This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22062317
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Wikileaks publishes 1.7m US diplomatic records | Wikileaks publishes 1.7m US diplomatic records |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Wikileaks has published more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence reports from the 1970s. | Wikileaks has published more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence reports from the 1970s. |
They include allegations that former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi was a middleman in an arms deal and the first impressions of eventual British PM Margaret Thatcher. | |
The documents have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national archives. | The documents have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national archives. |
Wikileaks says it is releasing the documents in searchable form. | |
Much of the work has been carried out by the website's founder Julian Assange while he has been holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. | |
Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted to face allegations that he sexually assaulted two female ex-Wikileaks supporters in 2010. | |
He denies the allegations, and has said they are politically motivated and part of a smear campaign against him and his whistle-blowing website. | |
Wikileaks made headlines around the world in 2010 after it released more than 250,000 leaked US cables. | |
'Trifle patronising' | |
Mr Assange told Britain's Press Association that the latest collection, entitled the Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD), reveal the "vast range and scope" of US diplomatic activity around the world. | |
The data comprises diplomatic cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence running from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1976. | |
Much of the correspondence is either written by or sent to Henry Kissinger, who was US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser during that period. | |
It includes claims, being widely reported by the Indian media, that Rajiv Gandhi - of India's most famous political family - was employed by the Swedish firm Saab-Scandia as it tried to sell its Viggen fighter jet to India. | |
Mr Gandhi was working as a commercial pilot and not in politics himself at the time. | |
A US diplomat is quoted in a February 1976 cable as saying: "We would have thought a transport pilot is not the best expert to rely upon in evaluating a fighter plane, but then we are speaking of a transport pilot who has another and perhaps more relevant qualification." | |
Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991. | |
Saab-Scandia did not win its bid to sell Viggen fighter jets to India; the contract went to Britain's Jaguar planes. | |
Another cable, dated February 1975, from London sets out "some first impressions" of new leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher. | |
The diplomat wrote that "she has a quick, if not profound, mind, and works hard to master the most complicated brief". | |
She is "crisp and a trifle patronizing" with the media, but "honest and straight-forward" with her colleagues, "if not excessively considerate of their vanities", the diplomat wrote. | |
"The personification of a British middle class dream come true," she is the "genuine voice of a beleaguered bourgeoise [sic], anxious about its eroding economic power and determined to arrest society's seemingly inexorable trend towards collectivism", the cable said. | |
The diplomat noted she had "acquired a distinctively upper middle class personal image", which might damage her chances of becoming prime minister, but said she should not be underestimated. |