Wikileaks - For or Against ?

The Wikileaks leaked e-mails and cables have been causing havoc in the diplomatic world but I reckon we’ve not even touched the surface of what’s been happening behind diplomatic walls as the world’s leaders are exposed as hypocrites.

I’ve no real problem with Wiki releasing transcripts of ‘private’ cables being sent back and forth across the Atlantic describing David Cameron as ‘lightweight’,  John Prescott as ‘bizarre’ and 'a womaniser’ and Gordon Brown as ‘aggressive and uncontrollable’. And I’ve no real issue about them releasing details of reports where the Americans thought the British did a crap job in parts of Afghanistan.

This is a two way street and I’m sure nothing of this nature which was released would have been a surprise, after all, the British press called into question David Cameron’s abilities before he became PM and everybody knew Prescott was a complete and utter dope who was just good company when you wanted to drink beer and chase women and even Brown’s staff were reporting him for bullying in the workplace. These guys would have seen the papers and the TV and would have known what people thought of them, so the fact that some info of this nature was winging its way across to the White House in US prepared reports would not have been a major surprise.

What I do have a problem with though is the leaking of details of the very high diplomatic issues which could really cause unrest, and in particular, the positions adopted by the Arab world in their view of Iran.

We all know it’s only a matter of time before a missile strike takes out Iran’s nuclear facilities (although how they contain any nuclear material fallout I’m not sure), and privately, I’m sure Mr Ahvegotadinnerjacket, the so called elected president of the Iran’s People’s Republic, will undoubtedly know that the Arab leaders, whilst shaking his hand would probably prefer to have their hands round his neck, but to release cables with the Arabs saying that the US should ‘cut off the head of the snake’, ie. Iran, is highly irresponsible in the extreme.

We know now that the Arabs don’t fear Israel, they fear Iran and the Arab’s do not fear Israel’s nuclear weapons, they desperately hope that the Jewish state will use them to rid the region of it’s unruly neighbour, the Persians.

And what will happen the next time Mr Ahvegotadinnerjacket meets an Arab leader. How can he possibly shake the hand of a person who he knows wants him dead? And how will Israel now behave given that the Arabs are all in awe of their military capability and secretly wish that they’d bomb Tehran to dust?

Probably, the public will see no difference. All the usual diplomacy will go on behind closed doors but maybe, just maybe some of those ‘private’ reports and cables will be watered down now and they’ll watch what they’re saying – even in private.        

Stop Press - I see the founder of Wikileaks was arrested yesterday. Sounds like trumped up charges of rape to me to get him out of the way for a while. Haven't they realised that whilst individuals can be silenced, web sites go on forever. Why didn't they just get the CIA to hack into Wikileaks and shut it down if it was such a problem?

Maybe they have - I couldn't access the site this morning!