Craig Steiner, u.s. Common Sense American Conservatism |
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Founder Julian Assange defended WikiLeaks' posting of confidential documents Friday, saying that not a single person has ever been harmed in the website's four-year publishing history. Without even going to previous leaks, a few of the current leaks have caused situations that are already causing international destabilization:
In short, WikiLeaks' latest releases have (or will likely soon) aggravated tensions and suspicions on the Korean peninsula, emboldened ruthless drug cartels to take over entire regions of Mexico, meddled in Mexico's internal political process, and caused more stress in relations between Venezuela and Mexico and between Venezuela and the U.S. And Assange claims the leaks have never hurt anyone? He's either ignorant, delusional, or lying. There's a legitimate case for whistleblowers to blow the whistle if they're working for a company or government agency, and see that illegal activities are taking place. But the current "dump" of a huge cache of stolen memos seems to serve absolutely no purpose but to embarrass the United States and, primarily, to upset delicate relations around the world. For example, if the Mexican government was/is concerned about losing control of certain regions of its country to drug cartels, it's good that they let the United States know that so we can cooperate with them in our common goals. But what purpose is served by leaking this information to the public other than to let the drug cartels know that, apparently, they've been so successful that the government is worried? No good can come of that. The most likely outcome is more violence and more murders in Mexico. Note: The regions most likely to be lost to drug cartels would be those right on our border. I suspect that at some point the U.S. will be militarily involved in Mexico against the drug cartels, and this leak increases the chances of that by emboldening the drug cartels. And what purpose is served by leaking the information about the Koreas and China mentioned above? It can only serve to increase tensions in the region. Releasing a memo in which a U.S. individual calls the Chinese negotiator "incompetent" may be embarrassing to the U.S., but the real impact is that it cools relations between China and the U.S. so as to make diplomatic efforts in the Koreas less effective and increase the probability of war. It seems to me that the "embarrassment" to the United States by WikiLeaks is minimal compared to the danger the leaked information poses to other countries around the world. Even with just the relatively small number of memos leaked so far, the risk of violence and war has increased around the world. Leaking information on specific illegal activity with the intent of stopping the illegal activity is one thing. But to engage in an irresponsible, indiscriminant dump of confidential information suggests to me that the purpose is nothing so noble as stopping perceived wrongs. I would conclude that Assange/WikiLeaks is either ignorant of the impact of the information he is leaking, that he simply craves the worldwide limelight, or he is intentionally trying to destabilize the world. Because, thus far, the leaked information presents a far greater risk to foreign countries than it does to the United States. Go to the article list |