US wary of WikiLeaks new release

 US wary of WikiLeaks new release
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The WikiLeaks is expected to post secret documents about Pakistan on its website by the weekend, sources said. Sources said the documents would be available online on its website within 2 or 3 days which may be 94 in number. The to-be-revealed 94 secret papers mainly contain telegrams sent by the US Embassy in Islamabad to the State Department in Washington. Some of these papers relate to US observations about Pakistans policy towards Afghanistan, the debate within Pakistan on the war against terrorism, Islamabads cooperation with Washington and other military and intelligence matters. Some documents also contain US reservations about Pakistans nuclear programme. The sources said that changes in the US communication system allowed an anti-war activist access to more than 400,000 secret documents who handed them over to the website. US officials have warned that Afghanistan, China, Russia, Central Asian Republics, Canada, Britain, France, Turkey and Nato will all be affected by this unprecedented leak. The New York Times and The Washington Post are expected to publish some details from the leaked papers on Sunday. US warns allies on diplomatic leakThe US has briefed a number of foreign governments, including the UK, about the possible release of diplomatic files by whistleblower site Wikileaks. Reports say Turkey, Israel, Denmark and Norway have also been warned to expect potential embarrassment from the leaks. The top US military commander Adm Mike Mullen said the release of diplomatic cables was extremely dangerous and could put lives at risk. Wikileaks has said the US authorities are afraid of being held to account. It has not confirmed exactly when the documents will be made public. The website, founded by Julian Assange, said earlier this week that the release would be nearly seven times larger than the nearly 400,000 Pentagon documents related to the Iraq war it published in October. Analysts say the US and its allies have the potential to be embarrassed by the publication of candid assessments of foreign governments by its officials. State department spokesman PJ Crowley warned on Wednesday that the release could weaken trust in the US as a diplomatic partner. When this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television or radio, it has an impact, he said. Release may damage diplomatic tiesDiplomatic cables expected to be released soon by WikiLeaks could contain highly sensitive information that reveals US negotiating positions, secret intelligence and other confidential matters, a former US ambassador to Russia told CNN. The expected online disclosure has to be taken seriously, said James F. Collins, who served as ambassador to Moscow from 1997 to 2001 and is currently director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Leaking information of this kind will be detrimental to building the trust among officials necessary to conduct effective and productive diplomacy. It will impede doing things in a normal, civilized way, Collins said. I would think the information they will leak is likely to contain analysis, records of discussions or reporting on confidential conversations between officials or official policy recommendations or suggestions about policy or diplomatic actions, he added.The threat by WikiLeaks, the online whistle-blower website, to publish the information has prompted the State Department to undertake a massive review of diplomatic documents. A source tells CNN that every diplomatic mission document from 2006 to 2009 is under review.The United States has started to alert nations around the world about the possible leaks.
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