U.S. "warned Serbia" about WikiLeaks

Serbian MFA Political Director Borko Stefanovic told TV B92 late on Sunday the U.S. "pointed out to Serbia" that their diplomatic cables would be published. Ahead of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks' decision to start publishing a huge database of confidential diplomatic cables sent by U.S. diplomats from around the world, officials of that country contacted the authorities in Belgrade. U.S. "warned Serbia" about WikiLeaks "They pointed out to the publication of the U.S. cables in a diplomatic manner," said Stefanovic. So far, he concluded, the leaked cables showed "the brutal truth, the way American diplomats see it". What could still surface, Stefanovic explained, concerns Serbia's cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, and the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, and could show U.S. diplomatic representatives "appraising how truthful their interlocutors are when they talk about state interests". "In our daily diplomatic contacts, on all levels, we have nothing to hide. Our position is very clear, there is one real important rule, and that is that there is no lying in diplomacy," according to Stefanovic. Meanwhile, Washington is preparing to withdraw a number of its diplomatic officials posted abroad that have been named in the WikiLeaks cables, the Daily Beast reports. According to this, Washington will try to replace the diplomats before the host countries declare them unwelcome. The WikiLeaks website has over the past week come under heavy DDoS attacks, was ousted from the Amazon hosting services, had its domain shut down - along with its main servers in France, while PayPal also stopped providing services. But the website, now at wikileaks.ch, said this morning it had been mirrored to as many as 355 sites, and continues to gradually release the cables.

U.S. "warned Serbia" about WikiLeaks

"They pointed out to the publication of the U.S. cables in a diplomatic manner," said Stefanović.

So far, he concluded, the leaked cables showed "the brutal truth, the way American diplomats see it".

What could still surface, Stefanović explained, concerns Serbia's cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, and the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, and could show U.S. diplomatic representatives "appraising how truthful their interlocutors are when they talk about state interests".

"In our daily diplomatic contacts, on all levels, we have nothing to hide. Our position is very clear, there is one real important rule, and that is that there is no lying in diplomacy," according to Stefanović.

Meanwhile, Washington is preparing to withdraw a number of its diplomatic officials posted abroad that have been named in the WikiLeaks cables, the Daily Beast reports. According to this, Washington will try to replace the diplomats before the host countries declare them unwelcome.

The WikiLeaks website has over the past week come under heavy DDoS attacks, was ousted from the Amazon hosting services, had its domain shut down - along with its main servers in France, while PayPal also stopped providing services.

But the website, now at wikileaks.ch, said this morning it had been mirrored to as many as 355 sites, and continues to gradually release the cables.