foreign relations

The story of WikiLeaks illustrates how the Internet is changing cyber warfare. In the battle to control the political conversation, independent groups can now get information out as easily as governments can, and it's harder than ever before for countries to stop them.

Almost a year after Google's China servers got hacked, launching a standoff between Google and the Chinese government over censorship, a set of classified cables released by WikiLeaks confirms that the Chinese government was indeed involved in the cyberattacks.

Forget Austin Powers. The real "international man of mystery" is President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who hasn't been seen in public for weeks. The absence comes at a tricky time for U.S.-Nigerian relations, as a Nigerian has been charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner and Obama needs Nigeria's help to counter Al-Qaeda's growing influence in the region.