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Wikileaks

Wikileaks

Wikileaks is an international organization and website based in Sweden which hosts anynonymously submitted and leaked information at Wikileaks.org. Founded by human rights and political activists from around the globe, the Wikileaks website launched in 2006 and by 2007 hosted over 1.2 million sensitive documents.

WIKILEAKS 2010 LEAKED DOCUMENT SUMMARY

Information in the tranche of cables released by WikiLeaks on 28 November 2010 and subsequent days included the following:

Commonwealth of Nations

  • Commonwealth Political Director Amitav Banerji said a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) could recommend a full suspension of Fiji; he also suggested a constitutional crisis could have followed the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua; he further noted a succession question for the Head of the Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth II, though it was on the back burner while she was alive, as there was no rule that stipulated the British monarch must be the head of the body

United Nations

  • Directives from the State Department ordered U.S. diplomats to gather intelligence on the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and top UN officials, including biometric information, passwords, and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.
  • At a meeting in 2006 between the US Legal Advisor to the Secretary of State John B. Bellinger III and legal advisors of the European Member states, Bellinger warned European states that supporting a Cuba-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights against U.S. actions in Guantanamo Bay, would be a "serious setback to U.S.-EU cooperation against terrorism, and give the unacceptable impression that the EU was aligned with Cuba against the U.S."

Afghanistan

  • According to a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul, Ahmad Zia Massoud, Vice President of Afghanistan, was found carrying $52 million in cash that he "was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination". The discovery was made in the United Arab Emirates by local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Agency
  • Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, was described in one cable as having a paranoid world-view.
  • A cable recounting meetings between American officials and Ahmed Wali Karzai, in September 2009 and February 2010, offered the following warning: "Note: While we must deal with AWK as the head of the Provincial Council, he is widely understood to be corrupt and a narcotics trafficker". Noting several of Karzai's statements known to be false, the cables explain that "He appears not to understand the level of our knowledge of his activities. We will need to monitor his activity closely, and deliver a recurring, transparent message to him".

Albania

  • After accepting five Chinese Muslims of Guantánamo Bay in 2006, Sali Berisha offered to take three to six detainees extra. American diplomats portrayed his offer as “gracious, but probably extravagant. As always, the Albanians are willing to go the extra mile to assist with one of our key foreign policy priorities,” a cable said.

Armenia

  • The 2010 diplomatic cable leaks revealed US anger against Armenia for allegedly shipping arms to Iran. In late 2008, US diplomats came to the conclusion that the government of Armenia had supplied Iran with rockets and machine guns in 2003, which were subsequently sent by Iran to insurgents in Iraq and used to kill American soldiers there. The allegation was denied by Armenian President Serge Sargsyan. The cables contain an angry letter from John D. Negroponte to Sargsyan.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • The French government pushed for the closure of the Office of the High Representative despite conditions not being met, in opposition to the US.
  • US and Turkish officials pressured Haris Silajdži?, a former member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to ease his rhetoric and desist from using the word "genocide" in relation to Serbs.
  • Milorad Dodik, then prime minister of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported the Ahtisaari plan for the independence of Kosovo.

Brazil

  • Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães, Brazil's Former Deputy Foreign Ministry was described as an "opponent" which adopts an "anti-American slant".
  • The American Embassy in Brasília said that Brazil frames suspected terrorists on narcotics charges. High-level Brazilian officials "will vigorously reject any statements implying" that insurgents have a presence in Brazil.[55]
  • Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim confirmed an earlier rumor that the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, is suffering from a serious sinus tumor.
  • Activities of organizations at the Amazon Rainforest and protection of oil reserves were considered "paranoia", since there were "no international threats" over them.

Canada

  • Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director Jim Judd complained about Canada's courts and general public to U.S. Counselor of the State Department Eliot A. Cohen in Ottawa on 2 July 2008. He ascribed an "Alice in Wonderland" worldview to Canadians and their courts, whose judges have tied CSIS "in knots", making it ever more difficult to detect and prevent terror attacks in Canada and abroad.
  • Judd commented that cherry-picked sections of the court-ordered release of a DVD of Guantanamo detainee and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr would likely show three Canadian adults interrogating a kid who breaks down in tears. He observed that the images would no doubt trigger "knee-jerk anti-Americanism" and "paroxysms of moral outrage, a Canadian specialty", as well as lead to a new round of heightened pressure on the government to press for Khadr's return to Canada. He predicted that Harper's government would nonetheless continue to resist this pressure.
  • Judd is quoted as telling Cohen that Canadian spies had prior warning that an explosion at Sarpoza Prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan was being planned by the Taliban. However, Judd stated that the spies "could not get a handle on the timing". An investigation headed by Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, into intelligence failures leading to the prison break, claimed Canada did not suspect an attack. Former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier stated in a committee hearing that "Obviously we would have liked to have known so we could have pre-empted or helped, more accurately, the Afghans pre-empt that kind of thing".
  • CSIS officers have been "vigorously harassing" known Hezbollah members in Canada.
  • U.S. diplomats in Ottawa wrote to Washington that the CBC pushes "insidious negative popular stereotyping" with "anti-American melodrama" in its entertainment television programs, according to documents to be released by the website WikiLeaks.

People's Republic of China

  • A Chinese official revealed that both public opinion in China and the government are "increasingly critical" of North Korea, stating that "China's influence with the North was frequently overestimated". The Chinese mentioned that they do not "like" North Korea, but "they are a neighbour".
  • A Chinese contact told the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that the Politburo of the Communist Party of China was responsible for instigating the January 2010 Google hacking incident which was part of a wider "coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government" targeting the U.S. and its Western allies.
  • In February 2009, the US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan spoke to her Chinese counterpart, Zhang Yannian, after being notified that China had offered Kyrgyzstan $3 billion in return for the closure of Manas Air Base—an important US base in Bishkek handling flights into and out of Afghanistan. "Visibly flustered, Zhang temporarily lost the ability to speak Russian and began spluttering in Chinese." He proceeded to ridicule the claim—avoiding a straightforward denial—and offered his own advice to the US on dealing with the Kyrgyz to keep the base open, during which his aide remarked: "Or maybe you should give them $5 billion and buy both us and the Russians out".

Germany

  • A number of cables from the Berlin embassy reveal the U.S. concern on Germany’s position in the SWIFT-, TFTP- and the bilateral US-Germany data sharing agreement. A revealing cable from December 2009 (09BERLIN1528) describes how German Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière overruled Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and abstained from voting at the November 30 COREPER vote in Brussels on an interim U.S.-EU agreement to continue the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP).
  • US embassy personnel were very critical of German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle. He is regarded as incompetent and one cable ends with the comment "he's no Genscher". An embassy cable sent from Berlin on 22 September 2009 describes Mr. Westerwelle as having an "exuberant personality" and calling him an "enigma" who "remains sceptical about the US".
  • American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for CIA officers involved in a bungled operation in which Khalid El-Masri, an innocent German citizen with the same name as a suspected militant, was mistakenly kidnapped and held for months in Afghanistan.
  • It is revealed that the US had an informant in the coalition talks between the CDU and FDP for Cabinet Merkel II.
  • German chancellor Angela Merkel is called Angela "Teflon" Merkel and it is said that she avoids risk and is uncreative.

Honduras

  • A cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, definitively characterizes the June 2009 ousting of President Manuel Zelaya as "an illegal and unconstitutional coup". The decisiveness of the cable was not reflected in US Secretary of State Clinton's reluctance to use such terminology in public statements and the US State Department's failure to cut off all aid save "democracy assistance", as required by law in the case of a coup. The cable is also seemingly at odds with relatively rapid moves by the U.S., the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank to normalize relations with Honduras.

India

  • A State Department cable called India a "self-appointed frontrunner for permanent UNSC seat".
  • The State Department solicited "Biographical and biometric information on key NAM/G-77/OIC Permanent Representatives, particularly India, China".
  • The U.S. conducted its own secret analysis of India's military contingency plans, which are codenamed Cold Start. India has said that if sufficiently provoked, it would mount a rapid invasion of Pakistan. The U.S. said in a cable that it doubted the Indian Army was capable of doing so: "It is the collective judgment of the mission that India would likely encounter very mixed results. Indian forces could have significant problems consolidating initial gains due to logistical difficulties and slow reinforcement". However, U.S. Ambassador to India Tim Roemer warned that for India to launch the Cold Start doctrine, would be to "roll the nuclear dice". It could trigger the world's first use of nuclear weapons since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Indian leaders no doubt realize that, although Cold Start is designed to punish Pakistan in a limited manner without triggering a nuclear response, the Indians cannot be sure whether Pakistani leaders will in fact refrain from such a response". To counter the Indian doctrine, U.S. diplomats in Islamabad were told Pakistan was working on producing smaller, tactical nuclear weapons such as nuclear artillery that could be used on the battlefield against Indian troops.

Iran

  • The cables reveal some Arab distrust for Iran, and encouragement from pro-US Arab leaders for a military strike on the nuclear facilities in Iran. Saudi King Abdullah has repeatedly urged the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. In one diplomatic cable, King Abdullah said it was necessary to "cut the head of the snake", in reference to Iran's nuclear program.
  • Muhammad bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, urged the U.S. not to appease Tehran and said, "Ahmadinejad is Hitler".
  • King Hamad of Bahrain was quoted in 2009 as saying, "That program [the Iranian nuclear program] must be stopped. The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it".
  • Maj-Gen. Muhammad al-Assar, assistant to the Egyptian defense minister, was quoted in 2009 saying that "Egypt views Iran as a threat to the region".
  • U.S. intelligence has assessed that Iran obtained from North Korea advanced missiles (derived from a Soviet design) that are more powerful than publicly admitted by the U.S. to be in Iran's possession. These missiles, designated the BM-25, have a range of up to 2,000 miles (3,200 km). However, another cable that has received less attention from mainstream press describes a meeting of US and Russian officials, where the latter dismissed the former's claims, pointing out technical flaws in the evidence presented and inconsistencies in the story.
  • An unidentified ally of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani stated that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has terminal leukemia and is expected to die in months, and Rafsanjani's unwillingness to act after the disputed Presidential election in 2009 comes from his wish to succeed Khamenei and annul Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election afterwards.
  • Reports that the Iranian Red Crescent was actively controlled by the government and was involved in illicit arms smuggling and intelligence gathering on behalf of Iran.
  • A cable from the U.S. State Department indicated that the U.S. was pushing for co-operation from its allies to impose further sanctions on Iran in response to its nuclear program.
  • Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and National Security in communication with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service agreed to "help" on Afghan issues, including sharing information regarding potential attacks. CSIS director Jim Judd had confided however that he had not "figured out what they are up to", since it is clear that the "Iranians want ISAF to bleed...slowly".
  • According to a cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2009, there is a "widespread rumor" that many Iranians in Baku conduct in illicit activities and that these activities are tied to the Iranian regime. These activities include sanctions-busting, money laundering, obtaining spare parts, equipment and revenue generation for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and management of narcotics trafficking originating from Iran. The cable mentions that many Iranians residing in Baku from different backgrounds, including students, business figures, and human rights activists are involved in these activities.

Ireland

  • A 2006 memo on Ireland featured when on 1 December 2010 it was revealed that American diplomats discussed the Irish government's attempts to oppose American use of Shannon Airport before Ireland's 2007 general election. After this release Amnesty International asked the Irish government to tighten its legislation to counter use of Irish airspace by the Americans. Colm O'Gorman, the organisation's executive director in Ireland, observed that concerns expressed by Irish citizens over the misuse of the airport by the Americans was "a problem to be managed rather than something to be taken seriously".
  • According to a 2006 diplomatic cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Ireland, "the Irish Government has informally begun to place constraints on US military transits" at Shannon Airport. The Irish government attempted to limit the transfer from weapons from the U.S. to Israel via the Shannon Airport. James C. Kenny, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland at the time, said Irish officials were warned that the U.S. would use other airports if the policy continued.

Israel

  • Israel was ready to attack a nuclear-armed Iran, and saw 2010 as a pivotal year.
  • In August 2007, Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan suggested to the U.S. to make use of local fringe groups to try and topple the Iranian regime. WikiLeaks documents also suggest that Dagan denied plans to attack a Syrian nuclear facility, just two months before an attack actually happened.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak consulted with Fatah of the Palestinian Authority and asked if they could take over control of Gaza Strip after expected Israeli victory during Operation Cast Lead, but met with refusal.
  • In a conversation with congressman Gary Ackerman in 2007, Netanyahu said Shimon Peres had admitted to him that the Oslo peace process he helped initiate was based on a mistaken premise. Netanyahu said Peres had told him the European and US assistance to the Palestinian Authority had established a "bloated bureaucracy, with PA employees looking to the international community to meet their payroll".
  • In the same document, Netanyahu described Kadima as a "fake party" and referred to the Second Lebanon War as "stupid" and criticized the approach of Ehud Olmert's policies towards the conflict.
  • In one document from April 2007, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was opposition leader at the time, describes the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a "nice man who means well" and urges Washington to focus on toppling Hamas through an "economic squeeze" saying it would be "easier to weaken Hamas than to strengthen Abbas".
  • In 2008, U.S. diplomats in the Middle East to secretly collect personal information on Palestinian leaders, and closely monitor Israeli military and telecommunication capabilities. One State Department directive orders U.S. diplomats to report on Israeli Military tactics, techniques, and procedures dealing with conventional and unconventional counterinsurgency operations.
  • According to a cable from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu supports the concept of land-swaps with the Palestinian Authority and does not want to govern the West Bank and Gaza but rather to stop attacks from being launched from there.
  • Netanyahu was described by Luis G. Moreno in one cable: "Netanyahu warned that when Israel left Lebanon it created a first Iranian base, that when it left Gaza it created a second Iranian base, and if Israel "promised" a third retreat from the West Bank it would see the same results. There were three options, according to Netanyahu - withdrawing to the 1967 borders (that would "get terror, not peace"); doing nothing ("just as bad"); or "rapidly building a pyramid from the ground up". Netanyahu suggested a rapid move to develop the West Bank economically, including "unclogging" bureaucratic "bottlenecks".
  • Mossad director Meir Dagan told American diplomat Frances Fragos Townsend that "nothing will be achieved" in the peace process according to a secret cable the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv sent to the State Department. During a two-hour meeting, Dagan told Townsend that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would "likely move to Qatar and join his mysteriously wealthy son there" in the event Hamas took over the West Bank. In the same cable, Dagan was recorded accusing Saudi Foreign Minister Saud bin Faisal of playing a "very negative role" and characterized Qatar as "a real problem", accusing its leader Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani of "annoying everyone". He also suggested the US should move its bases out of Qatar.
  • In 2007 Tzipi Livni said she "doubted that a final status agreement could be reached with Abbas, and therefore the emphasis should be on reforming Fatah so that it could beat Hamas at the polls."

Italy

  • American officials voiced concerns over Berlusconi's extraordinary closeness to Putin, "including 'lavish gifts,' lucrative energy contracts and a 'shadowy' Russian-speaking Italian go-between". Diplomats consider him "to be the mouthpiece of Putin" in Europe.
  • The Georgian ambassador in Rome has told to the American officials that Georgia believes Putin has promised Berlusconi a percentage of profits from any pipelines developed by Gazprom in coordination with Eni S.p.A..

Jordan

  • A document dated from April 2, 2009 shows then-president of the Jordanian Senate, Zeid Rifai, saying “Bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won’t matter" in a conversation with US ambassador David Hale. According to the cable, “while Rifai judged a military strike would have ‘catastrophic impact on the region,’ he nonetheless thought preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would pay enough dividends to make it worth the risks.”

Koreas

  • North Korea was behaving like a "spoiled child", according to Chinese officials, who were prepared to accept Korean reunification under South Korean leadership. They estimated they could cope with an influx of 300,000 North Korean refugees in the event of instability on the peninsula.
  • The U.S. and South Korea are planning to reunite the two Koreas, should the North ultimately collapse.

Kuwait

  • Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah referring to Kuwaiti Guantanamo detainees said "You know better than I that we cannot deal with these people (the Guantanamo detainees). I can't detain them. If I take their passports, they will sue to get them back. I can talk to you into next week about building a rehabilitation center, but it won't happen. We are not Saudi Arabia; we cannot isolate these people in desert camps or somewhere on an island. We cannot compel them to stay. If they are rotten, they are rotten and the best thing to do is get rid of them. You picked them up in Afghanistan; you should drop them off in Afghanistan, in the middle of the war zone".

Pakistan

  • Grave fears in the U.S. and the U.K. over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme. Since 2007, the U.S. has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.[107] In the words of U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson, Pakistan had refused visits from American experts,[clarification needed] while an official told her "If the local media got word of the fuel removal, they would certainly portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons".
  • In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defence chief, said Zardari was "dirty but not dangerous" and that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was "dangerous but not dirty -- this is Pakistan".
  • Saudi King Abdullah called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan the greatest obstacle to the country's progress. "When the head is rotten", he said, "it affects the whole body".
  • The Saudi Government is concerned about Pakistan's political fragility, and has worked hard through its embassy in Islamabad, to bring the Pakistani factions together. Saudi relations with Pakistan have been strained because the Saudis do not trust Zardari and see him and other leading Pakistani politicians as corrupt.
  • A new rail link between Pakistan and Iran would be delayed for the time being, owing to poor conditions, low freight-carrying capacity and unrest from Baloch insurgents in the Balochistan region of both countries. Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement was also not expected to be fruitful because "the Pakistanis don't have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas".
  • According to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel was concerned for the well-being of former president Pervez Musharraf and wanted him to stay in power in 2007. The director of Mossad, Meir Dagan, remarked: "...he is facing a serious problem with the militants. Pakistan’s nuclear capability could end up in the hands of an Islamic regime.”
  • Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak described Pakistan as his "private nightmare". He said that a potential Islamic extremist threat in Pakistan could wake up the world "with everything changed". Barak also dismissed the idea of using force on Iran as backfiring upon moderate Muslims in Pakistan, saying that while the two countries were interconnected, such a causal chain could not be established.
  • In February 2010, a Turkish expert on South Asian Affairs, Engin Soysal, told U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns that the Pakistani military was unhappy with Zardari, though it was not leaning to intervene. Soysal added that the "senior officers' patience may not be infinite", and that "Zardari needs to increase the democratic legitimacy of parliament".
  • Jasmine Zerinini, a French specialist on Afghanistan-Pakistan affairs, said that Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had "learnt his lesson from Musharraf" by staying behind the scenes and not interceding in the country's political situation. At the same time, Zerinini claimed that Kayani was manipulating the government into preventing policy change on Pakistan's war-ridden tribal belt and he had a role in provoking controversy surrounding the contentious Kerry-Lugar bill. She also added that the West had not adequately targeted Pakistan's military to take on the Afghan Taliban hiding in Pakistan, saying militant leaders had been allowed to create networks funded by Gulf donors which were difficult to be defeated.
  • The cables reveal that Vice President Biden told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in March 2009 that Mr. Zardari had told him he feared an army coup and that the “ISI director and Kayani will take me out.”
  • In a conversation with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he found it "astonishing" that President Zardari was still in power in 2010 and that the Pakistani military's operations against militants along the Afghan border had been striking. Kouchner concurred and added that political and military changes in Pakistan were "nothing short of a miracle." Gates and Kouchner also discussed the improving image of the Pakistan Army after its "aggressive campaign against the insurgency..
  • Fearing attempts on his life, Zardari told ambassador Anne W. Patterson that in the event he were to be assassinated, he had instructed his son Bilawal Zardari Bhutto (who along with Zardari is the co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party) to appoint his sister Faryal Talpur as Presiden and he had informed the United Arab Emirates of his intent to allow the family to continue living there.
  • In November 2007, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, a politician and leader of the Islamist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, invited Patterson to a dinner in which he sought her support in becoming Prime Minister and expressed a desire to visit America. According to Rehman's personal aide, "All important parties in Pakistan had to get the approval" of the US. Referring to Rehman, Patterson mentioned "He has made it clear that....his still significant number of votes are up for sale." The cables also highlighted the contradictions of other prominent figures. Amin Fahim, a Bhutto follower hoping to run for Prime Minister, led an Islamic religious party "while enjoying an occasional bloody mary."
  • According to a document from October 2009, head of Pakistan's intelligence agency Ahmad Shuja Pasha provided intelligence on potential terrorist attacks in India to Israel. According to the cable, "He had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India."
  • Kayani is described in American interactions as "direct, frank, and thoughtful" and has "fond memories" of time spent on a military training course in the US. He also "smokes heavily and can be difficult to understand as he tends to mumble." ISI chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha was said to be "usually more emotional" than Kayani.
  • In February 2009, Zardari's spokesperson Farahnaz Ispahani said the president was "very unhappy" with the way Prime Minister Gillani had "gone off the reservation" (in relation to Gillani's talks with Shahbaz Sharif that the government would not try to remove the Sharifs from power in Punjab). In 2008, Zardari also commented on Fahim, saying he "had spent most of the [ election ] campaign in Dubai (with his latest 22 year-old wife) and was simply too lazy to be prime minister".
  • In 2008, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani personally consented American drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border to combat the Taliban. When Interior Minister Rehman Malik recommended the US to hold back “alleged Predator attacks until after the Bajaur operation," Gillani dismissed the remarks and was heard saying: "I don’t care if they do it as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it."
  • There are revelations that small teams of elite US special forces may have been dispatched in the tribal belt to help coordinate the Pakistani military's operations. One record indicates that up to 16 US soldiers had been deployed to help Pakistani troops in 2009. Their role is primarily training-oriented and to provide "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance" support – ISR in military jargon – "general operational advice" and set up live satellite feed from presumably CIA-operated American drones flying overhead.

Russia

  • Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime.[24] Russia was labelled as a Mafia-state.
  • Russian president Dmitry Medvedev often acts under the influence of former Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and "plays Robin to Putin's Batman."

Saudi Arabia

  • Saudi donors remain chief financiers of militant groups like Al-Qaeda.
  • Saudi King Abdullah has repeatedly urged the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear facilities In one diplomatic cable, King Abdullah said it was necessary to "cut the head of the snake", in reference to Iran's nuclear program.
  • King Abdullah proposed that Guantanamo detainees could be monitored through the use of "electronic chips".

Serbia and Kosovo

  • In 2009, French diplomat Jean-David Levitte said that EULEX has diplomatic issues with the Kosovo government and public, and that Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremi? "makes promises that he never keeps". He also criticised Jeremi? for inaction in encouraging "Serb return or participation in the Kosovo government".
  • The Guardian suggested that cables regarding Serbia awaiting publication could refer to reasons why Ratko Mladi? has not yet been arrested.

Slovenia

  • According to the cables the State Department ordered to spy on people connected with Slovenia, that includes gaining their credit card numbers and phonebooks. It was also ordered to research the diplomacy of Slovenia, including various agreements and projects connected to Russia, U.S. also wanted to gain information on money laundring, organised criminal, etc. U.S. were also searching for information about locations of various chemical factories, secret underground military bases, evacuation plans of hospitals and buildings of the goverment and how much really is Slovenia interested in cooperating in War in Afghanistan.

Spain

  • U.S. officials tried to pressure Spain into dropping court investigations into the CIA's extraordinary rendition, torture at Guantanamo Bay, and the 2003 killing of José Couso, a Spanish journalist, in Iraq by American troops.

Sri Lanka

  • Secretary of State of United Kingdom David Miliband directed much of his attention on the final stages of Sri Lankan Civil War to win votes of Tamils in UK stated Tim Waite, a Foreign Office team leader on Sri Lanka, quoted in one US embassy cable. "He [Tim Waite] said that with UK elections on the horizon and many Tamils living in Labour constituencies with slim majorities, the government is paying particular attention to Sri Lanka, with Miliband recently remarking to Waite that he was spending 60 per cent of his time at the moment on Sri Lanka" the cable revealed.
  • Verifying the accountability for alleged crimes in the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War has been very difficult. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power". "Most Tamils in Sri Lanka appear to think it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to push the issue too aggressively".

Syria

  • Increased Syrian arms shipments to Hezbollah despite their claims that new shipments have ceased.
  • A Syrian foreign minister was alleged to have fallen for a "tabloid-like story" regarding the death of Princess Diana. An American ambassador stated that this displayed the Syrian government's "'stark ignorance' of the outside world".

Turkey

  • Turkey deliberately did not invite India for a meeting on Afghanistan to appease Pakistan, reflecting Islamabad’s insistence at every international forum that India be kept out of any meeting on Afghanistan.
  • Former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during a meeting with Turkish foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, promised to shut down the controversial Denmark-based Kurdish TV-station Roj TV, in order to prevent Turkish obstruction to his appointment as Secretary General of NATO.
  • Turkey complained to British diplomats that Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, wanted to ruin Turkey's chances to join the European Union by filming a documentary revealing the plight of disabled children in Turkey. The UK foreign secretary responded by saying that "as a private citizen, her activities could not 'be controlled'".
  • Turkish military officials have pressured the U.S. for Predator B drones, to use against the Kurdistan Workers Party in Iraq. Due to American concerns over a potential rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey, the "State Department has warned that the purchasing process promises to be 'long and complex.'"
  • Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is no fan of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and the ruling Justice and Development Party despite both countries maintaining fraternal relations publicly. Aliyev criticised Turkish foreign policy by calling it 'naive'. He also revealed that he had sold gas to Russia in order to impede Turkey's ability to "create a gas distribution hub".

United Arab Emirates

  • Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, referred to as MBZ in the cables, urged the US not to appease Iran and said, "Ahmadinejad is Hitler".
  • Muhammad bin Zayed supported the U.S. decision to sell F-16 aircraft to Pakistan to strengthen the Musharraf government, saying the sale would not alter the balance of strength between India and Pakistan.
  • Diplomats in the UAE revealed that Muhammad bin Zayed, Abdullah II of Jordan and the UK's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, are "close friends" that "frequently hunt – in Morocco and Tanzania".
  • UAE military officials have pressured the U.S. for Predator B drones, to be used in countering Iran. As Iran is known to be developing its own drones, a UAE general stated "That’s why we need it first...give me Predator B".
  • Muhammad bin Zayed believes that an Israeli strike will not be successful in stopping Iran's nuclear programme, and therefore a new plan is required. He also believes that Israel will strike Iran, causing Iran to launch missile attacks including hits on the UAE and to unleash attacks worldwide. In his view, the map of the Middle East would change.[clarification needed]
  • Muhammad bin Zayed apparently runs the United Arab Emirates. While he is officially only the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and his only federal title is Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, he is said to be the key decision maker on national security issues. He was observed to be unlike his elder half-brother President Khalifa, who is reported to be a distant and uncharismatic personage. 'MBZ' has authority in all matters except for final decisions on oil policy and major state expenditures.
  • MBZ described a nuclear armed Iran as absolutely untenable. He believes that 'all hell will break loose' if Iran attains the bomb, with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey developing their own nuclear weapons capability and Iran instigating Sunni-Shia conflict.
  • MBZ said Iran is surrounding Israel driven by ideological conviction and will threaten Israel's existence should it go nuclear. At the same time, he described Iran's ambitions as reflecting a desire to restore Persia's great-power status, rather than driven by religious convictions.
  • MBZ suggested that the key to containing Iran revolves around progress on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He argued that it will be essential to bring Arab public opinion in line with the leadership in any conflict with Iran and that roughly 80% of the public is amenable to persuasion. To win them over, the U.S. would have to quickly bring about a two state solution over the objections of the Netanyahu government. He suggested working with moderate Palestinians that support the road map, and forget about the others as there is no time to waste.

United Kingdom

  • Foreign Office officials concealed from Parliament a loophole in the ban on use and storage of cluster bombs, allowing the US to store the munitions on UK territory.
  • The Ministry of Defence's director general for security policy told US under-secretary of state Ellen Tauscher that the UK government had "put measures in place to protect your interests during the UK inquiry into the causes of the Iraq war".
  • Prince Andrew, Duke of York, was noted as saying "The Americans don’t understand geography. Never have. In the U.K., we have the best geography teachers in the world!”

Venezuela

  • A cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Brasilia on 13 November 2009 reported that Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim "all but acknowledged presence of the FARC in Venezuela".
  • Spanish newspaper El País released some information about the remaining Venezuelan cables, not released yet at the WikiLeaks webpage. These cables supposedly deal with issues related to Cuban intelligence in Venezuela working together with the Venezuelan government.
  • A cable sent from the US embassy in Caracas on 14 December 2009 explains what the embassy considers to be the situation of Venezuelan public health system and the government actions related to the public health sector. This in the context of raised protests in private and public hospitals with motivation in the alleged failure of Barrio Adentro, a social welfare program, with support of Cuban doctors, that seeks to provide comprehensive publicly-funded health care, dental care, and sports training to poor and marginalized communities in Venezuela.

Yemen

  • Yemen's deputy Prime Minister Abdulkarim Al-Arhabi said if the U.S. attacks Al-Qaida bases in Yemen, he will tell the people of Yemen that it was the Yemeni military that has carried out the attacks rather than the U.S. He also joked about lying to Parliament on U.S. involvement of bombings.

Other issues

  • A rogue shipment of enriched uranium was nearly the cause of an environmental disaster in 2009.
  • The U.S. used bargaining to move prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to other countries. In one case, U.S. officials allegedly offered to Slovenia a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, if the country accepts one of the Guantanamo Bay detainees. Offers to other countries include economic incentives or a visit from Obama.


DIPLOMATIC ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Harsh criticism by U.S. embassy staff of their host governments:

 Afghanistan
  • Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, was called "paranoid" by diplomats. The diplomats stated that he is considered "an extremely weak man who did not listen to facts but was instead easily swayed by anyone who came to report even the most bizarre stories or plots against him".

 Albania
  • Sali Berisha, Prime minister of Albania, was called "To pro american as needed" by the diplomats. After his offer to take more Gitmo prisoners American diplomats portrayed his offer as “gracious, but probably extravagant. As always, the Albanians are willing to go the extra mile to assist with one of our key foreign policy priorities,” a cable said.

 Argentina
  • Cristina Kirchner and Néstor Kirchner, current and former presidents of Argentina respectively, are described as "paranoid regarding power" and showing "ineptitude for foreign policy". Also it questions the mental state and health of the current president of Argentina

 Armenia
  • Serge Sargsyan, President of Armenia, was noted in the letters from US Administration to Sargsyan condemning the Armenian arms shipments to Iran which killed American soldiers and his unreasonable denials of transfer or weapons.

 Azerbaijan
  • Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, was a cross between fictional mafia bosses Michael Corleone and Sonny Corleone from the mob film The Godfather, being a "pragmatist" when it comes to foreign policy but "increasingly authoritarian" on domestic policy.
  • Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's wife, according to US embassy dispatches, was said to have "so much plastic surgery that it is possible to confuse her for one of her daughters from a distance, but that she can barely still move her face".

 France
  • Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, was described by US diplomatic officials as "thin-skinned", "authoritarian" and an "emperor with no clothes".

 Germany
  • Angela Merkel, German chancellor, is called Angela "Teflon" Merkel. The diplomats stated that "when cornered, Merkel can be tenacious but is risk averse and rarely creative".
 Iran
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president, was criticised by many Arab leaders. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed urged the US not to appease Tehran and said, "Ahmadinejad is Hitler".

 Iraq
  • Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, was labeled a "liar" by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, "saying he would never support him".

 Israel
  • Benjamin Netanyahu is "elegant and charming", according to a cable apparently penned by an official at the U.S. embassy in Egypt, "but never keeps his promises".

 Italy
  • Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, was defined by the U.S. Embassy in Rome as "feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader". US diplomatic officials also said that because of his constant partying he is never well rested.

 Libya
  • Muammar al-Qadhafi, leader of Libya allegedly has a fear of flying over water and he no longer relies on his all female bodyguard force, only taking one to the UN during 2010. He is accompanied everywhere by a Ukrainian nurse with whom some claim he is romantically linked. When her visa was not approved in time for Qadhafi’s trip to the UN, he had her privately flown to him afterward.

 North Korea
  • Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, was portrayed to diplomats by a source as a "'flabby old chap' and someone who had suffered 'physical and psychological trauma' as a result of his stroke". Chinese diplomats consider Kim irascible and unpredictable, mentioning they do not "like" North Korea, but "they are a neighbour". Kim has a reputation among Chinese diplomats as being "quite a good drinker".

 Pakistan
  • Asif Ali Zardari, president of Pakistan, was called "dirty but not dangerous" by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, in contrast to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was described as "dangerous but not dirty -- this is Pakistan." Saudi King Abdullah was critical of Zardari, stating that "when the head is rotten... it affects the whole body".

 People's Republic of China
  • Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, was described by Japanese prime minister Taro Aso as "confident and relaxed" during their meeting. This is in contrast to Premier Wen Jiabao, who was "very tired and seemed under a lot of pressure", attributed to the financial crisis.
 Russia
  • Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, wields less power than his "alpha dog" image in the media portrays. He is alleged to bribe Kremlin figures, or else many of his edicts are not implemented. American diplomats have raised concerns over personal corruption, calling Putin's Russia a "mafia state." The Swiss oil-trading company Gunvor is "rumored to be one of Putin’s sources of undisclosed wealth", allegedly "bringing its owners billions of dollars in profit." Diplomats have also discussed Putin's very close relationship with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and "the pair enjoyed such a close relationship that they shared a 'direct line'." It is suspected that Berlusconi personal relationship with Putin influenced the sale of part of Russian state-owned Gazprom’s oil subsidiary Gazpromneft to Italian Eni.
  • Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, was described as "pale" and "indecisive", playing "Robin to Putin's Batman".

 Saudi Arabia
  • King Abdullah was stated by diplomats as "'tending to express himself tersely' because of his lifelong struggle with a 'speech impediment', but added that he is a 'wry and forthright interlocutor.'"

 Turkey
  • Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister, was described by US diplomats as having "little understanding of politics beyond Ankara" and as surrounding himself with an "iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors". He is said to be "isolated", and that his MPs and Ministers feel "fearful of Erdogan's wrath".Diplomats state that "he relies on his charisma, instincts, and the filterings of advisors who pull conspiracy theories off the web or are lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies". He was also described as a "perfectionist workaholic" who dominates his party. Erdogan responded strongly to the claims, threatening a lawsuit. He rejects the allegations of having "eight secret accounts in Swiss banks," stating that the people responsible for the 'slander' will "be crushed under these claims, will be finished and will disappear."

 Turkmenistan
  • Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, President of Turkmenistan, was described as "vain, fastidious, vindictive, a micro-manager, and a bit of an Ahal Teke 'nationalist.'" The American diplomat also commented that Berdymukhammedov has a Russian mistress.

 Zimbabwe
  • Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, was described as the devil. The cable said that Mugabe was cleverer and more ruthless than any other Zimbabwean politician.
  • Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, was described as flawed, indecisive and lacking executive experience.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (L) speaks to the media after leaving the High Court in London on December 5, 2011 where he attended a ruling in his long-running fight against extradition to Sweden. Assange was on December 5 granted permission to apply to England's highest court in a final attempt to block his extradition to Sweden over rape allegations.

A lone protester stands in front of Fort Meade, Maryland, after about 100 protesters marched to another location blocking traffic in support of US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, who is facing a pre-trial hearing inside the base for being the alleged source of a trove of classified documents to Wikileaks, December 17, 2011.

Protesters line the highway outside Fort Meade, Maryland, in support of US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning who is attending a pre-trial hearing inside the base for being the alleged source of a trove of classified documents to Wikileaks, December 17, 2011.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a press conference at City University London in central London on December 1, 2011. Along with a number of other guest speakers, Assange spoke of the whistle-blowing site's ongoing investigation of surveillance software companies and their alleged use by governments around the world.

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