Wikileaks is at it again, exposing a plethora of US embassy cables including those classified as “No Foreign Distribution.” For a primer and history on what Alan Rusbridger, Editor for London's The Guardian, has termed “Part three of the Wikileaks dossier,” watch this video.
In it, you will learn about the Secret Internet Protocol Router Distribution Network or SIPDIS, created by the US government post 9-11 to facilitate faster information sharing amongst government agencies. It effectively digitized diplomatic cables, making them easy prey for hackers or anyone with official clearance and a thumb drive. Former intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, imprisoned and currently awaiting a court martial, is allegedly the source of the information. He purportedly was able to obtain the documents from a military website.
There might be information in those cables that do in fact endanger lives in countries that aren't democracies, says Jonathan Powell, Former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair. Benedict Brogan of the Telegraph says of the leak, “it’s a collection of little substance that will do nothing to reshape geo-politics,” and that the diplomatic embarrassment which has ensued is an occupational hazard in the internet age.
He's not in disagreement with Powell:
“So the news value of this story is the embarrassment it’s causing. And embarrassment can in some cases be devastating. Countries with no tradition of openness or internet-led subversion will find it mystifying that the American government has allowed this to happen."
The circumstances are dire for Congressman Peter King [R-NY], a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, saying WikiLeaks should be treated as a terrorist organization. Senate Homeland Security Committee chair Joseph Lieberman [CT] said the leaks have put lives at risk and called for the site to be shut down.
Italy's foreign minister Franco Frattini has described the leaks as the 9/11 of world diplomacy.
Perhaps Minister Frattini has The Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel – Julian Assange's mouthpieces – to thank for that. All are dead-set on making waves with a few tidbits of new information that remain unconfirmed, that is if they can be confirmed at all. Its interesting that these media outlets chose to focus their reporting on only a couple hundred of the some 250,000 “leaked” cables, exerting most of their effort on Iran and its neighbors.
Here are the main talking points thus far:
- Hamid Karzai's government is corrupt.
- Hillary Clinton ordered US diplomats to spy on members of the UN, such as Ban Ki-moon.
- The Russian government may have links to organized crime.
- Americans are covertly assassinating Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
- Israel fears mass emigration and the end of its “Jewish State” if Tehran obtains nuclear weapons.
- There's a "dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel" (though the facts in this report seem to paint a more benign picture).
- And last, but certainly not least: The Saudi Royalty has supposedly urged the US to attack Iran.
Also included in the deluge of documents were more than a few caricatures of foreign leaders by American diplomats.
Foreign officials have almost unanimously condemned the leaks minus a conspicuously absent voice, Saudi Arabia. There has been no comment from Saudi Arabian officials regarding the supposed revelation that the Arab state wants war with Iran as of time of publish. The Saudi Gazette has reported on the leaks without a mention of its country's desire to attack Iran.
Iranian president Ahmadinejad calls into question the validity of the documents and sees this as an attempt to incite fear and anxiety towards his government. The Iranian Press TV news agency recently asked the intriguing question: is the Saudi king playing into US hands? The article states:
“Analysts believe the recent document release is a scenario carefully orchestrated by US intelligence agencies to deflect attention from the United States' domestic problems, upset the situation in the region and lay the groundwork for military action against Iran."
It is convenient for the Obama administration that all this hubbub comes at the same time the president plans to announce a 2-yr pay freeze for government workers.
According to a post on Der Spiegel's website, the only country seemingly untouched by this debacle is Israel.
"These (disclosures) don't hurt Israel at all -- perhaps the opposite," Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser to ex-prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, told Israeli radio. "If there is something on the Iranian issue that, in my opinion, happens to help Israel, it is that these leaks show that Arab countries like Saudi Arabia are far more interested in Iran than they are in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Much like a play from the McCollum Memo which outlined a strategy to incite a worldwide military conflict during the Roosevelt Administration, the information Wikileaks is flaunting through corporate media mouthpieces could sow enough diplomatic discord to steer a direct course for another great war.
So, cui bono? The corporatist war machine in DC and their central banking financiers benefit, that's who.