The WikiLeaks Cablegate Thing

Apparently it's still going on although I've not been paying it much attention. In fact I've actually come in for some criticism for not covering it so allow me to explain why I haven't.

In the early part of 2010 a low level US Army intelligence analyst stole a lot of data of which the diplomatic cables were the most sensitive. Quite why he did this is still a bit of a mystery but it's worth remembering that this year US gay rights campaigners are battling to do away with the don't ask, don't tell policy that prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the military. The man who stole the information did so by smuggling it out on his collection of Lady Gaga CD's

During the release of the Iraq war logs it became obvious that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has a defiant personality and sees himself as a crusader against censorship and for information freedom. Therefore if he feels that the authorities are trying to silence him he will respond aggressively by publishing even more sensitive information. The Swedish authorities took advantage of this personality trait by possibly setting Assange up for and certainly prosecuting him over some spurious rape allegations. An arrest warrant was issued on November 18th and an appeal hearing was held on December 1st. True to form Assange responded to this provocation by releasing the diplomatic cables on November 29th and in doing so gave the Swedes and their anti-COP16 agenda a huge reward.

While everybody involved in international diplomacy knows in the back of their mind that what people say in public and what they think in private are two different things the release of these cables brought the issue into sharp focus. This created a, hopefully temporary, culture of fear and paranoia within international relations especially at the COP16 Summit. As these are US diplomatic cables they have put the US negotiation team in an especially difficult situation which is a shame because after almost two decades of ardent climate change denial the US now seem ready to engage with the COP process if only to get a better idea of what is going on.

So I've not been commenting on cablegate because I don't wish to perpetuate what is a very cheap, Swedish trick that Assange should be ashamed of himself for falling for. Also why I obviously support information freedom I do believe that there are some things that it is just irresponsible to publish widely. For example publishing what some in the US government think the Chinese government think about North Korea makes that volatile situation even more difficult and could increase the chances of a nuclear armed North Korea doing something very silly indeed. That's not something I would want on my conscience.