memeorandum: US cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis (David Leigh/Guardian)

6:20 PM ET, November 28, 2010

Top Items:

Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels — WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world …

David Leigh / Guardian:

US cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis — • More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies — • Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies — • Hillary Clinton leads frantic ‘damage limitation’ — The United States was catapulted …

Discussion: Open Left, The League of Ordinary …, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Little Green Footballs, Boing Boing, The Lede, The Staggers and Pajamas Media

Spiegel Online:

A Superpower's View of the World — 251,000 State Department documents, many of them secret embassy reports from around the world, show how the US seeks to safeguard its influence around the world. It is nothing short of a political meltdown for US foreign policy.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Nation, New York Times, Fox News, ReadWriteWeb, The Gateway Pundit, Liberty Pundits Blog and Guardian, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

A Note to Readers: The Decision to Publish Diplomatic Documents — The articles published today and in coming days are based on thousands of United States embassy cables, the daily reports from the field intended for the eyes of senior policy makers in Washington.

Discussion: Associated Press, BBC, Boing Boing, Guardian, Talking Points Memo and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

Adrian Chen / Gawker:

Wikileaks' Newest Leak Leaked on Twitter (Updated) — Twitter has out-leaked the leakers. About 12 hours before Wikileaks latest enormous leak was scheduled to be released, a Twitter user bought a copy of a German news magazine outlining the leak after it was placed on newstands too early.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Wire, Runnin' Scared, Mediaite and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »

John / Power Line:
More Wikileaks — Newspapers around the world have started publishing …

Discussion: Guardian, The Gateway Pundit and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:
Text of State Department letter to Wikileaks

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Vancouver Sun, Raw Story and The Lede

CNN:
U.S. documents obtained by WikiLeaks posted despite site problem

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers and This Just In

Jay Solomon / Wall Street Journal: U.S. Made Last-Ditch Push to Try to Prevent WikiLeaks Release

Associated Press:
Text of White House statement on WikiLeaks release

Discussion: CBS News and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot — The FBI is obviously quite pleased with itself over its arrest of a 19-year-old Somali-American, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who — with months of encouragement, support and money from the FBI's own undercover agents — allegedly attempted …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Unqualified Offerings, Teddy Partridge's myFDL diary, The Sideshow, Raw Story, LewRockwell.com Blog, Washington Monthly, Gawker, Connecting.the.Dots, Pundit & Pundette and New York Magazine

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Politically correct Portland rejected feds who saved city from terrorist attack — In 2005, leaders in Portland, Oregon, angry at the Bush administration's conduct of the war on terror, voted not to allow city law enforcement officers to participate in a key anti-terror initiative …

Discussion: Don Surber, A Chequer-Board of Nights … and The Gateway Pundit

Barbara Demick / Los Angeles Times:

China seeks emergency meeting on Korea — Chinese leaders, stung by accusations that they haven't done enough to rein in North Korea, call for an international summit, but U.S. and South Korea remain noncommittal. — Dai Bingguo, China's state councilor, left, speaks with Lee Myung Bak …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

New York Times:
Iran Fortifies Its Arsenal With the Aid of North Korea

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
McCain wants ‘regime change’ in North Korea

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money and CNN

english.yonhapnews.co.kr:
N. Korea deploys SA-2 surface-to-air missiles near Yellow Sea border

Discussion: The Hill, Infowars, Guardian and Wizbang

Marin Cogan / The Politico:

Presidential historian curses, calls Americans ‘lazy and obese’ — Presidential biographer Edmund Morris delivered one of the more, well, colorful lines on this week's Sunday morning shows. — On CBS's “Face the Nation,” host Bob Schieffer, anchoring an authors roundtable discussion …

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog and Althouse

Washington Post:
McCain compares Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan

Discussion: Cubachi, Outside the Beltway and Liberty Pundits Blog

Guardian:

Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme — • Embassy cables show Arab allies want strike against Tehran — • Israel prepared to attack alone to avoid its own 9/11 — • Iranian bomb risks ‘Middle East proliferation, war or both’

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, RubinReports and Raw Story

King Abdullah / Guardian:
US embassy cables: Saudi king's advice for Barack Obama

Discussion: Danger Room and Fox Nation

David Segal / New York Times:

A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web — SHOPPING online in late July, Clarabelle Rodriguez typed the name of her favorite eyeglass brand into Google's search bar. — In moments, she found the perfect frames — made by a French company called Lafont — on a Web site that looked snazzy and stood at the top of the search results.

Discussion: Gawker, The Huffington Post, Althouse, Runnin' Scared, Bark Bark Woof Woof and The New Republic, more at Techmeme »

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

The Country's Wealthiest Men: No, Really, Tax Us More! — Not that this will matter to the congressional Republicans, whose agenda is not actually improving the economy nor listening to economists, the wealthiest 2%, or any other American, come to that. But the country's wealthiest men …

Joshua Miller / ABCNEWS:
Billionaires Buffett and Gates: Tax Us More!

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs

News Talk Radio 77 WABC New York:

Aaron Klein Investigative Radio — Aaron Klein is a Jerusalem-based investigative reporter and author with a rolodex that includes world leaders, news makers and some of the world's most deadly terrorists — He is senior reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief for Internet news giant WorldNetDaily.com …

Discussion: CNN and Ben Smith's Blog

Jeffrey Rosen / Washington Post:

Why the TSA pat-downs and body scans are unconstitutional — The protest on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was called National Opt-Out Day, and its organizers urged air travelers to refuse the Transportation Security Administration's full-body scanning machines. — But many appeared to have opted out of opting out.

Discussion: The League of Ordinary … and The Volokh Conspiracy

Michael Morain / Des Moines Register:

Small-town Iowa embraces Grinnell's gay, black president — Grinnell, Ia. — When Grinnell College's new president, Raynard Kington, bikes over to the Danish Maid Bakery a few blocks off campus, he doesn't play the VIP card. — He doesn't mention the medical degree he earned at 21 or his centuries-old vacation home in Crete.

Discussion: Advocate

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy — SO America's latest crisis — until it wasn't — was airport screeners touching our junk. As this long year lurches toward its end, we all agree that something has gone wrong in America, and we're desperately casting about for a coherent explanation for our discontent, if not a scapegoat.