Post date: Nov 29, 2010 4:54:22 PM
The WikiLeaks disclosures released on Sunday (Nov. 28) appear to raise the lid on the normally secret channels of diplomatic communication.
SHARM EL SHEIKH, EGYPT (MARCH 1, 2003) POOL - The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks released thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables on Sunday (November 28) that include candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables made available to a handful of newspapers around the world provide an inside peek at
U.S. diplomatic views and actions in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and elsewhere.The U.S. government condemned the release, saying it could compromise private discussions with foreign leaders and endanger the lives of named individuals living "under oppressive regimes."
Here is a look at some of the main substantive revelations in the cables, published by the New York Times:
-- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and is reported to have advised Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
-- China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the U.S. Embassy in January, as part of a computer sabotage campaign carried out by government operatives, private experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into U.S. government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
-- U.S. and South Korean officials discussed the prospects for a unified Korea should the North's economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans considered commercial inducements to China to "help salve" Chinese concerns about living with a reunified Korea that is in a "benign alliance" with Washington, according to the American ambassador to Seoul.
-- Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting western Europe, and the United States is concerned Iran is using those rockets as "building blocks" to build longer-range missiles. The advanced missiles are much more powerful than anything U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged Iran has in its arsenal.