The recent massive release of information has changed quite a bit about what we know about the world that we wouldn’t have otherwise known for a fact before. Barring all of our unconfirmed suspicions for a moment, let’s take a look at the world after Wikileaks, or what we all know now. It’s important to understand these things for several reasons. Foremost, perhaps, is the way this leak will affect global diplomatic relations and how this will all change the world in the coming weeks and years.
First, we will see relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran running the risk of deteriorating even more as the cat is out of the bag about Saudi Arabia urging the US on several occasions to destabilize the country before it acquired nuclear weapons. The public now inadvertently has insider confirmation that Iran may already have nuclear weapons, and Ahmadenijad has been on a long time crusade to grab as many weapons as possible. Leaked documents have compared Iran’s leader as being “like Hitler.” And on top of it all Saudi Arabia’s private donors are apparently funding groups like Al Qaeda. This may not seem like news, but this is in direct conflict with our current alliance with Saudi Government. It will be difficult for the government to continue justifying an alliance with the country to some when we put it in perspective with this indirect cooperation given that the whole premise of the Afghan invasion was essentially the harboring of terrorist cells. Several news sites have been advising people to Keep an eye on the Middle East’s reaction to these documents.
More importantly, perhaps, the US position -especially Hillary Clinton- within the United Nations may be quite different in the next few months as we learn that US diplomats were additionally employed as spies for the US and encouraged to gather information in areas that were of interest. Of course this may not be all that interesting in itself, but when the fact is confirmed, other nations can use it as political leverage to deny diplomats access to sensitive meetings. In a time of diplomatic and economic uncertainty this could be incredibly difficult for the United States.
So what does look different about the world now that we have seen it in a new light? Relations will likely become far more transparent than before (even if temporarily), a few alliances will be damaged, and an uncertain world will get a little more uncertain. In time, as with so many other diplomatic incidents, this will gain enough opportunity to heal old wounds and the world will have an opportunity to stabilize if decisions are not made too rashly. In the mean time, however, the United States’ diplomats risk being removed or ignored. And perhaps the most interesting development will be the revelation of who exactly is attempting to disrupt Wikileaks. The timing of the attack, while possibly a coincidence, smells of conspiracy to others.