Politicians and diplomats across the world are reeling this morning from the news of the unauthorised released of more than a quarter of a million confidential emails from the U.S. State Department on the highly controversial Wikileaks website. These leaked dispatches provide many fascinating behind-the-scenes insights into the U.S. administration..
I am deeply dubious of the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's condemnation of the leaks, saying that this act puts U.S. lives at risk in various parts of the world. They appear to be embarrassing, but not dangerous to me. Indeed, I am delighted that we have investigative journalists and Internet outlets like WikiLeaks that can tell us what is really happening.
Transparency is key to the good health of any democracy, and I fear the consequences of any government that says one thing publicly while doing something else privately. Of course it is necessary for some issues that could compromise security to be kept under wraps. But what I have seen from these revelations, there are no military or state secrets that have been released into the public domain.
Of most concern is the anxiety raised by many Arab nations including Saudi Arabia about the danger of allowing Iran to develop its nuclear capability. There are dispatches which clearly show how badly these countries would like the U.S. to take action to stop this worrying development. This pretty much confirms what we already knew, but having this confirmed sends shivers up my spine.
While the U.S together with other Western nations including the U.K. somewhat hopelessly try to eliminate the Taliban's, it appears that we are doing little or nothing to curb the growign threat of Iran to world stability. Maybe the public concern caused by this disclosure will galvanise our leaders to develop an effective strategy to deal with Iran. The problem is that it is not easy to find an effective solution without risking terrible military confrontation.
Grandpa Jonathan
