracy.

 

If I don't expect to be quoted I just say he's a mafia boss.

[luke warm]

You must be one of the dreaded elite who claim that words have definitions.

treason: the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family

 

seems to me that treason doesn't apply, but something probably does

[PassedOut]

treason: the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family

 

seems to me that treason doesn't apply, but something probably does

Possibly. But it seems that some folks suppose everyone in the world owes the US allegiance (or else).

[kenberg]

I think it is important to stop the leaks. I recently saw the (not particularly good) movie "The Invention of Lying" which postulated a world in which everyone speaks candidly. Not a life that is appealing to me. In everyday life I want to be able to talk with friends w/o worrying that I am being taped for re-broadcast. Surely this is necessary for diplomacy among allies. Maybe it's even more important in discussion with rivals.

 

 

So I favor protecting cable traffic from disclosure. Mostly I assume this to be a technological issue. I wouldn't send flowers if a load of bricks fell on Assange, or whatever his name is, but I would not expect that approach to be effective long term.,

[helene_t]

So I favor protecting cable traffic from disclosure. Mostly I assume this to be a technological issue.

I don't think so. No matter how hacking-proof the communication between diplomats, there will always be diplomats who leak information.

[phil_20686]

I don't think so. No matter how hacking-proof the communication between diplomats, there will always be diplomats who leak information.

 

well, mostly it seems that an absurd number of low level lackeys had access to sensitive information. You can obviously never prevent people from leaking information, but they generally only leak things when they take serious issue with government policy, and a certain amount of leaking is healthy in a democracy. This kinda broad based leaking is a new thing. I cannot believe the source has even read all these documents. You can keep secrets effectively if you restrict the number of people who know them. If you don't, then you cannot. From what i have gathered from news outlets, it seems to be American policy that you can see all documents at your security rating or below, irrespective of the filed that they are in. So military analysts have access to diplomata tic data etc. This does not seem like an efficient system. Best to keep information in as small cells as possible.