This newest document dump has so far been leaked only to the major media, not the general public:
WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowers’ Web site that has announced plans to begin publishing another tranche of secret American documents, reported on Sunday that its Web site was under attack. The message posted on Twitter said: “We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack.”
The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.
At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables – many of which are designated “secret” – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN’s leadership.
In the WikiLeaked cables, the Israeli government constantly highlights three threats: “Iran's nuclear program, the build-up of rockets and missiles in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, and the Goldstone Report.” In defense against each of these threats, and in other arenas, the Israelis seem adept at coercing the US into doing their bidding.
These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers’ website, also reveal Washington’s evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.
“Gilad described the Middle East peace process as a 'pillar' of Israeli security. He quoted PM Netanyahu and President Peres that Israel remains sincerely committed to peace. Gilad noted however, that the re-launching of negotiations is complicated by the split in Palestinian leadership. ... That said, he noted that Israeli-PA security and economic cooperation in the West Bank continues to improve as Jenin and Nablus flourish, and described Palestinian security forces as the "good guys."”
“Rosenblit said that Netanyahu emphasized his openness to talks between the GOR [Government of Russia] and the Palestinians because he welcomed any way to bring them back to negotiations. 'We wanted everyone to tell Abbas to return to negotiations because we can't give him a deal until he sits down.' … Rosenblit said that Israel still insists on talks without preconditions and no interim agreements: 'Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.'”
In a Forbes magazine interview posted online this week, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange said his outfit plans a "megaleak" regarding a major U.S. bank in early 2011. The release includes tens of thousands of documents and would reveal unspecified unethical behavior, he said.
"More than a year ago WikiLeaks claimed to have the computer hard drive of a Bank of America executive," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "Aside from the claims themselves we have no evidence that supports this assertion. We are unaware of any new claims by WikiLeaks that pertain specifically to Bank of America."
Posted in: News of Wikileaks,News of Wikileaks Docs Sparks “Global Crisis”,WikiLeaks