Wikileaks publishes Stratfor Global Intelligence files.

[Magda Hassan]

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Live Blog: WikiLeaks Releases Stratfor Emails

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UPDATE 8:32 PM EST George Friedman, founder and CEO, on what elites of the world don't get, in this email sent on February 20, 2010:

…One sense I'm getting here is that the American elite, alongwith Europe's, China's and just about everyone but Russia's his suffering from three problems: First, none are really aware of the political pressures on other elites. Second, they completely misunderstand the alienation of the publics, three, except for [Paul] Volcker, they think this can be handled by the elites among themselves. We have a crisis of the elites, in my view…

UPDATE 8:20 PM EST Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden, is the subject of this email. He apparently wants Sweden to be a "world power", doesn't like Russia or Nicolas Sarkozy. Bildt is alleged to be conspiring against Julian Assange in Sweden and he says Karl Rove is an old friend.
UPDATE 8:19 PM EST Greg Mitchell of The Nation is going to be live blogging too (I think).
UPDATE 8:14 PM EST This will help you read the emails. Each one is marked with the following:

SOURCE: The ID of the source, say CN123. Sometimes this is left "no source ID" when it's a new source.
ATTRIBUTION: How the source is to be attributed, i.e. "Source in the pharma distribution industry in China", Stratfor source, etc.
SOURCE DESCRIPTION: Describes the source, for example: "Source works with Mercator Pharmaceutical Solutions, distributing pharma to developing countries." These include concrete details on the source for internal consumption so that there's a better understanding on the source's background and ability to make assessments on the ground.
PUBLICATION: Yes or No. If the option is yes it doesn't mean that it would be published, but rather that it _can_ be published.
SOURCE RELIABILITY: A/B
SOURCE RELIABILITY: A-F, A being the best and F being the worst. This grades the turnaround time of this source in responding to requests.
ITEM CREDIBILITY: 1-10, 1 being the best and 10 being the worst (we may change the range here in the future). this changes a lot based on the info provided. 1 is "you can take this to the bank" and 10 would be an example of maybe "this is a totally ridiculous rumor but something that is spreading on the ground"
SPECIAL HANDLING: often this is "none" but it may be something like, "if you use this we need to be sure not to mention the part about XXX in the publication" or any other special notes
SOURCE HANDLER: the person who can take follow-up questions and communicate with the source.

UPDATE 8:11 PM EST WikiLeaks has released 167 emails, which can be viewed here.
UPDATE 8:00 PM EST Publicio has published an article on the announcement. In it they make an interesting note about the CIA and the emails:

…[T]he CIA in the shade is financed largely with public money from Western countries , because their fees are paid by many ministries and government agencies around the world (although primarily serve the U.S. from his base in Austin, Texas), and also draws on the information we provide them to those who then sells it. A sweet deal emerged from the neoliberal doctrine of outsourcing all utilities (including secrets) and that is to privatize espionage…

Original Post
WikiLeaks has just announced that it is publishing the "Global Intelligence Files," over five million emails from the Texas-headquartered "global intelligence company known as Stratfor. The leaks organization describes the emails as documents that show "Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods."
The organization's press release explains the emails show the "inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency."
The emails apparently show details on the "US government's attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks," along with "Stratfor's own attempt to subvert WikiLeaks." They also expose the "revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States," like, for example, "how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards." These informants are government employees, embassy staff members and journalists from all over the world.
They show how Stratfor targeted the "Yes Men" and monitored Bhopal activists for their activism against Dow Chemical, which was responsible for the Dow Chemical/Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India, in 1984 and caused thousands of deaths, the injury of millions of people and significant environmental damage.
Here is just one of salient example of the corruption WikiLeaks is shining a light on:

"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control… This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase" CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

Beyond that, WikiLeaks uncovered how David Leigh of The Guardian was conspiring with Haaretzjournalist Yossi Melman to move US diplomatic cables to Israel in violation of a WikiLeaks contract.
To my knowledge, there are no actual emails on the WikiLeaks website to read yet. There is just this announcement, along with a list of 25 media organizations that have the emails and are working as media partners to cover revelations in the emails over the coming weeks.
Here is the press release from WikiLeaks. To truly understand the significance of this leak of emailswhich were given to WikiLeaks by members of Anonymousthe entire press release announcement has to be read.
WikiLeaks has put up tips on how to read the data they are publishing. They link to a guide that people should read to understand the jargon in the emails: Stratfor Glossary of Useful, Baffling and Strange Terms.
I will be live blogging the release of the Stratfor emails. Updates will appear at the top of the post. I will put up a new post at 7:00 pm EST each day (every 24 hours after the announcement).