But as the revelations continue, so too does the backlash against WikiLeaks, and tonight Sweden's highest court has refused permission to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against an arrest order issued over alleged sexual crimes.
PETER LLOYD, REPORTER: What kind of Russia does Vladimir Putin preside over? A Spanish mafia-busting judge Jose Gonzales, quoted in a US diplomatic cable, paints a picture of astonishing corruption.
The judge claims that Russia has become a "virtual mafia state" so that, "... one can't differentiate between the activities of the government and organised crime groups." And the, "... strategy is to use OC, or organised crime groups, to do whatever the Government of Russia can't acceptably do as a government."
The judge describes as accurate the thesis of the poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko of links between Russian intelligence and the mafia.
It's all slander, said prime minister Putin during a CNN Larry King interview where he suggested there was an anti-Russian conspiracy afoot.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER (voiceover translation): Some experts believe that somebody is deceiving WikiLeaks, their reputation being undermined to use them for their own political purposes later on.
That's one of the possibilities there and this is the opinion of the experts.
PETER LLOYD: The WikiLeaks founder is coming under increasing pressure. Amazon has stopped hosting the WikiLeaks website on its US servers and reports say he remains in the UK where police are awaiting instructions before arresting him on behalf of Swedish prosecutors investigating his alleged rape of a woman in August.
MARK STEPHENS, ASSANGE LAWYER: Julian has nothing to hide. His main interest is to vindicate his name.
PETER LLOYD: Julian Assange spoke to Time Magazine from an undisclosed lotion. He dismissed Hillary Clinton's claim that he's putting lives at risk, saying she should quit over leaked cables showing US diplomats spied on foreign diplomats at the United Nations.
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: She should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering US diplomatic figures to engage in espionage activities at the United Nations.
PETER LLOYD: At the State Department, they're calling Assange an anarchist.
PHILIP CROWLEY, US STATE DEPARTMENT: He is calling for the Secretary to step down at a time where he is trying to evade an act of warrant by Interpol.
The Secretary of State by contrast is in Kazakhstan, engaged directly with global leaders, working to solve the world's challenges.
PETER LLOYD: Here, the federal police are still trying to work out if any Australian laws have been broken by the Australian-born whistleblower.
JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: I have been receiving briefings and we have a whole process to go through - you know, all of this information, I mean, millions of pieces of information, and assess the implications for us. So we'll work through that. And, you know, I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website. It's a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do.
PETER LLOYD: The White House has set up a special panel to assess the damage and find new ways to protect America's secrets.
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