US diplomatic cables released

[Thanas]

And that is that on the subject, people. If Coyote wants to reply to it, let him, otherwise let us not get this thread derailed any further.

[Coyote]

Turtle, that's fine-- I know they are not reporting only US stuff; only that their primary focus is on the USA. They've fucked with German and UK media, etc. Is the volume of documents released on any of these other countries even close to the volume they release about the US?

I admit I don't know much about WikiLeaks beyond what I read in the paper for precisely the reasons brought up in the other thread-- I'm a US government worker with a security clearance and I'm not going to risk that by poking around WikiLeaks just to get a leg up on someone on the damn innernets.

@Thanas-- Fine. I'm done with the fucking WikiLeaks threads.

[Thanas]

Turtle, that's fine-- I know they are not reporting only US stuff; only that their primary focus is on the USA. They've fucked with German and UK media, etc. Is the volume of documents released on any of these other countries even close to the volume they release about the US?

Their high-profile leaks link seems to be fairly split. They have also repeatedly announced that they will be going after Russia and the banks. Heck, they were even accused to be a CIA operation at some point.

I admit I don't know much about WikiLeaks beyond what I read in the paper for precisely the reasons brought up in the other thread-- I'm a US government worker with a security clearance and I'm not going to risk that by poking around WikiLeaks just to get a leg up on someone on the damn innernets.

Sorry for going off on you then, but I think it would have been far better to ask a few questions then instead of going "RAR ANTI-US" first. Feel free to respond, btw, just please try to steer away from factual comments which you have no source for or basis of knowing about. The wikipedia article is pretty good.

[Coyote]

Their high-profile leaks link seems to be fairly split. They have also repeatedly announced that they will be going after Russia and the banks. Heck, they were even accused to be a CIA operation at some point.

I'm actually looking forward to them going after the banks, if it is as useful as the torture memos. The banks need a few good, hard knocks on the chin. I guess the target is supposed to be Bank of America which has been one of the leaders in the unsavory lending & robo-signing practices.

I admit I don't know much about WikiLeaks beyond what I read in the paper for precisely the reasons brought up in the other thread-- I'm a US government worker with a security clearance and I'm not going to risk that by poking around WikiLeaks just to get a leg up on someone on the damn innernets.

Sorry for going off on you then, but I think it would have been far better to ask a few questions then instead of going "RAR ANTI-US" first. Feel free to respond, btw, just please try to steer away from factual comments which you have no source for or basis of knowing about. The wikipedia article is pretty good.

Oh, it's alright-- I thought you knew. Yeah, my Federal civilian employment is dependent on a security clearance as is my Army Reserve position. Admittedly I don't wear it on my sleeve much. I'll check out the WikiPedia article. But I can't circle the topic too closely.

[Chaotic Neutral]

They've fucked with German and UK media, etc. Is the volume of documents released on any of these other countries even close to the volume they release about the US?

@Wikileaks Headquarters
"Hey guys! We just got two of the most massive leaks ever!"
"That's great! But I think we should wait until we get massive once-a-decade leaks on crimes that other first-world countries committed."
"This is one of the biggest leaks ever! We why should we stop?"
"So it doesn't look like we're picking on the US."

Yeah, that's going to happen.

[Stark]

Why is Coyote's entire dialog on this subject so personal? The banks need 'a knock on the chin'? What about the truth? What about justice?

[Thanas]

Stark, no cheap knocks please. The situation is resolved.

[Murazor]

Oh, it's alright-- I thought you knew. Yeah, my Federal civilian employment is dependent on a security clearance as is my Army Reserve position.

Somewhat off-topic, but all this talk about security clearances makes my eyebrows raise. Do you hold a position of responsability/work with sensitive data or is it an universal requirement of some kind to get to work in the USA government?

[General Zod]

Oh, it's alright-- I thought you knew. Yeah, my Federal civilian employment is dependent on a security clearance as is my Army Reserve position.

Somewhat off-topic, but all this talk about security clearances makes my eyebrows raise. Do you hold a position of responsability/work with sensitive data or is it an universal requirement of some kind to get to work in the USA government?

Plenty of US Gov. jobs require a security clearance simply due to the nature of the jobsite. Whether or not they actually handle sensitive data is another matter altogether.

[Broomstick]

Not quite - the argument is not that the US is being exposed for what it is, as noted, virtually no one is denying the truth of what is revealed, but rather that it is ONLY airing US dirty laundry. The people screaming about that have, as a general rule, not known about WikiLeaks prior to this uproar and thus are unaware that it has, in fact, published stuff on other entities than the US government. Even if they are, they might argue that it is the proportion of US shit to other shit being revealed that makes it anti-US, though as also frequently noted the US is more open about information than many societies and it is easier to get information out of the US than out of other places. Finally, there are reports of Assange being anti-US himself, which then leads many to conclude the site must then be anti-US, which ignores the fact that Assange is not the only person working for WikiLeaks.

I think that you're skewing this a bit. The fact is that they got handed a massive pile of the US' dirty laundry and that's what they've been doling out. If you think that they wouldn't release this kind of stuff on other nations, then you're making some strange assumptions.

No - other people are making "strange assumptions". I've already stated in other threads I'm personally withholding judgment on WikiLeaks at this time. The above is a regurgitation of the various arguments I hear other people making around me. Hence, my reference to "people screaming about" rather statements such as "I believe".

I am capable of speaking about opinions I don't hold, you know. I wished to comment on what I saw as an oversimplification of the "RAR, ANTI-US" opinions. It's not all kneejerk response, some of it is based on something other than raw, unthinking patriotism. A lot of it is rooted in lack of knowledge of WikiLeaks in the past. That, at least, is correctable. If someone says WikiLeaks only publishes anti-US stuff, for example, it is a simple matter to demonstrate otherwise.

[Simon_Jester]

Oh, it's alright-- I thought you knew. Yeah, my Federal civilian employment is dependent on a security clearance as is my Army Reserve position.

Somewhat off-topic, but all this talk about security clearances makes my eyebrows raise. Do you hold a position of responsability/work with sensitive data or is it an universal requirement of some kind to get to work in the USA government?

There are many government jobs that don't require clearance- say, government funded pure research at NASA, working for the census, probably lots of other stuff; those are just the first two off the top of my head.

But as Zod says, a lot of jobs require a security clearance just because you work in the same building as classified material. The people working in an office in the Pentagon need Top Secret clearance, obviously... less obviously, so does the janitor who cleans their office. Because if the janitor isn't reliable, they're a possible channel by which spies can grab the material.

[weemadando]

Not quite - the argument is not that the US is being exposed for what it is, as noted, virtually no one is denying the truth of what is revealed, but rather that it is ONLY airing US dirty laundry. The people screaming about that have, as a general rule, not known about WikiLeaks prior to this uproar and thus are unaware that it has, in fact, published stuff on other entities than the US government. Even if they are, they might argue that it is the proportion of US shit to other shit being revealed that makes it anti-US, though as also frequently noted the US is more open about information than many societies and it is easier to get information out of the US than out of other places. Finally, there are reports of Assange being anti-US himself, which then leads many to conclude the site must then be anti-US, which ignores the fact that Assange is not the only person working for WikiLeaks.

I think that you're skewing this a bit. The fact is that they got handed a massive pile of the US' dirty laundry and that's what they've been doling out. If you think that they wouldn't release this kind of stuff on other nations, then you're making some strange assumptions.

No - other people are making "strange assumptions". I've already stated in other threads I'm personally withholding judgment on WikiLeaks at this time. The above is a regurgitation of the various arguments I hear other people making around me. Hence, my reference to "people screaming about" rather statements such as "I believe".

I am capable of speaking about opinions I don't hold, you know. I wished to comment on what I saw as an oversimplification of the "RAR, ANTI-US" opinions. It's not all kneejerk response, some of it is based on something other than raw, unthinking patriotism. A lot of it is rooted in lack of knowledge of WikiLeaks in the past. That, at least, is correctable. If someone says WikiLeaks only publishes anti-US stuff, for example, it is a simple matter to demonstrate otherwise.

Apologies, I'd read your post as if those were your opinions. My point still stands though - Wikileaks has done a lot about other nations (as others have since pointed out).

[Shroom Man 777]

The only reason Wikileaks' material on the USA are so prominent in the media and news right now compared to leaks from other parts of the world is the same as why any other thing involving the USA is so prominent compared to other things from other parts of the world. It's because nobody gives a shit about the rest of the world, because the only thing important in the universe is America and everything else happening in the rest of the world doesn't matter - just like the rest of the world, really.

Man, you Americans should know this, of all people.

[Moby Halcyon]

tl;dr: Assange points out he has world-shaking info that would be leaked in the case of his capture or death.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange 'will release poison pill of damaging secrets if killed or arrested'

By Ian Drury
Last updated at 8:24 AM on 6th December 2010

Threat: WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has warned that if he he is arrested or killed his followers will release more damaging information

Threat: WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has warned that if he he is arrested or killed his followers will release more damaging information

The founder of WikiLeaks has warned that his supporters are primed to publish a 'deluge' of leaked government documents should his activities be curtailed by any country.

Julian Assange has distributed to fellow hackers an encrypted 'poison pill' of damaging secrets, thought to include details on BP and Guantanamo Bay.

He believes the file is his 'insurance' in case he is killed, arrested or the whistleblowing website is removed permanently from the internet.

Mr Assange - understood to be lying low in Britain - could be arrested by Scotland Yard officers as early as tomorrow.

A warrant for his arrest was issued last Thursday by Swedish prosecutors who want to quiz him over rape allegations.

The developments came as fresh revelations were published on the WikiLeaks website. They include:

* A leading Chinese politician coordinated the hacking of Google - which forced it to quit the Communist country - after finding unflattering articles about him on the website.
* UK firm Rolls-Royce lost out on a £200million contract to supply helicopter engines to Spain after the U.S. lobbied Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero in Madrid. The deal was eventually signed by American company GE.
* And European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told a U.S. ambassador that European troops were still in Afghanistan only 'out of deference' to America.

Mr Assange, a reclusive Australian, has infuriated and embarrassed the U.S. in recent months by releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

First, he published Army logs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that suggested soldiers were complicit in murder and torture.

And last week he published the first of around 250,000 diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies, many containing sensitive information and embarrassing verdicts on leaders including David Cameron.

High-profile politicians in the U.S. including Sarah Palin, a narrow loser in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, have suggested the computer programmer should be 'executed' for publishing leaked U.S. state secrets.


More...

* Chinese government 'ordered cyber attacks on Google', WikiLeaks reveals
* 'Irresponsible' WikiLeaks reveals list of terror targets

Mr Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, warned today that WikiLeaks was holding further secret material which he dubbed a 'thermo-nuclear device' to be released if the organisation needed to protect itself.

He said many of the papers being retained contained 'material of equal importance to news-gathering' as those already published.

He said: 'They [WikiLeaks] have been subject to cyber-attacks and censorship around the world and they need to protect themselves.
Mr Assange's lawyer has warned WikiLeaks was holding a 'thermo-nuclear device' of further secret information

Mr Assange's lawyer has warned WikiLeaks was holding a 'thermo-nuclear device' of further secret information

'This is what they believe to be a thermo-nuclear device in the information age.

'It's interesting to note people as high up the American tree as Sarah Palin have called for him to be hunted down by American special forces and assassinated.

'We've seen a number of suggestions that he should be assassinated, again from credible sources around the world.

'This is all about a man who is a journalist. He received, unbidden, an electronic brown envelope that journalists receive.

'This particular journalist has put it out. What they are doing is criminalising him, criminalising journalistic activity.'
Sarah Palin has called for Mr Assange to be hunted down by American special forces

The prime suspect in the hunt for the person who stole the files is Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is now in military custody.

The 'doomsday files' which have been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters are understood to include information on Guantanamo Bay, and aerial video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that killed civilians, BP reports and Bank of America documents.

The files are encoded with a 256-digit key. Experts have said it is virtually unbreakable.

Mr Stephens told the BBC that legal moves to arrest Mr Assange, who is wanted for questioning over the rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion of two women during a visit to Sweden in August, appeared to be a 'political stunt'.

Originally the entire case was dropped by Sweden's chief prosecutor.

Mr Stephens said that only 'after the intervention of a Swedish politician' that a new prosecutor in Gothenburg - not Stockholm, where his client and two women had been - began a new case.

He denies the allegations vehemently and has described them as a 'smear'.

Mr Stephens said that Sweden had allowed U.S. planes carrying terror suspects - the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition - to use its airfields.

He said: 'It doesn't escape me that Sweden was one of those lick-spittle states which used its resources and facilities for rendition flights.'

He also confirmed that the WikiLeaks site had come under siege from 'a huge number of cyber-attacks'.

We're being watched, say Assange's lawyers

Lawyers representing Mr Assange claim they have become surveillance targets and have accused the US state department of 'inappropriate' behaviour for failing to respect UN rules on attorney-client protocol.

Mark Stephens and Jennifer Robinson told the Guardian they had been watched by people parked outside their houses for the past seven days.

Ms Robinson said: 'I've noticed people consistently sitting outside my house in the same cars with newspapers.'

The lawyers, from firm Finers Stephens Innocent, also claimed to be experiencing 'other forms of pressure' from Washington.

Ms Robinson references a letter from a state department legal adviser addressed to both herself and Mr Assange - appearing to suggest that Wikileaks and its lawyers were one and the same.

She said: 'By eliding client and lawyer, that was a very inappropriate attempt to implicate me. That is really inappropriate to come from the state department of all places; they understand very well the rules on attorney-client protocol.'

[Stravo]

According to the Daily Mail's article above, Sarah Palin was described thusly:

High-profile politicians in the U.S. including Sarah Palin, a narrow loser in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate in 2008

[Skgoa]

I think I stated it before, but it might have been on another forum, so here goes:
WikiLeaks used to just publish (i.e. put it on their website) every legitimate secret document they got. And there were quite a few scandals to be found burried in there.* But it never took off the way the founders (Assange isn't the only one) had hoped. They concluded that the media - and thus the public - just will NOT care if they don't get an overarching narrative. And apparently thats true.

* e.g.
- I have uploaded a secret document detailing the civil rights violating plan my university had for securing its computer network. At that time we were told we were not supposed to share it. After it turned up on WikiLeaks we were told that was a misunderstanding (although several people were told by different people at different times ) and we were in fact always allowed to share it and of course the university always welcomes the student body's feedback. In the end the worst things were taken out of the plan.
- Several documents about the german conduct in Afghanistan have led to minor scandals in Germany.

And BTW: http://sowhyiswikileaksagoodthingagain.com/

[CaptainChewbacca]

I wonder if this release of critical defense sites in the US and UK was a warning shot by Assange.

[Ace Pace]

I wonder if this release of critical defense sites in the US and UK was a warning shot by Assange.

What warning shot? It's another cable that was leaked.

[Skgoa]

CaptainChewbacca: Probably not, the list seems to include anything that could be of strategic value. Its nice to have this information, but I it doesn't give detailed instructions on how to cripple the US.
Also, the US media seems to be blowing the whole "USA vs. Assange" thing out of proportion. I wonder when someone will come up with "A for Assange".


And to put the nails in the stupid "they are only going after the US" argument's coffin:
http://cyberlaw.org.uk/2009/06/29/wikil ... -jun-2009/
http://habarizanyumbani.jambonewspot.co ... -and-more/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -Iraq.html
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/08/w ... etaps.html
http://www.iraqwarlogs.com/2010/09/27/a ... l-weapons/
http://icelandweatherreport.com/2009/08 ... t-ruv.html

I believe the URLs speak for themselves. Oh and this debunks the "they shouldn't publish as much as possible" argument at the same time.

edit: great, the board software shortens URLs...

[Uraniun235]

The brilliant part of all of this is that everyone is focusing on Assange, as if he's the one personally doing everything. Let everyone focus on him while ignoring the other Wikileaks workers. They could throw him in a show trial, lock him in a dungeon and shoot him in the head and Wikileaks can still go on.

[weemadando]

I wonder if this release of critical defense sites in the US and UK was a warning shot by Assange.

What that is is a collection of infrastructure required to sustain a first world economy, population and military. There's potential targets worldwide and spanning just about every industry imaginable. As far as I've been able to determine through some quick research, there's no black-sites or any shit like that on there. What it is, is a list that an Economics 101 class could probably have come up with as a thought experiment.

[Phantasee]

The list is incredibly hard to read. I cut out the Canadian places:
Canada: Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada
James Bay Power Project, Quebec: monumental hydroelectric power development
Mica Dam, British Columbia: Failure would impact the Columbia River Basin.
Hydro Quebec, Quebec: Critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast U. S.
Robert Moses/Robert H. Saunders Power, Ontario: Part of the St. Lawrence Power Project, between Barnhart Island, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario
Seven Mile Dam, British Columbia: Concrete gravity dam between two other hydropower dams along the Pend d'Oreille River
Pickering Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada Chalk River Nuclear Facility, Ontario: Largest supplier of medical radioisotopes in the world
Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility, Allied Signal, Amherstburg, Ontario
Enbridge Pipeline Alliance Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada
Maritime and Northeast Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada
Transcanada Gas: Natural gas transmission from Canada
Alexandria Bay POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing
Ambassador Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing
Blaine POE, British Columbia: Northern border crossing Blaine Washington Rail Crossing, British Columbia
Blue Water Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing
Champlain POE, Quebec: Northern border crossing
CPR Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario (Michigan Central Rail Crossing) International Bridge Rail Crossing, Ontario International Railway Bridge Rail Crossing Lewiston-Queenstown POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing
Peace Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing
Pembina POE, Manitoba: Northern border crossing
North Portal Rail Crossing, Saskatchewan
St. Claire Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario
Waneta Dam, British Columbia: Earthfill/concrete hydropower dam
Darlington Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada.
E-ONE Moli Energy, Maple Ridge, Canada: Critical to production of various military application electronics
General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada, London Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the Stryker/USMC LAV Vehicle Integration
Raytheon Systems Canada Ltd. ELCAN Optical Technologies Division, Midland, Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the AGM-130 Missile Thales
Optronique Canada, Inc., Montreal, Quebec: Critical optical systems for ground combat vehicles
Germanium Mine Graphite Mine Iron Ore Mine Nickel Mine Niobec Mine, Quebec, Canada: Niobium
Cangene, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Plasma
Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., Toronto, Canada: Polio virus vaccine
GlaxoSmithKile Biologicals, North America, Quebec, Canada: Pre-pandemic influenza vaccines

I knew about the LAV, but I didn't know about the Thales missile, and I didn't realize how important Canadian vaccine production is.

[Korgeta]

There is no dpoubt that wikileaks dosen't intend to play just with fire, but start one as well (good or bad take your pick) However the only surprising me for me about the cables is the request from the US for DNA samples from various people for whatever reason, other then that the list confirms rumours about the other countries or what certain people have thought about other countries. Though with wikileaks releasing info on the locations the US considers important to national security I don't see how that can be in the public's interest. I suspect some of these links are intentional to antagonise relations with the US and other countries (not that am rooting for the 'Assange is targeting the US' argument) Though it is likely that if Assange arrest warrent is accepted and has to go to magistrate and possibly trial then wikileaks will reply with some of the 'nastier' details that it may be withholding for the time being, which is possibly why there's a focus on the US or other governments to cut off it's funding. Such as it's paypal and it's swiss account.

[Broomstick]

Assange, apparently via his lawyer, is claiming to have a "thermonuclear" level poison pill that will be released in the event he is arrested, harmed, or killed. Says the data has already been distributed/downloaded and he need only send out a 256 digit code to unlock the encrypted documents.

Hmm. Interesting.

[Stark]

That's some sophisticated commentary, there. Do you even have a link?