WikiLeaks

Having been so caught up in the Catalan elections last week, I missed some of the details of a sensational event: 251,287 secret U.S. State Department documents being made public through WikiLeaks. Sensational. The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pais all made a series out of it last week. Chapter by chapter they published secret documents and hidden plans of United States foreign policy, which turn out to be highly entertaining. All in all, it is clear that the entire affair resembles an epic espionage movie, but one of comic nature. The great news is that the United States spies on people. On everyone, even their most trusted allies, such as the EU, the U.N. … wow, what a novelty, right? Apparently, it is now strange that the secret services engage in espionage.

What is most admirable is the intellectual level of the reports: that Sarkozy is a “big-head,”* that Putin is an “alpha dog,” that Berlusconi is “vain” and “parties hard” or that Qaddafi travels with a 38-year-old Ukrainian nurse who it seems also delivers services that are not strictly speaking of medical nature.

All of these are mind-blowing discoveries, just like the conclusion of the report, which summarizes that the politicians put electoral success above common interests. So many resources have gone into espionage, only to do what we all do: criticize those whom we call friends and allies but really are not. Hillary Clinton says that the release of the documents is an attack on the United States. I think it is an exercise in transparency. The fact that the United States spies and meddles in the affairs of other countries has been known for a while. But not that it is done so crudely.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.