Downing Street was yesterday warned by US officials that leaked diplomatic messages will soon come to light, revealing American diplomats’ candid private assessments of British politics.
The telegrams and cable messages from the US embassy in London are among thousands of secret documents handed to the Wikileaks website, which is set to publish them within days.
The imminent leak has sparked warnings that America’s relations with its international allies could be badly strained.
Trying to limit the damage, US diplomats yesterday briefed friendly governments on the likely content of the leaked documents.
Sources revealed that the documents include commentary on the likely fate of the Coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
Transmitted in the early days of the Coalition, the messages are understood to predict that the Government was likely to prove ineffective and short-lived, ultimately doomed by tensions between Tories and Lib Dems.
Earlier messages about the previous Government could prove at least as embarrassing for Mr Brown
It is understood that that the embassy’s political staff told the State Department in Washington that the then prime minister was regarded as volatile and unpredictable, and politically weak.
“There are one or two things in there that could be mildly embarrassing for the Coalition,” said one source. “The previous government will also find it uncomfortable reading.”
As well as political commentary, US officials fear that the leaked papers could reveal details of intelligence-sharing arrangements, counter-terrorism operations and other highly sensitive aspects of American foreign policy.
As part of preparations for a “worst-case scenario”, US diplomats have privately briefed governments in countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Turkey about the likely revelations. Australian and Canadian officials have also been briefed.
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US State Department in Washington, criticised the imminent release.
“These revelations are harmful to the US and our interests. They are going to create tension in relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world.”
The diplomatic texts would be the third set of confidential US government documents unveiled by Wikileaks this year.
Earlier publications have revealed sensitive details of Western military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and led the allegations that the website was jeopardising the security of some Afghan government officials.
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed that the UK had passed on details of the telegrams.
The spokesman said: “Obviously, the Government has been briefed by US officials, by the US ambassador, as to the likely content of these leaks.
“'I don't want to speculate about precisely what is going to be leaked before it is leaked.”
Berlin plays down Wikileaks' Afghanistan files but plans investigation
0 comentarii Publicat de Mr. Miaghy la 01:01
The German defense ministry on Monday criticized the leak of around 92,000 classified US military documents on the Afghanistan war, but said the news value was rather limited.
The German news magazine Spiegel as well as the New York Times and the Guardian newspapers at the weekend printed excerpts of the documents, which were released by the Wikileaks website.
"Obtaining and releasing documents, some of them secret, on such a scale is a highly questionable practice since it could affect the national security of NATO allies and the whole NATO mission," defense ministry spokesman Christian Dienst said. "We're in the process of analyzing the material so as to find out whether the security of our German troops on the ground is affected in any way."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also called for further scrutiny of the documents. At an EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Westerwelle said the documents, which contain claims of concealed civilian casualties, had given him "comfort in my position, which consisted of never talking up the situation in Afghanistan, which is exceptionally serious."
Attacks on the rise
Dienst confirmed that reports about a drastic increase of Taliban attacks on allied troops were true. He said that in the course of this year alone there had been close to 60 armed attacks on the German ISAF contingent alone – almost triple the the figures available for 2007 and the years before.
Wikileaks claimed that US and NATO forces had increasingly been confined to reacting to the Taleban's operations and strategy rather than actively pursuing a policy of their own. The joint leader of Germany's opposition Green Party, Claudia Roth, told the media on Monday she didn't sense an often-cited new strategy of the allied forces in Afghanistan at all.
Killing a priority?
"The Wikileaks documents bear out just how dramatic the situation in Afghanistan is," Roth said. "But they also show the range of means the allies resort to in their fight for more stability."
Roth referred to classified documents highlighting the US special forces' capture-and-kill operations, including manhunts where the killing of innocent people is seen as mere collateral damage. According to the documents, 300 soldiers from the elite US 373 task force are located in the German camp at Masar-i-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan. Their major task is the killing of high-ranking Taliban leaders.
The sources available to Wikileaks do not specify whether any German officers are involved in the planning or implementing of such targeted killings. And the defense ministry in Berlin was unwilling to shed any light on this issue.
"As far as the US task force is concerned, it's in the nature of things that their operations remain secret," Christian Dienst said. "This means that only a very small circle of people is in the know about any details of these operations."
Everything said before?
Wikileaks knows that much of the information provided is not totally new. But it claims it has got hold of the most comprehensive description of an armed conflict ever.
Wikileaks is a web platform which claims to be the first intelligence agency of the people.
Since its founding in December 2006 it has called on potential whistleblowers from all over the world to make anonymous contributions and provide mostly classified information. So far, people have sent about 1.2 million such documents to the web platform.
Among Wikileaks' best-known scoops was the posting of a video depicting a US helicopter strike in Baghdad in 2007. The footage showed how about a dozen civilians were gunned down, among them two employees from the Reuters news agency.
In 2009, the website first acquired international recognition when it published secret documents from a multinational shipping company, implicating the firm in toxic waste dumping in the Ivory Coast.
WikiLeaks document says Defense Minister Ehud Barak consulted with Fatah, Egypt, asked if they could take over control of Gaza Strip after expected Israeli victory during Operation Cast Lead, but met with refusal
WikiLeaks documents, released Sunday in various newspapers, reveal that Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to coordinateOperation Cast Lead with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt.
The information comes from a document from the US ambassador in Tel Aviv which refers to a meeting Barak held with US members of Congress.
The document, written at the beginning of June 2009, notes that Barak said the PA was weak and had no self-confidence. He added that then US Security Coordinator for Israel and Palestine General Keith Dayton was trying to improve PA confidence.
The documents also reveal Israel's anxiety regarding its nuclear monopoly in the region, its willingness to attack Iran independently, and its untiring attempts to influence US policy.
"Cuban leader Fidel Castro came close to death in 2006, according to the latest secret US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks.
Mr Castro almost died after suffering a perforated intestine during an internal flight, unnamed sources told US diplomats in Havana.
The illness led Mr Castro to hand power to his brother Raul, although he has since returned to public life.
The 84-year-old's health is considered a state secret in Cuba.
The Wikileaks cables, published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, reveal the intense efforts made by US diplomats in Havana to find out the nature of Fidel Castro's illness and his chances of recovery.
The names of the sources of information reported in the cables have been redacted by Wikileaks, but some apparently knew people who were close to the Cuban leader, or had access to his medical records.
The details of what they say cannot be independently verified.
One cable, sent in March 2007 by the then-head of the US interests section in Havana, Michael Parmly, quotes a report by an unnamed doctor on the moment Mr Castro fell seriously ill in July 2006.The illness began on the plane from Holguin to Havana," reports the cable.As it was a short flight there was no doctor on board and they had to land urgently once they knew of Mr Castro's bleeding. He was diagnosed with diverticulitis of the colon.
The source said Mr Castro had a perforation of the large intestine and needed surgery.
But it says he "capriciously" refused to have a colostomy, with the result that his condition deteriorated over time and he required further surgery.
"This illness is not curable and will not, in her opinion, allow him to return to leading Cuba," the report concludes.
"He won't die immediately, but he will progressively lose his faculties and become ever more debilitated until he dies."
DefianceFurther leaked cables quote other sources as saying Mr Castro was terminally ill, and examine statements by his medical team and reports of specialist drugs being brought into Cuba.
But the reports of his imminent death have proved to be exaggerated.
Mr Castro has since made an apparent recovery and earlier this year returned to making speeches and appearing in public, though he has not taken back the reins of power from his brother Raul.
The former Cuban leader recently praised Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange, saying the leaks of thousands of diplomatic cables had brought the US "morally, to its knees".
"Julian Assange, a man who a few months ago hardly anyone in the world had heard of, is showing that the most powerful empire in history can be defied," he wrote in an article published by Cuban state media.
The US government and its intelligence agencies have been staunch enemies of Mr Castro and the communist government in Cuba for more than half a century.
So far, all their predictions of the imminent demise of communist party rule on the island have proved false.
The cables, sent from the US embassies in Belgrade and Pristina between the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, show that American diplomats feared that European "vacillation and weakness" would allow Serbs to push for the partition of Kosovo, which could trigger ethnic violence.
According to the dispatches, released by the whistblowers' Web site Wikileaks, senior Serbian officials have been indirectly pushing for the partition of Kosovo, claiming that while they may never again govern Kosovo, the government in Pristina will never gain full control of the territory.
According to the dispatches, released by the whistblowers' Web site Wikileaks, senior Serbian officials have been indirectly pushing for the partition of Kosovo, claiming that while they may never again govern Kosovo, the government in Pristina will never gain full control of the territory.
Tadic's foreign policy adviser Jovan Ratkovic told the US ambassador Mary Warlick in February that Kosovo Serbs in north Kosovo would never accept Kosovo Albanian government.
According to Ratkovic, the US and the EU were considering "military intervention" to forcibly incorporate northern Kosovo.
Ratkovic, who laid out a scenario tantamount to partition to Robert Cooper, Britain's EU troubleshooter on the Balkans and Iran, explicitly told Cooper that "while Belgrade would need to accept that it would not govern Kosovo again, Kosovo would have to come to the realization that it would not effectively be able to extend its governance north of the Ibar river."
According to Ratkovic, the US and the EU were considering "military intervention" to forcibly incorporate northern Kosovo.
Ratkovic, who laid out a scenario tantamount to partition to Robert Cooper, Britain's EU troubleshooter on the Balkans and Iran, explicitly told Cooper that "while Belgrade would need to accept that it would not govern Kosovo again, Kosovo would have to come to the realization that it would not effectively be able to extend its governance north of the Ibar river."
The search for Mladic
Cables sent from the US embassy in Belgrade in 2006 reveal American impatience with Serbia's very limited efforts to track down former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague for war crimes.
Cables sent from the US embassy in Belgrade in 2006 reveal American impatience with Serbia's very limited efforts to track down former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague for war crimes.
American officials noted that they had provided the Serbian government with 11 recommendations designed to advance the Mladic hunt but had had little luck pushing them through.
"Due primarily to the resistance of Prime Minister Kostunica himself, the government has not carried out in full a single one of our recommendations."
The situation does appear to improve however, after the new Serbian government led by President Tadic's Democratic Party took office in 2008. A cable from May 2009 says that Serbia is doing as much as it can to locate and arrest Mladic.
"The current government clearly wants to find Mladic, a prerequisite for moving ahead with EU accession," the dispatch reads, although a Spanish diplomat whose remarks were conveyed in a 2008 cable didn't agree: “Serbia is not cooperating at all with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and knows perfectly well where Mladic is."
"Due primarily to the resistance of Prime Minister Kostunica himself, the government has not carried out in full a single one of our recommendations."
The situation does appear to improve however, after the new Serbian government led by President Tadic's Democratic Party took office in 2008. A cable from May 2009 says that Serbia is doing as much as it can to locate and arrest Mladic.
"The current government clearly wants to find Mladic, a prerequisite for moving ahead with EU accession," the dispatch reads, although a Spanish diplomat whose remarks were conveyed in a 2008 cable didn't agree: “Serbia is not cooperating at all with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and knows perfectly well where Mladic is."
Other diplomats continued to express their concern over the Mladic situation. In a dispatch from November 2009, published in part by the NY Times, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko says that Mladic "was hiding in Belgrade with a new identity, perhaps with help from a security firm acting as a support network."
He also voiced fear over what he felt was waning American pressure on Belgrade, worrying that America was “abandoning the Mladic case.”
The leaked communication also point to a possible Russian connection to the Mladic case. Presidential advisor Miki Rakic told American diplomats in August 2009 that "Russia has not been forthcoming on Serbia’s requests for assistance in locating Hague indictee Ratko Mladic".
He noted that he had requested information about specific contacts between Mladic associates and Russian diplomats, as well as phone calls and trips to Russia by Mladic associates, to a number of Russian officials and was awaiting their reponse.
WikiLeaks: NATO's secret plans to defend Baltic revealed
0 comentarii Publicat de Mr. Miaghy la 08:04NATO has drawn up secret plans to defend the Baltic states against any Russian threat, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported today (7 December), citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The decision to draft contingency plans for the former Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the United States and Germany at NATO headquarters, ending years of division within the alliance over how to view Russia, the Guardian said.
In parallel talks with Warsaw, it said, Washington offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia, putting F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from US bases in Germany.
The details were from 250,000 diplomatic cables obtained by the website WikiLeaks that are being made public.
NATO leaders were understood to have quietly endorsed the new strategy to defend vulnerable parts of eastern Europe at a summit in Lisbon last month, the Guardian said.
In Lisbon, NATO and Russia agreed to cooperate on missile defence and other security issues, and hailed a new start in relations strained since Russia's military intervention in Georgia in 2008. US President Barack Obama has a policy of "resetting" relations with Moscow.
But the WikiLeaks cables point to the underlying tension in the relationship between the former Cold War adversaries.
The plan entailed grouping the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme, codenamed Eagle Guardian, said the paper.
Poland, the Baltic states and others were rattled by Russia's brief war against Georgia and have been irked by large-scale Russian army exercises in Belarus and by Moscow's new military doctrine that sees NATO expansion as a threat.
The Guardian said nine NATO divisions - US, British, German and Polish - had been identified for combat operations in the event of aggression against Poland or the Baltic states.
North Polish and German ports had been listed to receive naval assault forces and British and US warships, the paper said.
The first NATO exercises under the plan were to take place in the Baltic next year, it quoted informed sources as saying.
Germany and other Western European countries had previously opposed drawing up plans to defend the Baltic states, anxious to avoid upsetting Russia.
Earlier this year, the United States started rotating US army Patriot missiles into Poland.
But the secret cables exposed the Patriots' value as purely symbolic. The Patriot battery was for training purposes, and was neither operational nor armed with missiles, said the Guardian.
Julian Assange like a hi-tech terrorist, says Joe Biden
0 comentarii Publicat de Mr. Miaghy la 02:37
The US vice-president, Joe Biden, today likened the WikiLeaks founder,Julian Assange, to a "hi-tech terrorist", the strongest criticism yet from the Obama administration.
Biden claimed that by leaking diplomatic cables Assange had put lives at risk and made it more difficult for the US to conduct its business around the world.
His description of Assange shows a level of irritation that contrasts with more sanguine comments from other senior figures in the White House, who said the leak had not done serious damage.
Interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press, Biden was asked if the administration could prevent further leaks, as Assange warned last week. "We are looking at that right now. The justice department is taking a look at that," Biden said, without elaborating.
The justice department is struggling to find legislation with which to prosecute Assange.
Asked if what Assange had done was criminal, Biden seemed to suggest it would be considered criminal if it could be established that the WikiLeaks founder had encouraged or helped Bradley Manning, the US intelligence analyst suspected of being behind the leak. Biden claimed this was different from a journalist receiving leaked material.
"If he conspired to get these classified documents with a member of the US military that is fundamentally different than if someone drops on your lap … you are a press person, here is classified material."
Asked if he saw Assange as closer to a hi-tech terrorist than the whistleblower who released the Pentagon papers in the 1970s, which disclosed the lie on which US involvement in Vietnam was based, Biden replied: "I would argue it is closer to being a hi-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers. But, look, this guy has done things that have damaged and put in jeopardy the lives and occupations of people in other parts of the world.
"He's made it more difficult for us to conduct our business with our allies and our friends. For example, in my meetings – you know I meet with most of these world leaders – there is a desire now to meet with me alone, rather than have staff in the room. It makes things more cumbersome – so it has done damage."
The interview, though broadcast yesterday, was conducted on Friday. In an interview the previous day, he had been more neutral about WikiLeaks, saying: "I don't think there's any substantive damage."
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, led criticism of the WikiLeaks revelations at the end of November when she accused the website of mounting an "attack" on the world.
Few of the 910 cables on Wikileaks went from Dublin’s U.S. Embassy
0 comentarii Publicat de Mr. Miaghy la 02:34There were few classified Irish cables contained in thisWikiLeaks documents that were leaked this week. The cables were sent from the US embassy in Dublin to the State Department (the last one was sent to Washington in June 2008).
The June able is the only one sent from Ireland classified “secret NOFORN” which means it was not to be made accessible to non-US nationals.
The US embassy in Dublin did not contact the Irish Governmentin advance of Sunday’s release of leaked documents because it did not consider the leaked material's sensitive enough.
In many cases, cables from Ireland with military or security related tags carried information relating to airports and aviation as well as economic issues, which suggests their most content relates to bilateral agreements over the use of Shannon airport by US troops.
On several occasions, cables are also tagged with a "Human Rights" classification, which could refer to the controversial use of Shannon by airport by planes known or suspected to be involved in the US renditions program.
HAVANA — Cuban-American exiles in Florida may be eagerly awaiting the death of Fidel Castro, but U.S. diplomats in Havana don't expect the revolutionary icon's passing to generate any immediate unrest on the communist-run island, or even an upsurge in Cubans seeking to leave, according to a newly released diplomatic cable.
Another cable from late last year reveals that Fidel's brother, Raul, expressed an interest in opening a direct dialogue with the White House, but was apparently told any dealings should be conducted through normal diplomatic channels.
The January 2009 dispatch on Castro's health was sent from the U.S. Interests Section and classified as "secret." It said Cubans' "generally conservative nature after 50 years of repression, combined with still significant admiration for Fidel personally, argue against short term disturbances."
The cable, which was released Wednesday by WikiLeaks and posted online by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, was apparently written by Jonathan Farrar, the top U.S. diplomat on the island. Washington maintains the Interests Section instead of an embassy because the two Cold War enemies have no formal diplomatic relations. Farrar is referred to as chief of mission, not ambassador.
In the cable, Farrar said he expected the Cuban government to carefully manage the announcement of Fidel Castro's death to make sure islanders understand that his brother Raul is still in charge. Raul took over the presidency from an ailing Fidel – first temporarily, then permanently – in 2006.
The two brothers have led Cuba since they ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, with Raul serving as the head of the armed forces before taking over the top spot.
"GOC (Government of Cuba) officials would most likely manage the death announcement and subsequent funeral arrangements, etc., in great detail with a view toward putting the best face on the situation, both domestically and to the world," the cable reads. "Utmost care will be given to ensuring that the Cuban public understands that Raul and the rest of the GOC remain in firm control."
Farrar speculated Fidel's death could even cause a drop in the number of Cubans seeking to emigrate, as islanders wait to see what unfolds. A mass exodus of Cubans attempting a perilous journey by boat across the Straits of Florida would be a humanitarian disaster, and has always been one of Washington's main concerns.
Far from dying, the 84-year-old Fidel has had something of a resurgence since the cable was written – particularly in recent months.
In 2009, Castro weighed in on international issues more than 100 times in frequent opinion pieces called "Reflections" that were published in state-media. In July of this year, he emerged from four years of seclusion, and now makes almost weekly appearances, looking old but mentally sharp.
Two cables from December 2009 reveal an apparently failed effort by Raul Castro to open a new channel for dialogue with the U.S. The first, signed by Farrar on Dec. 5, 2009, after a meeting with the Spanish ambassador to Cuba, outlines an offer apparently made by Raul Castro through then Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to open direct talks with the White House.
"Only via such a political channel would the GOC be able to make major moves toward meeting U.S. concerns," the cable said, quoting the Spanish ambassador.
In response, Farrar wrote that he ran through a list of diplomatic overtures the U.S. had already made toward Cuba, and suggested that rather than a backdoor dialogue, Castro "should engage seriously through the existing channels."
A subsequent cable from last Dec. 18, following Moratinos' meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the diplomat offered the services of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in arranging such a dialogue between Raul Castro and the White House.
The cable does not contain Clinton's response. When asked Thursday if the U.S. government was open to direct talks with Raul Castro, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington already communicated with Cuba on limited issues of mutual interest, like migration, and saw no reason to expand those contacts.
"A broader, higher-level dialogue will only be feasible once we see real change in Cuba," he said. "As we've said, we're prepared to respond as Cuba changes, but we have not seen anything approaching fundamental change in Cuba at this point."
Several other cables released Wednesday show U.S. diplomats speculating about the physical and mental health of both Castro brothers.
In a series of dispatches from 2006 and 2007, U.S. diplomats discussed the unknown health issue that forced Fidel Castro from power, and guessing how much longer he might live. The cables quoted sources whose names have been redacted but who are apparently close to Fidel, and say the Cuban leader nearly died of his illness.
Castro himself has said as much, revealing in an interview earlier this year that at one point he hoped for death.
In a 2007 dispatch, Farrar's predecessor, Michael Palmry, quoted an unidentified retired Cuban doctor as saying Fidel had an irreversible terminal illness, but would not die "immediately."
"Frankly, we don't believe anyone, including Castro himself, can state ... with certainty" how long he will live, Palmry wrote. "However, while he is still alive, even in a reduced capacity, his presence has a chilling and retardant effect on Cuban society."
Palmry intimated that Cubans were poised for change following Castro's death, the exact opposite of the view Farrar expounded in the 2009 cable.
"The high expectations for change are still out there, but are mostly associated with the idea that the dictator has to die first before anything substantial will happen," Palmry concluded.
There is a striking change in tone in the cables sent by Palmry and Farrar, who took over the Interests Section in 2008. Palmry rarely missed an opportunity to describe the Castro brothers in the harshest terms, while Farrar offered more detached assessments.
In a 2007 cable on the death of Raul Castro's wife, Vilma Espin, Palmry speculated the loss might throw the Cuban president into a depression – even though he said it would have little effect on Fidel.
"Although we doubt Fidel Castro cares very much about the loss of Vilma Espin, or much else beyond his own personal legacy, we expect that her death will have a significant impact on Raul Castro," the cable said, before continuing with what must be one of the greatest backhanded compliments in recent diplomatic history.
"Yes, both Fidel and Raul Castro are mass murderers and cruel leaders," Palmry wrote. "But Raul always has had a parallel reputation as a family man."
"In a campaign that had some declaring the start of a “cyberwar,” hundreds of Internet activists mounted retaliatory attacks on Wednesday on the Web sites of multinational companies and other organizations they deemed hostile to the WikiLeaks antisecrecy organization and its jailed founder, Julian Assange."
It all started early December when the controversial site WikiLeaks site was dropped from service due to what the company responsible said was "many attacks" by those who opposed the existence of WikiLeaks. Not content to let it be, opposition grew around the internet to what was seen as internet censorship. WikiLeaks supporters rallied and the site has now been mirroredon over 76 servers across the planet. But that wasn't the end of it.
Internet giant Amazon refused WikiLeaks webspace on it's server. ThenPostFinance, a Swiss bank, announced that it has closed a bank accountowned by Jullian Assange. With the U.S. Government apparently getting involved, PayPal joined in and blocked the transfer of funds to WikiLeaks. Next, both Mastercard and Visa announced that they too would suspend payments to the WikiLeaks organization.
For many, that was the last straw. There would be a response. And a few days ago, Operation Payback began. It's been a shit-storm unlike anything I've ever seen.
It started small with only an estimated 40 people in an IRC chat room. However, as of an hour ago, there were over 4,000 people firing DDOS (denial of service attacks) at chosen websites. DDOS attacks overload the servers hosting the websites and crash them. The result of which is an error message when anyone around the world attempts to load up that site. Some of the attackers are part of a cyber-group who called themselves Anonymous. They even have a Twitter account updating folks on the progress of their attacks. (Their first account was closed, so they remade another one).
"Anonymous is supporting WikiLeaks not because we agree or disagree with the data that is being sent out, but we disagree with any from of censorship on the internet. If we let WikiLeaks fall without a fight then governments will think they can just take down any sites they wish or disagree with."
The attacks have been effective. First the Post Finance bank site was shut down. Customers were unable to do any banking via the Net. Then both theMastercard and the Visa websites fell. Paypal was also attacked which resulted in the company's blog being shut down for a time. It has since been restored. Government officials have also been targets of the attacks. American Senator Joseph Lieberman’s .gov website was taken down for 12 minutes (the first .gov site to be attacked). So was Sarah Palin's site.
Time magazine published an article that is making rounds this morning. Their view? WikiLeaks is winning the information war. And they should know. They have been ALL OVER this story. Just look at the amount of material they've published.
In the middle of all this, the WikiLeaks organization continues to publish material. Take the news that broke today, for instance, where oil giant Shell aparently boasted that they had infiltrated the Government of Nigeria. When an oil company has dominance over an entire government and its people... Well... some people feel that this information is on a need-to-know basis and that the entire world needs to know about it.
You might think that these DDOS attacks are only minor inconviniences and really have no impact. But one needs to consider the risk of a growing number of web-saavy people who are increasingly organized and angry at what they see as "web-censership" and "dictatorship government!". An attack on PayPal for instance has a very real impact. If the site gets taken down, if people and businessess are unable to log on and conduct business, then that is a very real financial impact no matter where in the world you are.
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