How WikiLeaks Just Set Back Democracy in Zimbabwe

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Last year, early on Christmas Eve morning, representatives from the U.S., United Kingdom, Netherlands, and the European Union arrived for a meeting with Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Appointed prime minister earlier that year as part of a power-sharing agreement after the fraud- and violence-ridden 2008 presidential election, Tsvangirai and his political party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), are considered Zimbabwe's greatest hopes for unseating the country's long-time de facto dictator Robert Mugabe and bringing democratic reforms to the country.

The topic of the meeting was the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by a collection of western countries, including the U.S. and E.U. Tsvangirai told the western officials that, while there had been some progress in the last year, Mugabe and his supporters were dragging their feet on delivering political reforms. To overcome this, he said that the sanctions on Zimbabwe "must be kept in place" to induce Mugabe into giving up some political power. The prime minister openly admitted the incongruity between his private support for the sanctions and his public statements in opposition. If his political adversaries knew Tsvangirai secretly supported the sanctions, deeply unpopular with Zimbabweans, they would have a powerful weapon to attack and discredit the democratic reformer.

Later that day, the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe dutifully reported the details of the meeting to Washington in a confidential U.S. State Department diplomatic cable. And slightly less than one year later, WikiLeaks released it to the world.

The reaction in Zimbabwe was swift. Zimbabwe's Mugabe-appointed attorney general announced he was investigating the Prime Minister on treason charges based exclusively on the contents of the leaked cable. While it's unlikely Tsvangirai could be convicted on the contents of the cable alone, the political damage has already been done. The cable provides Mugabe the opportunity to portray Tsvangirai as an agent of foreign governments working against the people of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, it could provide Mugabe with the pretense to abandon the coalition government that allowed Tsvangirai to become prime minister in 2009.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/how-wikileaks-just-set-back-democracy-in-zimbabwe/68598

[The_Dude 1,142]

Wow, what a ####. Thanks Boo..... oops, I mean Julian.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Yea, Assange is really helping out the world, isn't he. ** him, let him rot in jail.

[The_Dude 1,142]

While I do support the general idea of making government actions more transparent, however, what wikileaks did was too far. There were many documents leaked that served no purpose other than to mock world leaders and embarass people.

[mawilson 2,133]

Julian Assange is a hero.

[SMR 368]

Julian Assange is a hero.

Who did he help or save?

And in reality, were you shocked by any of these supposedly earth-shattering "leaks?" I mean, most of it wasn't even official policy. It's just off-the record babbling by various diplomats that became on the record.

[mawilson 2,133]

Who did he help or save?

He helped shut up the conspiracy theorists who have for years suspected some

sort of secret US government agenda by revealing that the public position taken

by the US on any given issue is exactly the same as the private position.

Edited December 28, 2010 by mawilson

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

He helped shut up the conspiracy theorists who have for years suspected some

sort of secret US government agenda by revealing that the public position taken

by the US on any given issue is exactly the same as the private position.

Wow, that's made such a difference in the world.

I guess we should wish that he had been able to do this back in the days of SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative/Star Wars Defense System) to prevent the end of the Cold War?

[mawilson 2,133]

Wow, that's made such a difference in the world.

I guess we should wish that he had been able to do this back in the days of SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative/Star Wars Defense System) to prevent the end of the Cold War?

"State secrecy is anathema to a free society. Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name? In a free society we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling and outright military intervention in the post–World War II era has made us less secure, not more, and we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble. Too often it’s the official government lies that have given us endless and illegal wars resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and casualties."

--Ron Paul

[B_J 2,752]

I like Ron Paul. I really, really do. But sometimes he lets his idealistic vision of things get in the way of reality.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

"State secrecy is anathema to a free society. Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name? In a free society we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling and outright military intervention in the post–World War II era has made us less secure, not more, and we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble. Too often it’s the official government lies that have given us endless and illegal wars resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and casualties."

--Ron Paul

So all foreign governments should know exact details of our military defense strengths & plans? I'm all for transparency but in some cases it just can't be. For example, should we publish the launch codes for our nuclear arsenal on the internet complete with blueprints to the storage & launch facilities and even instructions on how to make the needed launch keys?