Adil Najam
Let me start with my own ‘WikiLeak moment.’ I have been wanting to write about the whole WikiLeak saga and how we Pakistanis have been reacting to it. However, I have still not figured out what there is to say about it. I am clearly in a minority (maybe even a minority of one) on this one since everyone seems to have nothing else to talk about except WikiLeaks: All WikiLeaks all the time seems to be the roller coaster that Pakistan is on right now.
Hence this post. To ask our readers what in the WikiLeaks, or about the WikiLeaks, has surprised them the most. As for me, maybe I have become too cynical myself, but there is nothing in or about WikiLeaks that has really surprised or stunned me. At least , not yet.
Of course, there is much to chatter about for the chattering classes in the WikiLeaks. For a nation that seems to run on talking points, there is talking points a plenty. But to what avail and for what point. That I do not know. And that is what I seek to learn from you, dear readers.
Maybe the surprise is that there still are many who seem (or feign) surprise at finding that Americans wish to influence other countries in pursuit of their own national interests, or that our own leaders seem interested only in their own personal interests. That our leaders are bent on bad-mouthing each other with gusto and seek favors of Americans who they seem to think are the arbiters of their own political fate should also not be a surprise to anyone who has ever seen a Pakistani talk show, least of all to the anchors of those shows. Yet, our perennially incensed anchors seem to be particularly incensed about this very non-surprise.
Maybe one surprise is that we have, as yet, not heard anything about what these memos say about what our media stars have been saying to the Americans. I suspect, that too shall come. Of course, reading about what other countries think of Pakistan and of our leaders is embarrassing, but I cannot imagine that it is truly surprising either. That too many will spin, twist and even lie about what is or is not in WikiLeaks is sometimes irksome, but frankly we have seen lies so much more blatant that these little skirmishes with the truth seem rather trivial. Sure enough, WikiLeaks can confirm that which we had already suspected. But in this case they seem to circumstantially confirm all, and sometimes smack opposite, conspiracy theories. No matter what you believe, you can – and will – claim that WikiLeaks has confirmed that exact view.
So, here I am wondering what I should write about. What is there in these WikiLeaks that is truly news, surprising, or even just insightful? What have we learnt that we really did not know before? And what might we learn from this little tsunami in a tea-cup, if indeed we were ever in a mood to learn anything? Do help me, dear readers, to help figure this one out.
@KK
Wikileaks has exposed the Saudi monarchi in its ugliest form.
It is disgusting how low can the Saudi monarchs go to serve their family interests.
By hatching up conspiracies against Iran they are playing right into the hands of Israel so much so that they even asked for NATO’s help in invading Lebonan so that Hizbollah(Israel’s only enemy in the region)can be effectively destroyed.
No doubt Israelis were lapping it up like a cat to cream.
No wonder Saudis kept mum while Israel attacked Lebonan.They also kept quiet when Israel slaughtered Gazans.The reason is simple:Saudis do not want to anger the Americans.Obviously by keeping Americans as ‘friends’ Saudis have to keep the money coming into the house of Saud.
What surprised me the most is the level of hostility Saudi Arabia has towards Iran, Hezbollah and perhaps Shias in general (?). This was one of the reasons that they did not like Zardari as the wikileaks showed. I know that they don’t like Iran but to go to the extent to support Israel and the US to attack Iran is shocking, and the fact that they wanted to put together a force to fight Hezbollah, the only movement that has had success against Israel, is very sad. I don’t know if this is the view of the average Arab in the Gulf, I guess we will never know since there are no democracies there.
I’m also surprised that they would support Nawaz Sharif given how he broke his asylum agreement with them and was even called “dangerous” by their government.
I’m very happy that these leaks came out, it also showed that Shell has control over every government ministry in Nigeria (in their own words) and that Pfizer blackmailed the Nigerian attorney general for him to drop his case on Pfizer for testing unsafe medicine on Nigerian children in Kano.
WikiLeak too much Change for Obama?
Know It’s roller coaster, still xx harder for totalitarian states.
We NEED transparency for our global society that we created an cannot control. To many crises. We’d never gone to Iraq if we read the cables first?
How can a few wise leaders alone solve complex global issues pending ?
People need to be involved/need same info on these complex issues to let our global society decide & survive.
If democracy fails, the only solution is More democracy.
E-vote(power), not E-commerce(money) that changes our world!
so think ..our 200 y old democracy, then we beat china!
I think nothing is very much surprising as these affairs were already in the notice of Journalists to a greater extent and even in the notice of a common man through media to a lesser extent.The surprise is that no one denied these allegations firmly.
Completely agreed with Hermoon Gill