Good Gossip, and No Harm Done to U.S.
By ALBERT R. HUNT
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks is one of those stories where the passions of the moment blind us to what may eventually be seen as the more important lessons.
Ever since The New York Times, The Guardian and three other European publications began to publish the secret U.S. State Department and Pentagon documents, obtained by the WikiLeaks Web site, the conversation has focused on how embarrassing this is for the U.S. government and others around the world; whether WikiLeaks’ erratic founder, Julian Assange, should be put on a terrorist list and prosecuted; and did the news media, especially The New York Times, act responsibly in publishing the material?
To be sure, there are embarrassing revelations in the thousands of cables, often raw files. Arab governments are urging the United States to strike Iran; the United States and South Korea are gaming China’s reaction to a collapse of North Korea; the portraits of heads of state aren’t flattering.
This no doubt will complicate some relations as well as American diplomacy for a while. Despots probably will go out of their way to distance themselves publicly.
(More here.)
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks is one of those stories where the passions of the moment blind us to what may eventually be seen as the more important lessons.
Ever since The New York Times, The Guardian and three other European publications began to publish the secret U.S. State Department and Pentagon documents, obtained by the WikiLeaks Web site, the conversation has focused on how embarrassing this is for the U.S. government and others around the world; whether WikiLeaks’ erratic founder, Julian Assange, should be put on a terrorist list and prosecuted; and did the news media, especially The New York Times, act responsibly in publishing the material?
To be sure, there are embarrassing revelations in the thousands of cables, often raw files. Arab governments are urging the United States to strike Iran; the United States and South Korea are gaming China’s reaction to a collapse of North Korea; the portraits of heads of state aren’t flattering.
This no doubt will complicate some relations as well as American diplomacy for a while. Despots probably will go out of their way to distance themselves publicly.
(More here.)
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