The WikiWeek: February 11, 2011
THE CABLES MIDDLE EAST WikLeaks dumped a well-timed collection of cables on Egypt, which indicated that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned then-Vice President Dick Cheney not to go to war in Iraq and that Omar Suleiman served as a trusted interlocateur with the Israeli government. Cables raised questions about how much oil Saudi Arabia ...
THE CABLES
THE CABLES
MIDDLE EAST
WikLeaks dumped a well-timed collection of cables on Egypt, which indicated that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned then-Vice President Dick Cheney not to go to war in Iraq and that Omar Suleiman served as a trusted interlocateur with the Israeli government.
Cables raised questions about how much oil Saudi Arabia has in reserves.
A priceless cable offers an inside look at Baghdad’s weird and wonderful zoo.
ASIA
A British diplomat lamented that Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari had "no plans and no strategy."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned British diplomats that holding credible elections would be impossible.
AFRICA
France, the United States, and Britain considered delaying an Internatoinal Criminal Court investigation into Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
Britain was skeptical of U.S. efforts to support a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
Reports to U.S. diplomats indicated a possible link between Somali pirates, the Somali transitional government, and terrorist organizations.
American diplomats allegedly thought that Equatorial Guinea’s dictator, Teodoro Obiang, was a "good guy."
AMERICAS
Details emerged about the death of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva.
The United States has a long history of skepticism of Brazilian diplomacy in the Middle East.
THE NEWS
Julian Assange was in court to face extradition hearings. Prosecutors want him to return to Sweden, where he has been indicted for sexual assault.
Assange’s lawyers raised concerns that the WikiLeaks founder would be tried behind closed doors in Sweden.
Appealing to a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, WikiLeaks supporters attempted to block a U.S. request that Twitter hand over their personal account information.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks defector Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s book Inside WikiLeaks was released on February 11. Among the claims Domscheit-Berg makes are: allegations of Assange’s poor management, accounts of how the defector took down the submissions system when he left the organization, and discussions of Assange’s history with women.
A WikiLeaks spokseman responded to Domscheit-Berg’s statements and threatened legal action against the defector.
New U.S. Intelligence chief Jake Clapper said it was unclear how much damage was caused by the WikiLeaks cable.
Bank of America denied allegations that it had worked to block the release by WikiLeaks of files recounting its operations.
Elizabeth Dickinson is International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.
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