Leaks’ cables put US envoys worldwide on horns

NEW YORK: Release of thousands of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks has bothered the US diplomats worldwide as friends and foes of the United States turned on WikiLeaks over its release, with some saying the revelations undermined diplomacy, while others dismissed them as worthless.

Pakistan said it considered the “extremely negative reports” carried on Pakistan-Saudi relations attributed to WikiLeaks as “misleading and contrary to facts”.

“It is quite evident that these mischievous reports reveal the utter inadequacy of the author to grasp the essence of the Pakistan-Saudi relationship,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit responded to the WikiLeaks documents that revealed on Sunday.

He said the U.S had alerted Pakistan to the unauthorized leaks. “Since these leaks are in the public domain, we would obviously look at these closely with a view to ensuring that Pakistan’s national interest is not compromised in any manner.

“This will weaken diplomacy around the world. It will weaken diplomacy in general, but first and foremost American diplomacy,” Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said as the mass release of documents continued. “I see this rather as something that is making the world less safe,” he said.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mentioned in much of the diplomatic discussion revealed by the WikiLeaks website, dismissed the documents as “worthless mischief”.

Close US allies Britain, France and Germany brushed aside disparaging personal remarks about their leaders contained in the cables. France however condemned the leaks as “irresponsible” and “an attack on states’ sovereignty.”

Britain slammed the release as damaging to national security, but said it would continue to work closely with Washington.

And German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters: “A few gossipy comments about European politicians are not exactly welcome but they are not really important. “But in other cases, people’s lives could be put at risk.”

Israel, which has long waged a diplomatic war on Tehran, said the cables vindicated its concerns about a nuclear Iran that were shared across the Arab world. The documents showed that Saudi Arabia had repeatedly urged a US military strike to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “The Arab countries are pushing the United States towards military action more forcefully than Israel,” said an Israeli official. But Ahmadinejad told a press conference broadcast live on state television that “the documents that they released are a mischief. We do not see any value in them.”

In Saudi Arabia, foreign ministry spokesman Osama Nugali told that “these documents do not concern the kingdom… Nor is it aware of their authenticity. Therefore Saudi Arabia cannot comment on them.”

Russia also played down being called “a virtual mafia state” where all the decision-making is done by “alpha dog” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and not President Dmitry Medvedev, described as “Robin to Putin’s Batman.” “Our own diplomats are sometimes just as open in their own private messages to each other,” a Kremlin official told the Kommersant business daily. But some observers directed their criticism at the US