WikiLeaks: Heat edition
“The released communiqués read more like a political edition of Heat magazine”
Whether you regard Julian Assange as a feckless self-aggrandiser or a champion of much needed disclosure, few can dispute that he has a knack for getting attention.
The latest release from the WikiLeaks project is a collection of communications between American diplomats and the political heads of a series of administrations. Much like the previously released Iraq War Logs, the ratio of signal to noise is heavily skewed towards noise. In the current release we see a similar slew of unsurprising revelations that vary from the banal to the humorous.
The released communiqués superficially read as a political edition of Heat magazine: “Silvio Berluscioni likes to party!”, “Medvedev is the Robin to Putin’s Batman!”, “Prince Andrew is rude and elitist!”. There is nothing surprising in the reality that diplomats are only human, who gossip and bicker as much as any other group. While seeing usually-guarded politicians speaking frankly is novel, it doesn’t really educate us. The noise in these logs is a little more subtle, but hints towards the profound.
The shift in China’s stance towards North Korea, the Arabian perspective on Iran, and the candid assessment of Israel’s position in the Middle East, as well as Americans spying on the UN, and the fight to save Gary McKinnon — these topics are the signal amidst the noise, and could have lasting impacts long after the sniggers about rude royals fade away.
