A Sad Day for Democracy

The US has recently been embarrassed by the release by wikileaks of 11,000 documents marked ‘secret’, together with a quarter of a million classified cables which include deatils about American foreign policy. Earlier this year ‘Wikileaks’ had also posted onto the web some 390,000 documents pertaining to the war in Afganistan.

In the allegations made in these documents, Russia was described by one Spanish judge as being ‘a virtual mafia state’ in which the government was collaborating with organized crime syndicates in order to implement it’s regime. China was described as being ‘a country without morality’.

Deep concern was expressed in the documents over the fear of a nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan, and also with regard to the possibility of nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists.

With 120,000 people working in the nuclear industry in Pakistan, there is a real threat that nuclear material will at some time go missing, with the UK, the US and Russia all having expressed concern. The documents reveal that concern is much deeper than the public are aware.

There is also concern about nuclear developments in Iran, and documents reveal that other Arab countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain have urged America to ‘cut off the head of the snake’ and to ‘bomb Iran or else live with an Iranian bomb’.

More embarrassing still is that the documents indicate that American ambassadors were encouraged to spy on other members of the United Nations, and to gather DNA samples, mobile phone numbers, credit card details and fingerprints. Unguarded and defamatory comments are also made about the leaders of other countries.

Despite the fact that it was an American government employee who leaked these documents, and despite the fact that they have also been published by the New York Times, the English Guardian newspaper and others, America is now seeking the extradition of the founder of Wikileaks in order to charge him with espionage.

No crime has in fact been committed, and it is America itself which is to blame for failing to keep these sensitive documents secure. At present some 50,000 government employees have access to the docfuments, any one of whom has the potential to release them to the general public.

People around the world have been outraged by this action and have accused the US of duplicity. Some have pointed out that America was quick to criticize China’s persecution of Liu Xiobo and defend his right to free speech, but it is now attempting to suppress free speech in the case of Wikileaks.

A number of credit card companies have come under pressure not to process any donations made to Wikileaks by their supporters, including Visa and Mastercard, although they are still happy to process donations made to racialist organizations within the US. These card companies have since come under cyber attack from people all around the world in protest at their complicity.

The publishing of these documents has been embarrassing enough for the US government, but it is their own mishandling of the situation which has done by far the greatest damage to America and its standing in the world.

Some have pointed out that although America claims to be an avid supporter of democracy and of free speech, this only applies when it benefits Americans themselves.

I suspect that there will be much soul searching going on in America right now. This is indeed a sad day for democracy./TE