Quote:¶1. (S) After reviewing the time line presented in ref A and B for moving forward with the UN 1267 and domestic terrorism finance designation of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) as an alter-ego of current terrorism finance designee Lashkar-e-Tayyba (LeT), Ambassador requests a two-week delay in pre-notificaion, presentation to the UN 1267 Committee and in the domestic designation. Post’s preferred timeline is:

-- pre-notification: no earlier than 30 March -- request to UN 1267 Committee: no earlier than 15 April -- domestic action: no earlier than 15 April



¶2. (S) Post’s reasoning for requesting this delay is based solely on force-protection considerations. DAC-PAK personnel will continue flying helicopter sorties in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistan-administered Kashmir (AJK) until the end of March; ground support personnel will be deployed in Muzaffarabad, AJK as long as the helicopters are flying. By the end of the first week of April, U.S. military personnel will have redeployed from NWFP and AJK to the Islamabad area, awaiting onward tranport out of Pakistan. In order not to increase the risk to our military personnel as they conclude their successful mission to Pakistan, post recommends that no action on the JuD designation be taken until all DAC-PAK operations have concluded and DAC personnel are in the Islamabad area. CROCKER

Quote:¶6. (S) British High Commission officials in Islamabad told Polcouns November 28 that HMG has evidence the attacks in Mumbai were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which was planning more attacks. The UK officials noted that after the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the GOI halted the Composite Dialogue, but this time speculated they will feel the need to respond with force rather than diplomacy. They fear a response could include, at a minimum, increase GOI covert activities in Balochistan or even an aerial bombardment of LeT camps in Azad, Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The UK mission here is proposing that Foreign Secretary Miliband call Zardari and Qureshi and their Chief of Defence Staff call Kayani with the message that Pakistan must act now to take proactive steps to “rescue” the Indo-Pak relationship, suggesting that Islamabad should act before New Delhi demands more. The UK mission is suggesting to London that the UK call for credible actions, perhaps to include arresting senior LeT leaders and “permanently closing down the infrastructure of the militancy.” The UK is seeking to coordinate its message closely with the U.S. and notes that Miliband is due to see the Secretary on December 1.



¶7. (S) Polcouns noted that, as yet, there was no evidence linking a presumed LeT attack to ISI or the GOP. The UK Polcouns agreed they had no smoking gun but, nevertheless, believed that the pressure on India to react strongly would be impossible politically to avoid. He admitted that UK concern was being driven in part by the presence of up to half a million UK citizens living in AJK.

Quote:New Delhi: The first of the 3,038 cables sent from the US embassy in New Delhi have now been uploaded - and the details are likely to cause some strain between India and the US.



To begin with the US embassy seems to doubt India's Cold Start doctrine.Cold start is the quick military response strategy framed after 2002 Parliament attack.



The cable from current ambassador Timothy Roemer points out India showed no willingness to attack Pakistan even after the audacious Mumbai 26/11 attacks.



The cable says high level government officials have firmly stated, when asked directly about their support for Cold Start, that they have never endorsed, supported, or advocated for this doctrine.



The cables say frequent terror attacks suggest Pakistan is not worried at all about India's cold start doctrine.



US says no Indian government may ever implement Cold Start as it will be worried about Pakistan's nuclear response.

Quote:The Pentagon was slow to engage. The evidence they have now collected suggests it was last November that somebody working in a high-security facility inside a US military base in Iraq started to copy secret material. On 18 February Wikileaks posted a single document – a classified cable from the US embassy in Reykjavik to Washington, recording the complaints of Icelandic politicians that they were being bullied by the British and Dutch over the collapse of the Icesave bank; and the tart remark of an Icelandic diplomat who described his own president as "unpredictable". Some Wikileaks workers in Iceland claimed they saw signs that they were being followed after this disclosure.

Quote:21. (S/NF) U/S Tauscher outlined the problem caused by Pakistan in blocking implementation of the CD program of work. She said the U.S. was talking to Pakistan and arguing that Pakistan could make its points in the negotiations but should not block the beginning of talks. VFM He agreed that the Pakistanis "have concerns" regarding the FMCT negotiations. He said he understood Pakistani "hesitancy," as well as their "logic" and "illogic." The solution is to address the underlying problem, which is that India and Pakistan view each other as enemies. Nuclear weapons are crucial to Pakistan. Indeed, a Pakistani military leader said his army was no match for the Indian army. "India is the lynchpin" to assuaging Pakistan's fears and the U.S. could influence India. China has resolved all border issues except those with India, He observed. In response to Tauscher,s expression of appreciation for China's efforts in the CD with Pakistan, He said China would engage the Pakistanis.

Quote:. © During Ambassador's fourth meeting in a week with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Kayani on March 10, he again hinted that he might, however reluctantly, have to persuade President Zardari to resign if the situation sharply deteriorates. He mentioned Asfundyar Wali Khan as a possible replacement. This would not be a formal coup but would leave in place the PPP government led by PM Gilani, thus avoiding elections that likely would bring Nawaz Sharif to power. We do not believe Army action is imminent. We do believe Kayani was laying down a clear marker so that, if he has to act, he can say he warned the U.S. in advance and gave us ample opportunities to pressure both sides to back down. Kayani is trying to leverage what he considers predominate U.S. influence over Zardari, instead of seeking a direct confrontation that could provoke an unhelpful civil-military clash.

Quote:With regard to alleged LTTE war crimes, Butenis noted:



“Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards.”

Quote:WikiLeaks discloses Osama Bin Laden's hideout

On December 2, Daily Times reported WikiLeaks disclosure of a conversation between United States (US) Senator John McCain and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, in which the latter talked about the possibility of Osama Bin Laden and Aiman Al-Zawahiri being in Bajaur Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), bordering Afghanistan’s Kunar province where US forces were not deployed.

Quote:The U.S. State Department has imposed an order barring employees from reading the leaked WikiLeaks cables. State Department staffers have been told not to read cables because they were classified and subject to security clearances. The State Department’s WikiLeaks censorship has even been extended to university students. An email to students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs says: "The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. [The State Department] recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government."

Quote:03.12.2010 @ 12:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The WikiLeaks affair has claimed its first victim after Germany's vice-chancellor Guido Westerwelle on Thursday (3 December) sacked his chief of staff for spying for the Americans. Italy's Prime Minister has also been put in a pickle ahead of a confidence vote in parliament, and reports indicate that WikiLeaks mastermind Julian Assange is to be arrested shortly by UK police.



Mr Westerwelle's chief of staff, Helmut Metzner, admitted that he gave regular information to the US embassy in Berlin, and has been "relieved from his duties," a spokesman for the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) said in a statement.



US diplomatic cables published this week by WikiLeaks reported the content of closed-doors coalition negotiations between the FDP and chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union based on input from an unnamed informer.



Philip Murphy, the US ambassador in Berlin, said the mole was a "young, up-and-coming party loyalist," who gave a detailed account of an internal government row over nuclear disarmament. The informant also spoke about veteran conservative Wolfgang Schauble, the current finance minister, as "neurotic" and "an angry old man."



According to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the 41-year old Mr Metzner will continue to work for the party, even after losing his top-job.



"I'm relieved that he didn't commit suicide. This is a consequence [of the leaks] not to be excluded - this has the potential to end people's careers," a contact in the EU institutions said.



Another official in the spotlight is Swedish diplomat Johan Frisell who briefed the US on internal talks between EU ministers about the 2008 Georgia war. "I bet he's feeling pretty uncomfortable now," the EU source said. "Diplomats take risks in their judgments, but these are not normally put into open. Now his judgment on the situation is open to question."



The Candian ambassador to Kabul, William Crosbie, has also offered to resign if future cables damage his relationship with the Afghani administration.



In Italy, pressure is mounting for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down, after a series of revelations concerning alleged bribe-taking from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.



Some 100 lawmakers on Thursday asked for Mr Berlusconi to step down ahead of a 14 December confidence vote. Among the protesters are former allies, indicating that the balance may be tipping in favour of the opposition this time around. The Putin allegation come on top of a long-standing series of sexual scandals suggesting Mr Berlusconi hosted sex-parties with underage girls.

Quote:5 December 2010 Last updated at 13:12 GMT



Wikileaks' Julian Assange to fight Swedish allegations



[Photo Caption:] Mr Assange has dismissed allegations against him as a smear campaign



Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will fight attempts to take him to Sweden to face rape allegations, his lawyer said.



Mark Stephens told the BBC that legal moves against his client seem(ed) to be a "political stunt" by a state that allowed US rendition flights.



He warned Wikileaks could release more secrets in a bid to protect itself.

(Do it anyway. It's begun, better finish it. They can't kill the hunted man twice for the same crime.)



A Swedish arrest warrant for Mr Assange was issued on Thursday. It comes amid the phased Wikileaks release of some 250,000 US diplomatic secret messages.



The warrant to interview the journalist - thought currently to be in the UK - concerns alleged sexual crimes during a visit to Sweden in August.



But Mr Stephens told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the entire case against Mr Assange had been dropped by Sweden's chief prosecutor in September.



He said it was only "after the intervention of a Swedish politician" that a new prosecutor in Gothenburg - not Stockholm, where his client and two women had been - began a new case.



It resulted in the current warrants, and an Interpol notice being issued. His client denies the allegations.



Mr Stephens said: "It does seem to be a political stunt.



"A warrant was issued on Thursday by reports. We've asked for it. We've been ignored at this point."

(Wow. Not even showing them the arrest warrant? Now, is that by-the-book or does that smell like a fish - a big fish, a very big very dead fish.

It's smelly dead coolacanths like this that further hint to me that the dude is likely to be innocent.)



He said he and his Swedish legal adviser had been trying to contact prosecutors since August and his client had tried to meet prosecutors to "restore his good name".



"He's only wanted for interview, why not have that interview by consent, rather than this show trial?" he added.

(What, no elaborate Hague execution show I mean Trial for the Yugoslavian.. I mean Australian?)



Mr Stephens warned that the organisation held further secret material which it regarded as a "thermo-nuclear device" to be released if it needs to protect itself.



Wikileaks is currently working through the publication of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, whose release has embarrassed the United States.



[Photo caption:] Lawyer Mark Stephens says pursuing Julian Assange over sex crime allegations is a political stunt



It has condemned the disclosures - including indiscreet descriptions of world leaders and instructions to spy at the UN - as an attack on the world community.



Asked by Andrew Marr if Mr Assange, who is in hiding, was in fear of his life, Mr Stephens said: "It's interesting to note people as high up the American tree as Sarah Palin have called for him to be hunted down by American special forces and assassinated.



"We've seen a number of suggestions that he should be assassinated, again from credible sources around the world.



"This is all about a man who is a journalist. He received, unbidden, an electronic brown envelope that journalists receive.

(???)



"This particular journalist has put it out. What they are doing is criminalising him, criminalising journalistic activity.



He said any attempt to take Mr Assange to Sweden could be a precursor to taking him on to the US, adding: "I'm really rather worried by the political motivations that appear to be behind this.



"It doesn't escape my attention that Sweden was one of those lickspittle states which used its resources and its facilities for rendition flights (US transport of terror suspects around the world for interrogation)."

Quote:Julian Assange

* Born Queensland, Australia, 1971

* Convicted in early 1990s in Australia of computer hacking and fined

* Co-wrote influential hacking and media book Underground

* Created Wikileaks in 2006 as web-based "dead letterbox" for whistle-blowers

* Arrest warrant issued in Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual crimes, which he denies

Link - Profile: Julian Assange