The activist website WikiLeaks continued to publish a series of stolen US State Department cables, embarrassing Washington and riling foreign governments exposed in the documents.
In each case the source is a State Department memo, most of them records of encounters with foreign officials, obtained by WikiLeaks and published on the group’s website: cablegate.wikileaks.org.
The US has condemned the leaks as a criminal act but has not disputed the authenticity of the published transcripts, which have been chosen for publication by reporters from major world dailies.
The leaks began on Sunday and have already covered several major diplomatic crises, in particular the nuclear stand-off with Iran and allegations of US spying on the UN. The following are the latest major revelations:
China is exasperated with North Korea and some in Beijing feel their erratic neighbour is losing strategic value and will one day reunite with South Korea.
Last year, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, Cheng Guoping, told a US envoy that Beijing regards North Korea’s nuclear programme as “very troublesome.”
The ambassador “said China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but he expects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term.”
Kuwait: ‘dump terror suspects back in afghanistan’
Kuwait’s interior minister told a US ambassador his country did not want Kuwaiti terror suspects held in Guantanamo Bay to return.
The exchange between Sheikh Jaber Khaled al-Sabah and the US envoy to Kuwait, which took place in February last year.
“If they are rotten, they are rotten and the best thing to do is get rid of them,” the minister said.
“You picked them up in Afghanistan: You should drop them off in Afghanistan, in the middle of the war zone.”
Saudi Arabia: ‘tag terror suspects’
Saudi King Abdullah proposed implanting Guantanamo detainees with electronic chips to monitor their movements after their release.
“I’ve just thought of something,” King Abdullah blurted during a March 2009 meeting with White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan.
The king proposed the prisoners be implanted with electronic microchips so that after their release they can be tracked “with Bluetooth” technology.
Egypt: ‘forget democracy in Iraq’
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak advised the United States in 2008 to “forget” about democracy in Iraq and allow a dictator to take over.
Mr Mubarak made the comments during talks with visiting US congressmen to whom he also admitted that he was “terrified” by the possibility of a nuclear Iran.
Now that they had troops in mainly Shiite Iraq, American troops should not withdraw because that would only serve to strengthen Shiite Iran next door.
“You cannot leave,” he said. “Strengthen the armed forces, relax your hold, and then you will have a coup. Then we will have a dictator, but a fair one.
“Forget democracy, the Iraqis by their nature are too tough.”
Karzai pardons drug smugglers
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the release of numerous dangerous criminals and drug traffickers detained by US-led coalition forces.
American officials repeatedly rebuked the president and Afghan attorney general Muhammad Ishaq Alko for authorising the release of detainees.