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Is US Foreign Policy Crippled Following Latest Wikileaks Dump?
The latest Wikileaks data dump has been released and it is about to make the world hate the US just that little bit more: it represents a massive sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates. And as the attached front page of tomorrow's Der Spiegel shows, according to the unclassified US embassy cables, America had something quite unpleasant to say about virtually everyone, culminating with Ahmadinejad, who was called "Hitler." But aside from the unpleasantries which may or may not be buried (and don't expect a prompt burial: Der Spiegel is already on the case and has this to say, "251,000 State Department documents, many of them secret embassy reports from around the world, show how the US seeks to safeguard its influence around the world. It is nothing short of a political meltdown for US foreign policy") the far bigger question will be how the once great American superpower could have allowed such a huge oversight in traditionally classified diplomacy. Very soon the once-legendary US foreign service department will be butt of all jokes. Perhaps it is time for someone within the administration to finally take some blame for this fiasco, although we most certainly are not holding our breath for a Hillary Clinton resignation.
Here is more on Der Spiegel's early take of the wikileaks release:
Such surprises from the annals of US diplomacy will dominate the headlines in the coming days when the New York Times, London's Guardian, Paris' Le Monde, Madrid's El Pais and SPIEGEL begin shedding light on the treasure trove of secret documents from the State Department. Included are 243,270 diplomatic cables filed by US embassies to the State Department and 8,017 directives that the State Department sent to its diplomatic outposts around the world. In the coming days, the participating media will show in a series of investigative stories how America seeks to steer the world. The development is no less than a political meltdown for American foreign policy.
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.
A brief overview of the content by the NYT:
The cables show that nearly a decade after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States’ relations with the world. 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.
And cable specifics:
- Mixed records against terrorism: Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda,
and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a generous host to the
American military for years, was the “worst in the region” in
counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last
December. Qatar’s security service was “hesitant to act against known
terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and
provoking reprisals,” the cable said. - Arms deliveries to militants: Cables describe the United States’ failing struggle to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a huge stockpile since its 2006 war with Israel. One week after President Bashar al-Assad
promised a top State Department official that he would not send “new”
arms to Hezbollah, the United States complained that it had information
that Syria was providing increasingly sophisticated weapons to the
group. - A global computer hacking effort: China’s Politburo directed the
intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese
contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, one cable
reported. 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, cables said. - A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: 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, 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.” -
Gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South
Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea,
should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the
state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial
inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She
told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that
the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about
living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the
United States. -
Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats
pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant
players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia
was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama,
while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth
millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from
diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting
more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence
in Europe.” -
Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s
vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local
authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration
discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry
understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the
money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was
ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or
destination.” (Mr. Massoud denies taking any money out of Afghanistan.)
The Guardian has done a great cliff notes summary of some of the key cables after the jump:
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Internet will kill governments, said one thinker in the late 1990s.
Seems to be happening right now.
Until the famous "Internet kill switch" proposed by Rockefeller...
The Internet kill switch can only be used once, than all people will reroute their Internet traffic avoiding the USA and it's blockade
Wikileaks is citizen's CCTV of government officials.
If they did nothing wrong then they have nothing to fear!
I love it how this classic argument against privacy of the individual (searches at borders, warrant-less surveillance of all Internet packets and all telephone conversations, full body scans, CCTV cameras everywhere, etc.) can be turned around and applied symmetrically and fairly to government and corporate officials as well.
And it's interesting to see how they squirm under the sunlight and claim that when it is Wikileaks and citizens that are doing the surveillance, then it is suddenly somehow wrong.
Every government official and every big corporation official should have a public webcam installed in their office. Citizens want to see who meets whom and why. How are our taxes spent and how are our markets being divided? We pay them - and we want to know what happens with our money. Fair is fair.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html
Nice post MCTW.
Listen more critical T. We will see. If we, the people loose faith in .gov then we need to replace it with faith in ZH? Is that what you are saying. Oh I see.
If that faith in .gov begins to erode then gold should increase in value. Lets see what happens this week. It should be interesting.
Time to buy bonds or time to buy gold?
Why have "faith" in any of these entities?
How about having enough data, using our brain and applying critical thinking ourselves? That's more than enough IMO.
False dichotomy. There are many other alternatives. Think.
You add no value here ... indeed, you are an embarassment to the site with your shallow thinking and trolling.
There was this one time while I was reading a Tyler story. I looked over and there was a fly on the wall bugging me with some such story about arbitrage or something. Anyway I looked at it then continued looking at the Tyler story wondering "why did Tyler write this".
This one time I surfing the webs and I saw a story about peak. So I clicked through and there it was, oilprice.com giving me a quote on crude. I did not make a trade cuz I thought it could have been considered insider information.
What?
at least one promise obama made is coming true: the most transparent administration in u.s. history.
Indeed. I wonder if Obama passed the communications to Wikileaks to keep his promise?!! (or to embarass Hilary :) hehe
"Spy on them as they spy on us."
-Hackers
"That's the spirit!"
-Bladerunner
Well said MCTW. Democracy requires citizens to choose, and choices require information. (I love it when folks choose the red pill. Go ZH!)
It's apparent that the thinker you refer to forgot that the vast majority of people don't think and are therefore unconcerned with anything that doesn't affect their ability to afford an iPhone.
What do you mean afford an iPhone? Just put it on a credit card! /USconsumer
well, the US government closed down over 70 websites this past week
"The new seizures also come as a new bill, the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act, is making its way through Congress. The bill, which was approved by a Senate committee last week, would allow the government to shut down sites that are “dedicated to infringing activities.”"
Infringements can mean a lot of things...
I also here wikileaks is/was under cyber attack. Gee, three guesses who is perpetrating that crime?
there is talk of bombing their servers
"You cannot start a revolution without a printing press." (Marx)
Wait....is that irony?
Like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a manifesto.
Well, since there is no spoon...
Oops - gotta get me a new icon - my apologies Unca Remus.
No, the Internet is the new press.
I certainly hope that is the case. We've suffered through one of the worst periods of malfeasance on the part of governments in the history of mankind. The idea that the powerbrokers now think they've made a case for world government is absolutely mind boggling. What they've actually made is a brutally clear case for is statelessness.
"nothing to kill or die for (and no religion too)".
waiting for the wikileaks financial edition!
Yes!! Remember BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International)
Wow. I was just talking to my dad about BCCI this weekend. The whole bank shutdown every global branch in 4 hours once their dirty laundry hit the headlines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International
Dick Cheney is spinning in his grave, oh wait
Don't tease us like that!
classic.
Nothing we didn't already know or suspect really. Will be fun watching all the countries implicated acting as if they are better than the U.S.
I'm still reading what documents I can access and I can assure you of one thing: Both the Bush and Obama administrations look like crap. This isn't going to be a walk in the park in the markets this week as a result, IMHO.
Looks like the media is spinning it where the US is a hero by selectively picking out three memo's. Appearently Bush is a born again hero of the republic.
At least there are more names to skull from them to research and eyeball.
I can't access to Wikileaks right now (France, SFR).
Just a momentary server overload?
Having trouble connecting from Germany to, server overload i guess
Can't access from 80002, CO, USA
if you're going to comment, they already know where I live....
That's ok. They probably know I live in a house too.
DOS attack per their tweets...
I have no love for the Feds, but I certainly hope we're trying to crash Wikileaks permenantly. We have no moral obligation to allow some international site to post national security information.
Frankly, if we can't fry Wikileaks, I'd be very concerned for our cyberwarfare capabilities. CIA might as well pay a visit to the site's founder while we're at it.
Any computer connected to the internet can be a server, so what if Wikileaks goes silent...
</irony>
You should be concerned for US cyberwarfare capabilities in any event.
These sir, are words of a coward. WHat is a crying shame of an embarrassment is that we the people don't have immediate and constant access/ability to see/post these documents every day, as they happen. The fact a foreigner can or would pull this off is a great service from a citizen of the world.
You seemed to be ashamed for all the wrong reasons. These "diplomatic" files all read like a bunch bloggers talking about nutcases anyhow... to expect any different wuold be absurd. And to allow itto be treated as sacrosanct is tyrannical (or embracement of tyranny)
wake up!
deleted duplicate.
"no love for the feds" but this diplomatic chatter is "national security information" requiring a cia visit to the founder? for what, a little wetwork?
If Marla got Wikileaks then ZH would be under a full scale DOS episode.
Sacrilege would be wetting the bed right now.
Almost feel bad for Hillary...
Ha, ha.
This is what happens when the kids get the keys to the Ferrari..............
1. Insulting but not earth shattering. Corrupt Afghan - not exactly news.
2. Was this an Obama effort to make sure H does not run in 2012?
3. Was this an Obama effort to cleanse Obamas dislike of Israel?
So far nothing is Big news, could be just a distraction or decoy
There ya go. How about calling it a coo?
Anyone even considering a massive disinformation campaign by the CIA, or is everyone happy taking this "coup" at face value?
I certainly do. Julian would be dead several times over if there weren't some complicity on the government side, someone wants this out there.
I think the term is "limited hangout." Googling "wikileaks limited hangout" turns up droves of links from folks thinking the same.
What worries me most is what this is being used to distract us or cover up from. Of course, it could be to pave the way for some sort of internet legislation or anti-whistleblower law to be put into place before things really heat up. As one observer noted, the wikileaks releases seem to be happen right before or during the start of something big going on in the US domestically -- it seems to primarily distract non-US media (since the US media really doesn't do any serious reporting anymore.)
I take it as a bad sign that something negative is coming our way, regardless of perspective.
The (limited) analysis I've read so far seems to be focusing on all the foreign folks who have tried to talk the U.S. into attacking Iran. I know that is due to selective presentation by the news media, but it makes me wonder if another ramp-up in focus on Iran is coming.
The latest dump feels like a haystack with thousands of people searching for the mythical needle, effectively distracted from ongoing real life events critical to the political stability in all continents.
"disinformation campaign by the CIA".
Nope, never thought about that. I doubt it.
as nixon replied to a characterization of events as a modified limited hangout, it's just a question of whether it hangs out privately or publicly.
Is this all an effort to boost hit on Wikigeeks ? they need advertisers.
I wonder how the new superpower of China or Russia will deal with Wikigeeks ? haha, this guy will be assasinated which he deserves.
There is reasons why things are classified.
Then 'this guy' will have done infinitely more for our freedom than you've ever done, and will have paid for it with his life.
There are reasons why people use spellcheckers.
why ? because a new conflict or war starts from the result of his bullshit ? More lives will be lost thanks to this cocksucker. You sure have a fucked up definition of "freedom".
its post's like yours that make me despair for the intelligence of humanity.
is it the information that wikileaks is releasing that is causing the trouble or the fact that what they are releasing is true.
using your logic andy mcguire is fucking up the silver market?
children abused by catholic priests seeking justice are bringing down the church?
idiot.
Damn straight. You getting all this, spritzer?
In all fairness the jury is still out on that one, it's not at all clear yet whether 'Spitzer' is a human, or an astroturfing script running at GOP headquarters. The perfect match to GOP talking points would suggest the latter. The horrible spelling and horrible logic (despite best efforts no computer code is able to simulate that one yet) would suggest he is human - or if not an outright human, at least a primate.
This wikileaks is one big false flag operation. Never will I beleive, that the all powerful CIA cannot simply take out a guy who is living in Australia of all places. The "leaks" from wikileaks happen at precise time that Europe is going through bailouts and QE2 is falling through. What a great way to distract attention.
There is nothing in the items highlighted above that is of importance. However, all media is now going to talk about this leak for weeks.
The banking mafia must be rejoicing.
Maybe, maybe not.
The question about Wikileaks is: can governments control the Internet and classified data leaks? Nothing more.
In the current technical configuration of the Web, they cannot.
How hard it is to simply track down the leakers and pop them? For a CIA?
Are you referring to the vaunted CIA whose sole Raison D'etre was to know everything Soviet, and after 50 years missed the breakup? That CIA?
Yup. Never attribute actual malice when ordinary incompetence fits the bill.
As a Cossack, you should be very well aware that it is far easier to feed your enemies lies while pretending it is the truth.
The "war on terrorism" is but a giant smokescreen; incisive words like, "chubby old chap," and "Hitler," just feed directly into the myth they are trying to portray.
I don't doubt the sincerity of WikiLeaks for a moment, but it appears they've been had on this one.
Sorry.
Hmmm, speaking of "Hitler",
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The same CIA that gave money to a supposed Taliban leader in a peace negotiation only to find out later, he was a nobody and they had been taken like some Nigerian Email victim. That CIA.
the same cia that armed and empowered bin laden (can see it as a long term make work policy though).
Keystone Kops come to mind
By that logic they should also be "popping" guys like Alex Jones who are very influential and are changing public opinion. The fact is they tend to shy away from murdering those who are on the outside and have influence. Which is why they must first malign Assange's character and once public opinion is against him, take him out. Otherwise they just reinforce the viewpoint of the victim.
Indeud, and one of the simplest methods to get the ball rolling on this would be to feed wikileaks some easily disproved sensational BS and discredit it after it was published by them.
I disagree. When US's super sized security cannot get hold of Bin Laden - a unsophisticated villager - how can you expect them to find Assange. I personally think Bradley and Assange are hero (as Bin laden is an evil).
While I agree with your assesment of US security, you are mistaken about Bin Laden. He is an engineer, hardly unsophisticated.
And cut of Assange's head, two will take his place. This is not about personalities, but technical capacities.
This all happened because a bloating military accepted into its ranks a guy that was loyal, but, in the face of their misbehavior, changed his mind.
This is the perpetual challenge to tyrannies – they can vet a guys loyalty at induction, but they have no effective means to maintain it once he has see what they are really up to. And the need more and more people . . .
Actually, rumors have it that the man is now in Brugges, Belgium.
The reasons are pretty clear: NOBODY may act in the country that houses Nato headquaters and houses the Euro parlement.
And why make a marter out of that guy?
If he had a accident, the US should start sweating bullets because EVERYTHING what that guy has said, would become 100% truth.
It would be like a Roswell or a Kennedy bullet through the head event.
The beauty of Wikileaks is that because the US/UK government is fighting him so hard they have acknowledged the 100% truth of the material.
If he actually lied about any of it they'd hang him up high and dry. But they cannot (and he would be a fool to lie - he has so much genuinely true material - why make up stuff if the plain truth is so shocking?) - so they try to attack the messenger.
But, but, he's uh.... a RAPIST, that's it!
I agree with concept of false flag, but wonder who? See ORI's above. I ain't that smart, but one thing I do know: things are often not what they appear [except here on ZH of course :) ], especially at this time in history
"not what they appear [except here on ZH of course :) ]"
ZH does not even have a flag so how can it be false? If they did it would look something like this:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/12/cash.jpg
need to get williebanzai on this flag project
You can't just kill someone as prominent as him. He would become a martyr. Better to try to paint him as a false flag agent so the crazies will tear him to shreds, and a rapist so regular people will find him distasteful.
Why on Earth do you think the US would be UTTERLY DESTROYING its image abroad in this way? We're about to become a true international pariah because of this. Any support, real or moral from any of the nations savaged in the released documents will find that they neither have the political support nor the personal inclination to do anything for America, unless it is for a much increased price.
Maybe our government bought CDS on the USA public image.
If the profits from the default on US credibility is great enough to overcome the losses, why not?
If the FBI or NSA think they can disrupt access to wikileaks, I laugh. The documents have already been downloaded and copied one million times over the web, and are right now on the HDD of every intelligence agency in the world.
Hmm.. Might it perhaps do some damage to Israel? Seeing as Israeli foreign policy has centered around gaming US foreign policy for the last several decades.
That is old news. Will the leak point out how jewish lobby funded by the Rothchilds is swarting US Foreign policy towards the zionist state? I think not. So it is another empty shell sensation.
Geez and if the jewish lobby ever figured out that the Rothchilds were making all the money off the backs of the Vatican. Catholics would be double pissed I guess.
I have a feeling the CFR - Trilateral - Bilderberg - Zionist - Illuminati - Freemason conspiracy is still safely obscured in these leaks.
that's his point; the rothschild's funding of the jewish lobby is swarting (obscuring) u.s. policy toward said z.s. but maybe he meant "darkening"? or maybe it was a typo. but at least someone mentioned israel and that's always good for some laughs and tears, shouts and whimpers.
Wow! Think of it. Israeli spying, provoking Lebanon so they could invade. Killing U.S. Citizen on the high seas, Israeli spies following the 9-11 hijackers for months, selling U.S. military technology to Communist China. All that stuff on AIPAC spying and bribing our representatives. Don't trouble yourself to look for it, it won't be there. That should tell you everything you want to know.
The Guardian has an interactive map you can click which pulls up an article or something on selected countries. It has blips for Jordan and Egypt and Syria and Lebanon, but the area between those blips is strangely blank. Well there's a dot, but it doesn't click.
the only place you get a hint of straight talk about israel in the msm is in israel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0sK4TjcUd4&playnext=1&videos=ITfdKQfPgqw
Mega Patsy? Yes. CIA doo-fuss. yes.
that's right. would a legit "hacker" or "loose cannon" give an advance copy to the controlled ny times? puhleeze.
now wait a second. nyt among several others. and advanced copy gives them all a motive (scoop) to print and display the data to more than the very industrious and patient who will use wiki's site. that doesn't seem sensible (whether or not a double agent)?
Straw man, Straw man, Straw man. None of these items add up to anything. This much info was stolen and released? I'm not buying it for an instant.
Exactly. Hey everyone look away from Ireland, the other PIGS, QE2, the list goes on, and look over here at the political equivalent of highschool gossip.
Er, wait a sec... look back at Ireland, quick!
things like this happen
when you allow the peasants
to learn how to read...6
I think they are working hard to undo that 'mistake'
The governments involved won't really care. They mostly know all this.
And with their own secretive agencies, they did the same or worse shit.
Nothing new.
BUT!
The voters of the countries insulted and provocated need to see action from their governments now that they won't take insults.
Officially, their will have to be done some ass kissing.
Behind closed doors, nobody will care.
How do you think Europeans talk about the US and it's policies?
Doesn't anybody think there are documents that could make european countries blush?
Wikileaks = Disinfo.
There is no way of knowing that ANY of the documents is genuine. Think Wikileaks will let you peek behind their curtain? Hmmm? Thought not. Imagine that, every "embarrassing document could be a forgery, we'd never know and it's real effects would ripple through the system, as intended.
Masterful stuff. Winning by deception. Cowardly but effective.
And of course the US Gov squealing like a stuck pig gives it all the credibility it needs.
And the MSM, usually lying, why not now, will click and cluck and make "safe" comments.
It is the cold, calculated and pre-meditated take-down of a nation.
The USSR was "crashed", why not the other half now? Timing seems perfect.
And one nation gains the most.
Three guesses. And no, it's not India!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/70/
Wouldn't it be beautiful that this pretended leakage were just an attempt to bring light to geopolitcs' sewers? Hard to believe, sadly, it is such thing. Probably just more shit to the sewers.
The thing is that US govn already confirmed all leaks to be genuine documents..including fresh one... by its actions.. so if someone had any doubt, they don't have it anymore.
"And one nation gains the most.Three guesses. And no, it's not India!"
Nations for $666.
What is The Vatican?
This convinces me that wikkileaks is a front to get the control of the internet into CIA hands. Create a problem, provide a solution, problem solved.
Probably "Homeland Security" since we all know that the CIA is precluded from operating on domestic issues </sarc> - Ned
Always look at the bright side - got at least a chuckle out of Der Spiegel's cover page. I wonder if they forewarned Sarkozy that they would call him "emperor without clothes".
otoh-the "empress" is quite impressive without clothes.
She's not all that--but word is that she is, uh, skillful...
Any mention to an alive Bin Laden should raise flags about the origin and purpose of this leak, hum!. Anyway, I support all attempts to bring transparency to the world.
Looks like NK was right. We are planning to take them out.
I wonder if Wikileaks may accidentally cause an action out of NK this week - the timing of this is quite unconvenient.
There's nothing in the above selections that suggest America is doing anything wrong. They are just being realistic about who they are dealing with. Why is that such a bad thing?
depends on definition of "wrong"..... how about STUPID? "realistic about who they deal with" Doubt it. Not competent enough to approach anything close to realism. Like to see a list a of all "American" gov't successes (State, military, "inteligence" (gag), domestic, spy-craft, intenational relations, finance, blah blah blah) Anybody got a list?
TD, excellent article.
Scarey that the same people in charge of our nation's secrets are also in charge of our nation's security.
This is facebook drama. I am so utterly sad our world has come to such sophomoric behavior.
Shame on the human race.
I bet you right now that 90% of the U.S. population has never heard of Wikileaks.
I bet you that tomorrow they WILL know. ;-)
Mystery missile launched off CA coast then a week or so later there's rogue shelling on the Korean peninsula (Special Ops anyone?). Chinese subs surfacing in the middle of US Carrier fleets. Mass "leak" tells us the Saudi's WANT us to attack Iran (need oil anyone?). This is all coming so thick and fast it CANNOT be accidental. Robert Ludlum couldn't make this shit up!
Hear, hear.
There's a financial war for survival going on.
That's in here as well...it's all unrelated crap though about where JPM is moving around though.
Let the war crime trials began
I'm reading through it right now.
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?dsrcid=317391
Write the query with a keyword and man are we collectively fucked. Everything from food security to shrinking oil output is in this thing. Dutch royality has been fingered in a murder or two...jesus h christ
//grabbing a rye and coke and watching the world burn here.
Tommorrow is going to be a very, very, very, very very bad day...for a lot of people. There's like twenty encyclopedia collections in this thing....wow...like stopping for a highway accident and being unable to move from the mess in front of you.
Shit I was right...they were going to ditch the US soldiers if the energy cost got too high.
Tomorow is "Cyber Monday", so relax, everybody is going to shop until they drop.
sad but true.
I think this will be a venture of "text was to long didn't read". Now if there were sock puppets involved...
<sigh>
If it's happened in the last six years it's in here...wow, just wow.
Easily readable Non programmer version of the info dump for you all
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable...
It's being updated from the DB I posted earlier from the Guardian DBA's and put into the pretty format
Thanks CPL, I was going "WTF?!" on the first link you posted. Not pooter savvy here.
Sorry, but the U.S. just doesn't have much to lose here.
If the U.S. is already committed to losing stupid wars, not protecting it's borders, generally having no balls and putting Hillary Clinton on the leading edge of the nation's foreign policy (in spite of her balls). So what super-valuable, top secret material is there really for Wikileaks to divulge? - Obama's master plan for economic greatness? Please. We almost signed a treaty last week with a Pakistani shopkeeper posing as the Al-Qaeda #2 for Krissakes. No shitshow to see here folks....
Besides, either the U.S.A. has secrets worth protecting and a government with a high likelihood of continuing on "as a going concern" or Julian Assange is still alive. The two cannot simultaneously be true.
Sorry, but it's too late to "suicide" Julian Assange -- the cat's out of the bag -- looking pretty scruffy too!
I bet he doesn't take a sudden interest in outing Russian secrets no matter how juicy they are.
Not everyone is up for the tea with polonium
Hahaha :-)
beautiful
Is that what systemic incompetence can cause?
I like the part where Angela Merkel is referred to as one who, "Avoids risk and is rarely creative"
Publicly dumping on the myth of Multiculturalism and (ultimately in my view) backing out of the Euro involves the kind of creative risk taking that we could use a lot more of.
The release of these cables are going to do far more harm to US allies than they will to the US.
The one revealing trend in these cables are the extent to which China is trying to undermine the US, whether it's supplying nuclear weapons material to Iran and N. Korea, or organizing a concerted hacking and sabotage effort against US interest since 2006. Bring on those anti-China tariffs NOW!!!
Actually it looks like the US Govt has been selling its military for promises of reserve oil output and money to make sure the House of saud stays in power and the US promised food security.
With tax payer dollars...
And this has been known since Gulf War I - remember... the one that Daddy Bush led (to success).
Never officially though....should be interesting to see the next couple of weeks.
I'm going long on oil and silver tommorrow at open.