The Wikishow

Print Edition: December 3-9, 2010

International Tribune

Here we go again, as if the United States does not have enough problems to solve.  Bravo for freedom of the press. Bravo to our bill of rights. Bravo to Wikileaks?  I am not sure. I have a problem about the timing of the biggest expose in world history.  I cannot help but think that Wikileaks and company has irreparably undermined the sensitivity of these issues: Iran and nuclear proliferation, Afghanistan and Iraq wars, relations with China and Russia, Guantanamo, etc... Did they forget that we are not only trying to improve relations with rogue states but we are also fighting two (very expensive) wars, and more importantly, we are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the early 1930's? The stock market in many ways is shaped by the world's confidence on US performance in every aspect. And the exposure of a cache of over a quarter million diplomatic cables just shows that we, too, have become a virtual banana republic.

From Iran and Pakistan to the Korean Peninsula, the world's major hotspots capable of starting a nuclear war- all governments are in disarray. Leaders are being reshuffled, fingers are being pointed, and diplomatic relations with the West are severely hampered. With the current military confrontation in the Korean peninsula, the release of such cables showed how the US and its allies are truly desperate. Undoubtedly, this is an ego boost to the newly appointed General Kim Jong-Un who has no problems picking up a fight with its neighbor South Korea. To a nation where military prowess is both its diplomatic stick and carrot, North Korea will hopefully act wisely and relax its muscle flexing in the Peninsula at the moment.  This military stand-off not only will destabilize the region, but it affects US relations with China (North Korea's biggest ally and the U.S. potential opponent in the region), Iran (supplier), and Russia (another supplier). Or worse, it can trigger a world war, involving nuclear weapons - a zero sum game the world should avoid.  One can only imagine what type of diplomatic cables are being exchanged by each players today. Are they really focusing on the problem or are the relations severely strained, thanks to Wikileaks?

Hans Morgenthau, an international theorist, believed that, “Universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states in the abstract; the circumstances of time and place must be considered”. Nations must place its survival above all other moral goods. Prudence – “the weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions” is the “supreme virtue in politics".  At the end of the day, the nation's security comes first when its elected leaders and diplomats are in the bargaining table.

The US is now in its most fragile and vulnerable position- at home and abroad. With a divided Congress, two wars, high unemployment rate, and the continuing Obama-bashing Tea Party- how can this nation get its acts together and focus on the more pressing problems that confront it today? Washington DC has had seemingly never-ending scandal headliners. Did we not just get over the Rolling Stone article on General McChrystal that resulted in two major resignations plus changing our strategy in Afghanistan? This fiasco cost US tax payers a lot of money.  And for this leak, five or maybe top ten secret confidential memos already seems a lot, but over a quarter million published in the internet and newspapers, now that is too much.  This is just high-level gossip with the media as an accomplice.   It is time for all actors on stage to take their roles seriously.   This is becoming a never-ending telenovela saga. 

If we are at a disarray at home, imagine what a laughing stock this nation is today abroad when the world  embraced and applauded our decision to 'change' back in 2008.   From the Elysée to 10 Downing Street, from the Kremlin to the other seats of power around the globe, our closest allies are second-guessing our friendship. Their confidence with the US leadership is perhaps at its lowest level. And worse, our most worrisome adversaries could now see through our weakness during America's most troublesome and difficult era.