Antinuclear

In this nuclear age, Wikileaks raises question of honesty

it seems obfuscation and duplicity often prevail even when honesty, transparency and clarity would better serve. Sometimes, people can handle the truth.

Wikileaks documents deplorable but usefu, azcentral.com blogs – Robert Robb 4 Dec 10, lThe disclosure of the Wikileaks documents is to be deplored. “……. the leaked documents usefully clarify several world situations. And they make you wonder whether the world wouldn’t be better off if diplomacy were more transparent and honest.
The most startling revelation was how directly and bluntly several Arab leaders urged the United States to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program.

The deep concern among Sunni Arabs about the prospect of Shiite Persian Iran having a nuclear weapon was well known. The support for military action was not. If that intensity had been known, events in Iran may have turned out differently.

For the most part, the effort to prevent Iran from going nuclear has seemed to be primarily a U.S. preoccupation, with obvious support from Israel. Western Europe has been supportive, but only so far, so fast. Russia and China have been indifferent to hostile.

If the actionable intensity of Arab sentiment had been a larger part of the public discussion, support for tough sanctions might have hardened much more quickly and easily.

It also might have made a difference in Iran. For all the internal turmoil in Iran, there is a broad consensus in favor of the nuclear program. If true Arab sentiment had been more manifest, internal opposition may have developed……the public environment shapes and limits realistic policy options. And the effort to prevent Iran from going nuclear suffered from the false perception that it was principally a U.S. and Israeli fixation.

The U.S. enables the duplicity of autocratic Arab leaders in part because of the belief that the truth, were it known, would agitate their populations. The Abu Dhabi crown prince told the U.S. that, were free elections held in Dubai, the Muslim Brotherhood would win. Helping Arab autocrats deceive their own people, however, hardly seems a policy with the prospects of long-term success.

The Wikileaks documents also reveal that the United States government does not always level with us.

When the Obama administration announced the cancelation of planned missile defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic, it said it did so because of a reassessment of the Iranian threat. According to what was said at the time, Iran didn’t really pose a long-range threat, so more mobile local missile defense options would be employed instead…………Although not firmly established, the Wikileaks documents leave the clear impression that the Poland-Czech deployment was abandoned as part of an understanding with Russia for support on Iranian sanctions……

it seems obfuscation and duplicity often prevail even when honesty, transparency and clarity would better serve. Sometimes, people can handle the truth.

azcentral.com blogs – Robert Robb – Wikileaks documents deplorable but useful

December 7, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized