Why One Newspaper Agreed To Publish Leaked Cables: The Incompetence Of Governments
from the too-many-secrets dept
While many are attacking Wikileaks and the release of State Department cables, Jay Rosen points us to the explanation by Spanish newspaper El Pais as to why it published the leaks. While the whole thing is worth reading, I think the point in the first two paragraphs is particularly salient. Governments insist that they need secrecy to protect the public, but it appears that neither point there is true. The government hasn’t done a very good job protecting the public, and what’s most telling and revealing about these documents is that the government doesn’t need much of the “secrecy” it requests. So publishing these documents highlights the very basic lie of that bargain: “you allow us to act in secrecy, and we’ll protect you.” In reality, neither part appears to be true. Here’s the full explanation:
Cynics will argue that none of what we have learned from WikiLeaks differs from the usual way in which high-level international politics is conducted, and that without diplomatic secrets, the world would be even less manageable and more dangerous for everyone. Political classes on both sides of the Atlantic convey a simple message that is tailored to their advantage: trust us, don’t try to reveal our secrets; in exchange, we offer you security.
But just how much security do they really offer in exchange for this moral blackmail? Little or none, since we face the sad paradox that this is the same political elite that was incapable of properly supervising the international financial system, whose implosion triggered the biggest crisis since 1929, ruining entire countries and condemning millions of workers to unemployment and poverty. These are the same people responsible for the deteriorating quality of life of their populations, the uncertain future of the euro, the lack of a viable European project and the global governance crisis that has gripped the world in recent years, and which elites in Washington and Brussels are not oblivious to. I doubt that keeping embassy secrets under wraps is any kind of guarantee of better diplomacy or that such an approach offers us better answers to the problems we face.
The incompetence of Western governments, and their inability to deal with the economic crisis, climate change, corruption, or the illegal war in Iraq and other countries has been eloquently exposed in recent years. Now, thanks to WikiLeaks, we also know that our leaders are all too aware of their shameful fallibility, and that it is only thanks to the inertia of the machinery of power that they have been able to fulfill their democratic responsibility and answer to the electorate.
The powerful machinery of state is designed to suppress the flow of truth and to keep secrets secret. We have seen in recent weeks how that machine has been put into action to try to limit the damage caused by the WikiLeaks revelations.
Given the damage they have suffered at the hands of WikiLeaks, it is not hard to see why the United States and other Western governments have been unable to resist the temptation of focusing attention on Julian Assange. He seems an easy enough target, and so they have sought to question his motivation and the way that WikiLeaks works. They have also sought to question why five major news organizations with prestigious international reputations agreed to collaborate with Assange and his organization. These are reasonable questions, and they have all been answered satisfactorily over the last four weeks, despite the pressure put on us by government, and worse still, by many of our colleagues in the media.
Filed Under: governments, secrecy, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks
Comments on “Why One Newspaper Agreed To Publish Leaked Cables: The Incompetence Of Governments”
Accountability
People to gov: Fail, and scrutiny will increase.
Accountability
People to gov: You have failed. You must now prove you can be trustworthy through near total transparency before scrutiny can be relaxed.
There, fixed that for you.
Not so fast
It’s just been announced that Zimbabwe’s opposition leader will now likely face the death penalty because of Wikileaks release. Mugabe has tried to kill this guy for years (only succeeding in murdering his wife) and now Assange has handed him a legal way to do it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/03/zimbabwe-morgan-tsvangirai
“Publicly, Tsvangirai opposed the measures out of political necessity. In private conversations with western diplomats, however, the ascendant Tsvangirai praised its utility in forcing Mugabe’s hand in the new unity government.
Now, in the wake of the WikiLeaks’ release, one of the men targeted by US and EU travel and asset freezes, Mugabe’s appointed attorney general, has launched a probe to investigate Tsvangirai’s involvement in sustained western sanctions. If found guilty, Tsvangirai will face the death penalty.
And so, where Mugabe’s strong-arming, torture and assassination attempts have failed to eliminate the leading figure of Zimbabwe’s democratic opposition, WikiLeaks may yet succeed. Twenty years of sacrifice and suffering by Tsvangirai all for naught, as WikiLeaks risks “collateral murder” in the name of transparency.
Before more political carnage is wrought and more blood spilled ? in Africa and elsewhere, with special concern for those US-sympathising Afghans fingered in its last war document dump ? WikiLeaks ought to leave international relations to those who understand it ? at least to those who understand the value of a life.”
“I doubt that keeping embassy secrets under wraps is any kind of guarantee of better diplomacy”
I’m betting revealing the secrets will be more of a guarantee of better diplomacy.
I suppose any other news outlet / reporter that may spew what the party line thinks we need to know in some way supports the policticians who seem to think they own the goverment and truths they represent because they want to support those who can benefit them too . Just how much do they need to pay someone to lie or just plain be quiet is the price it costs to those other news outlets spewing that type of news . The price is to pay them as much as they can with your money and as little as they can with their own . Thats the bottom line in bussiness and politics especially if your livelyhood depends on it . I need a job but not that bad . I just get the feeling that with a big enough paycheck it is very difficult to walk away before shown the door .
Not so fast
It’s just been announced that Zimbabwe’s opposition leader will now likely face the death penalty because of Wikileaks release. Mugabe has tried to kill this guy for years (only succeeding in murdering his wife) and now Assange has handed him a legal way to do it
Very little of what is claimed is accurate. I’m working on a post about the stuff in Zimbabwe for tomorrow. Very little of what’s in that Guardian report is accurate.
Not so fast
Are you serious?
Like Mugabe needs an excuse for anything. The leaks are not the cause, obviously.
Not so fast
Who understand the value of life? How’s that Iraq war working out for those who understand the value of life?
Secret is becoming sloppy because it has become, like all the rest, a commodity.
Estimates place the number of people having security clearance to about 2.4 millions. Among those, the Washington Post estimated that about 850,000 people have top level security clearance.
What damaging leaks Mike ??
Given the damage they have suffered at the hands of WikiLeaks, it is not hard to see why the United States and other Western governments have been unable to resist the temptation of focusing attention on Julian Assange.
WHAT DAMAGE,, have you been keeping up with the wikileaks diplomatic cable releases ???
What damage, really if you look at the leaks, and what is said in those leaks, they are purile, petty, and no one is or seems really very interested in them at all.
You can make claims all day that the leaks are highly damaging, but nothing at all so far has been anything like what hase been released by news and media about what the US gets up to in the middle east..
We allready had seem the pictures of what your troops are doing to the prisoners over there.
And nothing in the leaks cables are anything like that, the US is more than capable of exposing its own errors and secrets.
And compared to what wikileaks has released, the wikileaks have almost zero value, and have revealed basically NOTHING that is a major issue, and a clear lie, like you or some spanish news paper claims.
Show us what you think are the REALLY BAD cables ?? Mike..
If they are so damaging to the USA’s interestes, then why on earth are we not hearing about them..
Wikileaks is a ‘hasbeen’ or a ‘neverbeen’..
I appears it has little or nothing of any substance, and what he does have he is using for his own gain and profit, and to blackmail..
Nothing has or will come out of wikileaks that is anything like the nixon papers, or watergate, or WMD’s, or special renditions, or detainee treatment at gitmo.. all those things, we all ready KNOW ABOUT, not that many people are surprised or expected any different from the USA.
So when someone comes out with a Diplomatic cable that says a diplomat things Mike is a moron, NO ONE CARES and NO ONE IS SURPRISED (except Mike) that diplomats actually do what DIPLOMATS ARE SUPPOSED TO FREAKING DO..
I know Mike you get upset when someone does a job and does not immediately tell you 100% what happened, every detain, so you know.
I know Mike you expect businesses to condust their business, then to publish EVERY ASPECT of their transactions, the history, the contents of their mettings, their contracts EVERYTHING.. for some reason !!!
But in the real work mike you dont get everything you want, and if a government or a business decide to do business, WITHOUT LETTING YOU MIKE KNOW..
They have every right to do so, there is no requirement for every goverment, or business transaction, every business or government conversation, every idea good or bad,, THEY DO NOT HAVE TO CLEAR IT WITH YOU FIRST MIKE !!..
Nor do they have to inform you, keep you up to date, make public what they said or did, allow you to read their private conversations and so on..
You do the very same yourself Mike, !!!.
You ‘claim’ to have had two meetings with certain people, and you ‘claim’ they said the same thing to you..
But you defend your right to not state their names because of your own privacy..
BUT, you cannot stand it when anyone else does the same thing, you insist on full disclusure, and if you do not get that, you are willing to leak, and spy to find out the information..
You do not respect others privacy, yet you expect others to respect your’s.
Truth.
“The government hasn’t done a very good job protecting the public, and what’s most telling and revealing about these documents is that the government doesn’t need much of the “secrecy” it requests.”
Mike,
I don’t think I have EVER read anything more true than that statement in any media, let alone on the internet.
Linking secrecy and security
Interesting analysis, but by the criteria mentioned in the quote, just about every government that has ever existed on the planet would be considered “incompetent” so I’m not sure that it tells us very much.
I also don’t recall this promise (we’ll give you security if you let us keep stuff secret) being made by any US politician in recent memory, nor have I read of such a promise in any historical accounts. Maybe it’s a commonly made promise in Spain.
Accountability
Yes, just like after the watergate thing !!!.
Or just like after the nixon papers, or tapes !!!.
Yes, sure a few wikileaks cables make a few diplomats look a bit petty, but it also shows that diplomats are doing exactly what we expect and pay our diplomats to do.
The Government does not have to prove ANYTHING to you, regardless of what you believe or not A Government will be incharge of you, they will set the law’s that you have to follow, and you will elect them to that position.
They will not EVER worry about telling you everything, there is no point, 99.9% of what they do you would clearly not even understand.
And the rest is what you would find to be totally boring, (as has been shown by the leaked cables so far).
They do not contain anything major, and they are not setting off alarms around the world..
If you think wikileaks is going to change the fundamental way governments conduct their business. or that business or private industry will change in any way because of wikileaks, you are mistaken.. we’ll wrong actually..
one day, you might work out, that basically the enture world does not care about wikileaks, they see it for what it is, a nothing, a blip. they do no see wikileaks as being able to change policy, or to take down a government..
Most if not all of what has been seen in the leaked cables, is exactly what you would expect them to contain, talking, negiotations, diplomacy, politics, law, security.
You are really desperate to bash the government if you feel that you need wikileaks as your source for Dirt..
There is far more REAL Dirt on you’re government that is allready in the public domain, VERY DAMAGING information, but you do not seek that out ??
Why not, would that require you to think by yourself ? or do work on your own ?
Or to actually THINK ??
You government has done SO many things that you could show them up for shame, yet you have to resort to wikileaks to get some dirt on what a diplomat called another politician ?
Bit freaking deal
Why dont you dig up the documents about when the CIA spied on Dr Martin Luthor King ? or spied of Govenor Kennedy ?
Or Hoover calling for the WW1 army loan people who were protecting in the depression to get their payments, why hoover ordered to police to shoot them ?
Why did the police stab a 4 year old boy in the legs to stop him from running away !!!!
Or the little girl, about 4 as well, who died from tear gas ?
The US has a long history of terror, and you dont need wikileaks to find out about them.
If fact compared to the real world, wikileaks, is nothing..
What damaging leaks Mike ??
I live in the Dominican Republic, and the released cables became quite the news, not because of the breach itself, but because in it there was information where it names clearly 2 people from our government that asked for money in exchange for political favors.
Now those 2 people are being put on trial.
Admittedly, they will most likely pay the judge and go free; corruption is quite a problem in our country, where you only go to jail if you pissed off someone with more power than you. But it’s a step forward.
I couldn’t find news online that report these facts that are not in spanish, but it appears that the leaks have benefited my country in other ways: http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/1/37815/Wikileaks-benefit-Dominican-Republic-prestigious-entity-says
Accountability
i like witty trolls. you are boring
Re:
Mike, in general I agree with your outlook on the freedom of information within reason, but don’t become another predictable pendulum swing. Just because virtually every government fails virtually every nation on a regular basis does not in any way justify the abolishing of secrecy, diplomatic or otherwise, any more than it justifies one country drawing down defenses without the opposing country agreeing to do the same.
There are two entities people refer to when they use the name Wikileaks. The first is a heroic champion for freedom and vehicle for whistleblowers exposing injustice. The second is an anti-establishment and particularly anti-US politically motivated beacon for ignorant idealism and blind dissident anger seeking to embarrass those it doesn’t like. The former incarnation is a great addition to the world and rightfully feared by those who practice corruption in government or corporations, but it doesn’t come around much. The latter is a cult of personality built around Julian Assange’s ego put on a pedestal by everybody who’s pissed off about the war/the recession/global warming/insert protest sign here… with an botnet army of rah-rah hacker-culture wanna-be’s.
America is a representative democracy, in which we elect generally corrupt, money-grubbing prostitutes to political office to make decisions based on information the public is often not privy to. While we moderate independents with an education would prefer to have more say in those decisions, we know the majority of people in a democracy think and vote like blind/deaf sheep. El Pais isn’t providing some grand and illuminating rationale for why they think exposing unsurprising diplomatic cables is morally or strategically useful… they’re stamping their feet and saying “they suck, therefore they deserve it”. Everything these days is a gigantic BS PR campaign… now private intelligence reports are open game? If an American soldier drops a bottle on the ground in the Middle East 3 people show up with wounds at a hospital and the story hits the regional papers the following morning. You don’t have to be a US government apologist to be sick of the perpetual double-standard.
Linking secrecy and security
>> I also don’t recall this promise
It’s implied every single time something is stamped classified for the sake of national security.
Re:
You are underestimating what transparency can bring to the table.
You also seem to be saying that because we are so flawed the “governed” should not ask for more in this particular area.
As for the double-standard, if you have success and are imposing, expect greater scrutiny here and there. Yet as others have pointed out, many people do value these leaks in part because of the corruption it might bring to light in other parts of the world.
Linking secrecy and security
Could you explain your assertion? How do you know what is implied by a clerk stamping a document as “secret”?
What damaging leaks Mike ??
“What damage, really if you look at the leaks, and what is said in those leaks, they are purile, petty, and no one is or seems really very interested in them at all.”
well Ive lost all but the tiniest bit of hope about this generation of government(there was a small bit before hearing about the young sex slaves being part of OUR way to make the afghan police reasonable size), and hope is priceless
ok its never mind its all gone now, just realize it said ‘Spanish’ newspaper means none of ours ignored weak threats;
where is this one form anyway? spain? mexico? were we really threatening that far away? are we that scared of what wikileaks hasn’t posted yet?
Re:
“While we moderate independents with an education would prefer to have more say in those decisions, we know the majority of people in a democracy think and vote like blind/deaf sheep.”
i dont like how u imply anyone educated would be moderate
and anyone who isnt educated is a sheep
http://mimiandeunice.com/2010/07/26/color/
as i am not a good student or a moderate :p
i dont see how a mix between two ideas that have proven themselves to cause problems would be any better
we need something incredibly different such a real trying to see how close we can get to anarchy without crossing the line, see how that works out
maybe communism where we kick out the lazy people off local votes, not the guy in change(after many warnings and a small government where thats still possible) trying as hard as possible to not became totalitarian
or what we have now just kick out everyone in office and can only vote if ur willing to come talk politics all day on voting day, to insure only people who actually care vote
Re:
“You are underestimating what transparency can bring to the table.”
No, I’m questioning transparency for the sake of transparency, and both the motives for and results of seeking out and releasing a broadband scope of classified information.
“You also seem to be saying that because we are so flawed the “governed” should not ask for more in this particular area.”
Not at all, we should continually ask. This government is built upon the inefficient but necessary system of checks and balances, because no one can be trusted to make the right decisions all of the time without some form of oversight. As I said before, it’s a good thing to ask questions and expose corruption… even the nutball conspiracy theorists serve a role… but by nature every functioning entity that COMPETES with other entities inherently keeps secrets. Strategy *can* be transparent, tactics should not be.
“As for the double-standard, if you have success and are imposing, expect greater scrutiny here and there.”
True. And if you attempt to attack or undermine that thing that has success and is imposing, expect it to react negatively…. don’t act surprised, shocked or angry when it does what anything and anyone else would do.
Re:
“we need something incredibly different such a real trying to see how close we can get to anarchy without crossing the line, see how that works out
maybe communism where we kick out the lazy people off local votes, not the guy in change(after many warnings and a small government where thats still possible) trying as hard as possible to not became totalitarian”
Yes, and I’d like to ride my unicorn down 1st Avenue every morning, stroll into the United Nations, tell everyone what to do and how to do it, and then fly my luxury supersonic VTOL to Europe for lunch. Communism is a wonderful sheet of music… Totalitarianism is the concert where the music actually gets played. And I’ve only met two types of Anarchists: the kind that hasn’t yet been punched in the face and robbed, and the kind that’s looking forward to doing it to you.
Accountability
Hehehe. You have occasional salient points, like the MLK thing.
But your posts read like some kind of demented botnet decided to try making Shakespeare from random ASCII characters.
Truth.
They do not want you to know that they are doing very little for your benefit.
I know the writer is talking about the EU. But in the US I don’t feel secure. I fear my government more than I do terrorists.
I think the US is heading exactly in the right direction. Wikileaks isn’t very powerful without exposure. Since the initial deal, and since Julian paid his way out of jail, the wikileaks stories have pretty much died in the mainstream media. This is significant, considering that for a while CNN has a special segement on their website for just Wikileaks stuff. Now there is nothing on the main page of their site.
Basically, the Obama administration is doing what they said they would do, they are ignoring it to death.
Pressuring the few newspapers who did run the cables in the Western world is probably a good idea too. Perhaps they will be less likely to run the next batch, understanding that they are exceptional cases rather than being mainstream. Perhaps they are trying to see how they obtained the documents, to see what the connections are.
All I know is that after the initial furor, Wikileaks has sort of become a non-issue in the US media.
Accountability
Now do a haiku.
Not so fast
So we have two bastard in this country.
One of the bastard is very in-your-face, the other is a sneaky bastard.
Wikileaks exposes the sneaky bastard. The in-your-face uses it as an excuse to do more in-your-face bastardness to the sneaky bastard.
And that is wrong, why?
it’s darryl again
surely is paid by techdirt
to make little sense
it’s darryl again
surely is paid by techdirt
to make little sense
The main stream media shouldn’t be paying much attention to Wikileaks right now because there isn’t much “news” to pay attention to. Quite a bit of the stuff “leaked or published” is drivel. So Anna Nicole Smith made quite a splash in the Bahamas? Wow. Truthfully, by publishing crap like that, Wikileaks actually hurts itself.
As for what harm has actually been done to the US, what harm has been done?
Accountability
“Yes, just like after the watergate thing !!!.
Or just like after the nixon papers, or tapes !!!.”
Oh, Darryl…. Proof that you don’t know your history, or do you just like repeating yourself?
Linking secrecy and security
‘Could you explain your assertion? How do you know what is implied by a clerk stamping a document as “secret”?’
From the government definition of secret: ‘”Secret” shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe.’
Re:
I keep meeting a third kind: the ones that aren’t stereotyped.
Given the damage they have suffered at the hands of WikiLeaks, it is not hard to see why the United States and other Western governments have been unable to resist the temptation of focusing attention on Julian Assange.
The damage was done by those in the documents – Wikileaks just exposed it.
Hey – what’s that they say?
If you have nothing to hide – what are you worried about? 🙂