WikiLeaks: Hot Egyptian Nights, Volume One..

First, to set the stage, lets flash back to late November(Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010).. WikiLeaks Fallout: Undermining Egypt as Mideast Mediator Excerpts:

The flood of classified U.S. diplomatic cables released on Sunday by WikiLeaks threatens to further undermine Egypt's already questionable role as a neutral mediator between Palestinian factions, embarrass the U.S. in one of its most important Middle Eastern allies and expose the authoritarian regime of President Hosni Mubarak to more criticism in the aftermath of a parliamentary election this past weekend that was marred by widespread accounts of fraud and abuse.

For Cairo, the country's current preoccupation with an election that fell on the same day as the WikiLeaks disclosure may serve to distract the public for the time being. Egyptian newspapers on Monday devoted some attention to the leaks, but focused on revelations regarding their neighbors and other countries — not Egypt. Meanwhile a Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the documents' impact — indicating that he was not up to speed on the details and was currently in Libya. But inevitably, analysts say, details of Egypt's hard-line stance on Hamas, as well as its close cooperation with Israel, will provide fresh fodder for Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, which suffered serious losses in the weekend's poll.

One of Brotherhood's strongest talking points against Mubarak's deeply unpopular regime has been its allegedly close relationship with Israel — a neighbor still widely vilified by the Egyptian public. Thanks to the diplomatic cables, Egypt may now have to account for fresh details regarding its cooperation with the Jewish state, as well as its role as a regional peace broker. "I think the most important thing is the link between these documents that explain everything and the crackdown on democracy and the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood," says Essam al-Erian, a member of the Brotherhood's politburo. "If there was a democracy in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood became more powerful, this would threaten this good relationship between Egypt and the Israelis."
..
What may be more worrying to the Egyptian government,however, is a blow to the state's credibility as a regional peace broker. For years, Mubarak's regime has presented itself as the only diplomatic actor capable of resolving the 2007 split between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah that left Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah in control of the West Bank. Palestinians deem reconciliation critical to the success of any peace deal with Israel, but many accuse Egypt of being a biased mediator and therefore unfit for the job. The disclosed documents appear to leave little doubt as to where Egypt stands.

"Mubarak hates Hamas and considers them the same as Egypt's own Muslim Brotherhood, which he sees as his own most dangerous political threat," Scobey said in the February 2009 cable. Another cable detailing a meeting between Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and General David Petraeus, of the U.S. Central Command, in the same year revealed Suleiman was pessimistic about prospects of reaching a deal. "I consider myself a patient man, but I am losing patience," Suleiman told Petraeus. He said Egypt was committed to undermining Hamas and building popular support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West.

And from December 9th.. US ambassador tells Hillary Clinton that president will win rigged election next year, his 30th in power

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-serving president, is likely to seek re-election next year and will "inevitably" win a poll that will not be free and fair, the US ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey, predicted in a secret cable to Hillary Clinton last year.
..
Scobey's candid view, in a cable dated May 2009, is that Mubarak, 82, who heads the Arab world's most populous and influential nation, is most likely to die in office rather than step down voluntarily or be replaced in a plausible democratic vote. "The next presidential elections are scheduled for 2011 and if Mubarak is still alive it is likely he will run again and, inevitably, win," Scobey writes.

So.. The United States knew, yet said nothing. I'm sure they've known for a very long time. That's probably common knowledge in Egypt. That knowledge might be one of the reasons the Egyptian people don't trust us.. Maybe? Maybe? Continuing on..

WikiLeaks Exposes New Egypt Docs Amid Protests. Will Anyone There See Them?

As Egyptian police fire tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at protesters in Cairo, WikiLeaks has been firing back with a stream of new State Department cables that reveal human rights abuses and political arrests in the country. But it shouldn’t expect those document dumps to fuel the mass movement there: As of Wednesday evening, Egypt’s government had shut off all four of its major Internet service providers, (ISPs) essentially instituting a nationwide digital blackout. (But the ones in November and December.. They probably got out there, right?)
..
The blackout means there’s little chance of anyone in Egypt seeing a new round of WikiLeaks’ secret State Department cables that the secret-spilling group has released and linked to on its Twitter feed, apparently specially timed to highlight the injustices of the Egyptian regime and America’s ties to it. Those cables reveal that “police brutality continues to be a pervasive, daily occurrence,” with police often hanging criminal suspects from their arms for days at a time, and that bloggers and journalists live in fear of arrest. One cable admits that under Mubarak’s rule, which has long received military and financial support from the U.S., “torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread. The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders.”

Remember this fall when Secretary Clinton was flying all over the world, "apologizing"? Maybe they had an idea as to the political impact these cables might have on specific countries, Egypt included. These statements make more sense now, doesn't they?" Excerpts:

“This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests,” said Clinton. “It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity.”

“It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems,” she told reporters at the State Department.

Clinton would not comment on the specific contents of the cables but said the administration “deeply regrets” any embarrassment caused by their disclosure. Many of them contain candid and often unflattering assessments of foreign leaders, both friends and foes.

Speculation has already started as to who gets credit for starting the Egyptian revolution; Bush or Obama. Fuck the actual Egyptians. They only did all the work and shed all the blood.. But if I were to guess, I'd say Julian Assange had more motivational influence on Egypt than either one of our last two Presidents. He's the only one to tell the people of Egypt the truth.

This Week In Korea Conflict.

South Korea and Japan discuss first-ever military agreements

Pentagon Chief Huddles With Allies About NKorea

U.S. Recruits Japan As Global Military Partner

North Korea Threatens America with Long-Range Missiles

North Korea calls for unconditional talks with South Korea

North Korea's military: a bad hand played well

So, things are pretty much the same: Gigantic powderkeg, no real spark -- yet.

Now my life is at risk, says WikiLeaks chief ... and he promises to publish files on UFOs and aliens

Wow..  I thought this was a parody article, but it is definitely not.  Beautiful excerpts in italics:

.. Julian Assange also revealed he would publish classified U.S. files about aliens and unidentified flying objects.
..
In a fresh twist, Mr Assange, who is in hiding somewhere near London, pledged to publish leaked diplomat cables relating to flying saucers.
..
But he said: ‘It is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFO's.'

Oh F/N Snap!  Every day, new secrets drop, bombshells here and there..  But when UFO cables start coming out(Proving the phenomenon either real or fake), the space bombshells could be too big to ignore, and will require a response from both the government and the media.

And now, if what Julian Assange said is true, the truth really is out there..  Already.

If You Haven't Heard Of WikiLeaks Before, You Will This Week..

WikiLeaks has staged document dumps in the past(Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm looking in your direction..), but nothing like this:  Seven times the size of Iraq's release, and that was almost four hundred thousand documents!  The focus of today's release?  U.S. Diplomatic cables regarding everyone.  Everyone.  Allies, enemies..  It doesn't matter.  And now, it's going to be all out there.  And it's going to take months for press organizations, other governments, braver souls than I, etc..  to go through all these documents and really assess what they mean and the totality of their impact.  Our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world is a big deal, and "lifting the veil" on how that diplomacy works and what our government is really thinking(and how they gossip about it)is a Big Deal.

And someone's not happy with Assange/WikiLeaks.  I mean, of course, hackers(or groups wanting to look like hackers), disinformation groups, and the usual right wing types and Administration mouthpieces..

Geopolitically, This Is A (Really) Big Deal..

Vatican body asks UN to 'end Israeli occupation' Key excerpts in italics:

Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land or a chosen people to justify new "settlements" in Jerusalem or territorial claims, a Vatican synod on the Middle East said on Saturday.
And:
US-brokered peace talks have stalled since Israel rejected appeals to extend a temporary moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that expired last month.

Since the freeze expired, Israel has announced plans to build another 238 homes in two east Jerusalem neighborhoods, drawing the condemnation of Palestinians and world leaders.

In a separate part of the document, a section on cooperation with Jews, the synod fathers also took issue with Jews who use the Bible to justify settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.


"Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable," the document said.

Many Jewish settlers and right-wing Israelis claim a biblical birthright to the West Bank, which they call Judea and Samaria and regard as a part of historical, ancient Israel given to the Jews by God.

Asked about the passage at a news conference, Greek-Melchite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, said:


"We Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.

"The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians," he added. "The justification of Israel's occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures."

This is big. The Vatican is criticizing THE Fundamental Justification of Israel's Military Strategy and doing it to the United Nations. Whatever your thoughts are on either organization doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that this bit of information means jack-shit your little corner of the world.

To the entities involved, this is a big slap in the face and won't be forgotten anytime soon. My prediction is that Israel will take a much more defensive posture, thereby escalating tensions, not only in the region(including Iran), but with Russia, China, and the U.S. What alliances actually occur is something I won't speculate on, at least, not at the moment..