The fuller impact of the surfacing of the US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks is unfolding. Don't be thrown off the real story by the personal storylines touted by the establishment media. The dynamics of this WikiLeaks project are very interesting and profound. The unraveling threads give little clue as to the timing but the direction is clear: The Emperor Has No Clothes.
Over the fold I'll excerpt and link to some of the recent discoveries and reactions.
Headline: The US and China Joined Forces Against Europe
Last year's climate summit in Copenhagen was a political disaster. Leaked US diplomatic cables now show why the summit failed so spectacularly. The dispatches reveal that the US and China, the world's top two polluters, joined forces to stymie every attempt by European nations to reach agreement.
..snip...
Confidential US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks now show just how closely the world's biggest polluters -- the United States and China -- colluded in the months leading up to the conference. And they give weight to those who have long suspected that the two countries secretly formed an alliance.
So the details of this in the Spiegal Online link are revealing but nothing compared to the final paragraphs. It seems that the US government pursued a PR offensive. Jonathan Pershing, a US climate negotiator, proposed giving aid to poorer countries to accept the watered down "Copenhagen Accords".
For example, Pershing more-or-less forced an ambassador from the Maldives to take millions of dollars in assistance. He said the ambassador should simply state exactly how much his Indian Ocean archipelago needed. This, Pershing claimed, would increase "the likelihood" that Congress would quickly approve the funds. "Other nations would then come to realize that there are advantages to be gained by compliance," a US memo noted. To help convey the message to developing nations, the Maldivian ambassador suggested President Obama come to the islands to give a speech on the issue. After all, the ambassador reasoned, the Maldives would form "a dramatic backdrop" against which to talk about environmental challenges.
My bold and emphasis above and below.
Headline: Secret Deal Let Americans Sidestep Cluster Bomb Ban
From the Guardian in England comes the delightful story of how certain rogue elements in the British Secret State apparatus found a way to give good ole Uncle Sam a little help in keeping his war toys hidden.
According to leaked US embassy dispatches, David Miliband, who was Britain's foreign secretary under Labour, approved the use of a loophole to maneuver around the ban and allow the US to keep the munitions on British territory.
You see, we believe these cluster bombs are a needed component in our military arsenal. Not everyone or most governments see eye to eye with us on that. So when Norway started the movement to ban them, we were pissed. "impractical and unconstructive" we bellowed. Not to worry said Mariot Leslie, then director general of defence and intelligence in the Foreign Office, 'the British were only taking part as a "tactical manoeuvre" and cluster bombs were "essential to its arsenal".'
But two weeks later Brown defied military opposition and went ahead in banning British cluster munitions.
...snip...
There is no suggestion that Kinnock or Bryant were aware of a plan to mislead parliament.
Headline: WikiLeaks Cables Had A Huge Impact In Spain, Says El Pais Editor-In-Chief
'It's probably the biggest story this newspaper has ever been involved with,' says Javier Moreno, El Pais editor-in-chief.
...snip...
The impact within Spain and in Latin America has been huge. This has been especially so in Spain, because of our four-part series on the national court, looking at some high-profile cases in which the US embassy in Madrid has tried to influence judges, the government, and prosecutors in cases involving US citizens. One involved a detainee in Guantánamo, another covered secret rendition flights in Spain, and another was about the murder of a Spanish journalist by US fire in Baghdad.
...snip....
In Latin America, the reaction has been massive too. So far we have published stories about Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela – and we have been inundated with calls from those countries. Some foreign ministers have called me to express how worried they were about the revelations. The biggest problem for the government will come in the reaction from Venezuela over our latest revelations – Spanish officials will have a lot of explaining to do!
File this next one under 'Well, duh!'
Headline: WikiLeaks Cables Condemn Russia As 'Mafia State'
Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a "virtual mafia state", according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower.
Arms trafficking, money laundering, personal enrichment, protection for gangsters, extortion and kickbacks, suitcases full of money and secret offshore bank accounts in Cyprus: the cables paint a bleak picture of a political system in which bribery alone totals an estimated $300bn a year, and in which it is often hard to distinguish between the activities of the government and organised crime.
...snip...(for example)
• Law enforcement agencies such as the police, spy agencies and the prosecutor's office operate a de facto protection racket for criminal networks.
• Rampant bribery acts like a parallel tax system for the personal enrichment of police, officials and the KGB's successor, the federal security service (FSB).
Headline: After 12 Days of WikiLeaks Cables, The World Looks On US With New Eyes
From Brazil:
President Lula says he is to register his protest at Assange's arrest on his blog. "This chap was only publishing something he read," he said. "And if he read it, it is because somebody wrote it. The guilty one is not the publisher, it is the person who wrote [these things]. Blame the person who wrote this nonsense because there would be no scandal if they hadn't."