Monday, November 29, 2010

US embassy cables: A banquet of secrets

A diplomat's nightmare is a historian's dream – a feast of data that deepens our understanding
It is the historian's dream. It is the diplomat's nightmare. Here, for all to see, are the confidences of friends, allies and rivals, garnished with American diplomats' frank, sometimes excoriating assessments of them. Over the next couple of weeks, you, the readers of the Guardian, will enjoy a multi-course banquet from the history of the present.
Read more-The Guardian

6 comments:

  1. Yet one question remains. How can diplomacy be conducted under these conditions?

    Ah, Good question. I am also waiting for Julian Assange to take on the most secretive and repressive regimes in the world.

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  2. "... I am also waiting for Julian Assange to take on the most secretive and repressive regimes in the world." What? Your government's biggest allies? Sa'udi Arabia, Egypt ... oh, you mean Iran, the enemy of the month.

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  3. I have no illusions abut Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I hope you can say the same about Iran.  If you think Iran is simply some benign force for good at home and in the region, you are really deluding yourself.

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  4. I will become a real believer in Julian Assange's great credo of absolute transparency when he takes on the likes of Russia or China. Here's Russia's rather pointed warning to Wikileaks:

    “It’s essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever,” the anonymous official told the independent Russian news website LifeNews”

    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2028283,00.html#ixzz16jQu54uJ

    The U.S. is angelic compared with how these guys will deal with threats to their secrets.

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  5. The biggest threat to world peace is the USA. Most people outside the USA recognise this, but their political leaders and most of their opinion formers dare not say this. The US leadership tends to bomb or invade countries that upset it.
    The USA is the world's biggest manufacturer and exporter of arms. It has no interest in peace or disarmament. It is continually undermining democratically elected govrnments that don't toe its line, and propping up dictators hated and feared by their people/victims. It supports any subversive tactic that prevents a settlement of Israel/Palestine conflict.
    Bravo wikileaks for going up against Globocop, the world's bully.
    Russia worse than the US? It might be if it had the wherewithal. But we can leave criticism of Russia to the people who make a good living spreading pro-American, anti-Russian propaganda. We could leave the criticism of Iran to the nutters of AIPAC and their paid mouthpieces, if only they'd tell the simple truth.
    No need to fear wikileaks, vza, you've got the Murdoch Empire telling your side of the story - and AIPAC.

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  6. I have no fear of wikileaks, Jemmy. In fact, I am finding many of these cables really interesting. Most of the cables contradict the image you project of the U.S. Quite a bit of diplomacy going on there...as opposed to war-mongering.

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