Wikileaks: MACEDONIA to KEEP MACEDONIAN Identity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/225319
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Germany: CIA 'torture guards' were protected
The case still amounts to one of the most disturbing Central Intelligence Agency blunders on record. It involved an innocent German citizen who was wrongly kidnapped on CIA orders and held for months in an Afghan jail where he was tortured and sexually abused.
Khaled el-Masri is a German citizen of Lebanese descent. He became the focus of international attention in 2004 after he was released from US captivity and dumped on a road in
Macedonia where he was told by guards: "Don't bother telling anybody what happened to you – they won't believe you."
He later revealed to the US media that the CIA had mistaken him for an al-Qa'ida suspect and arranged for him to be kidnapped while he was travelling through
Macedonia on a coach.
The case provoked outrage in Germany. But the State Department tapes revealed yesterday that American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for the CIA agents involved. A senior US diplomat told a German official that "our intention was ... to urge that the German government weigh carefully ... the implications for relations with the US". TONY PATERSON
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 21:39
S E C R E T STATE 062392
NOFORN
EO 12958 DECL: 06/16/2034
TAGS PINR, KSPR, ECON, BU
SUBJECT: (S) REPORTING AND COLLECTION NEEDS: BULGARIA
REF: STATE 18756
Classified By: SUZANNE MCCORMICK, DIRECTOR, INR/OPS. REASON: 1.4(C).
4) Black Sea, Balkans, and Other Regional Neighbors (FPOL-4H). Plans and efforts regarding relations with Black Sea and other regional neighbors. Plans and efforts to jointly respond to challenges regarding counterterrorism, counterproliferation, counternarcotics, and illegal migration. Plans and efforts regarding cooperative agreements, especially Black Sea FOR, Harmony, Enhanced Black Sea Security Proposal, and Black Sea Economic Cooperation Zone. Bulgarian participation in US-sponsored programs designed to promote regional security cooperation, healthy civil-military relations, and effective management of military resources. Plans and efforts regarding Russian influence in the region, especially on politics, energy, and other domestic issues. Plans and efforts to cooperate with regional neighbors on energy security. Details about disputes with neighbors. Relations with, and military deployments in, the Balkans. Plans and efforts to promote democracy in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Plans and efforts regarding
Macedonia and Kosovo. Policies, plans, and efforts regarding Ballistic Missile Defense.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/212446
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Wednesday, 16 September 2009, 07:34
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 PARIS 001254
NOFORN
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 09/16/2018
TAGS PREL, PARM, KNNP, BH">BH, SM, MK, GR">GR, FR">FR
SUBJECT: A/S GORDON'S MEETINGS WITH POLICY-MAKERS IN PARIS:
A TOUR D'HORIZON OF EUROPE AND AFGHANISTAN
Classified By: Ambassador Charles Rivkin, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
1. (S) Summary. During Assistant Secretary Gordon's visit to Paris on September 11, he met with a number of French policy-makers including: Elysee Diplomatic Advisors Jean-David Levitte, Damien Loras, and Francois Richier, Assistant Secretary equivalent for Continental Europe Roland Galharague, and Acting Director of MFA Strategic Affairs bureau Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel. Discussions focused on Russia, upcoming developments in the Balkans (Bosnia, Croatia,
Macedonia and Kosovo), elections in Germany and Afghanistan, Turkey's EU Accession, NATO Enlargement and Strategic Concept, and Georgia and Ukraine. End Summary.
5. (C) Levitte expressed optimism that a new Greek government would be "more solid" and allow greater flexibility for progress in the Greek-
Macedonian name dispute. A/S Gordon agreed that either a more solid Conservative government or a Socialist government would be a stronger, more flexible partner in the negotiations. He expressed hope that if the international community could convince
Macedonia to abandon the idea of a referendum and get Greece to abandon the necessity of changing passports, then progress could be made. On Croatia, Levitte observed that the border issue with Slovenia is making progress. He hoped that the upcoming September elections in Germany would also allow the new German government to be ore open to EU enlargement to include the Balkan countries. Paris wants the door to enlargement to remain open, even if the accession process takes time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/225319