Wikileaks

[poliphilo]

Thus far there's been nothing in the Wikileaks revelations that comes as a huge surprise. The Saudis hate the Iranians, the US State department spies on the UN, Russia is a kleptocracy, China mounts attacks on the Web, most of the aid that enters Afghanistan goes straight into Swiss bank accounts, Netanyahu is slippery, Merkel is dull, Sarkozy a blowhard, Karzai weak and paranoid, Prince Andrew obnoxious . These aren't secrets that are being disclosed. At most they confirm our best guesses. As someone on a Guardian thread put it, "Diplomats say in private what Joe Public thinks!"

is it right that this material should have been leaked? Oh yes. People have a right to know what the governments that represent them are doing in their name. That's why democracies allow a free press. It's part of the contract between ruler and ruled. Most of the time government manages to hornswoggle and subvert the press. Once in a while the press manages to hit government where it hurts. 

Government says lives have been endangered by the leaks. That's an example of hornswoggle. These revelations are embarrassing and inconvenient to government- that's all. 

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Having spent a very long time contemplating US subservience to Israel, I feel that I do understand it. The simple answer is that Americans are remarkably stupid and the Israelis take full advantage of that. Intelligent politicians, ones smart enough to figure out what Israel is up to, do get elected sometimes, but they make stupid Americans uneasy, so the Israelis take full advantage of that, too.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Israelis are very good at putting a guilt trip on their critics. You say a word against them and you're an anti-semite.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Exactly so and given the intelligence and strength of character of the average politician, they wilt at the mere threat of being labeled, "anti-semitic". But the fact that this tactic works so effectively underlines my point, don't you think? Americans are not in the habit of looking beyond labels.