Posted by
Bill Crawford on Wednesday, December 01, 2010 11:41:19 AM
Julian Assange has been a thorn in everybody's side for a while now. But he has been allowed to skate, until this week. Now his time will soon be up.
Osama Bin Laden is somewhere in the mountainous nether region between Afghanistan and Pakistan- everybody knows it. He is being guarded by men who think his protection is Allah's will (so, no bribery possible) and we know that the odds are good that we would be at war with Pakistan if we tried to get him. So, he skates.
Mr. Assange has been acting like a Freedom of Info Act purveyor for months now, but we either need Europe's help (otherwise, no Interpol) or we have to pretend we are Mossad, which we don't have the will to do right now. On top of that, Wikkileaks agenda has largely been strictly anti- American, so the Europeans have been publicy condemning Julian, but enjoying how uncomfortable he makes us.
Well, that's over. The release of diplomatic cables cuts all. It was actually a relief to read some of them- while the Foriegn Service front line is as uncomfortable with the projection of power as Obama is, at least privately they maintained a healthy cynicism about the world.
The confidentiality of these diplomatic communications is the lifeblood of the diplo world. Much as they would love to just clam up and not talk to us anymore, they all know that a ticket off the grid with us is a one way deal, going down.
The world also knows that mistakes like this on our part are acts of omission. The army brat with the Lada Gaga CD's got away with it because he fell under the radar. Once we turn on that radar, not much will get past us, and everybody knows it. In other words, if the State Department tells the world we are acting on this and it ain't going to be happening again soon, they will believe us readily.
The last sin of Wikkileaks was to show the world what the more cynical among us already knew. For instance, that Saudi Arabia was promoting us to take out Iran, funding Al Queda and making nicey-nice with Teheran, all at once. Taking that and giving it to the NY Times is not something the Saudis will suffer well. Every other country has a similar story. They all have a public face and a private assessment, and rarely do they coincide. Calling them out publicy is just not something they will all tolerate.
And so, all at once, the Europeans will get the gumption to go after Assange, and take him out. Now, it is in their interests to do so. Somebody should tell Julian to enjoy his last gasp of freedom.