WASHINGTON — The leaders of Russia and Turkey blasted the Obama administration Wednesday over leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, the most concrete signs yet that the disclosures are rattling America’s strategic relationships.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin condemned comments attributed in cables to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, saying the defense secretary was “deeply misled,” while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an U.S. apology for cables alleging financial improprieties was insufficient.
“The United States is responsible for those diplomats’ false claims and their smears,” Erdogan said.
The comments showed how the controversy is increasingly touching sensitive domestic politics in foreign countries and entangling individual U.S. officials. While top U.S. officials continue to play down the cables’ effect on foreign policy, other voices suggest that the damage may be widespread, as the more than 250,000 other communiques are gradually released.
“I’ll be very surprised if some people don’t lose their lives,” former President Bill Clinton said in an appearance in North Carolina. “And goodness knows how many will lose their careers.”
The angry reactions came from key governments that previously had sought to play down the significance of the cables released on Sunday by the WikiLeaks website.
WikiLeaks itself was on the defensive on several fronts Wednesday, scrambling to remain on the Internet and post more documents while its fugitive founder, Julian Assange, was targeted by a European arrest warrant on Swedish rape charges.
Amazon.com prevented WikiLeaks from using the U.S. company’s servers, WikiLeaks said Wednesday.
Covering the politics of the Lowcountry, South Carolina and the nation.
The WikiLeaks site was unavailable for several hours before it moved back to servers owned by its previous Swedish host, Bahnhof.
At the same time, Swedish officials intensified legal pressure on Assange by asking European police to arrest him on rape allegations that have shadowed him for weeks.
Swedish Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny said that the European arrest warrant had been issued for Assange in connection with the allegations filed against him in that country.
The White House said Wednesday it was taking new steps to protect government secrets after WikiLeaks released thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
via Russia, Turkey express anger | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC – News, Sports, Entertainment.
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