The Know Flow continues to flush a good deal of accumulated dirt out of diplomatic channels - a little like a "cleanse" effect prior to a colonoscopy. America and her partners in the sphere of secrecy are, metaphorically speaking of course, getting a taste of the same techniques the TSA is currently using on travelers. And it's a beautiful thing. Once we know who's got the nukes, what's being planned and where the guns are really pointing, we live in a safer world. they can run but they can't hide. Were that only the same for Juilan Assange. But the man is a Prince and a very brave one at that. I don't think Assange gives a rip about his personal safety. He's doing this becasuse it's the Right Thing To Do. Few people have that kind of cojones anymore.
This week’s cyber-attacks were a start. But those will be just one battle in a long war. Preventing the publication of the cache of cables looks hopeless. Journalists are relishing the chance to print, with clear sourcing, the sort of thing they are normally told only in off-the-record briefings. That will keep America on the defensive for weeks and maybe months, as intimate and damaging details of its diplomacy dribble out into the public domain. The Guardian’s David Leigh says the revelations have “barely started”. Officials can fulminate or brazen it out, arguing by turns that the material involved is trivial or deeply damaging. But WikiLeaks and its media allies control completely the timing, quality and quantity of information released.
- KBOO