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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

WikiLeaks new revelations

The activist website WikiLeaks continued to publish a series of stolen US State Department cables on Tuesday, embarrassing Washington and riling foreign governments exposed in the documents. In each case the source is a State Department memo, most of them records of encounters with foreign officials, obtained by WikiLeaks. The United States has condemned the leaks as a criminal act but has not disputed the authenticity of the published transcripts, which have been chosen for publication by reporters from major world dailies. The leaks began on Sunday and have already covered several major diplomatic crises, in particular the nuclear stand-off with Iran and allegations of US spying on the UN. The following are the latest major revelations:
CHINA LOSES PATIENCE WITH NORTH KOREA
China is exasperated with North Korea and some in Beijing feel their erratic neighbor is losing strategic value and will one day reunite with South Korea. Last year, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, Cheng Guoping, told a US envoy that Beijing regards North Korea's nuclear program as "very troublesome." The ambassador "said China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but he expects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term."
KUWAIT: 'DUMP TERROR SUSPECTS BACK IN AFGHANISTAN'
Kuwait's interior minister told a US ambassador his country did not want Kuwaiti terror suspects held in Guantanamo Bay to return. The exchange between Sheikh Jaber Khaled al-Sabah and the US envoy to Kuwait, took place in February last year. "If they are rotten, they are rotten and the best thing to do is get rid of them," the minister said. "You picked them up in Afghanistan: You should drop them off in Afghanistan, in the middle of the war zone."
SAUDI ARABIA: 'TAG TERROR SUSPECTS'
Saudi King Abdullah proposed implanting Guantanamo detainees with electronic chips to monitor their movements after their release. "I've just thought of something," Abdullah blurted during a March 2009 meeting with White House counter terrorism advisor John Brennan. The king proposed the prisoners be implanted with electronic microchips so that after their release they can be tracked "with Bluetooth" technology.
EGYPT: 'FORGET DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ'
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak advised the United States in 2008 to "forget" about democracy in Iraq and allow a dictator to take over. Mubarak made the comments during talks with visiting US congressmen to whom he also admitted that he was "terrified" by the possibility of a nuclear Iran. Now that they had troops in mainly Shiite Iraq, American troops should not withdraw because that would only serve to strengthen Shiite Iran next door. "You cannot leave," he said. "Strengthen the armedforces, relax your hold, and then you will have a coup. Then we will have a dictator, but a fair one. "Forget democracy, the Iraqis by their nature are too tough."
KARZAI PARDONS DRUG SMUGGLERS
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the release of numerous dangerous criminals and drug traffickers detained by US-led coalition forces. American officials repeatedly rebuked the president and Afghan attorney general Muhammad Ishaq Alko for authorizing the release of detainees. In an August 2009 cable, American officials said that since 2007, 150 of the 629 detainees transferred to Afghan custody had been released without trial. It said Karzai had pardoned five border policemen in April 2009 who were caught with 124 kilograms (273 pounds) of heroin in their police vehicle.
PRINCE CHARLES GETS LESS RESPECT THAN QUEEN
Britain's Prince Charles "does not command the same respect" as Queen Elizabeth II, said Amitav Banerji, Commonwealth political affairs director. According to a US political officer in London, in June 2009, Banerji said the 54-nation organization wants to persuade Charles to play a greater role.

WikiLeaks hit Iran policy

Iranian officials have scoffed at WikiLeaks documents showing calls by Arab leaders for the destruction of Tehran's nuclear programme, but analysts and observers say this unveiled hostility may indeed impact on Iran's foreign policy. US diplomatic memos from Arab countries in the Gulf released by whistleblower WikiLeaks over the past few days uncover a fixation on the Iranian nuclear threat as well as fear that regional conflict is inevitable. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set the official line on Monday by dismissing the documents as "worthless" and a "mischief", insisting Tehran's ties with its Arab neighbours would not be affected. Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday branded the revelations a "suspicious plot" and called on Arab neighbours across the Gulf not to fall into the whistleblower's "trap." "The enemies of the Islamic world are pursuing a project of Iranophobia and disunity," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. But Ahmadinejad's reaction, which is similar to that of many other world leaders, may prove hard to sustain, several diplomats and analysts said. "The WikiLeaks documents have not unveiled anything. Iranians have long been aware of the sentiments of Arab countries in the Gulf," a Tehran-based Western diplomat told. "But having written proof that your neighbours are encouraging your enemy to attack you leaves its mark," he said. According to leaked memos, the majority of Arab leaders in the Gulf have pressed the United States to halt Iran's nuclear programme, with Saudi King Abdullah calling for a US military attack to "cut off the head of the snake."