Hundreds of thousands of State Department documents leaked Sunday revealed a hidden world of backstage international diplomacy, divulging candid comments from world leaders and detailing occasional U.S. pressure tactics aimed at hot spots in Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.
The classified diplomatic cables released by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks and reported on by news organizations in the United States and Europe provided often unflattering assessments of foreign leaders, ranging from U.S. allies such as Germany and Italy to other nations like Libya, Iran and Afghanistan.
The cables also contained new revelations about long-simmering nuclear trouble spots, detailing U.S., Israeli and Arab world fears of Iran's growing nuclear program, American concerns about Pakistan's atomic arsenal and U.S. discussions about a united Korean peninsula as a long-term solution to North Korean aggression.
There are also American memos encouraging U.S. diplomats at the United Nations to collect detailed data about the U.N. secretary general, his team and foreign diplomats — going beyond what is considered the normal run of information-gathering expected in diplomatic circles.
None of the revelations is particularly explosive, but their publication could prove problematic for the officials concerned. And the massive release of material intended for diplomatic eyes only is sure to ruffle feathers in foreign capitals, a certainty that prompted U.S. diplomats to scramble in recent days to shore up relations with key allies in advance of the disclosures
Once again, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and The NY Times have the "scoop" in that they were able to coordinate with Wiki-leaks on the release of the material, and were able to view it all ahead of time. Is this even journalism? If it is, it's the sort of journalism practiced by the people who re-type press releases from non-profits about how pizza causes cancer.
The worst part of this isn't the revelation of even more "secrets," since none of the headline revelations are shockingly unexpected. Oh, they might be surprising to anyone who relies on the US mainstream media for all of their news, but if you are outside of that bubble, then you already knew or suspected that China was spying on Google, that North Korea has been helping Iran to arm itself with nukes, and that the Sunni Arab nations have been screaming for the US to attack Iran. Oh, and Libya's Col. Kaddafy is a loon. Say it ain't so.
No, the worst is knowing that some time in the next few days we will be treated to another smug, humorless press conference from "brave" "whistleblower" Julian Assange, the combination journalist/activist/conscience of the world who seems to be able to practice his peculiar craft with impunity. Spare me. The heroic whistleblower's press conference has become as much a part of the media environment as Amber Alerts and Gloria Allred mistresses. Asssssange is just another anti-American leftist with a media bullhorn from his fellow travelers in the international media. That he can apparently travel the world dispensing classified military and diplomatic files with impunity just underscores how impotent the American government and its intelligence community have become. We're going to be waiting a long time for the equivalent release of docs from China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.
You can pretty much draw a straight line from Daniel Ellsberg to Philip Agee to the serial leakers of the Bush years all the way to Asssssange. All of these people committed crimes. So did the media organizations who enabled them. But since they cloaked themselves in a calculated nobility, and acted in a way approved by the Left, they were largely left alone. Of course, now that we have a leftist American government, we have reached the logical end: nothings gonna happen because people like Obama secretly approve of what Asssssange is doing, even as they "denounce" it for the benefit of all us bubbas who still care about national security. (as The Other McCain notes, we didn't have this sort of mass release of classified information until Obama took office).
And, it's remarkable how - with all of the blaring media headlines - there has been very little said about Bradley Manning, the source of at least some of these documents. Manning is presently sitting in solitary confinement. He is also known to have been motivated to betray the US because he was upset over the end of a gay relationship. Oh, and he was Welsh. So, yes, let's make sure we give him a security clearance! And, let's make sure that we not have too many MSM revelations of that information - some things really should stay secret, don't you know. Not only that, there seems to be very little curiosity about who might also be leaking this stuff (I doubt Manning had access to State Dept. material). While CIA and FBI moles are hunted and prosecuted, State Dept. vipers - whether Alger Hiss or Joe Wilson or that Cuban spy from last year - are often celebrated. Maybe the Times doesn't want to know, but does the Times/Wiki promise of confidentiality extend to all media outlets everywhere?
Pres. Obama and Sec. Clinton can bemoan this all they want. The fact is that they, their party, and their ideological allies have profited more from the work of the Asssssanges of the world than they have lost. The US simply has no secrets so long as these people are in office.
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