Now that they might make the President and the Russians look bad….it's personal. Back when it only made President Bush look bad, it was useful. Right now, Wikileaks is facing a Denial of Service attack, but the New York Times and news organizations around the world are releasing the documents at this moment. Ben Smith says it demonstrates the impotence of the administration. I don't know what it demonstrates yet, outside of creating chaos.
To some of the revelations (note: I'll link every point even if it's repetitive for ease of search):
1. The Obama Administration doesn't like the Brits.
2. The Germans don't like each other (via Der Spiegel's Wikileaks coverage):
Even the leadership of a close ally such as Germany emerges in a poor light in the cables. The members of the ruling government coalition in Berlin denigrate each other in comments to the US ambassador to Germany, Philip Murphy. For example, Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg tattled on his colleague German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, telling the US ambassador that Westerwelle was the real barrier to the Americans' request for an increase in the number of German troops in Afghanistan. And the US diplomats are rather cool in their assessment of Chancellor Angela Merkel: One dispatch describes her as risk-averse and "rarely creative."
3. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants her diplomats to be spies:
Sometimes the US embassy activities seem to go beyond the requirements of diplomacy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demands of members of her diplomatic corps that they prove their worth as spies. The embassy staff are asked to acquire any accessible personal details of UN staff, including credit-card numbers and frequent-flyer customer numbers.
4. Everyone is terrified of Iran (from the New York Times):
Feeding the administration's urgency was the intelligence about Iran's missile program. As it weighed the implications of those findings, the administration maneuvered to win Russian support for sanctions. It killed a Bush-era plan for a missile defense site in Poland — which Moscow's leaders feared was directed at them, not Tehran — and replaced it with one floating closer to Iran's coast. While the cables leave unclear whether there was an explicit quid pro quo, the move seems to have paid off.
There is also an American-inspired plan to get the Saudis to offer China a steady oil supply, to wean it from energy dependence on Iran. The Saudis agreed, and insisted on ironclad commitments from Beijing to join in sanctions against Tehran.
Also, the New York Time's bias just seeps on through. "The move seems to have paid off", they say. How exactly has it paid off? Never mind. There's more.
The Telegraph documents how destructive this leak may be:
Officials involved in overseeing British policy in the region say that diplomatic materials compiled between 2008 and 2010 on Iran contained sensational information that could jeopardise efforts to disrupt the nuclear programme if unveiled on WikiLeaks.
The UK has played a key role on breaking up one network of businessmen in Dubai who had been using the emirate as the "HQ of a worldwide spiders web" to supply equipment to Iran's banned nuclear programme.
"Information was provided to the UAE authorities that was only procured by getting inside this group. It was a very successful effort of disruption carried out at some personal risk by our people," said one Whitehall official. "It would not be good for any of this to come out."
5. U.S. has doubts about Turkey. From Speigel Online International:
The leaked diplomatic cables reveal that US diplomats are skeptical about Turkey's dependability as a partner. The leadership in Ankara is depicted as divided and permeated by Islamists.
US diplomats have grave doubts about Turkey's dependability. Secret or confidential cables from the US Embassy in Ankara describe Islamist tendencies in the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The US diplomats' verdict on the NATO partner with the second biggest army in the alliance is devastating. The Turkish leadership is depicted as divided, and Erdogan's advisers, as well as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Ankara.
The Americans are also worried about Davutoglu's alleged neo-Ottoman visions. A high-ranking government adviser warned in discussions, quoted by the US diplomats, that Davutoglu would use his Islamist influence on Erdogan, describing him as "exceptionally dangerous." According to the US document, another adviser to the ruling AKP party remarked, probably ironically, that Turkey wanted "to take back Andalusia and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683."
How, precisely, is it helpful for this information to be out and open? Once again, Der Spiegel nails it:
Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information — data that can help paint a picture of the foundation upon which US foreign policy is built. Never before has the trust America's partners have in the country been as badly shaken. Now, their own personal views and policy recommendations have been made public — as have America's true views of them.
Forget the content of the leaks for a moment, this is a moment of impotence so complete and horrifying–the Jerusalem Post notes that Israel's leaders were notified but that US officials aren't sure what's in the documents–that America is diminished before everyone. Consider this thumbnail:
The documents quoted in the leaked article include nicknames for a number of world leaders. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is referred to as "Hitler," French President Nicolas Sarkozy as a "naked emperor," the German Chancellor is called Angela "Teflon" Merkel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "driven by paranoia." Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is an "Alpha Male," while President Dmitry Medvedev is "afraid, hesitant."
The documents also say that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffers from epilepsy, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi's full-time nurse is a "hot blond," and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi loves "wild parties."
The article also quotes the State Department as saying that US President Barack Obama "prefers to look East rather than West," and "has no feelings for Europe."
"The US sees the world as a conflict between two superpowers," the diplomatic cables say. "The European Union plays a secondary role."
Well, this Wikileaks release of information doesn't seem particularly surprising, just confirming what most who pay attention believe about things. Still, how is this helpful to the U.S.' standing in the world? I don't see it.
The cavalier nonchalance of some on the left, in particular, about this leak speaks volumes. Aren't these the same folks who deified Valerie Plame? But wholesale diplomatic revelations is okay? I don't get the justification here.
UPDATED:
More from Greg Mitchell of The Nation.
China ordered the hacking of Google. Evil vs. evil. I wonder who won.
Israel feels vindicated by Wikileaks.
Blackfive: "This is nothing but Anti-Americanism wrapped in a sleazy cloak of whistle-blowing."
I've wondered this too: Will Hillary Clinton be booted for the spying orders? That would, however, free her up to run against President Obama.
UPDATED again:
Via Assange's own site (back up, evidently):
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).
The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.
More:
Key figures:
* 15, 652 secret
* 101,748 confidential
* 133,887 unclassified* Iraq most discussed country – 15,365 (Cables coming from Iraq – 6,677)
* Ankara, Turkey had most cables coming from it – 7,918
* From Secretary of State office – 8,017According to the US State Departments labeling system, the most frequent subjects discussed are:
* External political relations – 145,451
* Internal government affairs – 122,896
* Human rights – 55,211
* Economic Conditions – 49,044
* Terrorists and terrorism – 28,801
* UN security council – 6,532
UPDATED AGAIN:
William Jacobson says that it's official: President Obama is Jimmy Carter II.
And here the Pentagon's super awesome security measures.
Sent from my iPhone
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