WIKILEAKS - MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Is there anything coming up with the Wikileaks that is surprising? I can’t find much at all.

It has already been widely reported that Arab states want the US to get rid of Iran as a nuclear state. What we get from Wikileaks is the names of the Arab leaders, and that’s all.

The fact that Putin and Berlesconi have some common predilections? Trivial and gossipy.

The fact that the Obama Administration reached out to Iran but expected those gestures to fail, and had alternative plans for tightening and extending anti-Iran measures? No surprise.

The fact that no one trusts what Iran says? Now, that’s news!

Yemen complicit with the CIA? Surprise!

Karzai paranoid? Already public knowledge that others think this about him.

Karzai’s brother working for the CIA? Well reported.

Pakistan has poor leadership? Please. ISI is close with the Taliban? Come on, how could that be?

That the US would like to see North Korea implode and join South Korea? Nice they’d like to see that – the essential weakness of North Korea is not news.

The Obama Administration pulling the anti-missile installations under Russian pressure, and perhaps getting cooperation in return? Well reported.

In fact, I wonder if there isn’t a lot of dis-information in the leaks. For instance, is Israel as much of an independent actor as it is reported to be? Isn’t that exactly what the US would want to portray – “Well, you can trust us, but we don’t know what to do with the Israeli’s.” Good cop, bad cop.

What is embarrassing is the reaction of the US diplomatic community. They seem foolish and ingroupy – they are invading our space! How can anyone trust us now? They have crashed our little game! Not much of it seems so serious and intelligent, tell you the truth. But now they react so predictably – OK, people in the government, we’re going to shut it down, OK? Let’s be careful!

Who trusted them before? It all seems like crap to me. It’s scary to think again about how limited our “leaders” are. Sure wouldn’t want to make me join the Foreign Service….

Budd Shenkin