What Africa Should Learn From WikiLeaks. ISS
Africa International relations Wikileaks Trackbacks (0)by Berouk Mesfin, Senior Researcher, African Conflict Prevention Programme, Addis Ababa
Link to the full text of the article : http://www.issafrica.org/iss_today.php?ID=1219
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Many Africans had the opportunity to read through these cables and study
the information that they contain about how the US, the lone superpower
since 1991, assesses political developments around the world and
interacts with other states behind closed doors. They had the
opportunity to get what a British commentator described in the Guardian
as ‘a deep sense of priorities, character, thought patterns’ in US
secret diplomacy.
It will probably take many years and even decades before the real
lessons contained in these informative cables may be drawn. However,
African governments and citizens should at least begin to reflect and
learn preliminary but valuable lessons from the contents and the style
of these informative cables.
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Finally, all things considered, international relations will continue to be the incessant struggle among selfishly motivated states. And, diplomats will continue to be at the forefront of this struggle. They engage in their non-altruistic tradecraft which the British commentator in the Guardian aptly portrayed as ‘finding out what is happening in the places to which they are posted, working to advance their nation’s interests and their government’s policies’.
For better or worse, no mass dumping of classified documents by WikiLeaks – leaks come and go – will change this reality. Everything will go back to normal and US diplomats, discredited but undaunted, will continue to go to great lengths to collect information of the utmost importance, write the frankest assessments and only pursue the most vital of US interests without much concern for the interests of other states.