Gates on Wikileaks: "Consequences for U.S. foreign policy? I think fairly modest.''

"Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for U.S. foreign policy? I think fairly modest.''—Defense Secty. Robert Gates, on the Wikileaks "Cablegate" fallout.

• [joeposts]

  I too am unfazed by wikileaks’ wiki-leaks. I was hoping for something about 9/11 controlled demolition, chemtrails, lizard people or CIA mind-control deathrays. Instead it’s a bunch of boring in-depth political stuff. Who cares if the USA is spying on allies and suppressing unfavourable war information. That doesn’t surprise me, because I believe the CIA is mind-controlled by the lizard people who destroyed the WTC with invisible pod-launchers. Why can’t wikileaks release those documents? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING JULIAN??????

  But oh sure, Saudi Arabia wants the USA to nuke Iran, Israel doesn’t because.. snore.. oh sorry got tired from all this boring political stuff that doesn’t surprise anyone with half a brain (that isn’t being mind controlled by the CIA).

• [AirPillo]

  Well at least he’s sort of candid. “come on guys, do you think anything would make us stop being jerks?”

• [laukarlueng]

  He’s just like Donald Rumsfeld, asking and answering his own questions.

  • [Deidzoeb]

    Is his oratorical style like Rumsfeld’s? Yes. Is it annoying? Surely. Could he incorporate a powerful phrase that Bush and Obama use? Make no mistake, he could.

• [MrJM]

  Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for U.S. foreign policy? I think fairly modest.

  But enough about pudipudi on /b/

• [technogeek]

  The professional response is, as we’ve heard, “Hardly surprising; you can imagine what some of our folks say about _you_.”

  The major question is whether the _public_ reaction will force someone to adopt a confrontational/offended posture.

  In other words, this seems to be a matter of “how irritated can we make all the voters” rather than actual news. Which does strike me as somewhat gratuitously rude at best, and not something to be celebrated. I think Wikileaks is feeding their egos more than they’re feeding public discourse.

• [Lobster]

  That quote is so key. We are NOT supposed to classify stuff just because it’s embarrassing.

• [davejenk1ns]

  So far, I have not been surprised by anything, nor thought anything that has been revealed to be such a game-changer. The Arabians hate the Iranians? Gosh! Ghaddafi has a mistress? Wow! Sarkozy is a narcissist? Huh.

  The closest I’ve come to raising my eyebrows is the dirt on HRC for ordering spying on UN counterparts, but then again, I would imagine that “Thou Shalt Not Spy Inside the UN” commandment has been broken by every member since 1950. Clinton just got caught.

  The one positive (I hope) that can come out of this is the public revealing that the Chinese are closer to cutting off their “insane nephew” sooner rather than later. Anyone who knows the regional dynamics suspected as much in the communiques, but it’s good to see that this is further along than most thought. Will the publicity move the Chinese toward quicker action, or will they hunker down?

  • [Anonymous]

    I can imagine Sarkozy might be surprised to find that’s what people think of him. He’s too great to be a narcissist.

• [zuludaddy]

  I concur.

  There really wasn’t very much that was at all shocking by way of shocking revelations from this infodump.

  One can hope for more…

• [Church]

  It’s not world-changing. It is embarassing for all parties involved.

  Bully!

• [toyg]

  Well, at least two things are pretty game-changing and, coincidentally, mainstream media seem to be turning a blind eye to them:
  - the Honduras coup is clearly descripted as illegal, which contradicts the official US position on the matter and gives ammo to Zelaya’s supporters.
  - Al Qaeda is now officially a Saudi problem, so we won’t be able to, say, invade Yemen “to fight terror”. If this had come out in 2003, GWB couldn’t have gone into Iraq, for example. Yes, a lot f people “sort-of knew” about this, but one thing is having it reported by fringe/hardcore journalists, another to have it on paper from the State Department.

  And the published docs are still 0.1% of the entire set, about 2% of the ones marked SECRET. The good stuff is still to come.

• [ukcannonfodder]

  what about charging the USA, UK, officials with war crimes?

  remember kids its only terrorism when they do it, our government/military murder, torture and rape with the justification of god…

  A great interview on the topic with Noam Chompsky can be found here noam is at 26min:

  FTA: Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal “Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership”

  http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/30/noam_chomsky_wikileaks_cables_reveal_profound