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[Ether_Snake]

It would be much more difficult to make sense of it all if it was all released at once. The press publishing the cables are doing so in series, related to specific countries, individuals, conflicts, etc.

I'm guessing that we were told about one week of leaks, everything else will be released in the near future, but the main interesting stuff is what the press has mentioned.

 

[Sqrt_minus_one]

I'm sure it's been asked a billion times, but:

Why don't they release the cables all at once?

I also imagine some of the stories need to be confirmed, some extra sensitive information is also obfuscated (names and addresses of informants, spies etc)

 

[Splash Wave]

Just thought I'd share this: my brother thinks Wikileaks is a New World Order conspiracy with the aim of scaring the public into wanting internet censorship.

 

[trinest]

I don't know if its been posted but reading on Techcrunch- Google/China Cables : http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/04/wikileak-china-google-cables/

 

[Ether_Snake]

Just thought I'd share this: my brother thinks Wikileaks is a New World Order conspiracy with the aim of scaring the public into wanting internet censorship.

Typical escapism. Conspiracy theorists want to believe that they are living at the end of time, that white men are really in control of everything because it's more reassuring than knowing that we could all be speaking Chinese or worship Allah tomorrow, and that they hold secret truths so they can go to bed and not feel like they've accomplished nothing and have nothing.

So he's probably disappointed that nothing came out about 9/11 conspiracies, secret NWO meetings, space alien technology, or 2012 mind-control take over.

Tell him to get a job, get a wife, make some kids, and if he has already done as much tell him to stop believing in complete bullshit for the sake of his kids.

 

[jorma]

I'm sure it's been asked a billion times, but:

Why don't they release the cables all at once?

I don't think they are releasing anything at the moment to be honest. Afaik everything "spicy" so far has first been released by newspapers and then added to the cablegate site.

 

[Lard]

Assange Rape Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group
http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy...-has-cia-ties/

 

[Ether_Snake]

WikiLeaks cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists

Hillary Clinton memo highlights Gulf states' failure to block funding for groups like al-Qaida, Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba – but the Saudi government is reluctant to stem the flow of money, according to Hillary Clinton.

"More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups," says a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state. Her memo urged US diplomats to redouble their efforts to stop Gulf money reaching extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," she said.

Three other Arab countries are listed as sources of militant money: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The cables highlight an often ignored factor in the Pakistani and Afghan conflicts: that the violence is partly bankrolled by rich, conservative donors across the Arabian Sea whose governments do little to stop them.

The problem is particularly acute in Saudi Arabia, where militants soliciting funds slip into the country disguised as holy pilgrims, set up front companies to launder funds and receive money from government-sanctioned charities.

One cable details how the Pakistani militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, used a Saudi-based front company to fund its activities in 2005.

[...]

In an effort to stem the flow of funds American and UAE officials are increasingly co-operating to catch the "cash couriers" – smugglers who fly giant sums of money into Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In common with its neighbours Kuwait is described as a "source of funds and a key transit point" for al-Qaida and other militant groups. While the government has acted against attacks on its own soil, it is "less inclined to take action against Kuwait-based financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside of Kuwait".

Kuwait has refused to ban the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, a charity the US designated a terrorist entity in June 2008 for providing aid to al-Qaida and affiliated groups, including LeT.

WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran

Baghdad says it can contain influence of Shia neighbour, unlike powerful Gulf state that wants a return to Sunni dominance

Iraqi government officials see Saudi Arabia, not Iran, as the biggest threat to the integrity and cohesion of their fledgling democratic state, leaked US state department cables reveal.

The Iraqi concerns, analysed in a dispatch sent from the US embassy in Baghdad by then ambassador Christopher Hill in September 2009, represent a fundamental divergence from the American and British view of Iran as arch-predator in Iraq.

"Iraq views relations with Saudi Arabia as among its most challenging given Riyadh's money, deeply ingrained anti-Shia attitudes and [Saudi] suspicions that a Shia-led Iraq will inevitably further Iranian regional influence," Hill writes.

"Iraqi contacts assess that the Saudi goal (and that of most other Sunni Arab states, to varying degrees) is to enhance Sunni influence, dilute Shia dominance and promote the formation of a weak and fractured Iraqi government."

Hill's unexpected assessment flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that Iranian activities, overt and covert, are the biggest obstacle to Iraq's development.

It feeds claims, prevalent after the 9/11 attacks, that religiously conservative, politically repressive Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from, is the true enemy of the west.

Hill's analysis has sharp contemporary relevance as rival Shia and Sunni political blocs, backed by Iran and the Saudis respectively, continue to squabble over the formation of a new government in Baghdad, seven months after March's inconclusive national elections.

[...]

Hill adds that some Iraqi observers see Saudi aims as positively malign. "A recent Iraqi press article quoted anonymous Iraqi intelligence sources assessing that Saudi Arabia was leading a Gulf effort to destabilise the Maliki government and was financing 'the current al-Qaida offensive in Iraq'."

[...]

A visit last December by US diplomats to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, the "epicentre of Shia Islam", finds further evidence of Iraqi public resentment of foreign meddling from whatever quarter. One local leader "singled out Saudi Arabia and Iran as the biggest culprits but noted that a 'mental revolution' was under way among Iraqi youth against foreign agendas seeking to undermine the country's stability".

Iraqi sources also tell the visiting Americans that the Iranian government and the IRGC cannot match the "social and political clout" that Iraq's Shia establishment, led by the Shia world's most senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, wields among the ordinary citizens of both Iraq and Iran.

Sistani, it is noted, rejects the fundamental tenet of Iranian clerical rule – the unchallengeable "custodianship of the jurist" adopted by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to justify his de facto dictatorship. Seen this way the entire Iranian Islamic revolution is illegitimate.

More at the links.

 

[[Nintex]]

Remember who the US recently made a large weapon deal with, right the Saudi's. :lol

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Assange Rape Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group
http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy...-has-cia-ties/

http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurph...anti-castro-groups-one-of-which-has-cia-ties/

Fixed link.

 

[dragonfart28]

Remember who the US recently made a large weapon deal with, right the Saudi's. :lol

I wish I knew how to do the laughing-crying face right now.

 

[speedpop]

Like a locomotive.

 

[Ether_Snake]

WikiLeaks cables claim al-Jazeera changed coverage to suit Qatari foreign policy

Qatar is using the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in foreign policy negotiations by adapting its coverage to suit other foreign leaders and offering to cease critical transmissions in exchange for major concessions, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks claim.

The memos flatly contradict al-Jazeera's insistence that it is editorially independent despite being heavily subsidised by the Gulf state.

They will also be intensely embarrassing to Qatar, which last week controversially won the right to host the 2022 World Cup after presenting itself as the most open and modern Middle Eastern state.

In the past, the emir of Qatar has publicly refused US requests to use his influence to temper al-Jazeera's reporting.

But a cable written in November 2009 predicted that the station could be used "as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by al-Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States" over the next three years.

[...]

In February, the US embassy reported to Washington how "relations [between Qatar and Saudi Arabia] are generally improving after Qatar toned down criticism of the Saudi royal family on al-Jazeera".

In June 2009, the US embassy concluded that the channel "has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters".

However, US allegations of manipulation of al-Jazeera's content for political ends appear to contradict the Qatari stance of supporting a free press.

"The Qatari government claims to champion press freedom elsewhere, but generally does not tolerate it at home," the US embassy said after the French director of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom resigned in June 2009, citing restrictions on the centre's freedom to operate.

In a clear example of the regional news channel being exploited for political ends, the Doha embassy claimed Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani (HBJ), told the US senator John Kerry that he had proposed a bargain with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, which involved stopping broadcasts in Egypt in exchange for a change in Cairo's position on Israel-Palestinian negotiations.

"HBJ had told Mubarak 'we would stop al-Jazeera for a year' if he agreed in that span of time to deliver a lasting settlement for the Palestinians," according to a confidential cable from the US embassy in Doha in February. "Mubarak said nothing in response, according to HBJ."

The US has benefitted, too. "Anecdotal evidence suggests, and former al-Jazeera board members have affirmed, that the United States has been portrayed more positively since the advent of the Obama administration," a cable in November 2009 said.

 

[Always-honest]

holy shit,

that's a lot

 

[Splash Wave]

Typical escapism. Conspiracy theorists want to believe that they are living at the end of time, that white men are really in control of everything because it's more reassuring than knowing that we could all be speaking Chinese or worship Allah tomorrow, and that they hold secret truths so they can go to bed and not feel like they've accomplished nothing and have nothing.

So he's probably disappointed that nothing came out about 9/11 conspiracies, secret NWO meetings, space alien technology, or 2012 mind-control take over.

Tell him to get a job, get a wife, make some kids, and if he has already done as much tell him to stop believing in complete bullshit for the sake of his kids.

I mostly agree with you, though he does have a job and wife (and doesn't believe in 9/11/aliens/2012). I don't quite understand him.

 

[Ether_Snake]

And we thought it would stop on Sunday with China.

It just keeps on coming!

Lebanon told allies of Hezbollah's secret network, WikiLeaks shows

Lebanon's western-backed government warned its friends that "Iran telecom" was taking over the country two years ago when it uncovered a secret communications network across the country used by Hezbollah, according to a US state department cable.

The discovery in April 2008 came against a background of mounting tensions between the Beirut government and the Iranian-backed Shia organisation, which escalated into street fighting in the capital just weeks later.

The US document, classified secret/noforn (not for foreign eyes) exposes deep regional and international concerns about the volatile situation in Lebanon amid fears of a new clash with Israel following the 2006 war.

Information on the Hezbollah fibre optics network, allegedly financed by Iran, was immediately passed to the US, Saudi Arabia and others by Lebanese ministers. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy was "stunned" by the discovery, the US embassy reported.

The Lebanese are bound to assume that the information also went to Israel, for whom Hezbollah is a significant enemy and priority intelligence target.

The US cable is one of several that have been published in Beirut by the leftwing al-Akhbar newspaper which has apparently been leaked as part of the WikiLeaks cache obtained by the Guardian, the New York Times and three continental European publications.

Al-Akhbar has highlighted contacts between the March 14 movement led by the current prime minister Saad al-Hariri, the US and the Saudis, prompting denials or defensive reactions from those named.

Marwan Hamadeh, the Lebanese minister of communications, warned the US charge d'affaires of the risks involved after Hezbollah indicated it would see any action against the telecoms network as "equal to an Israeli act of aggression".

Hamadeh also reported interference with Lebanese mobile communications by Syria and Israel.

Brazil denied existence of Islamist militants, WikiLeaks cables show

Brazil's government covered up the existence of Islamist terrorist suspects in São Paulo and border areas in an apparent bid to protect the country's image, according to secret US documents released by WikiLeaks.

The administration of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly denied that militant Islamists were active in Brazil, even while its law enforcement agencies co-operated closely with the US in monitoring suspects.

"Despite publicly expressed sentiments of high-level officials denying the existence of proven terrorist activity on Brazilian soil, Brazil's intelligence and law enforcement services are rightly concerned that terrorists could exploit Brazilian territory to support and facilitate terrorist attacks, whether domestically or abroad," said a US embassy cable.

The Americans lauded Brazil's "excellent and improving" collaboration and the upgrade of its counter-terrorism intelligence division to department level. Investigations focused on suspects in São Paulo, home to most of the country's estimated 1.3 million Muslims, and areas bordering Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

The document may partly explain why Washington restrained its annoyance over Lula's friendship with his counterparts Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.

Lisa Kubiske, the US deputy chief of mission in the capital, Brasília, noted approvingly that counter-terrorism intelligence was shared across the government, but said people around the president seemed to want to conceal the Islamist threat – and co-operation with the US – from the public.

[...]

The report did not cite reasons for the government's denials but one possibility is sensitivity to Brazil's international image in the runup to hosting the football World Cup and Olympic Games.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Metal Gear?!

WikiLeaks founder threatens to release entire cache of unfiltered files

At the centre of a tightening web of death threats, sex-crime accusations and high-level demands for a treason trial, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatened to unleash a “thermonuclear device” of completely unexpurgated government files if he is forced to appear before authorities.

Mr. Assange, the 39-year-old Australian Internet activist whose online document-leaking service has embarrassed the United States and other countries by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic and military documents, has referred to the huge, unfiltered document as his “insurance policy.”

The 1.3-gigabyte file, distributed through file-sharing services this summer and protected with an unbreakable 256-bit encryption key, contains full versions of all the U.S. documents received by WikiLeaks to date – including those that have been withheld from publication or have had names and details removed in order to protect the lives of spies, sources and soldiers.

Silent for the better part of a week as WikiLeaks made daily headlines around the globe, Mr. Assange has been increasingly vocal in recent days, defending his actions, decrying his critics and defying world leaders.

Mr. Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens warned that if Mr. Assange were to be brought to trial on rape accusations he faces in Sweden, or for treason charges that have been suggested by U.S. politicians, he would release the encryption key. The tens of thousands of people who have downloaded the file would instantly have access to the names, addresses and details contained in the file.

And:

‘No one believes in Afghanistan any more:’ EU leader in WikiLeaks cable

Leaked diplomatic memos said that European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told America's ambassador that the EU no longer believes in success in Afghanistan, and that European troops are still there “out of deference to the United States.”

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman, in the memo released by WikiLeaks, quotes Mr. Van Rompuy as saying in December 2009 that the EU will wait until the end of 2010 to see progress.

“Europe is doing it and will go along out of deference to the United States but not out of deference to Afghanistan,” the memo said citing Mr. Van Rompuy. “No one believes in Afghanistan any more.”

 

[subversus]

This is a sound threat. Assange has it all thought out. Kill him and you will be cleaning shit that would hit the fan for years if not decades. Assange must have the same kind of data for all countries though so nobody could think of touching him without being seriously exposed.

 

[Ether_Snake]

I think they are stupid enough to think they can handle it.

 

[TacticalFox88]

IF he leaks significant Russian documents, he's a dead man walking. Seriously. He has most of the world by the balls, but not them.

 

[DarkKyo]

Oh man this is probably the most epic thing to happen to world relations and US secrecy... EVER!

I'm all for this man's cause.

 

[Ether_Snake]

He just needs the mustache.

 

[MrGame&Watch]

Someone posted some X-files shit China's been doing on my facebook:

n mid-December 2009, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei had academic programs focusing on Math, Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Nuclear Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Management, Humanities, and a department dedicated to the development of gifted young people. USTC has 37,000 staff and 40,000 graduate students. USTC oversees two national laboratories: the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale (HFNL). HFNL has 95 faculty members and roughly 400 graduate students. HFNL research focuses on quantum communication, nanoscience, superconductors, spintronics, and cognitive sciences. In the area of quantum communication, HFNL was conducting research in quantum teleportation and free space quantum cryptography that scientists hope will result in “totally secure” communications. USTC also oversees China’s “Program 178,” although they did not describe the nature of this program. (COMMENT: A cursory walk through their labs seemed to indicate they had already succeeded in single-particle quantum teleportation and are now trying to conduct dual-particle quantum teleportation. END COMMENT) HUNTSMAN​

Full cables on Beijing's nuclear facilities here: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2010/02/10BEIJING263.html

 

[unomas]

Keep up the good fight man, loving it!

 

[Jenga]

Oh man this is probably the most epic thing to happen to world relations and US secrecy... EVER!

I'm all for this man's cause.

Which is...what, destroying US secrecy?

Because it ain't :lol

Once more leaks like this come out http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11923766, I strongly doubt the U.S. is going to see the light and become transparent :lol

 

[EzLink]

Oh fuck yes. Bring the Russian bastards down (if he does indeed have some mega epic shit in store with them)

This man is unbelievable. Balls of steel

 

[WickedAngel]

I'm sure it's been asked a billion times, but:

Why don't they release the cables all at once?

Information overload, AKA the difference between letting people read one page at a time or throwing a book at their head.

 

[Jex]

Isn't leaking the location of "vital facilities" already an act that demonstrates his willingness to "cross the line" as it were.

In between leaking things which, while likely to annoy, aren't all that bad, Wikileaks does something which is pretty hard to defend. Disappointing.

 

[m3k]

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/46958/

small thing about clinton and kevin rudd (then australian prime minister, now foreign affairs minister) talking about how to deal with china

link i used is foreign chinese newspaper, anti chinese government
very good newspaper, but you could use any number of links on this story

edit: interesting take on taiwan and tibet

basically taiwan is an emotional thing, tibet is to show any other ethnic minorities

 

[Ether_Snake]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/06/wikileaks-burma-manchester-united-takeover

The leader of Burma's military junta considered making a $1bn (£634m) bid to buy Manchester United football club around the time it was facing rising anger from the United Nations over its "unacceptably slow" response to cyclone Nargis.Than Shwe, commander in chief of the armed forces and a fan of United, was urged to mount a takeover bid by his grandson, according to a cable from the US embassy in Rangoon. It details how the regime was thought to be using football to distract its population from ongoing political and economic problems.

The proposal was made prior to January 2009; only months earlier, in May 2008, the Burmese junta had been accused of blocking vital international aid supplies after Nargis struck, killing 140,000 people.

Than Shwe reportedly concluded that making a bid for United might "look bad" at the time, but the revelation that the proposal was even considered is likely to fuel criticism of the regime's cruelty. The senior general instead ordered the creation of a new multimillion dollar national football league at the same time as aid agencies were reporting that one year on, many survivors of the cyclone still lacked permanent housing, access to clean water, and tools for fishing and agriculture.

The mooted price tag for Manchester United was exactly the same as the aid bill to cover the most urgent food, agriculture and housing for the three years after the cyclone, as estimated by international agencies including the UN. The proposal revealed that the regime, which is increasingly exploiting its oil and gas reserves, felt confident of finding such a sum. According to Forbes magazine's valuation of the club at the time, $1bn would have been enough to acquire a 56% controlling stake.

"One well-connected source reports that the grandson wanted Than Shwe to offer $1bn for Manchester United," said the June 2009 cable to Washington. "The senior general thought that sort of expenditure could look bad, so he opted to create for Burma a league of its own."

 

[delirium]

Assange Rape Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group
http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy...-has-cia-ties/

You might want to read this: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/egnj7/wikileaks_assange_rape_accuser_has_cia_ties/c17yjyy

 

[jorma]

You might want to read this: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/egnj7/wikileaks_assange_rape_accuser_has_cia_ties/c17yjyy

Yeah most sane people probably realise that she is no CIA plant. I mean she would hardly post all over the internet about how cool and awesome the guy she was just raped by is, if a false accusation was her intent from the getgo. And she would not try to purge those posts off teh internet afterwards because she'd know that the internet never forgets.

And there would be no famous quote from the lawyer radical feminist politician who appealed the second prosecutors dismissal of the case:
reporter: But the girl herself has stated that she wasn't raped?
Claes Borgström: How would she know, she is no lawyer.

 

[theignoramus]

You might want to read this: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/egnj7/wikileaks_assange_rape_accuser_has_cia_ties/c17yjyy

Again, I'd like to emphasize that I'm not saying that the claims made by "Shamir" and his co-author are false in this case. I just wanted to make Shamir's [anti-semitic and conspiratorial] background more well-known here.

:lol classic.

 

[Deku]

Yeah most sane people probably realise that she is no CIA plant. I mean she would hardly post all over the internet about how cool and awesome the guy she was just raped by is, if a false accusation was her intent from the getgo. And she would not try to purge those posts off teh internet afterwards because she'd know that the internet never forgets..

I think a fair amount of people are 'ready to believe' because it makes their lives and word view so much easier if it were true.

 

[Meadows]

 

[Lard]

Yeah most sane people probably realise that she is no CIA plant. I mean she would hardly post all over the internet about how cool and awesome the guy she was just raped by is, if a false accusation was her intent from the getgo. And she would not try to purge those posts off teh internet afterwards because she'd know that the internet never forgets

I don't think she's a CIA plant - but do I think she's been bribed and think she thinks she can generate publicity and TV time for herself over it? And maybe come out as a "hero"? Definitely.

 

[345triangle]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/06/wikileaks-burma-manchester-united-takeover

this story is absolutely mindblowing

 

[delirium]

I don't think she's a CIA plant - but do I think she's been bribed and think she thinks she can generate publicity and TV time for herself over it? And maybe come out as a "hero"? Definitely.

Bribed by who? All evidence points to the fact that she's a radical feminist who found out that he slept with another women and is probably doing this out of revenge.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Last Tuesday, SIPA's Office of Career Services received a call from a former student currently employed by the US Department of State who pointed out that the US government documents released during the past few months through WikiLeaks are still considered classified. The caller suggested that students who will be applying for federal jobs that require background checks avoid posting links to these documents or making comments about them on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter.

OCS emailed this cautionary suggestion to students, as it has done many times with other
information that could be helpful in seeking employment after graduation. We know that many students today share a great deal about their lives online and that employers may use that information when evaluating their candidacy. Subsequent news stories have indicated that the Department of State has issued guidelines for its own employees, but has not issued any guidelines for prospective employees.

Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution. Thus, SIPA's position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences. The WikiLeaks documents are accessible to SIPA students (and everyone else) from a wide variety of respected sources, as are multiple means of discussion and debate both in and outside of the classroom.

Should the US Department of State issue any guidelines relating to the WikiLeaks documents for prospective employees, SIPA will make them available immediately.

Sincerely, John H Coatsworth, Dean

.

 

[Ether_Snake]

WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia

• Leaked diplomatic cables reveal Russia strategy
• British troops identified for combat operations
• Washington offers to beef up Polish security

Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables.

The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.

Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.

Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.

Despite President Barack Obama's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia, which was boosted at the Nato summit attended by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, the state department fears that the major policy shift could trigger "unnecessary tensions" with Moscow.

The decision to draft contingency plans for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the US and Germany at Nato headquarters in Belgium, ending years of division at the heart of the western alliance over how to view Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The decision, according to a secret cable signed by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, marks the start of a major revamp of Nato defence planning in Europe.

The strategy has not been made public, in line with Nato's customary refusal to divulge details of its "contingency planning" – blueprints for the defence of a Nato member state by the alliance as a whole.

These are believed to be held in safes at Nato's planning headquarters in Mons, Belgium.

WikiLeaks cables: Poland wants missile shield to protect against Russia

Wikileaks cables: Poland furious over getting 'potted plants', not missiles

It is the biggest single concrete example of US support for Polish security on the ground. But the leaked embassy cables show that a battery of Patriot missiles in the north-east of the country lacked one crucial component – live missiles.

In May this year the Americans finally started rotating the missiles in and out of Morag, close to Kaliningrad, the Russian territory on the Baltic sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. For two years, the Polish prime minister, foreign and defence ministers had sold the Patriots to the public as a great boost to national air defences (against Russia).

So when the Americans told them in late 2008 that the missiles would not be live, at least initially, the furious Poles complained they had expected an operational weapon, not "potted plants", the cables report.

Even then the Poles did not know the full truth. In February last year, the then US ambassador, Victor Ashe, cabled back to Washington: "Polish officials are not privy to the full range of US planning and thinking with regard to the prospective Patriot battery rotation here, but they do have expectations – some naive, some tactical.

"This is a good juncture to point out the most glaring gap in understanding between us and the Poles. The Poles have not been told that the battery will rotate without actual missiles – ie not only will the rotation not be operational in the initial phase, but it will also not be operational, and certainly interoperable, at any point in our current plans. This will be a question of basic definitions for the Poles: is it a Patriot battery if it doesn't have live missiles?

"The Poles think the Patriots will become not only operable, but interoperable, over time – thus enhancing Poland's air defence."

 

[Ether_Snake]

You're a bunch of paranoid freaks.

 

[Kaako]

Fuck paranoia, I'm just too damn lazy. But you doing good work man, I applaud you for that.

 

[NotWii]

Thread needs a name change, it just doesn't stand out like the other
I nominate:

THE JULIAN ASSANG AND THE WIKI-LEAKS: Wanna know a secret?

 

[zoku88]

this story is absolutely mindblowing

I know! Man U is only worth 1 billion?

 

[mantidor]

You're a bunch of paranoid freaks.

why? there's just too much information, I find it neat you keep it updated, but I honestly think that all these leaks aren't exactly earth shattering, most if not all just confirm what everyone already was guessing. If there's some really big news I'm sure it will spawn it's own thread.

 

[Duracelllll]

I know! Man U is only worth 1 billion?

well, 1B for 56% stake

 

[EzLink]

I for one appreciate Ether_Snake's dedication to this thread. Even if it only "confirms" what people were suspecting, I still think they are worthwhile to post

I only don't post in here because nobody else does

But yeah, it would be great if there was only one place to discuss wikileaks. It's annoying trying to follow four megathreads about it

 

[radioheadrule83]

Ether Snake, I've not posted in here until now simply because I was busy in the other threads -- they kept popping up to the top of my subscriptions.

So I'm posting now to add this one to my subscriptions, and will try and be more active in this thread. Good work to everyone on including all the updates!

 

[Jex]

You're a bunch of paranoid freaks.

As if that should come as a surprise. The invisible government is already in their heads, as Julian would say.

 

[nib95]

EDIT: Just saw the fixed link!