May
3, 2012By
Colombo Telegraph -
In 2010 The Guardian broke the story “US
diplomats spied on UN leadership” based on a leaked US diplomatic
cable which explains how Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign
targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon and the permanent security council representatives from
China, Russia, France and the UK. US also spied on UN views on Sri Lanka the
Colombo Telegraph can reveal today.
“A
classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying
was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding
forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN
officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and
commercial networks for official communications.” The Guardian said.
It called
for detailed biometric information ”on key UN officials, to include
undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top
SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field
missions, including force commanders” as well as intelligence on Ban’s
“management and decision-making style and his influence on the
secretariat”.
Washington
also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers
and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and “biographic and
biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives”.
The
secret “national human intelligence collection directive” was sent to US
missions at the UN in New York, Vienna and Rome; 33 embassies and consulates,
including those in London, Paris and Moscow.
The
operation targeted at the UN appears to have involved all of Washington’s main
intelligence agencies. The CIA’s clandestine service, the US Secret Service and
the FBI were included in the “reporting and collection needs” cable alongside
the state department under the heading “collection requirements and
tasking”.
The
Colombo Telegraph found the related US
diplomatic cable from the Secretary of State section of the WikiLeaks database.
The cable was classified as “SECRET” signed by Hillary Clinton on July 31,
2009.
Under
the subheading “Human Rights and War Crimes (HRWC-3)” Clinton asked to collect
“Views and intentions of UNSC, UN human rights entities, and members regarding
Sri Lankan government policies on human rights and humanitarian assistance; UN
views about appointing a Special Envoy for Sri Lanka.”
2
May 2012A
row has broken out in Sri Lanka over the appearance of a flag associated with
defeated Tamil Tiger militants at a May Day rally on Tuesday. 
“President Rajapaksa’s chief
opinion pollster – who is a good contact of the embassy on other issues – shared
with us the first findings from their initial survey. These initial responses
indicated that potential voters had little interest in the symbolic issues” US
ambassador Patricia A. Butenis wrote to Washington.
president himself as corrupt (80%). Despite all his
faults, the pollster claimed, many voters still saw Rajapkasa as a man of action
and a man of his word and would vote for him over Fonseka.”
A leaked US Embassy
cable reveals how the Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith lobbied US government against
international pressure on accountability for war crimes.
Responding to last week Colombo Telegraph revelation, a Spokesperson from the Archbishop’s
office, Rev. Father Benedict Joseph told The Sunday Leader the remarks as
‘baseless’ and ‘false’. Colombo Telegraph
revealed the story how Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith lobbied the US
government against international pressure on accountability for war crimes
titled “Mahinda Rajapaksa is a
“christian” – says Archbishop” based on a leaked US embassy cable. We expect a
clarification from ambassador Patricia A. Butenis. Read
More
Groundviews
( May 03, 2012, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am here not talking about Karen Connelly’s popular love story by the name of ‘Burmese Lessons,’ but rather Aung San Suu Kyi’s entry into Parliament yesterday as the leader of the opposition in Myanmar (or Burma) with 42 other members who were elected early April in a by-election from the National League for Democracy (NLD). There is no doubt that this is also a ‘love story.’
