Comments on: "Global diplomatic crisis" sparked by cables: U.N. spied on; Saudis want US to attack Iran; British royalty misbehaves; military incompetence

By: benher

benher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, we all “knew” a lot of these things, but it’s one thing for concerned citizens to be generally aware of corruption and quite another for credible documents explicitly verifying these assumptions to be made available in such numbers.

We’re going to need a lot of hot dogs for all relish with which people are rubbing their hands together thanks to this leak.

By: Teller

Teller — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps Bush Co is on your cut/paste button, but if you believe wiretapping the U.N. “subverts the best hope for global diplomacy”, you should take that up with Hillary Clinton and her boss.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I just sort of ASSUMED all this was going on. Right down to a British royal doing something inappropriate.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soooo… the take-away is that the messages that governments send each other look like a teen’s Facebook page?

By: romulusnr

romulusnr — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You know, I fully support the philosophy behind what WikiLeaks does.

However.

What bothers me is that these leaks are consistently oriented around US information. We don’t see earth-shattering disclosures of intel from the UK, or Germany, or Russia, China, Korea, Japan, India. It is seemingly either ALWAYS or PRIMARILY the US that is the target of the leaks.

This suggests a serious bias on Assange’s part — it seems clear that his agenda is specifically to release secret US material rather than a universal goal to make information free.

By: TenInchesTaller

TenInchesTaller — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Caught me. Dammit, wikileaks!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I just wonder if the royal thing is hiding something bigger. I mean, I can’t see Prince Philip or Harry’s antics as requiring much diplomatic thought, especially not under strict secrecy conditions. Fuck if I know what it could be, maybe Wills has an underage toyboy or something.

By: TNGMug

TNGMug — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

No kidding… Doesn’t everything on this list make you feel like you’re face to face with something you’ve been in denial about?

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Considering that the art of diplomacy is knowing what *not* to say, this kinda stuff blows a a big hole right through diplomacy.

By: osmo

osmo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Radical transparency”, what a wonderful thing :D if we can only get our hands around the economy in the same way this would be great. These things really makes me think its a great time to be alive.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

While it’s true some of this is really surprising, it’s also amusing how much of it is duh! material.

Saudi Arabia sponsors anti-US terrorism – DUH.
A British royal did something ‘inappropriate’ – DUH.
The ANC had Mandela on a short leash after release – DUH.
The Russian Mob owns highly placed politicians – DUH.
Karzai has been corrupt since day one – DUH.
The US has the UN wired – DUH.

Some of it’s obvious in hindsight, too – Gee, the man who puts magnetic penises on statues is starry-eyed over the ultra-butch Putin!

I must say I’m loving every minute of this. Bravo Wikileaks!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A British royal did something ‘inappropriate.’

This is news?

By: irksome

irksome — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Just confirming what anyone with half a brain could figure out for themselves.

By: gwailo_joe

gwailo_joe — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Russia’s government is somewhat in bed with organized crime?

No Way. No Freaking WAY. . . Re-check your sources on THAT vile calumny. I. . .I just can’t believe it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inefficient markets are the most profitable. There’s nothing wrong with profits being made; layers of wholesale and retail markups keep people working. Transparency in finance would remove a lot of the middleman jobs.

Most of this doesn’t sound too exciting and is what we expect the government to do in the normal course of the intelligence & diplomacy businesses.

But I agree with you – This is a fascinating time to be alive.

By: MB

MB — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wonder if the list of IP addresses that access the Google Docs cache of cables (from the Guardian) would be handy . . .

By: jenilyn

jenilyn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m wondering about these ‘cables’. Are the world’s intelligence communities still sending telegrams? cablegrams? Messages over dedicated lines decoded by guys with cylinders to line up just so? Or are they just normal emails and letters, but called ‘cables’ because we’re talking about spies?

By: ron

ron — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Most of this doesn’t sound too exciting and is what we expect the government to do in the normal course of the intelligence & diplomacy businesses.

By: Toxa

Toxa — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I fail to see any good in releasing this.

By: microcars

microcars — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

any news about the iPhone on Verizon?
or the Arrested Development Movie?

By: Cory Foy

Cory Foy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Not in the leaks, but in my last issue of I think it was Fortune magazine, they confirmed with the Verizon CEO that iPhone would be on Verizon early 2011.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Has anybody located the cable that dates back to 1966 yet?

By: wrybread

wrybread — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As far as I can tell, the Guardian has only posted a *list* of the cables, not the cables themselves. As they put it, "we have opted not to publish [the contents of the cables] in full for obvious security reasons". In other words, as far as I can tell, what they've posted is next to useless, except as an indication of how many cables there are, and who sent and received them. Unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible.

By: wrybread

wrybread — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

psst- I think he was making a joke there…

By: The .invalid

The .invalid — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Possibly because the WikiLeaks crew are still trawling the documents for names so that a whole bunch of people aren’t put at risk?

By: Xenu

Xenu — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Information wants to be free.

In other words, don’t do stupid things and then try to hide them. If enough people care, they can and will find out.

By: Teller

Teller — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Progressives wax on how diplomacy is morally superior to the bomb first; talk later shenanigans of the Bush Administration. Now they’re smirking because diplomatic communications are made public? Fucking. Stupid. Wankers.

By: sdmikev

sdmikev — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Separating. your. words. with. periods. doesn’t. make. them. more. dramatic.
Also, your statement prior is awful close to a non-sequitur.

By: The .invalid

The .invalid — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe if everyone was more honest and properly diplomatic instead of the apparent covert political bitch-fest that seems to be going on, there would be no need for this.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

People say this a lot, but rarely bother to explain why that bias would be such a bad thing. The US is an influential country, and one the rest of us would like to see kept as accountable as possible.