As thousands of US diplomatic cables are 'leaked' to the world and thousands of journalists scramble to make sense of them, the open ended hand wringing, denunciation and cries of murder will be constant this week. While some will claim that horrific damage will occur and others will herald it as overdue truth telling, I can't help but think, that I don't care much either way.
It doesn't surprise me that internal cables reflect a nasty diplomatic corps imbibed with the power of the almighty US warfare state. It comes as no surprise that sensitive material is literally available to hundreds of thousands employees, or that one of those may feel compelled to share them with the world. The indignant reactions of those caught or those who feel injured by the clumsy machinations of the last super power don't mess up my day.
If anything, it only confirms a reflection that all state power is inherently corrupt. But once said by the erstwhile anti-statist, what solace can we ever take in such revelations? To say that Julian Assange is not providing a service to the US, bespeaks an ignorance to the service it is providing to the rest of the world. To acknowledge the lack of trust by the rest of the world is equally as absurd.
Ninety-nine percent of what you read about this and future revelations will have some inline bent towards some statist rationale about the phenomona that otherwise might have just been labeled as truth telling in days of yore. Whether it be matters of security, empire coddling or some vague reference to the next heroic Valery Plame, Assange will be vilified and justified, but the real villains are just watching it all. Daniel Ellsburg will get another spot on TV mixing haughty with self righteous, but never acknowledging the real problem of statism. Insufficient rage and action against the power of the state starts with the roads in my estimation. Once they are justified as a public good, the rest just naturally follows no matter what the old parchment and those willing to cling to it says. No surprises at the extent the string pullers will justify coercion, whether it be currency definition or personal restrictions.
I could spend hours pouring over these documents and reports about them and don some clever cap that ekes out a small space online, but why ? Perhaps that becomes the greatest challenge to all individuals when confronted with the specter of the modern state. Does one blindly take the actions of the latter as benevolent protection in a dangerous world or can we make a real case that nothing threatens the individual more than the bumbling, emotionally and rationally crippled Leviathan ?
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