•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

WikiLeaks has unleashed a torrent of more than a quarter million confidential United States cables detailing a wide array of potentially explosive diplomatic episodes, the New York Times and other international media said on Sunday.

The newspaper reported details of a tense standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel, plans to reunite the Korean peninsula after the North’s eventual collapse, bazaar-like bargaining over the repatriation of Guantanamo Bay detainees and a Chinese government bid to hack into Google.

The cables detail fresh suspicions about Afghan corruption, Saudi donors financing Al-Qaeda, and the US failure to prevent Syria from providing a massive stockpile of weapons to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon since 2006.

The documents also claim that Chinese government operatives have waged a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage targeting the United States and its allies and that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes any military strike on Iran would only delay its pursuit of a nuclear weapon by one to three years.

Another cable alleged that the Saudi king had urged US to attack Iran.

According to The Guardian newspaper, the cables show that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN’s leadership.

Other claims by The Guardian are:

Grave fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program

Alleged links between the Russian government and organized crime

 Devastating criticism of the UK’s military operations in Afghanistan

Claims of inappropriate behavior by a member of the British royal family

“The material includes a reference to Vladimir Putin as an “alpha-dog”, Hamid Karzai as being “driven by paranoia” and Angela Merkel allegedly “avoids risk and is rarely creative”. There is also a comparison between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler,” the British newspaper reported.

“The cables name countries involved in financing terror groups, and describe a near “environmental disaster” last year over a rogue shipment of enriched uranium. They disclose technical details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva, and include a profile of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who they say is accompanied everywhere by a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse.”

The BBC reported other cables from "Cablegate," including:

Iran attempting to adapt North Korean rockets for use as long-range missiles

Corruption within the Afghan government, with concerns heightened when a senior official was found to be carrying more than $50m in cash on a foreign trip

Bargaining to empty the Guantanamo Bay prison camp - including Slovenian diplomats being told to take in a freed prisoner if they wanted to secure a meeting with President Barack Obama

US officials being instructed to spy on the UN's leadership

The very close relationship between Russian PM Vladimir Putin and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi

Criticism of UK politicians including Prime Minister David Cameron

Faltering US attempts to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Guardian said more than 3,000 of the cables were from Indonesia.

The whistle-blower Web site’s chief Julian Assange said earlier on Sunday that the release of the US documents by the whistle-blower Web site would cover “every major issue,” as governments braced for damaging revelations.

“Over this last month much of my energy and activities have been spent preparing for the upcoming release of a diplomatic history of the United States,” Assange said.

“Over 250,000 classified cables from US embassies all around the world, and we can see already in the past week or so that the United States has made movements to try to disarm the effect that this could have.”

The White House immediately slammed the release as a “reckless and dangerous action” that puts lives at risk around the world.

“To be clear — such disclosures put at risk 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 press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

US officials in recent days have raced to contain the fall-out by warning more than a dozen countries, including key allies Australia, Britain, Canada, Israel and Turkey.

Late on Saturday Washington ruled out negotiating with WikiLeaks, saying it possessed the cables in violation of US law.

In a letter to Assange and his lawyer that was released to the media, the US State Department also said the planned leak would endanger the lives of “countless innocent individuals.”

“We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained US government classified materials,” State Department legal adviser Harold Koh wrote.

US officials said this was in response to a letter Assange had sent to the State Department on Friday in which he had tried to address concerns that the planned release placed individuals at risk.

“As far as we are aware, and as far as anyone has ever alleged in any credible manner whatsoever, no single individual has ever come to harm as a result of anything that we have ever published,” Assange said on Sunday.

The State Department said in its letter to Assange that WikiLeaks would also “place at risk on-going military operations” as well as “traffickers in human beings and illicit arms, violent criminal enterprises and other actors that threaten global security.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Sunday that his government had not been warned by the Americans about any specific sensitive materials.

British officials said some information might be subject to voluntary agreements between the government and the media to withhold sensitive data governing military operations and the intelligence services.

The Sunday Times of London quoted one government official as warning that British citizens in Muslim countries could be targeted in a violent backlash over any perceived “anti-Islamic” views expressed.

Russia’s respected Kommersant newspaper has said the documents included US diplomats’ conversations with Russian politicians and “unflattering” assessments of some of them.

Turkish media said they included papers suggesting that Ankara helped Al-Qaeda in Iraq and that Washington helped Iraq-based Kurdish rebels fighting against Turkey.

US officials have not confirmed the source of the leaks, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a former army intelligence agent arrested after the release of a video showing air strikes that killed civilian reporters in Iraq.

WikiLeaks argues that the first two document dumps -- nearly 500,000 US military incident reports from 2004 to 2009 -- shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sweden recently issued an international warrant for Assange’s arrest, saying he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual molestation.


Agencies