Among the classified State Department cables released by Wikileaks—cables so sensitive that, even now, unauthorized federal employees are barred from reading them online—is a report of tense meeting between our ambassador to Norway and Santa Claus.
One of the questions President Obama fielded at this morning's White House press conference concerned the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the alleged Wikileaks leaker who's being held, and many would say abused, in military custody. ABC News' Jake Tapper, namely, asked Obama about chief State Department spokesman…
The United States already has a major image problem in the Arab world, and a new State Department report on the abuse of foreign workers at U.S. embassies in the region is sure to make it worse.
Tunisia has been epically chaotic lately, which is why we thought it was odd that the U.S. embassy there was closed on Martin Luther King Day. Now our ambassador there has found the time to write Gawker an angry letter.
The State Department has released a list of gifts to federal employees, including President Obama, from foreign governments in 2009. (Diplomats have been playing with them for a full year.) So which foreign dignitary gave our president the cheapest gift?
In case you haven't noticed, Tunisia's fallen apart. Its president just fled the country after weeks of riots, and the military has taken control. The U.S. Embassy will still be closed on Martin Luther King Day, though. Holidays are holidays!
After Venezuela revoked the visa of proposed American envoy Larry Palmer, the U.S. has responded by revoking the visa of Venezuelan ambassador Bernardo Alvarez Herrera. Is it just me, or are Venezuela and the U.S. totally flirting?
It's clear that the federal government's absurd war on Wikileaks broke free of the bonds of reason weeks ago, but this State Department memo issued today serves as a nice reminder: Staffers can't read Wikileaks cables on their "personal time."
The Washington Post may have added some literary flair to its account of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke's last words, according to the State Department. Did he ominously whisper, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," or was it just banter?
Of the Wikileaks cache of diplomatic cables, one of the most potentially salacious is about the entertainment at a party thrown by DynCorp, a U.S. contractor training Afghan police, in April 2009. A 17-year-old boy was hired to dance.
Facing a booing crowd in Europe, a PayPal executive tried to explain why his company blocked donations to Wikileaks. He cited a letter from the State Department calling the secrets-sharing site illegal. Sadly for him, no such letter exists.
The State Department just announced that Washington, D.C., will host the United Nations' 2011 World Press Freedom Day celebration, which honors the capacity for states to criminally prosecute and relentlessly seek to silence web sites that publish illegal information.
U.S. soldiers in Iraq who try to read about the Wikileaks disclosures—or read coverage of them in mainstream news sites—on unclassified networks get a page warning them that they're about to break the law.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told an interviewer today that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should resign if she had her diplomats "engage in espionage in the United Nations." Hillary Clinton, however, is unlikely to listen to Julian Assange.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today strongly condemned the release of State Department cables by Wikileaks, saying that there "is nothing laudable about endangering innocent people, and there is nothing brave about sabotaging peaceful relations between nations."
Document-sharing website Wikileaks is preparing to release a trove of damaging diplomatic cables from the U.S. State Department. So the U.S. is calling all its friends to warn them. They're going to be in so much trouble!
The U.S. government again is trying to clamp down on North Korea through sanctions aimed at the country's top leaders and, more specifically, the notorious Office 39, which is widely seen as an "investment bank" for North Korea's elite.
Xe Services, the mercenary group formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, has agreed to pay $42 million in fines for violating US weapon export laws. No big deal though, since the market for mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan is still booming.
On the eve of first lady Michelle Obama's trip to Spain, the U.S. State Department removed an advisory warning Americans that "racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans" there. So, no worries, Michelle! Have a great trip! [NYP]
After 9/11, the State Department launched an Arab outreach magazine to show off the splendors of American life. It didn't work and was mired in petty politics. For example: pictures of donkeys on camping trips were deemed too "pro-Democrat".
