On Sunday November 28th, an organization known as WikiLeaks began to release top secret government documents concerning foreign diplomacy. With 251,287 documents in their possession, this is without question the biggest leak in the history of our government. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the organization, and warned that this release could severely damage US foreign relations. However this Sunday, WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, a firm believer in the freedom of press, went ahead with his first initial phase of releasing the Diplomatic Cables...So far there have been 276 diplomatic cables released... Some are merely juicy gossip while others are serious foreign matters. Here is a brief summary of the most significant ones...
- Guantanamo Bay: President Barack Obama has bargained with other countries to move their prisoners out of the detention camp.
Iran: Seems likes the US is not the only nation afraid of Iran's nuclear program. Many of its Middle-Eastern neighbors such as Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have secretly spoke against the country. In one cable, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia practically asks the US to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. The US Embassy has also compared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler himself.
- Afghanistan: Corruption in the government! One cable tells of an account where The Vice President of the country visited United Arab Emirates, and walked off with 52 million in cash. The US Embassy has also claimed that President Hamid Karzai is driven by paranoia.
- North Korea: Secret deals against North Korea. The US diplomats have persuaded South Korea to strengthen its alliance with China. In hopes of a North Korean economic collapse, the US hopes to establish a unified Korea without communist influence.
- Pakistan: The US has been working to remove uranium from a Pakastini nuclear reactor, which they fear could be used as a weapon. This top secret mission has been ongoing since 2007, and is not secret anymore.
- The United Nations: Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has asked several US diplomats to spy on foreign diplomats of the United Nations, most notably Secretary General Ban Ki-Moons...
- Germany: Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel is known as a Teflon by the US embassy; unaware of her criticism, afraid to take risks, and not very creative...
Libya: Muammar al-Qadhafi, his extravagant lifestyle, and his voluptuous blond Ukrainian nurse who never leaves his side.
- Russia: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is the Batman and the alpha-dog, while President Medvedev is the Robin. Putin has an extremely close relationship with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi... and the Russian government is believed to have ties with organized crime.
- Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is defined by the US Embassy as "reckless, vain, and ineffective..." He parties too much and is never well rested.
- Zimbabwe: President Mugabe has been referred to as "The Devil" and is considered to be extremely clever and ruthless. His prime-minister, Tsvargirai, is described as flawed, indecisive, and weak.
As I said before, some of these documents are purely gossip, yet others are quite significant and strike some concern. Several questions come into play, concerning this release. The biggest one is Was it the Right Thing to Do?? I am a huge proponent of Freedom of Press, yet if its information that could lead to political turmoil, its only going to cause greater tension, and ultimately bring greater risk to lives. There is enough tension in this world as it is, and the last thing our world leaders need now is to be exposed talking behind people's backs, calling one another devils and weaklings... Who knows what this could lead to...
There have been accusations that Wikileaks should be considered a terrorist organization. This claim is somewhat exaggerated, yet also has a hint of truth to it, depending on the effects this release might bring... It seems thus far, that most leaders will simply disregard this leak, as unofficial and insignificant. However, the documents themselves are as real as it gets, and there's no question that each world leader will look over them, and remember what was said behind their backs... As terrible as the WikiLeaks may be, they have succeeded in sparking a mass interest in foreign affairs and foreign gossip! It will be interesting to see if any severe reactions come from this release... Whatever ends up happening, this whole story has already proven to be quite enormous, the stuff movies are made of, with many more documents still to come, and many more chapters still to be written...http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/
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