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Lean WikiLeaks earn belly laughs
By Lennox Grant
Story Created: Dec 4, 2010 at 11:49 PM ECT
Story Updated: Dec 4, 2010 at 11:49 PM ECT
Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, first up at the podium for the April 2009 Fifth Summit of the Americas, appeared as, among other things, the poster girl for woman power, in a Port of Spain where, in just over one year, that was destined to become reality.
Just behind her, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, translator's earphone on sideburn, awaited his turn to offer sympathy and Trini soul-food remedies for an affliction he thought Bolivian President Evo Morales to be suffering. Addressing that polyglot assembly, Mr Manning prescribed for Sr Morales the untranslatable soca-chutney combination of "a corn soup and a doubles".
As Trinidad and Tobago cringed in embarrassment, it's unlikely any Bolivian aides ventured into the security-zone wasteland beyond the Hyatt, in search of doubles and corn soup. In any event, the Bolivian president was well enough shortly to be pictured kicking ball in Barataria with some boisterous local Rastas.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, another woman, who also attended the Waterfront Summit, was projecting long-range power to derive precise information about President Cristina. As the world now knows, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton cabled this query to the US embassy in Buenos Aires: "How is Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner managing her nerves and anxiety?"
At Foggy Bottom, the US State Department's Washington headquarters, officials want clarity in their information sets about foreign leaders. Ms Clinton tasked her note takers in Buenos Aires also to find out how President Cristina deals with stress, and even what her late husband had been taking for his gastrointestinal illness.
That answers to such questions were wanted in Washington illustrates the today conflict between the polar conditions of Need To Know and Too Much Information. A crisis point arrived last week with the guerrilla release by WikiLeaks of more than 250,000 cables that had moved between Foggy Bottom and US missions around the world.
Here, for examination and enjoyment was the stuff, raw and untreated, of private conversations among US officials. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was reported to have called President Cristina and other world leaders to "express regret".
Into the daunting pile of speculations, assessments, and hard-fact reporting filed by US diplomats, under supposedly secret cover, the world's elite press plunged with zeal and hope. WikiLeaks had promoted its treasure trove as a source of "an unprecedented insight into the US government's foreign activities".
As one US paper noted, "cables on North Korea…obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organisations, are long on guesses and short on facts, even when containing the thoughts of diplomats from China, the North's ally."
Still, reporters nosed out some red-meat stories (mercenary militaries Blackwater bid for a US government's privateer's contract to take out Gulf of Aden pirates). Other stories, however, embellished and reaffirmed the already known, such as drug corruption among high Afghan officials.
Little smoking-gun evidence has been unearthed on which to peg hot stories of official criminality around the world. The revelations so far are yet to reach the level of explosiveness of the 1971 secret Pentagon papers whose contents, when disclosed, blew apart for all time any pretence to moral purpose behind the Vietnam war.
The cables concerning Latin America have so far failed to excite independent specialists such as those on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington. One director of the Council failed to see "major damage" incurred to US diplomacy in the region.
"This is low -grade stuff," he said. "It's nothing that's going to start World War III. It's going to ignite a lot of belly laughs."
Google and other searches will continue to find out, say, what US envoys in Port of Spain really thought about the Patrick Manning administration, and its Foreign Minister Paula Gopee Scoon's groupie's gropings of Barack Obama at Piarco.
But public-diplomacy utterances by US envoys have given away their private thinking. A year and a half ago, the State Department's Inspector General scathingly reviewed T&T law enforcement readiness.
In remarks with sharp relevance today, the report said: "If Trinidad's parliament enacted a wiretapping law and a law regularising the status of an elite anti-crime unit, among others, government officials charged with counternarcotics responsibilities would be better able to make real progress."
A low opinion of T&T law enforcement people, having been transmitted to Washington by US diplomats, was also released for local consumption here. "Trinidadian officials involved with the counternarcotics programs respond late and languidly to embassy requests for reports on interdiction activities supported by the mission."
For the mass release of "secret" messages, WikiLeaks founder, Australian-born Julian Assange has attained notoriety corresponding to that of sex-busted Tiger Woods. Mr Assange is now even wanted by Swedish authorities for sex offences, and a US Senator has called for WikiLeaks to be officially designated a terrorist organisation.
If the USA can't keep its secret communications secret, who in the world can? Well, the Chinese. Assuredly, Beijing's mission in Port of Spain will not involuntarily become the source of urgently sought information about the Shanghai Construction Group's dealings with Patrick Manning and with Rev Juliana Pena, connected with the Heights of Guanapo Church project.
RASC wrote:White CZ4A wrote:what kind of impact do you guys think this will have on the economy next year? Local and Foreign
I would say. To sum it up in one word... "DIVERSIFIED". The U.S. is losing it's grip year by year, and the local market will seek other emerging markets more and more to do trade with and for investment purposes. As if the lack of capital and credit wasn't bad enough, now you have their biggest asset-military-being attacked(by a seemingly unstoppable force) ...it's only a matter of time before they go the way of the British empire of the 19th century.
We're witnessing the sunset era of an empire and if local firms-as well as gov't doesn't start looking to other international markets Brasil, Russia, India and China SERIOUSLY, we may be missing out on ideal opportunities for growth.Not sure if that answers the entire question, but I'm sure it attacks the question partially.
As Trinidad and Tobago cringed in embarrassment, it's unlikely any Bolivian aides ventured into the security-zone wasteland beyond the Hyatt, in search of doubles and corn soup. In any event, the Bolivian president was well enough shortly to be pictured kicking ball in Barataria with some boisterous local Rastas.
love the descriptionGoogle and other searches will continue to find out, say, what US envoys in Port of Spain really thought about the Patrick Manning administration, and its Foreign Minister Paula Gopee Scoon's groupie's gropings of Barack Obama at Piarco.
He has been wanted on an Interpol arrest warrant stemming from a Swedish criminal charge based on having consensual sex without a condom. The charge, known as "sex by surprise" in Sweden, is punishable by a fine of about $715.
@wikileaks WikiLeaks
Let down by the UK justice system's bizarre decision to refuse bail to Julian Assange. But #cablegate releases continue as planned.
UNITED States Embassy officials were last year asked by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to conduct secret information-gathering on the facilities of Atlantic LNG because its loss would possibly have an “immediate and deleterious effect on the United States”, according to a leaked cable published online by whistle-blowing site Wikileaks.
According to a cable classed as top secret, but published on the Wikileaks website this month, Clinton included TT’s natural gas facility on a series of world-wide infrastructure assets that needed to be included on the Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative (CFDI) list.
Altlantic LNG’s facilities had been included on the CFDI list for 2008, and a request was made for updating of information on the natural gas facilities with a view to re-inclusion or removal contingent on re-assessment.
In a cable sent on February 18, 2009, Clinton said that the State Department “is surveying posts for their input on critical infrastructure and key resources within their host country which, if destroyed, disrupted or exploited, would likely have an immediate and deleterious effect on the United States.”
“We expect posts, after consultation among all sections and agencies, will in many instances recognise whether such CI/KR (critical infrastructure and key resources) exist in their host country,” she said. Clinton added, “posts are not/not being asked to consult with host governments with respect to this request.”She continued, “building upon the initial survey completed in 2008, Department requests each post reassess and update information about infrastructure and resources in each host country whose loss could immediately affect the public health, economic security and/or national and homeland security of the United States.”
Two key assets were included in the 2008 for which updated information was requested in a list sent attached to the cable. The are: the Atlantic LNG which the cable noted “provides 70 per cent of US natural gas import needs” and the Americas II undersea telecommunications cable which lands at Chaguaramas.
The Atlantic LNG comprises three separate companies owned by subsidiaries of BP plc, BG Group, Repsol YPF, GDF Suez, and The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited Atlantic is one of the world’s largest producers of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). It is a four-train natural gas liquefaction facility located at Point Fortin in Trinidad. Each train is owned by a group of private investors in its own holding company.
Atlantic LNG manages the four trains on behalf of the train holding companies. Combined, the four trains are capable of producing up to 100,000 cubic metres of LNG per day. This is enough energy to power the entire US for 1.4 months, according to the company.
(C) Alcohol, though strictly prohibited by Saudi law and custom, was plentiful at the party’s well-stocked bar, well-patronized by Halloween revellers. The hired Filipino bartenders served a cocktail punch using “sadiqi,” a locally-made “moonshine.” While top-shelf liquor bottles were on display throughout the bar area, the original contents were reportedly already consumed and replaced by sadiqi. On the black market, a bottle of Smirnoff can cost 1,500 riyals when available, compared to 100 riyals for the locally-made vodka. It was also learned through word-of-mouth that a number of the guests were in fact “working girls,” not uncommon for such parties.
JEDDAH 00000443 002.2 OF 002
Additionally, though not witnessed directly at this event, cocaine and hashish use is common in these social circles and has been seen on other occasions.
ZURICH — Hackers claimed Wednesday to have attacked the websites of Mastercard and a Swiss bank in apparent reprisal for their decisions to choke off funding for the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
Popular technology blog Techcrunch says that hackers from internet collectives 4Chan and Anonymous targeted Mastercard and other financial outlets.
Icelandic firm DataCell also said Wednesday it would sue credit card giant Visa for blocking payments to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
As WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange spent his first full day in prison in London after he was refused bail on Wednesday, it emerged that one of Britain’s highest-profile lawyers will fight moves to extradite him to Sweden to face rape accusations.
Mr. Assange’s 20-year-old son meanwhile said he hoped his father’s arrest in Britain was not a “step towards his extradition to the U.S.”
WikiLeaks has enraged governments around the world by releasing a wave of U.S. diplomatic cables, detailing everything from China’s view of North Korea to unflattering descriptions of world leaders.
After WikiLeaks appealed for donations to be able to continue its activities, Mastercard and Visa said they were suspending payments to the site, apparently sparking attempts to hack into the sites.
On Thursday, a group of hackers dubbed Anon—Operation said they had brought down http://www.mastercard.com, although the company itself refused to comment.
The group, which claims it is fighting for “freedom on the internet” and against censorship designated mastercard.com as their “current target” in what was rapidly taking the proportions of a cyber war.
The Swiss post office banking service, PostFinance, confirmed Wednesday that its website was suffering “denial of service attacks” since it closed Mr. Assange’s bank account on Monday.
Geoffrey Robertson, a barrister who has established a reputation for arguing for victims of human rights abuses, will defend Mr. Assange in his attempts to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces allegations of rape and molestation.
After laying low for weeks, Mr. Assange emerged on Tuesday and handed himself in to police in London, appearing before a judge — and a courtroom packed with the world’s media.
But despite the offer from a group of celebrities, including film director Ken Loach, to put up surety he was refused bail.
He was ordered to return to court on December 14 when his lawyers are expected to repeat their demands that he be bailed.
Mr. Assange’s supporters insist the extradition request is politically motivated, a claim refuted by the lawyer for the two Swedish women who have accused him personally.
“There is absolutely no link between what those two women have been through and WikiLeaks, the CIA, or the American administration,” Claes Borgstroem said.
The case “has nothing to do with WikiLeaks. I would like Julian Mr. Assange to come forward and say that himself,” Borgstroem told reporters in Stockholm.
“It would be a way of getting rid of all these rumours.”
Mr. Assange’s son Daniel, a software developer in the Australian city of Melbourne who has not been in contact with his father for a number of years, called for him to be treated justly following his arrest.
“Let us do our best to ensure my father is treated fairly and apolitically,” he said on the Twitter microblogging site.
As WikiLeaks promised, it continued to release cables overnight Tuesday.
One revealed Washington had branded Australia’s ex-premier Kevin Rudd as a “mistake-prone control freak” and another that the British government was relieved when its Scottish counterparts freed the Lockerbie bomber.
The dispatches from the U.S. embassy in Tripoli showed that Britain faced threats from Libya of “dire consequences” if Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi — who is suffering from cancer — died in a Scottish prison.
And there were also embarrassing revelations in connection with another U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia, as cables painted a picture of a buzzing party scene inside princes’ mansions in Jeddah replete with alcohol, drugs and sex.
In an op-ed piece for The Australian newspaper, Mr. Assange defended his site’s decision to publish the treasure trove of 250,000 cables, believed to have been passed to WikiLeaks by a junior U.S. soldier.
“The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth,” he wrote.
Agence France-Presse
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada ... z17X6FxCbP
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