[Live] StateLogs: #Wikileaks reveals 250,000 diplomatic files » Article

Retrouvez ici notre live-blogging en français.

All times given are CET (Paris), or GMT+1

[23:59 pm] Our app is being filled

Our developpers keep inserting the first StateLogs in our application, and the process is meant to continue in the coming week. For now, 27 cables are available, waiting to be qualified and annotated.

[23:57 pm] What about open-data?

In a cryptic tweet, WikiLeaks announces further info regarding a new embargo for Monday :

Tomorrow we will provide information on how other media groups can apply to for embargo access to #cablegate info.

Shall we expect WikiLeaks monetizing each cable with interested media outlets?

[23:55 pm] Wikileaks has started publishing the cables

On cablegate.wikileaks.org, the organization has started the publication process of the Statelogs and announces that they will be made available in the forthcoming week.

15 365 cables are about Iraq

Turkey is the first country-emitter with 7,918 cables

US State Department emitted 8,017 cables

145,451 statelogs are about foreign policy

Iranian octopus. A large number of unveiled cables underline the mistrust of Arab leaders regarding Iranian power. The 5 newspapers contacted by WikiLeaks expose fear of mollahs’ regime, compared by Jordan diplomats with a “octopus stretching its tentacles” that have to be “cut”, a cable from april 2009 reports. The country’s nuclear desire worries Gulf region, which doubts of the US ability to find a common ground with Iranian authorities.

North Korea questioned. Published cables unveil a discussion between South Korean and American authorities regarding a possible collapse of the North Korean regime and a subsequent reunification of Korea. The discussion between diplomats brings up possible business arrangements with China in order to “salve” worries caused by this reunification.

[11:35 pm] Governments have to keep secrets, not journalists

In an op-ed for the Guardian, British columnist Simon Jenkins defends the approach taken by medias, explaining “governments have keep secrets, journalists have not”. In the same way, he refutes the idea that publishing the statelogs is dangerous, supporting that “Sarkozy’s vulgarity will not hurt us”.

[11:25 pm] Blackmail diplomacy

According to The New York Times, some cables reveal that American authorities wisely used their assets in order to empty Guantanamo jails. They offered the Slovenian authorities talks with president Obama for them taking one of the prisoners. They offered the same things to Kiribati representatives for “millions” dollars.

[9:42 p.m.] Did the US distribute ‘choice of words’ to foreign officials?

Charles Rivkin, US ambassador in France, explained his role of diplomat in an opinion piece in Le Monde newspaper, “Diplomacy and confidentiality” (in French) and worries about the leaks. His words are strangely similar to those of the US ambassador in Haiti. They both declared, in what looks a lot like copy/paste, that “of course, even strong alliances have their ups and down” and that “even solid relationships have their ups and down”.

[8:39 p.m.] US officials ordered to spy at UN headquarters
In July, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered US diplomats to spy at the UN, writes Der Spiegel.

The information to be collected included personal credit card information, frequent flyer customer numbers, as well as e-mail and telephone accounts. In many cases the State Department also required “biometric information,” “passwords” and “personal encryption keys.”

[8:15 p.m.] Chinese government masterminded operation Aurora
The cyberattack directed against Google and others in China in January, 2010, codenamed operation Aurora, was ordered by the Chinese politburo, says one leak.

[8:07 p.m.] The White House condemns the leak
Reuters reports that the White House condemned the leaks as a “reckless and dangerous action”, as was expected.

[7:28 p.m.] The posting of leaks is engaged

The New York Times, The Guardian, El Pais, Der Spiegel and Le Monde have all posted their coverage of the memos.

Le Monde also confirms it’s working on memos concerning France.

We are currently working on making our application operational and implementing the data.

[7:06 p.m.] Iran and Turkish banks caught in the storm

According to senior British officials quoted by the Telegraph, the information disclosed by Wikileaks could endanger efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. UK services could have infiltrated a hub in Qatar that would provide the equipment Tehran’s nuclear program. The publication of this information could seriously undermine the effort, according to the Telegraph.

Other information in the memos reveal the role of Turkish banks in financing Iranian terrorism and the compensation of North Korean experts responsible for the construction of nuclear facilities in Iran. Finally, according to the Telegraph, the information contained in the memos would highlight the role played by the services of the British embassy in Tehran in the events after the election, including efforts to “oust” Ahmadinejad.

[5:59 p.m.] Berlusconi and Putin have ’special relationship’

The Telegraph writes that the StateLogs will show that Russian president Putin and Italy’s Premier Berlusconi enjoyed a ’special relationship’. They have been friends for the past 5 years and spent numerous holidays together, says the Telegraph, in a way that worried the US.

[5:55 p.m.] Wikileaks confirms what OWNI revealed yesterday.

Wikileaks twitted that the documents were to be released tonight with Le Monde, El Pais, the New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, thereby confirming what OWNI had revealed in this live-blogging.

[5:30 p.m.] Wikileaks.org under DDoS

Wikileaks’ servers, which have been on-and-off for the past days, are under a distributed denial of service attack, according to Wikileaks’ twitter account.

Guardian investigative editor David Leigh says on his Twitter account that the Guardian will publish the documents tonight “even if Wikileaks goes down”.