Wikileaks Diplomatic Cable Dump - News and Discussion

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 23 Dec 2010 05:46

arjunm wrote:Julian Assange commends The Hindu

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief, has commended The Hindu in an interview to Business Standard published on Tuesday.

In the interview given at Suffolk, the United Kingdom, Mr. Assange spoke of his impression of the Indian media. “Well, there are some very great little journalistic groups in India. [ The] Hindu, [ The] Times [ of India] have been quite good... some of their material. In my dealings with Indians, there is such an incredible potential in the Indian media, because there is still a lot of corruption. On the other hand, journalism is quite vibrant in the medium and lower level. You have a rising middle class. You have more people getting access to the Internet. So, I am quite hopeful of about what is going to develop in India,” he was quoted as saying.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/23/stories ... 431000.htm

IMO the whole WikiLeaks is staged thing and Assange is most likely working for Uncle Sam. Why should we at all care about what Assange has to say about Indian newspapers?

arjunm · Post by **arjunm** » 23 Dec 2010 09:08

brihaspati wrote:
arjunm wrote:Julian Assange commends The Hindu

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief, has commended The Hindu in an interview to Business Standard published on Tuesday.

In the interview given at Suffolk, the United Kingdom, Mr. Assange spoke of his impression of the Indian media. “Well, there are some very great little journalistic groups in India. [ The] Hindu, [ The] Times [ of India] have been quite good... some of their material. In my dealings with Indians, there is such an incredible potential in the Indian media, because there is still a lot of corruption. On the other hand, journalism is quite vibrant in the medium and lower level. You have a rising middle class. You have more people getting access to the Internet. So, I am quite hopeful of about what is going to develop in India,” he was quoted as saying.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/23/stories ... 431000.htm
Hindu and the TOI - what does that speak of the filters being used by Assange and his team in deciding which cable goes out and which doesn't?

Brthaspatiji good observation. That is entirely possible, but we do not know which page he is on?

Arjun · Post by **Arjun** » 23 Dec 2010 10:30

Singha wrote:the congress is quite particular about sending legal notices to anyone who remotely insult The Family. and for that they utilize the services of their spokesman and legal counsel - the superstar lawyer abhisek manu singhvi who you often see on TV. perhaps thats why media is not keen to lampoon the yuvaraj.
even if they dont intend to pursue everyone, making a example of a couple of people always creates doubts in the rest...

Wow....serious Nazi stuff !! Wonder what the difference in laws is that allows for freedom of expression in the US in these matters, but not so in India.

My own feeling is that this is also to a large extent derived from a general feudal mindset in Indians which will probably take a few more decades to eradicate...where lampooning an individual who does not have a family backing him is considered fair game but any kind of family connection makes folks wary.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 23 Dec 2010 10:59

WikiLeaks won't hit India-US ties, agree Krishna, Clinton

The non news of week award goes to the above headline.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 23 Dec 2010 11:05

FM Krishna,the White House Butler's Butler!

PS:Who would've thought that that old "piss-drinker" Morarji D would have the gumption to go after Pak if it developed N-weapons!

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article ... id=4729778

Morarji had told US he would act if Pak exploded a nuke bomb
Washington: Refusing to enter into any formal agreement with Pakistan on non-use and non-development of nuclear weapons, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai had told the US in 1979 that if Islamabad exploded a nuclear bomb, he would act to "smash it," a declassified US memo shows.

BSR Murthy · Post by **BSR Murthy** » 23 Dec 2010 16:41

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 23 Dec 2010 18:40

^ most excellent. its on my FB now. need to disseminate this far and wide.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 23 Dec 2010 19:46

Attributed to Assange:

Sun 31 Dec 2006 : The non linear effects of leaks on unjust systems of governance

You may want to read The Road to Hanoi or Conspiracy as Governance ; an obscure motivational document, almost useless in light of its decontextualization and perhaps even then. But if you read this latter document while thinking about how different structures of power are differentially affected by leaks (the defection of the inner to the outer) its motivations may become clearer.

The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive "secrecy tax") and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.

Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.

Only revealed injustice can be answered; for man to do anything intelligent he has to know what's actually going on.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 25 Dec 2010 01:06

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/726626/

I did not see (or missed) Tavleen's article on Rahul. I am posting it in full, as she constructs the logic, like many other journalists, on why Rahul's words are against national interests.

Let me know if this was posted earlier, I will delete it. Tx.

You cannot be a political columnist in India today and ignore the man who could be our prime minister tomorrow if he wants. But, for those of us obliged to pay careful attention to Rahul Gandhi’s political career, one big problem is that he seems never to have any views on anything. He spends long nights in remote villages but returns with no insights on improving rural living conditions. He befriends farmers’ widows in Vidarbha but has no views on what can be done to stop farmers’ suicides. He tells the adivasis in Niyamgiri that he will be their ‘sipahi’ in Delhi but does not tell us if by this he means he would like them to continue being primitive, marginal communities. He tells us that he thinks that SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) is just as bad as the RSS but does not explain why. So it makes it that much more curious that he should have made his first serious policy statement to the American ambassador.

He was lunching in the American Embassy, we hear from WikiLeaks, and when the subject of India’s security concerns came up, he said that he believed ‘radicalised Hindu groups’ were more of a threat to India than the Lashkar-e-Toiba. As someone who has always laughed indulgently at Rahul’s rural field trips and other foibles, my first reaction was to laugh. And, then I stopped myself. Rahul’s comment is too serious to laugh at. Not when we know of the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s role as the organiser of 26/11.

Perhaps, nobody told Rahul Gandhi about the origins of the Lashkar and the reasons why it is such a powerful terrorist organisation. Perhaps, nobody told him that it was created by the Pakistani Army and that its founder, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, was seen last week in the company of high officials at some event in Islamabad. Can Rahul name one Hindu radical group that has the backing of the Indian Army? Can he name one Hindu radical group that has the protection of the Indian state? So, for the man who could be our future prime minister, to believe that radical Hindu groups are more of a threat than the Lashkar-e-Toiba is not just bizarre, but very scary.

There are those who dismissed Rahul’s comments as stupidity but to do this is to absolve him of responsibility for what he said. Besides, there seems to be more to what Rahul Gandhi told the American ambassador if you keep in mind what another Congress general secretary, Digvijay Singh, recently said about Hemant Karkare’s tragic death. He later clarified that he had not meant that the terrorist attack on Mumbai was the work of Hindu terrorists but has not explained why he was releasing a book called, RSS ki saazish—26/11. This absurdly titled book has been written by a Muslim journalist and if Digvijay Singh was not sympathetic to the idea mentioned so explicitly in the title, what was he doing at the book’s release?

When Rahul Gandhi’s comments to the American ambassador became public last week, he responded by saying that all terrorism and communalism was dangerous for India. This goes without saying but what does not go without saying is why senior leaders of the Congress Party are playing such dangerous games with these two evil cousins. Is it because the drubbing in Bihar has caused temporary insanity? Is it because Rahul is so unnerved about reducing (despite his best efforts) the Congress Party’s seats in the Bihar legislature to four that he is listening to old type advisors? The kind who believe the only way for the Congress to revive itself in northern India is by exploiting those ancient divisions of caste and creed?

If this is so, Rahul Gandhi’s future looks very bleak. If there is a lesson he can learn from Bihar it is that even in our poorest, most backward state, it is no longer possible to fool voters (either Hindu or Muslim) into being misled by false divisions of caste and creed. Nitish Kumar won a second term because people could see the roads, schools and hospitals he built. But, I digress from the main point of this piece which is to assert as firmly as I possibly can that national security is sacrosanct.

If at the highest levels of the Congress Party there are people who believe that the Lashkar-e-Toiba is less dangerous for India than homegrown Hindu radical groups, then Pakistan has won not just on the terrorist front but on the propaganda front as well. Let’s stop sending Islamabad those dossiers and lists of jihadi terrorists. They are meaningless now. Meanwhile, let the Congress Party try persuading the people of India that Hindu terrorists are the biggest threat to national security and see how many seats they win in the next election.

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 25 Dec 2010 08:39

New Zealand conditional support for US-India civil nuclear deal

US nudged Bangladesh to allocate gas blocks

US Ambassador to Bangladesh, James Moriarty, met Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wajed’s energy adviser, Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury, and got him to assure that ConocoPhillips would be awarded two of the uncontested blocks and Chevron given permission to go ahead with the first of the three compressors necessary to improve flow in Bangladesh’s main gas pipeline. Within three months, the Bangladesh government complied.

Moriarty urged Chowdhury to approve plans by British company Global Coal Management (GCM) to begin open-cast coal mining in the country’s Phulbari area. Later on in the cable, Moriarty said, “Asia Energy, the company behind the Phulbari project, has 60 per cent US investment. Asia Energy officials told the ambassador they were cautiously optimistic that the project would win government approval in the coming months.”

Moriarty’s conversations with Indian ambassador Pinaki Ranjan Chakravatry, by contrast, revealed no discussions of a commercial nature, only a general approval by India of the change in government in Bangladesh and US endorsement of a joint South Asian task force on counterterrorism.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Dec 2010 10:49

Why is Indian MEA batting for US on the Wikileaks issue?

Gungadin redux?

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Dec 2010 17:50

Manning’s health deteriorates in US military brig

Raja Ram · Post by **Raja Ram** » 25 Dec 2010 19:08

ramana wrote:Why is Indian MEA batting for US on the Wikileaks issue?

Gungadin redux?

ramana,

Maybe there is something still out there that may embarass MEA? or at least a fear that something may lurk like that. That could be one reason where they do not want to take sides.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 25 Dec 2010 22:09

This was released on December 12th, I don't think it was discussed here....
THE VATICAN-- THE SUPRANATIONAL POWER
I quote just the India relevant piece {sorry it is a copy and past, hence the entire text is in all caps}

13. (C) INDIA: INDIA HAS SEEN SIGNIFICANT SECTARIAN VIOLENCE OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, AS MUCH AGAINST MUSLIMS AS CHRISTIANS. RESOLUTION OF THIS VIOLENCE IS A KEY TO DEMOCRACY, STABILITY AND THE GUARANTEE OF HUMAN RIGHTS. THE VATICAN, LOCAL BISHOPS WHO REPORT TO THE VATICAN, AND VARIOUS MISSIONARY ORGANIZATIONS WILL ALL CONTINUE TO BE ACTIVE OBSERVERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AND DEVELOPMENTS.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 25 Dec 2010 22:13

This was released on December 22nd.
AN INVENTORY OF THE VATICAN'S INTERFAITH DIALOGUES
All emphasis mine...

Outreach to Asian Faiths
------------------------

9. (C) Despite the difficulty for the Vatican of finding common ground with polytheistic religions, Holy See officials are starting to do just that in an effort to support peace, religious freedom, human rights, and local solutions to local problems (see septel). Cardinal Tauran travelled to India in June 2009 for initial dialogue with Hindus. Tauran's goal was to go beyond the positive assurances that had characterized previous meetings with Hindu leaders. Specifically, he sought to bridge the gap between his Indian interlocutors' stated goodwill and the continuing hostility toward Christians in parts of India like Orissa, especially by some Hindu nationalists. The Vatican also raised concerns about Indian anti-conversion laws -- although they have not been enforced. Cardinal Tauran also traveled to Japan in August 2009, to initiate discussions with Buddhists and other Asian faiths.

10. (SBU) Comment: Tauran acknowledges quietly that the Vatican has not paid sufficient attention to relations with Asian religions. He is not an expert on polytheistic religions and is unlikely to find -- or even seek -- common theological ground with their precepts. Instead, as he and his Council increase their outreach to these communities, they will challenge their interlocutors to remove obstacles to the enjoyment of religious freedom for all. End comment.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Dec 2010 22:35

Actually a good key. Why are not there similar "interfaith" efforts going on between Hindus and Buddhists on an Asian scale?

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Dec 2010 23:10

http://cablesearch.org/cable/view.php?id=10SANAA19
SUBJECT XXXXXXXXXXXX SOUNDS ALARM OVER
DATE 2010-01-09 05:05:00

1. (S) The lone security guard standing watch at Yemen’s main radioactive materials storage facility was removed from his post on December 30, 2009, according toXXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXX. The only closed-circuit television security camera monitoring the facility broke six months ago and was never fixed, according to XXXXXXXXXXXX. The facility XXXXXXXXXXXX holds various radioactive materials, small amounts of which are used by local universities for agricultural research, by a Sana’a hospital, and by international oilfield services companies for well-logging equipment spread out across the country. “Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen’s nuclear material,” a worried XXXXXXXXXXXX told EconOff.

¶2. (S) Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the Ambassador on January 7 that no radioactive material was currently stored in Sana’a and that all “radioactive waste” was shipped to Syria. XXXXXXXXXXXX

¶3. (S) The NAEC nuclear material storage facility normally contains IAEA Category I and II amounts of iridium and cobalt-60, including a lead-encased package of 13,500 curies (Ci) of cobalt-60 that was allegedly shipped to Yemen from India six months ago. XXXXXXXXXXXX told EconOff that XXXXXXXXXXXX the cobalt-60 was moved late on January 7 from the largely unsecured NAEC facility XXXXXXXXXXXX implored the U.S. to help convince the ROYG to remove all materials from the country until they can be better secured, or immediately improve security measures at the NAEC facility. XXXXXXXXXXXX

Why is India shipping Cobalt-60 to Yemen?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Dec 2010 23:12

For hospital use. Co-60 is used for rad therapy.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Dec 2010 23:23

ramana wrote:For hospital use. Co-60 is used for rad therapy.

Quantity seems large?

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Dec 2010 00:08

Despite the difficulty for the Vatican of finding common ground with polytheistic religions, Holy See officials are starting to do just that in an effort to support peace, religious freedom, human rights, and local solutions to local problems (see septel). Cardinal Tauran travelled to India in June 2009 for initial dialogue with Hindus. Tauran's goal was to go beyond the positive assurances that had characterized previous meetings with Hindu leaders. Specifically, he sought to bridge the gap between his Indian interlocutors' stated goodwill and the continuing hostility toward Christians in parts of India like Orissa, especially by some Hindu nationalists. The Vatican also raised concerns about Indian anti-conversion laws -- although they have not been enforced. Cardinal Tauran also traveled to Japan in August 2009, to initiate discussions with Buddhists and other Asian faiths.

Yes Hindus need to learn from Christians: peace, religious freedom, human rights, and local solutions to local problems.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 26 Dec 2010 01:26

brihaspati wrote:Actually a good key. Why are not there similar "interfaith" efforts going on between Hindus and Buddhists on an Asian scale?

Vatican conducts more interfaith efforts than any Church or religious entity on this planet.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Dec 2010 01:38

Define interfaith dialogue.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 26 Dec 2010 02:04

Feckless in diplomacy

Secret US cables exposed by WikiLeaks raise serious doubts about whether India has any consistent policies in dealing with terror emanating from Pakistan- G parthasarathy

The WikiLeaks cables exchanged between Washington, DC and Islamabad have been immeasurably useful for Indians to understand the limitations in the support the Obama Administration can or will provide India as it confronts the challenges posed by terrorism unleashed by the Pakistani Army. They also raise doubts about whether our Government has indeed fulfilled its primary responsibility of ensuring that our armed forces are equipped, prepared and trained to respond swiftly, appropriately and effectively to provocations like the 26/11 strike in Mumbai. They will, hopefully, introduce a measure of long overdue realism in those who advocate that mere sweet words can convince the hard boiled Generals in Rawalpindi to shed their compulsive hostility towards India. But, as cables containing details of meeting with members of the Indian establishment become public, serious doubts and misgivings arise about whether New Delhi has any consistent policies in dealing with its western neighbour.

When the then US National Security Adviser Gen James Jones called on Defence Minister AK Antony on June 28, 2009 and raised the issue of dialogue with Pakistan, the latter responded: “Unless there is some tangible follow-up action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the 26/11 attack, discussions with Pakistan will be difficult.” Gen Jones promised to take this up with the Pakistanis while adding there was “need to move forward on a broader strategy of building confidence and trust”. Barely a fortnight later, on July 16, Mr Manmohan Singh strangely agreed that “action against terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed”. What prompted this serous and unexplainable U-turn in policy within a fortnight? No one argues that we should shun all dialogue with Pakistan. But, at the same time, agreeing to unconditionally resume the ‘composite dialogue process’ without Pakistan fulfilling its assurances of ending terrorism against India emanating from territory under its control undermines our position on the centrality of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism

The Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement strangely noted that “Prime Minister Gilani mentioned that Pakistan has some information about threats in Balochistan and other areas”. Yet, the WikiLeaks documents reveal that when the issue of Balochi leaders like Brahmdagh Bugti, leading the uprising in Balochistan, operating out of Afghanistan was taken up by the Americans, President Hamid Karzai retorted: “Fomenting uprising does not make one a terrorist. The real terrorists are Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Afghanistan needs a sign that Pakistan will stop supporting these terrorists.” Responding to American queries about why Bugti was not being extradited to Pakistan, Mr Karzai asserted, “The Bugtis are not terrorists and represent nobility in Afghanistan, so it would be hard to hand them over to Pakistan.” Mr Karzai categorically rejected Pakistani allegations of Indian involvement in Balochistan, adding, “Pakistan will continue to think India is involved. There is lot of misinformation out there.” If Mr Karzai was so forthright on Balochistan, why has India been so defensive in debunking Pakistani accusations?

Good ones-

In its early days the Obama Administration was persuaded by the arguments of Pakistani writers like Ahmed Rashid that it should appoint a special envoy to resolve differences between India and Pakistan on Jammu & Kashmir. New Delhi reacted decisively by debunking such talk and, thereafter, by rejecting visits to India by Richard Holbrooke during the course of his frequent visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Holbrooke was forced to publicly clarify that his charter of responsibilities did not include India and his visits to New Delhi were for exchanging views on AfPak developments. In his meeting with Gen Jones last year, Mr Antony made it clear that India wanted that the international community’s operations in Afghanistan should succeed, adding, “India cannot, for a moment, imagine a Taliban takeover of its extended neighbourhood.” With Nato now clarifying that it intends to continue combat operations in Afghanistan till the end of 2014, there is a wider consensus in the US about the inadvisability of leaving a power vacuum in Afghanistan which would lead to a Taliban takeover.

Writing in the Foreign Affairs, Mr Robert Blackwill advocates that the US should stop talking of an “exit strategy” and adopt a long-term strategy of counter-terrorism in Pashtun-dominated southern Afghanistan, accepting that the Taliban will inevitably control most of southern and eastern Afghanistan, while undertaking “nation building” with support from Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and “supportive Pashtuns” in northern and western Afghanistan. He, however, adds that the US should continue to provide arms and intelligence to Pashtun tribal leaders ready to challenge Taliban hegemony.

(division of afghanisthan)

What is interesting is that both these recent studies by prominent American analysts with firsthand knowledge of AfPak developments reject any possibility of rapid American withdrawal from Afghanistan as that would “trigger a global outpouring of support for jihadi ideology and increased terrorism against liberal societies more broadly”. Moreover, both reports acknowledge that Afghanistan can be ruled effectively only by traditional decentralised power structures and that effective action is required against “transnational terrorist groups”. India will have to focus its diplomatic efforts on securing international support for strategies that enable Afghans to run their country overcoming the pernicious ambitions of neighbouring Pakistan. This can happen only when Pakistan realises that it will have to pay a heavy price for its present policies of support for transnational terrorist groups.(what can be done to make pakis realis this!!)

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 26 Dec 2010 02:09

Faith is a personal and private issue, so more accurate term should be religion - the social interface to faith. There is no harm in learning from even the enemy. Moreover, every religion has politics in it, and no politics is free from religion - because they are complementary and mutually reinforcing. They help each other along. So the Vatican "inter-religion" dialogue should be seen as a politico-religious move to engage with the "enemy". It is like diplomacy before or in between wars in the realm of overt politics. It is about probing weaknesses and strengths, possible infiltration, pretension and establishing support bases for future colonization.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 26 Dec 2010 02:36

Wondering if Vatican will ever be ready to talk about "Knowledge and Experiences" of spiritual paths instead of just "faith/ Belive". Onlee Kids can have beliefs and faith, grown ups want to "know" amd verify.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Dec 2010 04:40

Define interfaith dialogue.

It is about probing weaknesses and strengths, possible infiltration, pretension and establishing support bases for future colonization.

Bravo-nailed it on the first try.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Dec 2010 05:05

One addition-pretension as well as pretense.

arjunm · Post by **arjunm** » 26 Dec 2010 14:18

TEA WITH JULIAN ASSUANGE -THE INTERVIEW GIVEN TO THE ECONOMIST[/b]

Listen from the Messiah in his own words very impressive-you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_HPLHIB ... re=related

CNN Interview with Larry King on Afghan War leaks and Nic robertson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0-aVxkaPTc

Why the world need Wikileaks-Change of Kenyan election result after the leaks
Baghdad bombing-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726 ... ature=fvwp

Dan Mazer · Post by **Dan Mazer** » 26 Dec 2010 16:09

brihaspati wrote:Actually a good key. Why are not there similar "interfaith" efforts going on between Hindus and Buddhists on an Asian scale?

For Abrahamic religions, the goal is to accurately intercept and understand the one true God's revelation. So the existence of multiple faiths with differing truth claims regarding the truth of this revelation is a real problem. Hence inter-faith dialogues are one way of resolving differences.

However for the Indian/asian traditions, the goal is to realize the 'true' nature of experience. Since human beings are diverse in nature, it follows that there need to be multiple paths to achieve this goal. So the existence of multiple, discordant 'faiths' is not a problem at all. On the contrary its healthy. So there is no 'religious' impulse in these traditions to conduct the equivalent of inter-faith dialogues to resolve their differences. Of course there might be other social factors which may necessitate such dialogues.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 26 Dec 2010 20:34

For the Abrahamic religions, also theirs is their final and only true interpretation. In fact there is little scope for interpretation - since everything has been revealed once and for all and any reinterpretations means a new schism and a sect which should then be expelled.Reinterpretations are heresy, and no one else can interpret. So logically Abrahamic religions have no incentive to understand other's interpretations.

The only motivation for negotiations are diplomatic interludes to secure as much advantage for the next stage of the "war". Most of the proselytizing themes are entirely couched in the language of "war" and "conflict" - a persistent theme in the Abrahamic.

It was from this angle that I wanted the question for Asiatic "religions", not from any philosophical quest - which is not really there in any of the utterings from the Vatican, if you really go into the statements issued and the internal policy and Church methodology papers.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 26 Dec 2010 21:39

Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 26 Dec 2010 21:44

WikiLeaks Cable Exposes Obama’s Blind Nuclear “Vision” and the Arms Control Community

arjunm · Post by **arjunm** » 26 Dec 2010 22:50

Dan Mazer wrote:
brihaspati wrote:Actually a good key. Why are not there similar "interfaith" efforts going on between Hindus and Buddhists on an Asian scale?
For Abrahamic religions, the goal is to accurately intercept and understand the one true God's revelation. So the existence of multiple faiths with differing truth claims regarding the truth of this revelation is a real problem. Hence inter-faith dialogues are one way of resolving differences.

However for the Indian/asian traditions, the goal is to realize the 'true' nature of experience. Since human beings are diverse in nature, it follows that there need to be multiple paths to achieve this goal. So the existence of multiple, discordant 'faiths' is not a problem at all. On the contrary its healthy. So there is no 'religious' impulse in these traditions to conduct the equivalent of inter-faith dialogues to resolve their differences. Of course there might be other social factors which may necessitate such dialogues.

Problem with Abrhamic faiths are to interpret the concept of one true God among themselves first.Rivalry between Islam and Christianity for their supremacy transformed this whole world in to a killing zone.Harvesting souls and converting under swords to establish their own forced faulty interpretation to increase their influence needs to be explained , Our sages already told many thousands years ago our interpretation to understand the abstract nature of the supreme being and declared under a proclamation in Rig Veda the most ancient Hindu scripture, and to accomodate the various views "says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names."

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Dec 2010 22:53

Gerard wrote:WikiLeaks Cable Exposes Obama’s Blind Nuclear “Vision” and the Arms Control Community

Be sure to read the cable itself:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-emba ... nts/219798

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 28 Dec 2010 08:31

Julian Assange gets £1m book deal

"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," Assange told the Times, citing a growing legal bill that has reached more than 200,000 pounds (USD 308,000). "I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 03 Jan 2011 23:47

http://cablesearch.org/cable/view.php?id=09SANTIAGO324
SUBJECT
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN'S MARCH 27 MEETING WITH
DATE
2009-04-03 22:10:00

19. (S) Vice President Biden commented that Zedari had told him two months ago that ISI director & Kiyani will take me out.8 Brown thought this unlikely and said that Kiyani did not want to be another Musharraf, rather he would give civilian leadership scope to function. However, he was wary of the Sharif brothers and Zedari.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 03 Jan 2011 23:54

My comments on the GCC reaction to the wikileaks expose's: http://middleeast-analysis.blogspot.com/

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 11 Jan 2011 22:42

No more leaks?

Ravi Karumanchiri · Post by **Ravi Karumanchiri** » 11 Jan 2011 23:59

Leaks are ongoing, but you've got to know where to find them (because many smaller news outlets seem to be self-censoring for fear of Unkil Sam). This fact notwithstanding; each of the main media partners do have dedicated sections for Wikileaks...

der SPIEGEL ONLINE (from Germany)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/top ... ic_cables/

The Guardian (from the UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-us-embassy-cables

The New York Times (from the US)
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference ... index.html

Al Jazeera (from Qatar – although not a formal media partner of Wikileaks, they have excellent coverage, often including stories others have ignored)
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/sp ... assyfiles/

Please keep in mind folks, only a tiny fraction of the total cache of US Diplomatic cables has been made public so far. No doubt, the most damaging material has been held back, as a bargaining chip, while Assange is on the anvil facing extradition to the US, where his life is arguably at stake.

Assange has already alluded to other materials pending publication, which did not come to him from the US Diplomatic cable dump, specifically regarding the 'Bank of America' (which is a private bank, and the largest one in the US). Something that harms BoA in a big way, could conceivably cause yet another economic tsunami for the US, so the stakes are very high on both sides.

Raghavendra · Post by **Raghavendra** » 13 Jan 2011 15:01

Assange says WikiLeaks has "insurance files" ready to nail Murdoch http://www.sify.com/news/assange-says-w ... jfbib.html

Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, has said that the whistle-blower website possesses classified documents which can expose Australian-born American media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his company News Corporation, the world's third-largest media conglomerate.

"There are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organization and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp," CBS News quoted Assange, as saying.

Assange revealed this during an interview with British left-wing weekly political magazine 'the New Statesman'.

The interview comes at a time when Assange has repeatedly expressed paranoia about either being assassinated or arrested by the U.S. government.

During the interview he also claimed that he has "insurance files" ready to be released on a moment's notice.

The WikiLeaks founder also said that China, and not the U.S., is his primary "technological enemy".

"China is the worst offender. China has aggressive and sophisticated interception technology that places itself between every reader inside China and every information source outside China," Assange said.

"We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get information through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese readers can get on to our site," he added.