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http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Wikileaks-India-selfappointed-frontrunner-for-UNSC-seat/717700/
WikiLeaks exposes US, shows India kept out of key meet!Thousands of US diplomatic cables leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks bares personal details of world leaders and what US diplomats think of them in private, a media report said Monday.WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website at the centre of a storm over leaking 250,000 US diplomatic despatches, is a not-for-profit media organisation launched in 2007 with the professed goal of bringing 'important news and information to the public'.Among a cache of a quarter-million State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, 3,038 are from the US embassy in India, but no details were immediately available on the whistleblower website. Other cables pertain to communications from US missions in Islamabad, Colombo and Kathmandu.
The White House Sunday condemned the release of secret documents as 'reckless' and 'dangerous'.
What role Indian Parliament plays in the Brahaminical Democracy of Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide Culture, Mass Destruction and Exclusion? It has nothing to do as far as its main task is concerned, the Legislation! It is done elsewhere in the interest of the Global Zionist Hindutva Hegemony and the whipped Coopted Enslaved Billionair Millionair Parliamentarians do have to ENDORSE it. The so called Government headed by Washington Slaves, Ex employees of World Bank IMF WTO India Incs MNCs and Unelected Extraconstitutional Elements are Never Responsible to the Parliament. Rather it works like an Opera House enacting Melodrama eternal to uphold hypocritical values and norms of democracy as the Inflicted Judiciary is well EXPOSED how it maintains the Rule of Law!It is the greatest MIND Control Game and the Business behind the curtaion goes on without interruption. It is Excellent Coverup with Constant Misinformation game. The Brahaminical CORRUPT System UNETHICAL responsible for all kinds of Inequality, Injustice, Persecution, Repression, Aggression, Holocaust - has to be stronger day by day. With all this NONSENSE the Sovereign Market and its Greedy Killer Money Machine have regular FEAST of our Blood, Flesh, Bones, Mind and heart.
The government of LPG Mafia,India Incs and Manusmriti Brahaminical Zionist Fascist Colonial Corporate hegemony affliated opposition parties will meet on Tuesday to try again to break a deadlock in parliament that has stalled passage of key legislation. The opposition has halted parliament sessions since Nov. 9 over its demand for a JPC probe into the 2G telecom scandal. Parliament has been in deadlock for nearly three weeks, preventing bills from being passed as opposition parties keep up demands for a full investigation into alleged government corruption.The government has refused to agree to an all-party investigation, saying a separate one is already under way. The speaker of the powerful lower house has called an all-party meeting on Tuesday in the latest attempt to break the impasse, though informal talks over the weekend showed scant promise of a breakthrough.The Congress party-led coalition has said it had no intention of cutting short the winter session of parliament that runs to Dec. 13, though in practice the session could prove fruitless.
Wikileaks reveals standoff over nuclear fuel in Pakistan!
Back to back, Barrack Onbama`s India Visit, a cache of a quarter-million US cables released by WikiLeaks has exposed secret back-room manoeuvring by the US and has dramatically revealed how India was kept out of a key meeting on Afghanistan that was held in Turkey.Among the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, 3,038 are from the US embassy in India. Other cables pertain to communications from US missions in Islamabad, Colombo and Kathmandu.It exposes the status of the US War Economy Peripherry and partner in Amrica`s war against Aboriginal Indigenous Anti Zionist Black Untouchable Global Humanscape! It also reveals the Reality of Strategic Realliance in US ISRAEL lead shifting the War zone right into the heart of Peaceful Indian Ocean!It also strips naked Global Hindutva manusmriti Post Modern role and the Sexy Nuclear Blind nationalism, Ethnonationalism killing the Non aryan Non Brahamin Civilisations fr thousnads and thousands years!The Holocaust NEVER to end as long as zionsim and Global Hidutva is NOT Resisted with Consolidated Global Unified Black Untouchable Aboriginal Indigenous Nationality shaping up and standing Rock Solid!The diplomatic documents suggest nearly a decade after the attacks of Sep 11, 2001, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the US relations with the world.
India was one of the countries reached out by top US diplomats before the much anticipated release of what the New York.The documents show that the administration of President Barack Obama has been struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the US consulate.The US had warned the governments of India, Britian, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Israel in advance of the bombshell release of the classified documents that the leaks would damage the US relationships around the world.
Times described as 'an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders.'
'We have reached out to India to warn them about a possible release of documents,' State Department Spokesman P J Crowley said ahead of their publication Sunday, spawning condemnation from the White House and congressional leaders.
Meanwhile, Pakistan caught off-guard by WikiLeaks expose!WikiLeaks lays bare nuclear standoff with Pakistan, hacking by China!The secret US diplomatic communications leaked by Wikileaks have exposed a dangerous standoff over the use of highly enriched uranium in Pakistani reactor as America fears the fuel can be used for making illicit nuclear device.
Since 2007, the US 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, said The New York Times, which was given access to the over 250,000 secret memos of the US embassies across the world by the whistle-blowing website.
The WikiLeaks expose of US classified documents has caught the Pakistan government in an awkward position as the political parties termed it an 'eye-opener'.A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel and a global computer hacking effort by China are among the revelations laid bare by a cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.
The United States had warned WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange that publishing the papers would be illegal and endanger peoples' lives.
Among the 251,287 cables provided by WikiLeaks to The Times 2,278 cables are from the US mission in Kathmandu, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad.
Many are unclassified, and none are marked 'top secret,' the government's most secure communications status. But some 11,000 are classified 'secret,' 9,000 are labelled 'noforn,' shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and 'noforn'.
Publishing the documents would jeopardise 'our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Senator John Kerry, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the disclosure 'reckless.'
'This is not an academic exercise about freedom of information and it is not akin to the release of the Pentagon Papers, which involved an analysis aimed at saving American lives and exposing government deception,' Kerry said in a statement.
Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, on Sunday called on the Obama administration to prosecute Assange.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder King said WikiLeaks has provided 'material support to terrorist organizations' by releasing the documents.
A secret cable from the US embassy in Ankara showed that India was kept out of the Jan 25 meeting held in Turkey on Afghanistan to appease Pakistan, though Islamabad was of the view that excluding India from such regional structures would be a mistake.
At a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, then Turkey's deputy under secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs, responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Rauf Engin Soysal, said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghanistan Neighbours Summit 'in deference to Pakistani sensitivities'.
'He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he claimed, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake,' Guardian quoted the message dated Feb 25, 2010 as saying.
Zardari met Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at an international conference in Istanbul that kicked off Jan 25 this year.
'He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had requested (Turkish) President (Abdullah) Gul's assistance with Pakistan during the latter's visit to New Delhi the previous week. Acting on that request, Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was sceptical of Indian intentions. Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year.'
'Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateral summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm,' the secret cable said.
Among the 251,287 cables provided by WikiLeaks to The New York Times, 2,278 cables are from the US mission in Kathmandu, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad.
Many are unclassified, and none are marked 'top secret', the government's most secure communications status. But some 11,000 are classified 'secret', 9,000 are labelled 'noforn', shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and 'noforn'.
Publishing the documents would jeopardise 'our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government', White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel and a global computer hacking effort by China are among the revelations laid bare by WikiLeaks.
The cables show that nearly a decade after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks, terrorism still dominates the US' relations with the world, said the Times.
'They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.
'They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon - and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal,' the Times said.
Detailing 'a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel' revealed by WikiLeaks, the Times said: 'Since 2007, the United States 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.
In May 2009, (US) Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, 'if the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons,' he argued.'
Another cable said a Chinese contact told the American embassy in Beijing in January that China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country.
The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government, it said.
They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
In India, the opposition, fresh from a landslide victory in Bihar with its coalition partner, is disrupting mandatory open parliamentary debate on bills by shouting down proceedings, leaving the speaker forced to adjourn every sitting.
The opposition, which includes the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as left-wing parties, now has four corruption scandals with which to beat the ruling federal government.
In addition to a telecoms spectrum scam in which the telecoms minister has resigned, there is the issue of corruption in the run-up to October's Commonwealth Games, a housing scam in the western state of Maharashtra and a banking scandal.
The Congress party has presented some proposals to break the impasse, including an investigation monitored by the Supreme Court, but the opposition has rejected them.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
If the government can find a solution to break the logjam, parliament will run until mid-December. But efforts by the Congress party's main dealmaker behind the scenes, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have failed and there could be an early end to the session. Should that happen, parliament would convene again in February to pass the budget for the fiscal year that ends in March 2012.
The government could reconvene parliament earlier than February if it felt there were a possibility of resuming business.
WHAT IS AT RISK?
A key bill needing approval for additional spending of about $9.8 billion to ensure the functioning of government, including interest payments on government debt and subsidies on food and fuel, until parliament reconvenes at the next session.
As a money bill, if the government fails to push it through, it amounts to a government defeat. Government sources say a voice vote, which can be used to circumvent debate, could be used to pass the bill.
There are very few other key bills slated for the session. One is a mines and minerals bill, which would provide for a 26 percent share of mining profits for people displaced by projects. Another seeks to empower banks to raise more capital.
HOW SERIOUS IS IT?
The length of the deadlock is unprecedented in recent memory. Although the situation does not threaten the stability of the ruling coalition, it is undermining its credibility with voters and tarnishing the image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The ruling coalition of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) still has the numbers for a majority in parliament. But with four major state-level elections coming up in the next few months, the government wants to avoid giving the opposition political ammunition. It feels a wider parliamentary investigation demanded by the opposition would be seen as capitulation.
The opposition senses an opportunity to draw maximum political mileage, driving home its point that the coalition is mired in corruption and misgovernance. Under pressure, Congress has lately sacked several senior figures in a bid to clean up its image.
In another blow to the party, a Congress lawmaker and son of a former chief minister of a key state has resigned amid a row over a TV broadcast by his channel criticising India's most powerful politician, party chief Sonia Gandhi.
The resignation of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who now plans to create his own political party, threatens to wean support away from Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The southern state sends 42 out of 545 MPs to the lower house and a big margin there helped Congress win a second term in 2009.
HOW COULD THIS AFFECT LONGER-TERM REFORMS?
If the next session has to deal with delayed legislation, it means debate of some key reforms will be pushed back.
That could include landmark investor-friendly goods and services tax (GST) legislation -- unifying a fragmented tax system -- as well as direct tax legislation. It is possible that GST will not even be passed until after September 2011.
Reform initiatives such as opening up multi-brand retail -- keenly awaited by foreign investors such as global giant Wal-Mart -- will not be affected as they do not need parliamentary approval but can be implemented through executive decision.
Passing legislation is notoriously slow in India due to red-tape, something of which foreign investors are well aware. Short-term setbacks not likely affect capital inflows.
Government decisions regarding corporate majors such as POSCO and Vedanta over environmental concerns and a recent decision by Karnataka state to ban iron ore exports are taken outside parliament's business remit.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT ON FOREIGN INVESTOR PERCEPTION?
The impasse may make foreign investors jittery and the spate of graft scandals could further undermine investor perceptions. The world's second-fastest growing major economy after China is big enough to keep investor attention, analysts say. But it already ranks 87th on graft watchdog Transparency International's list based on perceived corruption -- behind rival China.
The New York Times, one of the newspapers provided advanced access to the papers, Sunday offered a preview of the revelations from a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates that it intends to detail in the coming days.
The cables show that nearly a decade after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States' relations with the world, said the Times.
'They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.'
'They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon - and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal,' the Times said.
Detailing 'a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel' revealed by Wikileaks, the Times said: 'Since 2007, the United States 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.
In May 2009, (US) Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, 'if the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons,' he argued.'
Dispatches from early this year quote the monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan.
Speaking to another Iraqi official about Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, King Abdullah said, 'You and Iraq are in my heart, but that man is not.'
The king called Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to that country's progress, the Times said citing a cable. 'When the head is rotten,' he said, 'it affects the whole body.'
Another cable cited by the Times said a Chinese contact told the American embassy in Beijing in January that China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country.
The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government, it said.
They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.
The White House was quick to 'condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorised disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.'
It would jeopardise 'our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
'By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals.'
Pakistani foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit condemned the WikiLeaks expose and said Islamabad was in the process of analysing the information contained in the documents.
'It is very clear that we will never compromise on our nuclear capability,' he said.
Basit said the US administration had already informed Pakistan about these documents and their contents.
'However, we are still looking at the information given in these documents,' he told Dunya TV.
According to the documents, since 2007 the US has been engaged in secret efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani nuclear reactor over the fears that the material could be used in an illicit nuclear device.
Basit said Pakistan could never allow any foreign country to intervene in its nuclear programme.
'The context of these documents show very clearly that Pakistani leadership knows very well how to defend its nuclear programme. We have very well guarded our national interests and will keep on doing so in the coming years,' said Basit.
In one such document, Saudi king Abdullah termed Zardari the 'biggest obstacle in the country's progress'. The papers also carried 'reservations of the US about Pakistan's nuclear programme and the war on terror in Afghanistan'.
Fozia Wahab, spokesperson of the ruling Pakistan People's party (PPP), said: 'Similar accusations have always been levelled against our nuclear programme but nothing has been proven. This is useless chatter and I don't consider it worthy of a comment.'
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, when questioned about the explosive contents, said: 'Every other day, there are media reports but ground realities are different. I can't comment on media reports and the foreign office has already given a policy statement on it.'
Khwaja Asif, a parliamentarian of the main opposition party PML-Nawaz, however, had a different take on the entire episode.
'When the rulers are involved in corrupt practices themselves, it becomes very difficult to shield it from public glare,' he said.
Former federal minister Shaikh Rasheed said 'the comments of the Saudi king about President Zardari may be new for the general public but he (Zardari) himself is aware of it'.
'Zardari has made all possible attempts to change this mindset about him but has failed miserably,' he said.
Political expert Hasan Askari Rizvi said the WikiLeaks act 'should be looked at rationally instead of reacting emotionally. These contents reflect the background discussions and thinking of certain officials at some given time, but do not necessarily reflect the policy of the US government'.
Iran says Wikileaks report will not hurt relations
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Iran's relations with neighbours would not be hurt by reports based on information provided by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, some of which appeared to show hostility from Arab countries.
"Regional countries are all friends with each other. Such mischief will have no impact on the relations of countries," he said.
"Some part of the American government produced these documents," he said. "We don't think this information was leaked. We think it was organised to be released on a regular basis and they are pursuing political goals."
Pakistan identifies 20 more Mumbai suspects - report
Pakistani security agencies have identified 20 more people suspected of involvement in the 2008 attack on India's commercial capital Mumbai which killed 166 people, a Pakistani newspaper reported on Monday.
Pakistan has acknowledged that the attack was plotted and partly launched from its soil, and has put on trial seven suspects linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, which was blamed for the attacks.
But India says it is not satisfied with the pace of the Pakistani investigation and has demanded more people be put on trial for the attacks including the founder of the LeT, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
The Express Tribune in its online edition said the counter-terrorism wing of a Pakistani federal agency has identified the 20 suspects, mostly LeT affiliates.
"The new suspects had allegedly provided logistical and monetary support for the Mumbai attack," the newspaper said quoting a "classified report", two years after the attack.
It did not say why the authorities had acted now, and Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment.
The newspaper said the suspects included the alleged captain of two boats used in the attack as well as their 10 crew members, six financers of the LeT and three others.
Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated sharply following the attack, but tension has eased in recent months.
The United States wants relations between the two countries to improve so that Pakistan can focus more closely on fighting Afghan militants who cross its border to attack U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qrueshi said Pakistan needed Indias support to prosecute the Mumbai culprits.
"We want the perpetrators to be punished through legal means, and our interior ministry has sought more information from India," he said.
Nine attackers were killed in gunbattles with Indian security forces during the attack on Mumbai while the tenth, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, sentenced to death by an Indian court.
The prosecution of the seven accused in Pakistan has stalled because officials are demanding that Kasab be allowed to testify in Pakistan, which New Delhi has refused.
The seven suspects on trial included Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a LeT commander, who has been identified as a key person in the Mumbai attack by David Coleman Headley, an American who pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in March to charges that he scouted targets for LeT for the assault.
LeT was nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to fight India in Kashmir in the 1990s.
Pakistan officially banned the group in 2002, but analysts say it is tolerated because it doesn't conduct attacks inside Pakistan.
Govt fines UK firm for supplying defective components to IAF
The Defence Ministry today said it has fined British defence major BAE Systems for supplying defective components for the Hawk AJT aircraft for the IAF. The defective components caused delays in supply of the aircraft by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to IAF, which had to modify its training plan for its young pilots on the Hawk advanced jet trainer, Defence Minister A K Antony told Lok Sabha in reply to a written query. "In view of the delay in delivery of Hawk by HAL due to the receipt of defective components, jigs and fixtures from the foreign manufacturer, on whom liquidated damages have been levied, the original training plan by Hawk AJT for 2010-11 has been modified," he said.
Hawks were inducted into the IAF in 2008 with an aim of replacing Kiran Mk II and MiG 21 aircraft for flying training. "Pilots of IAF are being trained on the MiG 21 aircraft," he said.
In 2004, a contract was signed with the UK for supplying 66 Hawks of which 24 were to be manufactured in Britain and rest were to be license-produced at HAL facilities in the country. Due to the supply of defective items by BAE systems, the delivery schedule of the aircraft has been adversely affected.
BAE Systems supplies the components of the aircraft to the HAL in complete or semi knocked down kits and they are assembled by the Indian aircraft manufacturer at its lines in Bangalore. Recently, India signed an agreement with BAE Systems for procuring another 57 aircraft of which 40 will be for IAF and the rest will go to the Navy.
Answering another query, Antony said the available strength of pilots and personnel below officers ranks was enough to meet the current operational requirements of IAF. "The ab initio cost of training of a fighter pilot in the IAF at 2008-09 rates is Rs 13.70 crore approximately," he said.
India kept out of Afghan meet despite Pakistan admitting it was a mistake
India was kept out of a meeting held in Turkey on Afghanistan to appease Pakistan, though Islamabad opined that excluding India from such regional structures would be a 'mistake', revealed a WikiLeaks expose of a secret cable from the US embassy in Ankara.
At a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns, then Turkey's Deputy Under Secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Rauf Engin Soysal, said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghanistan Neighbours Summit 'in deference to Pakistani sensitivities'.
'He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he claimed, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake,' said the message dated Feb 25, 2010.
The secret US embassy cables were released Sunday in The Guardian.
Zardari met Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at an international conference in Istanbul that kicked off Jan 25 this year. The conference on Afghanistan was regarding talks with Taliban to establish peace in the region.
Soysal, a former Turkish ambassador to Pakistan from January 2007 to July 2009, and his country's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in September as the Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.
'He reported Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had requested (Turkish) President (Abdullah) Gul's assistance with Pakistan during the latter's visit to New Delhi the previous week. Acting on that request, Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was sceptical of Indian intentions. Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year.'
'Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateral summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm,' it said.
Soysal said the Pakistani military was displeased with Zardari, but was unwilling to intervene.
'Nevertheless, senior officers' patience may not be infinite. Zardari needs to increase the democratic legitimacy of parliament. Soysal offered. Nawaz Sharif has become a much more constructive player,' the secret cable said.
WikiLeaks, which claims to provide 'an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists' through its electronic drop box, has won a number of awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine's New Media Award.
Founded by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks with the slogan 'We open governments' WikiLeaks released in July the Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the war in Afghanistan not previously available for public review.
'Alpha-dog' Putin rules Russia's chaos - WikiLeaks
Russia's Vladimir Putin emerges from the biggest ever leak of U.S. diplomatic documents as the "alpha-dog" ruler of a deeply corrupt state dominated by its security forces.
The 58-year-old prime minister is presented by U.S. diplomats as Russia's most powerful politician, holding the keys to everything from energy deals to Moscow's Iran policy.
By contrast, President Dmitry Medvedev "plays Robin to Putin's Batman", is pale and hesitant and has to get his decisions approved by Putin, according to the cables.
But correspondence from the elite of the U.S. diplomatic corps also casts Putin as a leader plagued by an unmanageable bureaucracy and grappling with ruling a "virtual mafia state" dominated by corrupt businessmen and the security forces.
A cable from the U.S. Embassy in Paris said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates observed on Feb. 8, 2010, that "Russian democracy has disappeared and the government was an oligarchy run by the security services".
Gates told his French counterpart that "President Medvedev has a more pragmatic vision for Russia than PM Putin, but there has been little real change", according to the document.
Putin is the dominant member of what Russian officials call a ruling tandem with Medvedev, who Putin tapped as his successor when a constitutional limit of two consecutive terms kept him out of the 2008 presidential race.
But the publication of such frank statements by U.S. diplomats about Russian leaders ahead of the 2012 presidential election are embarrassing for President Barack Obama, who has worked closely with Medvedev to improve U.S.-Russian ties.
Russia "regrets" the release by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on Sunday of more than 250,000 cables between Washington and U.S. embassies around the world, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
"Digging into diplomatic underwear is not a nice business," the source said on condition of anonymity. "We hope there is nothing (in the documents) which could really surprise us."
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said "the Kremlin has found nothing interesting or worth comment" in the cables, and, referring to the Batman and Robin allusion, she said that "fictional Hollywood heroes hardly deserve official comment."
"YOU CAN'T BOIL TWO HEADS"
The documents give a rare glimpse of an arcane world where U.S. diplomats pore over news reports and garner titbits of information on everything from shady businessmen breaking U.N. sanctions on Iran to Kremlin politics.
According to a cable from Feb. 25, 2010, one of Washington's top diplomats, Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns, was told by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that Medvedev is surrounded by people he does not control.
"Many high-ranking officials don't recognize (Medvedev) as a leader," Aliyev was quoted as saying in a cable published by Britain's Guardian newspaper. Aliyev said he had seen Medvedev taking decisions that needed further approval and that some were stymied by others, presumably in the prime ministerial office.
"He said that there are signs of a strong confrontation between the teams of the two men, although not yet between Putin and Medvedev personally," the cable added.
"We have a saying in Azeri, 'Two heads cannot be boiled in one pot'" (street slang suggesting that two leaders are spoiling for a fight)," Aliyev was quoted as saying.
In other cables quoted by the New York Times, diplomats express concern over the relationship between Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who they said "appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin" in Europe.
One particularly colourful cable from Moscow relates a wedding party in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan where Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov dances clumsily with a gold-plated automatic gun stuck down his jeans.
Kadyrov gave the happy couple five kilograms of gold before roaring off into the night with his bodyguard. "Ramzan never spends the night anywhere," the U.S. diplomat is told.
WikiLeaks bares world leaders' personal details
According to the Washington Post, a memo describes Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi having an intense dislike of staying above the first floor of hotels. The cables say that Gaddafi's fear of flying creates logistical headaches for his staff, who make great attempts to avoid long flights over water.
And Gaddafi is reportedly obsessively dependent on travelling with a Ukrainian nurse described as a 'voluptuous blonde' because she alone 'knows his routine'.
The details on Gaddafi were included in a State Department cable in September 2009 during the leader's visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
In the cable, Gene A. Cretz, US ambassador to Tripoli, says: 'While it is tempting to dismiss his many eccentricities as signs of instability, Qadhafi is a complicated individual who has managed to stay in power for forty years through a skillful balancing of interests and realpolitik methods.'
This is one of the hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables made available online and select media outlets in the US and Europe by the website. Quotes from the more than 250,000 cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website were also circulating on the Twitter.
Frank and often private descriptions of world leaders include US diplomats quoting sources to describe North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a 'flabby old chap' and someone who had suffered 'physical and psychological trauma' as a result of his stroke.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy, in the view of US diplomats in Paris, has a 'thin-skinned and authoritarian personal style' because of his tendency to rebuke his team and the French prime minister.
An official at the US Embassy in Moscow wrote in 2008 about the relationship between Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Medvedev 'plays Robin to Putin's Batman'.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is 'feckless, vain and ineffective as a modern European leader', according to a US official in Rome. Another cable remarked on Berlusconi's 'frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard'.
American diplomats in Rome reported in 2009 on what their Italian contacts described as an extraordinarily close relationship between Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian prime minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and business magnate, including 'lavish gifts', lucrative energy contracts and a 'shadowy' Russian-speaking Italian go-between, said the New York Times, one of the media organisations that had access to the leaked cables.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is described in one cable from Kabul as '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'.
In 2007 Christopher W. Dell, the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe, calls Robert Mugabe, the authoritarian ruler of the African country, 'a brilliant tactician' but mocked 'his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics)'.
The US government has termed the unauthorised release of classified documents 'reckless' and 'dangerous'.
27 Nov, 2010, 10.31PM IST,REUTERS
Seven big corruption scandals that rocked India
India has been rocked this year by a series of corruption scandals that have embarrassed the ruling Congress party, rattled markets and delayed reform bills as the opposition stalls parliament.
The country, 87th in Transparency International's rankings based on perceived levels of corruption, is no stranger to scandals.
Here are some of the biggest in the last two decades:
2010 -- LOAN BRIBERY CASE
The case broke after a year of investigation on Nov. 24 when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested eight people, accusing them of bribery for corporate loans.
The arrests included the chief executive of state-run mortgage lender LIC Housing Finance and senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India , Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.
While the size of the scandal is not yet known, local media have reported it could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
The CBI is probing 21 companies involved in India's booming infrastructure sector for links, but has not named them.
The bribes were allegedly paid by private finance firm Money Matters Financial Services , which acted as a "mediator and facilitator" for the loan beneficiaries, the CBI said.
Companies whose officials have been arrested have all denied any wrongdoing. Individuals arrested have not yet commented.
Government officials, including ministers, have said this is a case of individual wrongdoing and not a widespread scam.
2010 - TELECOMS LICENCE ROW
Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja was sacked after a report by the govt auditor said his ministry sold licences and spectrum below market prices, depriving the government of up to $39 billion in revenues.
The scandal swept up as high as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had to explain to the Supreme Court why he sat on a request for permission to charge Raja with corruption.
29 Nov, 2010, 06.03AM IST, Ambika Pandit,TNN
UID gives identity, bank account to 27 homeless
NEW DELHI: Khaiver Hussain can now think of saving some money without the fear that it might get stolen while he's asleep at night. The brand new unique identification card issued by the government of India has empowered Khaiver not only by giving him an identity that he always longed for, but also by allowing him to open a bank account for the first time.
Khaiver is undergoing deaddiction treatment and does odd jobs at construction sites. He is one of the 27 homeless persons who got their accounts opened with Corporation Bank . Another 50 homeless persons will join the league next week.
''All of us can now save for any eventuality,'' Khavier told Times City on Saturday evening as he settled after a day's work at the night shelter in Nizamuddin.
Ansari Rajjab, another homeless who works as a daily wage labourer, flashes his laminated UID card and passbook . He proudly declared that he had already deposited some savings. The new set of documents have given back Rajjab an identity he lost three years back when he left his home in Mumbai. He lost all his ID proofs in Delhi and had since been living on the streets and in shelters for the homeless.
On Saturday, Tufail Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh also made his way into the world of banking. "This passbook and the UID card have given people like me a new identity. It has empowered us," said Ahmed. Ahmed earlier lived at the Nizamuddin night shelter but has now taken up a single room with four others in Sarai Kale Khan. All of them are daily wage labourers.
Nitesh Kumar, project coordinator, Homeless Citizen's Resource Centre (south Delhi), said 50 more homeless persons will be issued passbooks early next week.
Dr Amod Kumar from the state-appointed mother NGO on homeless said that all those who are registered under the ongoing survey on homeless are being gradually issued provisional ID cards. A unique number is issued to each of the sites where the homeless are found to be residing. This will be considered as their address. In the 'contact details' section of the ID card the address of the Homeless Resource Centre in-charge of the area will be mentioned. There are five homeless resource centres in the city.
All those who are being put through the process for issuance of provisional ID cards under the state's Mission Convergence programme are simultaneously enrolled for UID. ''Now that the UID cards have started coming in the exercise of creating an identity for a homeless person has come full circle,'' Kumar said.
The provisional ID and the subsequent issuance of UID by the Union government will allow the homeless to seek old age pensions and other benefits for which identity proofs are essential.
The Union government had constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India led by Nandan Nilekani in January, 2009 with an aim to issue Unique ID numbers to the residents of India. As a follow-up, the Delhi government signed an MoU with UIDAI to issue unique ID numbers to residents of the capital.
27 Nov, 2010, 10.19AM IST, Shobhaa De,TNN
Billion-dollar Ambani home opens doors, and how
The gods had their Valhalla. And there is the mythical Xanadu. But how many mortals live in a 27-storey abode called 'Antilia' (the world's priciest abode)? The answer is, just five! ''This is not a home, it's a statement!'' gasped an invitee (one of just 80 guests), standing on a windy terrace garden in the world's most expensive private residence. There was shock and awe in his voice.
''Some cities are known for spectacular airports, Mumbai will be known for this landmark Ambani house , which is bound to become iconic,'' he continued.
Antilia, Mukesh Ambani's private residence, is already one of the most controversial buildings in the world, for reasons that go beyond its unconventional architecture.
Mukesh and Nita Ambani played hosts to an interesting mix of people at their lavish house-warming party put together at short notice on November 25, in order to pre-empt an anticipated paparazzi attack on Altamount Road on November 28, where Antilia is located.
Smart move. After months of speculation and even published reports last month of the 'party that never happened', guests at this super exclusive dinner were requested not to reveal the date for the official unveiling of this most opulently appointed residence.
Rising dramatically, 300 metres above sea level, and built at a staggering cost of over a billion dollars, Antilia (the name is likely to be changed to 'Anandam') can be described as the Taj Mahal of the 21st century. Cantilevered and colossal, it easily dominates the skyline of the city. From the exquisite Krishna temple on the ground floor to Mukesh's personal library on the top floor, it is a staggering feat.
As Shekhar Kapur, one of the few Bollywood invitees (the others being Preity Zinta, Aamir Khan , Karan Johar , Karishma Kapoor and Vidhu Vinod Chopra) commented from the roof (no, there isn't going to be a helipad here, the new plan is to transform it into a lush terrace garden), ''It's great to breathe fresh air at this height and leave Mumbai's pollution down below.''
A telling remark that can be read on many levels! From that impressive height and with those panoramic vistas, Mukesh and Nita are clearly the undisputed masters of all they survey east, west, north, south.
But as the proud owners of this coveted property pointed out, this is their one and only residence, and unlike some other industrialists (nameless, of course!), the Ambanis insist they do not have villas tucked away in exotic destinations across the world.
Point taken by Corporate India and critics! Representing the big biz segment, Deepak Parekh , Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anand Mahindra and Gautam Singhania were seen walking around on the mother of pearl floors and taking in the marble Mughal style canopies in the middle of lotus pools, as the dulcet strains of Rahul Sharma's santoor wafted across the lawns.
''Welcome to India. Welcome to our home,'' said Nita to internationally renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor and Yves Carcelle of the luxury brand LVMH.
Antilia, the luxe 27-storey home of India's richest person Mukesh Ambani
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U.S. Expands Role of Diplomats in Spying
Published: November 28, 2010
WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, work schedules and other personal information of foreign dignitaries.
State's Secrets
Day 1
Articles in this series will examine American diplomatic cables as a window on relations with the rest of the world in an age of war and terrorism.
Other Articles in the Series »
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Revealed in classified State Department cables, the directives, going back to 2008, appear to blur the traditional boundaries between statesmen and spies.
The cables give a laundry list of instructions for how State Department employees can fulfill the demands of a "National Humint Collection Directive." ("Humint" is spy-world jargon for human intelligence collection.) One cable asks officers overseas to gather information about "office and organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cellphones, pagers and faxes," as well as "internet and intranet 'handles', internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent-flier account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information."
Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, on Sunday disputed that American diplomats had assumed a new role overseas.
"Our diplomats are just that, diplomats," he said. "They represent our country around the world and engage openly and transparently with representatives of foreign governments and civil society. Through this process, they collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years."
The cables, sent to embassies in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the United States mission to the United Nations, provide no evidence that American diplomats are actively trying to steal the secrets of foreign countries, work that is traditionally the preserve of spy agencies. While the State Department has long provided information about foreign officials' duties to the Central Intelligence Agency to help build biographical profiles, the more intrusive personal information diplomats are now being asked to gather could be used by the National Security Agency for data mining and surveillance operations. A frequent-flier number, for example, could be used to track the travel plans of foreign officials.
Several of the cables also asked diplomats for details about the telecommunications networks supporting foreign militaries and intelligence agencies.
The United States regularly puts undercover intelligence officers in countries posing as diplomats, but a vast majority of diplomats are not spies. Several retired ambassadors, told about the information-gathering assignments disclosed in the cables, expressed concern that State Department employees abroad could routinely come under suspicion of spying and find it difficult to do their work or even risk expulsion.
Ronald E. Neumann, a former American ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain, said that Washington was constantly sending requests for voluminous information about foreign countries. But he said he was puzzled about why Foreign Service officers — who are not trained in clandestine collection methods — would be asked to gather information like credit card numbers.
"My concerns would be, first of all, whether the person could do this responsibly without getting us into trouble," he said. "And, secondly, how much effort a person put into this at the expense of his or her regular duties."
The requests have come at a time when the nation's spy agencies are struggling to meet the demands of two wars and a global hunt for militants. The Pentagon has also sharply expanded its intelligence work outside of war zones, sending Special Operations troops to embassies to gather information about militant networks.
Unlike the thousands of cables, originally obtained by WikiLeaks, that were sent from embassies to the State Department, the roughly half-dozen cables from 2008 and 2009 detailing the more aggressive intelligence collection were sent from Washington and signed by Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
One of the cables, signed by Mrs. Clinton, lists information-gathering priorities to the American staff at the United Nations in New York, including "biographic and biometric information on ranking North Korean diplomats."
While several treaties prohibit spying at the United Nations, it is an open secret that countries try nevertheless. In one 2004 episode, a British official revealed that the United States and Britain eavesdropped on Secretary General Kofi Annan in the weeks before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The requests for more personal data about foreign officials were included in several cables requesting all manner of information from posts overseas, information that would seem to be the typical business of diplomats.
State Department officials in Asunción, Paraguay, were asked in March 2008 about the presence of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas in the lawless "Tri-Border" area of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Diplomats in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo were asked in April 2009 about crop yields, H.I.V. rates and China's quest for copper, cobalt and oil in Africa.
In a cable sent to the American Embassy in Bulgaria in June 2009, the State Department requested information about Bulgaria's efforts to crack down on money laundering and drug trafficking and for "details about personal relations between Bulgarian leaders and Russian officials or businessmen."
And a cable sent on Oct. 31, 2008, to the embassies in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and elsewhere asked for information on "Palestinian issues," including "Palestinian plans, intentions and efforts to influence US positions on the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations." To get both sides, officials also sought information on "Israeli leadership intentions and strategy toward managing the US relationship."
Andrew W. Lehren contributed reporting from New York.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 29, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition.
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C Hindustan Times - 3 hours ago
PTI In a potentially damaging disclosure, the whistle-blower website released a "secret" cable issued by Clinton on July 31, 2009, as part of its massive leak of a quarter million classified documents of the American government. ...
New York Times - Mark Mazzetti, Andrew W. Lehren - 20 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, ...
The Guardian - Nov 28, 2010
Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon and the permanent security council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK. ...
indiablooms - Divyanshu Dutta Roy - 1 hour ago
Washington, Nov 29 (IBNS): Even though far less damning than the disclosed revelations concerning American diplomacy with other nations, the leaked cables from WikiLeaks say US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had once practically ordered spying on ...
The Australian - 4 hours ago
A secret order signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton directed American diplomats to act as spies around the world against friends and enemies alike. In the memo, US diplomats were instructed to gather personal details about UN ...
Sydney Morning Herald - Simon Mann - 4 hours ago
Hundreds of thousands of leaked State Department documents reveal candid comments from world leaders and US pressure tactics overseas. WASHINGTON: The revelations were as wide-ranging as they were potentially damaging: from Hillary Clinton ordering ...
CNN - Kevin Conlon - 9 hours ago
(CNN) -- A 2009 cable sent from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to American UN missions and embassies around the world ostensibly directed American diplomats to engage in intelligence-gathering. The 8358 word National Humint ...
NDTV.com - 4 hours ago
New Delhi: In a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton refers to India as "a self-appointed frontrunner for a permanent UN security council seat." In a telegram sent on July 31 last year to 33 US embassies, Clinton highlights the ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Toby Harnden - 21 hours ago
American diplomats have been running a spying campaign against the United Nations leadership and representatives of permanent members of its security council, including Britain, according to documents released by WikiLeaks. ...
AFP - Lachlan Carmichael - 14 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The United States has ordered its diplomats to play a larger intelligence role by performing espionage work like obtaining the credit card and frequent flyer numbers of foreign dignitaries, according to leaked US documents published Sunday ...
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hina finances restoration of historic CCShiva temple in Cambodia
zzzindus have applauded China for reportedly financing the restoration of deteriorating Ta Keo Hindu temple in Cambodia's UNESCO World Heritage Site Angkor temple complex, which began on November 27.
Restoration will take about six million dollars and eight years to complete. People's Republic of China also assisted in the restoration (2000-2008) of 12th century Hindu temple in Angkor named Chausay Tevada, costing about two million dollars, reports suggest.
Said to be built entirely of sandstones by kings Jayavarman V and Suryavarman I in late 10-early 11th century, Ta Keo (Preah Keo) is a pyramid of five levels. Fragments of pedestals and lingas are found in/around its towers. Its primary deity is said to be Shiva. At the foot of the eastern stairways, there is a statue of kneeling Nandi, which indicates that Ta Keo was a Shaivite temple.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that more needed to be done to safeguard the Angkor temple complex and its surroundings and deteriorating bas-reliefs; save it from vandalism and looting; put some controls on unchecked tourism; check the demand for water table which could undermine the stability of sandy soils under the temples.
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged UNESCO World Heritage Convention and Cambodia government to provide more funding for the upkeep of the temple complex and spend more than half the ticket revenue on the temples. He commended China for bankrolling the restoration of historic Hindu temples.
Angkor Archaeological Park contains magnificent remains of over 1000 temples going back to ninth century, spread over about 400 square kilometers, and receives about three million visitors annually. (ANI)
29/11/2010
New York Times - 1 hour ago
The New York Times is publishing State's Secrets, a series of articles about a trove of more than 250000 American diplomatic cables that were originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to exposing official secrets. ...
Ha'aretz - 1 hour ago
White House orders restricts access to classified documents; US Attorney General says probe into the source behind leak of thousands of secret cables ongoing. The White House made its first reported policy change in wake of Sunday's massive WikiLeaks ...
Voice of America - Kate Woodsome - 2 hours ago
Photo: AP A news stand displaying newspapers, some carrying the story on WikiLeaks' release of classified US State Department documents, at a newsagent in central London, Nov. 29, 2010. Newspapers around the world are plastered in headlines Monday ...
| "The release of this information could prejudice the safety of people referred to in the documentation and indeed could be damaging to the national security interests of the United States and its allies including Australia," McClelland said. "So, obviously, Australia will support any law enforcement action that may be taken."
more by Robert McClelland - 2 hours ago - Voice of America (2 occurrences) |
|
Wall Street Journal - Jeanne Whalen - 40 minutes ago
LONDON—WikiLeaks' publication of secret US diplomatic cables will continue into the new year, with new batches coming in the next few days, a spokesman for the document-leaking website said Monday. The website on Sunday released 220 ...
BBC News - 22 minutes ago
The White House has ordered government agencies to tighten their handling of classified documents after the latest Wikileaks release. The whistle-blower website has released more than 250000 US diplomatic cables. They offer candid views of foreign ...
BBC News - 5 hours ago
Among the 250000 confidential cables obtained by the website Wikileaks are frank comments by American diplomats on a number of allies. BBC correspondents around the world look at the documents and the impact they might have in some of those countries. ...
Reuters India - Ross Colvin - 1 hour ago
A combination photo shows world leaders mentioned in cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on November 28, 2010. The White House has directed government agencies to tighten procedures for handling classified information after the mass ...
Times of India - Chidanand Rajghatta - 4 hours ago
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BBC News - 4 hours ago
The latest batch of documents to be released by Wikileaks is made up of diplomatic messages sent from US embassies around the world. The whistle-blowing website says it has obtained more than 250000 cables passed between the US State Department and ...
AFP - 3 hours ago
LONDON — Britain will continue to work closely with the United States despite the expected release by WikiLeaks of unflattering US memos about David Cameron, the prime minister's spokesman said on Monday. Cameron's spokesman condemned the leaking of ...
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VideosCables: Putin 'Alpha Dog', Sarkozy 'Naked Emperor', Ahmadinejad 'Hitler'
RT - 2 hours ago Watch video
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WikiLeaks reveal sensitive US cables
NewsX - 8 hours ago Watch video
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Wikileaks set to release top US secrets
NewsX - Nov 28, 2010 Watch video
<div class="video-thumb thumbnail"><a class="js-link thumbnail-toggle" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return false;"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HAfPn1Bmd5o/default.jpg" alt="" class="thumbnail" width="120" height="90"> <div class="icon play-icon"></div></a></div> <div class="video-details"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfPn1Bmd5o">Wikileaks set to release top US secrets</a> <span class="source">NewsX</span> - Nov 28, 2010 <div class="icon video-icon"></div> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfPn1Bmd5o">Watch video</a></div>
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2G: Govt orders probe into Radia tapes' leakage
New Delhi: The government on Monday ordered a probe into the leaks of recorded tapes of conversations between corporate lobbyist Nira Radia, her clients and certain journalists among others.
The order to initiate a probe into the matter comes on a day when Tata group chief Ratan Tata approached the Supreme Court seeking action against those involved in the leakage of tapes containing his conversation with Radia.
Home Ministry sources said the probe would be conducted by the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and will focus on finding out who leaked it and how.
Incidentally, the CBDT had conducted the phone tappings over a period of time for which the sanction was given by the Home Ministry.
The secret tapes had come into the public domain recently after certain media groups published transcripts of the same.
As per the CBI, which is probing the alleged 2G spectrum scam, it was examining transcripts relating to 5,000 calls. Nearly 104 tapping records are out in the market, sources said.
Tata, in the petition today, has contended that the leakage of the tapes have infringed upon his fundamental Right to Life, which includes right to privacy.
Tata has made the central government a party in his petition.
Some of the conversation between Tata and Radia, whose public relations firms were engaged by the group, relate to personal details that could no way be part of investigation, Tata is expected to argue in the petition.
Tata has sought a direction for fixing the responsibility for the alleged leakage of the tapes.
Tata has made the Union Home Secretary, CBI, Income Tax Department, Department of Telecommunication and Department of Information Technology as respondents in the petition.
Source: Agencies
29/11/2010
Wikileaks: Hillary called India self-appointed frontrunner for permanent UNSC seat
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described India as a "self-appointed front-runner" for a permanent UNSC seat and directed US envoys to seek minute details about Indian diplomats stationed at the United Nations headquarters, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks on Monday.
In a potentially damaging disclosure, the whistle-blower website released a "secret" cable issued by Clinton on July 31, 2009, as part of its massive leak of a quarter million classified documents of the American government.
The cable posted by 'The New York Times' gave directions to US diplomats to collect information on key issues like reform of the UN Security Council and Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and pass it on to the intelligence agencies, including on foreign associates' credit card and frequent-flier numbers that could be used to track a person's movements.
It asked US diplomats to ascertain deliberations regarding the UNSC expansion among key groups of countries like "self-appointed front-runners" for permanent UNSC seats -- India, Brazil, Germany and Japan (Group of Four or G-4); Uniting for Consensus group -- especially Mexico, Italy and Pakistan -- that opposes additional permanent UNSC seats; African Group; and European Union, as well as key UN officials within the Secretariat and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Presidency.
It also sought biographical and biometric information on key NAM/G-77/OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) permanent representatives, particularly China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Senegal and Syria; and information on their relationships with their capitals.
The cable also wanted to know about members' plans for plenary meetings of the Nuclear Suppliers Group; views on the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative; besides members' views on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); prospects for country ratifications and entry into force.
'The New York Times' said the leaked cable gave a laundry list of instructions for how State Department employees can fulfill the demands of a "National Humint Collection Directive" in specific countries. Humint is the spy-world jargon for human intelligence collection.
One cable asks officers overseas to gather information about "office and organisational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cellphones, pagers and faxes," as well as "internet and intranet handles, internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent-flier account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information," it said.
Among the secret US documents released by WikiLeaks, a total of 3,038 classified cables are from the American embassy in New Delhi, the details of which were not immediately available, mainly because of the inaccessibility to the website that was experiencing heavy traffic.
A breakdown indicates that as many as 2,278 cables are from the US mission in Kathmandu, 3,325 from Colombo and 2,220 from Islamabad.
These cables are often candid and some time personal assessment of the day to day events, functioning and meetings of US diplomats.
The documents are being published by several media outlets across the globe, despite repeated insistence from the US that it may put at risk many lives and harm American ties with its friends.
The 251,287 cables, first acquired by WikiLeaks, were provided to 'The New York Times' by an intermediary on the condition of anonymity, the daily said.
Many are unclassified, and none are marked "top secret," the government's most secure communications status.
But some 11,000 are classified "secret," 9,000 are labelled "noforn," shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and noforn.
Ahead of the leak of the documents, the State Department had reached out to India warning it about the impending release.
"We have reached out to India to warn them about a possible release of documents," State Department Spokesman P J Crowley had said.
The US has termed the leak as illegal and said that this would affect its relationship with its friends and allies.
"These cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
Source: Agencies
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