The whistle-blower website Wikileaks followed through on it’s promise of a document dump. NBC reported Wikileaks was unable to upload the documents themselves as wikileaks.org was under Denial of Service attacks. At the time of publication, Wikileaks.org was again available in Australia. We woke to the news this morning. Gail and I spent most of the morning sifting through early reactions on twitter and major media. Use the hashtag #cablegate.

The Guardian has a smashing interface to view the documents.

Most of the dump is not yet on line. It appears this will be a gradual dump. Opinions vary whether this is some brilliant calculation by Assange to spread it out, or is it a result of the size of the dump. Made more tricky my the DoS attacks. NBC also reported on the nightly news that the C.I.A. knew nothing about the DoS attacks.

Here in Australia, ABC News 24 had a former diplomat to middle east on who surprisingly supported Wikileaks. I will post video if it comes available.

None of this stuff is top level explosive. Anyone looking for who did 911 and JFK here, you will be left wanting. This is however is hardly the end of this story. Many of the items I have read or have taken reports of are just plain embarrassing. Others are great examples of the complexity of the world. Not to mention the hubris and strong arm tactics used in diplomacy.

It’s early days. Some feathers will be ruffled. There could be truly explosive things still in the pipe. I for one am making popcorn. The show could get interesting.

No, really. They did. Read it in the New York Times:

Vatican Priest Likens Criticism Over Abuse to Anti-Semitism

ROME — A senior Vatican priest, speaking before Pope Benedict XVI at a Good Friday service, compared the world’s outrage at sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews, prompting angry responses from victims’ advocates and consternation from Jewish groups.

The Vatican spokesman quickly distanced the Vatican from the remarks, which came on the day Christians mark the Crucifixion. They underscored how much the Catholic Church has felt under attack from recent news reports and from criticism over how it has handled charges of child molesting against priests in the past.

….

“They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence, and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms,” said Father Cantalamessa, who serves under the title of preacher of the papal household. Then he quoted from what he said was a letter from a Jewish friend he did not identify.

“I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole world,” he said the friend wrote. “The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

And for opinion on the matter, we turn to Eugene Finerman. His RDA Of Irony should be on your daily internet itinerary if it’s not already.

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