The US diplomatic cables leaked by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks includes 3325 as-yet unreleased missives from the US Embassy in Colombo, making the Embassy in Sri Lanka among those hardest-hit by the scandal.
Wikileaks, in conjunction with several newspapers in the UK and Europe such as the Guardian, will stagger the release of 250,000 cables over the next few days. Today’s leak has already sparked diplomatic crisises all over the globe.
Correspondence already released includes urging by Saudi Arabian leaders for the US to attack Iran to disrupt its nuclear programme, while leaders in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates described the country as “evil”, an “existential threat” and a power that “is going to take us to war”.
The Guardian’s newspaper’s report on the leaks noted that former president of the Jordianian senate, Zeid Rifai, had told “a senior US official” to “bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won’t matter.”
The leaked cables included allegations that Russian intelligence agencies were using mafia bosses to conduct criminal operations, with one cable claiming that the country was “virtually a mafia state.”
According to the Guardian’s report, the cables also identified “intense US suspicion” around the “extraordinarily close relationship” between Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in relation to “lavish gifts”, “lucrative energy contracts” and “shadowy” contacts.
The cables identify Saudi Arabian donors as allegedly “the biggest financiers of terror groups”, and disclose an “extraordinarily detailed account” of plans to disguise the bombing of al-Quaeda targets with the assistance of countries such as Yemen.
Hacking attacks directed at Google, which prompted the search giant to leave China, were reportedly ordered by a senior member of the Chinese politburo after he typed his name into the popular search engine and found disparaging articles written about him.
One of the most controversial leaks concerns a directive requesting the specification of communications equipment and IT systems used by top UN officials and details “of private VIP networks used for official communication, to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys.”
Maldives Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed noted that former US President Richard Nixon had tapes of his conversations leaked in the early ’70s.
“Nixon used a few choice phrases to describe some close allies. It didn’t damage [international] relationships, but he may have upset some of the people he referred to,” Dr Shaheed said.
The correspondence includes 3325 as-yet unreleased cables from the US Embassy in Colombo, some of which may concern the Maldives.
Dr Shaheed told Minivan News that while he doubted the dispatches would be as sensational “as some people think”, “it will make the US uncomfortable when some of its confidential reports go public.
“However I don’t think it will damage US ties in this region because, by and large, this not central region for US diplomacy and they US has not been brokering difficult negotiations – what the US has been saying here it has been saying very publicly,” he added.
Dr Shaheed confirmed that the US Embassy in Colombo had notified the Maldivian government that the release of the cables was likely, “however they don’t know what the contents are or the areas they will [concern].”
Cultural Affairs Officer and Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Colombo, Glen Davis, told Minivan News that the US would not be commenting specifically on the contents of the leaked cables.
“Cable traffic is very preliminary; pieces are incomplete and read out of context, they are easy to misconstrue,” he said.
“A disclosure like this is bad for contacts, harmful to global engagement and makes it difficult to tackle problems such as organised crime and nuclear proliferation. Washington has taken very aggressive action to ensure the privacy of future communication is secure.”
Davis added that the US Embassy was “determined to keep doing what we’re doing, and reassure the people we work with. It’s hard to see [how the leak] will lead to constructive results.”
The UK High Commission in Colombo said it was official policy “not to comment on the substance of leaked documents.”
However, it condemned the “unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK. They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the US have said, may put lives at risk. We have a very strong relationship with the US Government. That will continue.”
The diplomatic cables were drawn from the US government’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPDIS), a separate US military-run internet that is accessible to approximately three million Americans. The US reportedly suspects that the leak originated from the same source as the Iraq and Afghan war logs, 22 year-old US soldier Private Bradley Manning, who was posted as a junior intelligence officer in Baghdad.
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Tsk! Tsk!
I have a feeling all the leaked documents contain exactly what the US wants others to know.
They are just pretending to be worried.
Reminds me of the lewd and ludicrous villains, with heavy makeup on their faces, in Hindi soaps.
They do all the harm and watch from a distance what the reactions are.
Dear heck,
Lovely to know you found a conspiracy theory behind this too.
How does it feel to live in a world where the US/CIA/Jews are behind everything that happens ever?
great Arabia wants to kill arabia. thats no secret thats logic and the history and present
Dear yaamyn,
I just don't think any US citizen will be able to leak anything that their government does not want to be leaked, especially when they have knowledge of it.
It's hard to believe.
since we are on the topic of conspiracy theories... let me throw in one.. the leaks indicate that "Saudi Arabia repeatedly pushed America to attack Iran". we all know the wahhabi creed states that shiah muslims are almost as 'evil' as the jews.
but supporting the US in an attack? guess what...this aint the first time they did that. saudi arabia was established after spilling a lot of muslim blood on muslim holy lands by the wahhabi militant backed by the british empire. they brought down the ottoman caliphate and now call for another caliphate. what the?!
now this same leaks state that "saudi donors are chief alqaeda financiers".
not surprising but...why support both sides? its all politics. maybe this is all about selling weapons, oil, control people/markets and gathering more wealth and Power? the haabees here are just pawns. zombies actually. they dont knw whoz war they are fighting.
as our friend Ahmed Aliased said...perhaps the Iraq war was about Aramco pushing out INOC? and going back to 9/11... most of the terrorist in those plans and the master minds were Sadui arabian! yet, the US of the A chose to invade Afghanistan and Iraq and just shut up about Saudi. oil brothers they are.
also, i think the christian right,hindutva fundies in india, radical zionist parties in israel...and the wahhabis are actually brothers. they have much in common. im not saying they are organised and planning stuff together...just similar ideologies.
and another fun fact...USA is the top seller in the global weapons market. and guess who is the top client since the 90's.... the wahhabi kingdom of saudi arabia. and yet they spread hate and intolerance around the world through their wahhabi brainwashing mechanisms.
i can go on. a lot of fun we can have with conspiracy theories. waddya say?
and...i always wonder why the wahhabis ignore China. i mean... they aint in their world view at all. but their outnumber all the jews and americans.they are powerful. they are laadheenee. And they are important. it is said that in the beginning god created china...and the chinese people inventend everything else. what i derive from this is.... that the misguided hate for nonmuslims that these wahhabis carry around are actually more political than religious. they think it is religious, but the hate is not theirs. it was planted there for political reasons. wallahu a'lam. allah knows best. adhaalath party claims to know better.
Need not bomb Iran. But bomb Saudi Arabia. They are terror funders.
Agree with moyameehaa... A traitor to Islam like Saudi Arabia - what gives them the right to be the 'rightful custodian' of two Islamic holy sites? Mecca and Medina should be under the administration of the Islamic countries belonging to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Saudi Arabia behind all these Wahabbi attacks on Maldivian traditions and culture. They are the real exporters of trouble, all over the Muslim world.
Yes, heck.
And that's why Hillary Clinton's state department is in panic mode, trying to control the damage around the world from the candid diplomat talk, and lose much of the diplomatic trust and credibility in dozens of major countries around the world.
I am not sure you understand how Wikileaks works.
Apparently, thousands of US government officials around the world - including very junior level officers - have access to these 'protected' and 'no foreigner' level secret documents.
There are two possibilities here.
a) A soldier (who's currently being court martialed) simply downloaded the data and smuggled it out to publish on Wikipedia.
b) It is all a needlessly elaborate "conspiracy" by the United States by severely damaging its reputation.. to achieve what again?
Of course, it's so obvious the former is too improbable, while the latter possibility is DEFINITELY what happened.
Sad truth about wahhabis. They think reality is what they WANT it to be.
Wikileaks* , not Wikipedia.
Sorry.
hehe DR shaheed, Kutti and hassan shahyd beware...interesting things are coming up from the embassy in srilanka..ehem ehem
@yaamyn
"There are two possibilities here."
One is, USA is leaking.
And you are, freaking. Why?
@stupid meeha
"wallahu a’lam. allah knows best. adhaalath party claims to know better."
What do you know, then?
@yaamyn
"Hillary Clinton’s state department is in panic mode"
Who's got the remote control?
Change the Channel, please! Some one is leaking really bad here!
heck, uh. what? dats all you got to say about that comment. what does that even mean? i knw things i know and i have a lot that i dont know. Allah knows best as i have stated. and adhaalath party claims to know even better than allah at times...anyways..wasnt dat clear when u read it first? whatz your point dude!? :/