Wikileaks embarrass US government Berita wikileaks di surat kabar International Herald Tribune

Wikileaks embarrass US government

The release of secret messages is hugely embarrassing for the Americans

The US has strongly criticised the release by the website Wikileaks of thousands of extracts from secret messages between officials in America and abroad. However, Wikileaks says the information is of no threat to security around the world.

Reporter:
Jonathan Marcus
Dengar Listen to the story

Report

So what do the Americans really think about the heads of state and government they have to deal with? Not a lot in some cases and that, let's be honest, is one of the most interesting aspects of the Wikileaks material; the candid, uncensored and often rather colourful descriptions of people like the Libyan Leader, Muammar Gaddafi, or the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
All this is hugely embarrassing for the Americans and hugely entertaining for us, but it isn't going to change much. Countries do not break off ties over such things. Indeed there is little in this first batch of cables that will send shock-waves through any of Washington's bilateral relationships with its friends and allies abroad.
What the publication of the cables has done though, is enable us to begin to sketch in some of the detail of stories, like the Gulf rulers' antipathy towards Iran, which was known but never spelt out in such crystal clear terms. The evolution of US policy towards Iran over the past two presidencies now becomes clearer; how the Obama Administration in particular has sought to bring Russia and China on board; and how Israel's relationship with Moscow has also become part of the equation.
However one story in particular, the revelation that the US was trying to get enriched uranium out of Pakistan, also illustrates the potential damage that these sorts of revelations can do. Some things can be done behind the scenes which would be impossible in the full glare of publicity. Secrecy is part of the currency of diplomacy and this huge haemorrhage of information has, temporarily at least, devalued an essential element of that currency.
Jonathan Marcus, BBC News
Dengar Listen to the words

Vocabulary

candid
jujur, terus terang
break off ties
memutuskan hubungan resmi
batch of cables
kumpulan pesan atau komunikasi
bilateral relationships
hubungan bilateral
sketch in some of the detail
memberikan gambaran yang lebih lengkap
antipathy
antipati, perasaan benci
crystal clear
sangat jelas, mudah dimengerti
behind the scenes
di balik layar
the currency of diplomacy
proses diplomasi antar negara
haemorrhage of information
munculnya informasi secara tiba-tiba atau cepat