
Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables - derrida
http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/
======
tokenadult
I have an American friend (we met when we were both living overseas) who has
been all over the world because he works for the international travel
industry. He hasn't lived in the United States for at least a decade. If I
remember correctly, he hasn't even visited the United States for at least four
years. He and I have both long been skeptics about the United States
Department of State and especially the Foreign Service. But after the
Wikileaks release of many United States diplomatic cables, he told me that his
respect for the United States Foreign Service had increased enormously. The
members of the Foreign Service are actually quite astute about what a clash in
values is involved in maintaining peaceful, normal diplomatic relations
between their free, democratic country and many other countries around the
world. Diplomatic business has to go on day by day even while countries are
painfully slow in their evolution to civil liberties and representative
governments.

~~~
eLobato
It's funny you mention this when a lot of these cables show how the US
government was pressuring the Spanish government to join NATO and more
recently to legislate in favor of the American media lobby. Obviously it's
both parties fault, but I don't particularly like when my country and the
people who are supposed to be my representatives are constantly subject to
American wishes. They are definitely polite, but their requests and intentions
are as selfish as it can be.

~~~
robryan
They are operating in their own interests. I would expect Spain to also being
doing this, obviously some countries hold more sway than others.

~~~
skrebbel
This is a common argument, that I've seen at lot here on HN as well. It boils
down to "every country should act in only its own direct best interest, and
assume that every other country will or should the same". If I'm not mistaken,
that's called classical realism[1] by political scientists.

Now, why do things have to be this way? Are you certain that, even while we
the people are perfectly capable of being nice to each other, the countries
that represent us must act like immorally self-centered egoists? Why is that a
justification for crap behavior?

Despite all its flaws, the EU has shown that it does not have to be this way.
Countries _can_ cooperate and look beyond their own immediate interests. I'm
not saying that that's the only right way, and I'm very much not saying that
the EU is doing it right, but classical realism isn't the only approach to
international relations out there. Saying that something must be so "because
countries should act in their own interests only" is a sloppy argument.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_in_international_relati...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_in_international_relations)

~~~
berntb
>>Now, why do things have to be this way? Are you certain that, even while we
the people are perfectly capable of being nice to each other, the countries
that represent us must act like immorally self-centered egoists?

That is a very common opinion (yes, I'm calling you naive).

You are making an analogy between civil society (where people are nice) to
states, where there is "realpolitik".

You forget that there is a violence monopoly (police etc) to keep rule of law
in a society, but not between countries. Before states that enforced a
violence monopoly, there were clan societies.

Simplified for clan sovieties think vikings, Afghanistan, parts of
Pakistan/Iraq, etc. Not so nice... in fact, you can probably do good analogues
between (especially non-democratic) countries and big clans.

(Yeah, the above is a bit simplified -- democracies are e.g. quite nice as
long as the opinion at home cares. The point should be clear.)

Edit: AnthonBerg, ok it was not necessary to point out that an opinion is
naive. I used to have that opinion myself, so it irritates me. (I grew up
reading Swedish media; stupid and simplified world view.)

~~~
skrebbel
Then explain the EU to me? Especially the beginnings of it? E.g. France, UK
and Germany, mortal enemies for centuries, shifting focus from self-interest
defense thinking to collaboration?

~~~
ht_th
Or was it collaboration in defense of their self-interest? After WWII Europe
was in ruin, the USA and USSR had taken over as the world powers, and the
sentiment "never again" clearly had not proven to strong enough in the past.
Making the same mistakes as after WWI was not an option this time.

Furthermore, Western Europe found in the USSR a common and real enemy. As
Germany was divided into four (later two) parts, the power balance between
France and Germany favored France at that time. That allowed for the idea of a
collaboration that would connect the re-development of Germany to the
development of Western-Europe as a whole. As a result, so hoped the
Europeanists, France and Germany would become co-dependent to that extent that
a military solution would not be in the interest of either country. To keep
that balance, however, neither country could afford to annex some of the
smaller countries. That would make the European idea attractive to these
smaller countries.

All idealism aside, all this can be explained from a Realpolitiker point of
view.

PS It has been a while I since studied International Relations and Modern
History, however, so take the above more as informed speculation than
historical analysis.

------
columbo
This stuff is fun:

Commercial Opportunities in Iraq Oil Sector:

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973BAGHDA00111_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973BAGHDA00111_b.html)

Earliest record for Megabyte

<https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973OECDP12963_b.html>

Opening up a 50 kilobit connection in moscow:

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976MOSCOW16762_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976MOSCOW16762_b.html)

US shipping a Graphical Display Unit to the USSR in 1973

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973STATE229113_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973STATE229113_b.html)

Romanians love Columbo:

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01611_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01611_b.html)

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01912_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01912_b.html)

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01936_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01936_b.html)

[https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR02356_b.htm...](https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR02356_b.html)

~~~
jmcgough
"The original series, which ran from 1971 to 1977, was so popular in Romania
it was broadcast there twice a week. When ``Columbo`` stopped production in
the U.S., suspicious Romanians thought their government had canceled the show
because of import quotas. Fearing riots, the Romanian government begged the
U.S. State Department to have the show`s star, Peter Falk, make a public-
service announcement explaining the real reason for the demise of ``Columbo.``
Falk obliged and taped a TV spot, which he read phonetically in Romanian."

[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-04-02/features/89033...](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-04-02/features/8903310956_1_peter-
falk-bodyguards-gideon-oliver)

~~~
starik36
That's hilarious. Columbo was my grandfather's favorite show on Hungarian TV
back in the day. Every episode was absolutely perfectly lip synced - you
couldn't even tell that Hungarian wasn't the original language.

~~~
roel_v
"Every episode was absolutely perfectly lip synced - you couldn't even tell
that Hungarian wasn't the original language."

OT, but do you know anything about how that worked? Surely in another
language, the form of the lips while speaking is different, not to mention the
length of sentences, double entendres that are impossible to translate, etc?

~~~
EdiX
> but do you know anything about how that worked? Surely in another language,
> the form of the lips while speaking is different

It will be different but unless you read lips or pay close attention you won't
notice it (too much). IIRC dub translators try to match end vowels of
sentences.

> not to mention the length of sentences

A good adaptation will account for that and translate for matching durations.

> double entendres that are impossible to translate

That's not a problem unique to dubbing. When a joke is impossible to translate
it isn't. Good translators will compensate for dropped jokes by adding other
jokes when possible. Translated comedy is rarely good.

------
rdtsc
Usual disclaimer applies for those with a clearance: by accessing classified
documents on your home computers you could get yourself in serious trouble (in
theory). In light of this particular situation I don't know if anyone has ever
been punished but you should be careful.

~~~
scotty79
Is it still classified if it's public? Doesn't a thing stop being secret
automatically when it leaks out?

If it does not then I wonder why they even called it "classified" or "secret".
They should call it "blargh" and avoid the confusion.

~~~
Cacti
No. Whether something is classified or not has nothing to do with who has read
it or whether its common knowledge or leaked or not. Classified is classified
until its officially declassified, period.

~~~
Andrew_Quentin
lol

------
joering2
Am I the only one genuinely afraid of clicking any of cables with keyword
SECRET ?

~~~
rdtsc
If you have a clearance you should absolutely not be clicking on it (if you
are also paranoid and don't want to possibly fail your polygraph test -- "have
you accessed or downloaded classified documents on your personal computer...?"
er...oops).

Otherwise if you don't hold a clearance, I don't think they can do anything to
you (however, I am not a lawyer so don't take this as a legal advice etc
etc...)

~~~
singular
Actually don't worry too much about the polygraph, it's complete
pseudoscience. <http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Polygraph>

~~~
tikwidd
and yet, still used

~~~
Udo
They're using the _idea_ of the polygraph, the actual measurements could mean
anything. It's the "conversation" during and after the test that counts.

Of course it's also a great medium to screw someone over, but that's a whole
other thing.

~~~
rdtsc
Yap it is just an interrogation. However, knowing about how the polygraph is
ineffective and letting the administrator know will often result in 'FAILURE'.
They will specifically ask questions related to polygraph terminology (lingo,
abbreviations) to see if you are familiar.

It effectively lets through psychopaths, very good liar or those that know how
polygraphs work and presumably practiced passing it.

------
jasonkolb
I love how they thoughtfully go ahead and provide a headline-ready name for
the data set now.

"Cablegate."

At this point the Watergate should just assign rooms scandal names ending in
-Gate instead of room numbers.

~~~
bvdbijl
There's a nice British comedy sketch about naming everything -gate
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB9JgxhXW5w>

~~~
oakesm9
The advert I got for that YouTbue video started with a Lionsgate logo...

------
olefoo
I am mildly disappointed that there is not a torrent seed of the whole
dataset...

It might be interesting to see what sort of correlates could be inferred by a
crowdsourced analysis.

~~~
huskyr
It's not the whole dataset, but the cables from 2003-2010 are downloadable
here:

<http://cryptome.org/z/z.7z>

~~~
olefoo
Thanks.

------
l33tbro
Does anyone know the verification process Wikileaks uses? Ie, if I anonymously
send them some "cables", how do they know I'm not trolling them with disinfo?

~~~
patdennis
The modern cables are from a single source, and that source is in a military
prison.

~~~
espeed
Bradley Manning Admits to Being Wikileaks Source (
[http://mashable.com/2013/02/28/bradley-manning-reveals-
how-a...](http://mashable.com/2013/02/28/bradley-manning-reveals-how-and-why-
he-leaked-secret-documents/))

~~~
rimantas
He was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Can someone explain the logic behind
this? In Nobel's will it is said:

    
    
      > one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best
      > work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction
      > of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace
      > congresses
    

If Manning/Wikileaks did anything of this nature, I missed it a big way :(

~~~
Ygg2
With Obama/EU(not a person at all) winning Nobel peace prize, its obviously
just political showmanship.

Obama is a controversial because he expanded definition of combatant and
expanded military reach.

EU is a state. Not a person...

~~~
dagw
Not that I disagree with your assessment as such, but the peace prize as been
award to institutions and organizations lots of times. So in and of itself
there is nothing strange or unusual about the EU getting the prize.

~~~
Ygg2
It's especially weird that it got awarded sometimes when the crisis escalated,
while Greece was slipping into fascism.

------
wyck
This one is interesting: 30 day mandate for computers sold in China to install
filtering software called "Green Dam - Escort of the Youth Flowers" , besides
the great name it even comes with a backdoor.

<https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BEIJING1520_a.html>

------
derrida
There is a Google trends style search tool for the database here:
<http://wikileaks.org/plusd/graph>

~~~
a_bonobo
One minor caveat is:

>This tool only searches the Kissinger Cables (1973-1976) dataset

Would have loved to play around with Iraq-related terms... But maybe that's
still to come.

~~~
RoboTeddy
Check out "Document sets to search" at the top of the search tool.

It looks like you select "The Kissinger Cables" (1,707,500 diplomatic
documents from 1973 to 1976) and/or "Cablegate" (251,287 diplomatic cables,
nearly all from 2003 to 2010)

------
patrickgzill
Weird prediction: some 22 year old is reading a bunch of these now. He/she
will enter the foreign service of his/her respective country and become a
great career diplomat as a result.

------
runn1ng
Is this the same thing as the cables from about 2 years before, or something
new?

edit: oh OK, those are cablegate + some new cables from seventies. Well....
all right, I guess.

------
teoruiz
They seem to be using CloudFlare. That's good PR!

