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Journalism of Courage
Karzai seen as weak
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzais own inner circle considers him weak and have decided to work together to prevent him going astray,leaked US diplomatic cables show. In a cable dated February Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal described Karzai as an extremely weak man. Zakhilwal said Karzai did not listen to facts but was easily swayed by anyone who came to him to report bizarre stories of plots against him. Whenever this happened,Karzai would judge the person to be loyal and reward him,the cable said.
US,UK tiff on spy flights
LONDON: British officials complained to US diplomats about secret American spy flights using foreign UK airbases,fearing that the data collected during those missions could implicate their country in potential human rights violations,according to cables released by WikiLeaks. The British officials demanded from US diplomats that all such flights in the future be cleared by London,according to the cables sent by US Embassy in London in 2008. US officials dismissed the British demands as burdensome and obstructive to counter-terrorism efforts.
Egypt mulling n-arms
CAIRO: Egypts President would consider turning his country into a nuclear power if Iran acquired atomic weapons,leaked US diplomatic cables revealed. A cable from May 2008 described how President Hosni Mubarak told a US Congressional delegation that everyone in the region was terrified of a nuclear Iran. Egypt might be forced to begin its own nuclear weapons program if Iran succeeds in those efforts, the cable said in reporting about a meeting between Mubarak and the delegation.
German FMs aide a mole
BERLIN: A top aide to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is responsible for passing on information about government coalition talks to the US embassy. A spokesman for Westerwelles Free Democratic Party FDP said his personal assistant Helmut Metzner admitted having passed on confidential information and he was removed from his office. In a dispatch,US Ambassador Philip Murphy wrote in 2009 about a young,party-goer of FDP,who provides the embassy with confidential information. AGENCIES
