WikiLeaks and Global Vulnerability

WikiLeaks’ release of the leaks from United States diplomatic cables to the whole world was not only sensational but also a sign that we are entering an era of a new world order. WikiLeaks not only had a role in knowing the developments of a particular country, but also the intentions behind the practice of national diplomacy.

The presence of WikiLeaks has become a technological revolution that is very progressive in international politics. WikiLeaks has become a weapon for opening up documents of diplomacy and intelligence, even with very high levels of secrecy. If, previously, nuclear weapons were the only tool capable of securing international political stability, as a tool for shaping the psychological perceptions of the opposing side, now it could happen that WikiLeaks becomes the disturber of global stability.

The fact of the presence of WikiLeaks also shatters our understanding of diplomacy as the point of the spear in relations between countries. First, if indeed diplomacy is the main tool in the practice of international relations, then the content of this diplomacy should be the only reference in reflecting interstate relations. Second, most of the documents that appeared very clearly uncovered facts that were the complete opposite of diplomatic practice. It is here that our belief in formal diplomatic instruments is tested.

Systemic Change

Originally, writers predicted that this case would not reach such a degree. The base of this assumption was that if countries around the world faced this issue by together declaring that WikiLeaks did not contain truth, then its escalation would stop.

Nonetheless, the fact is that a number of countries increasingly criticized the U.S. for neglecting to apply a security system to its diplomatic cables. This issue provided proof that not even one country rejects the facts that were spread by WikiLeaks. Also, the world suddenly supported the protection of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

There are two possibilities that can be drawn from these facts. First, the world has become tired of the arrogance of the U.S., which so neatly slinks between the highest powers of various countries. Even the will to change the unipolar world system is fervent. This case of WikiLeaks has become the momentum for overturning the world that has for so long been oriented toward the U.S.

Tragically, the criticism that appeared from almost all Western countries, like England and Australia toward the U.S. government, increasingly clarified the shattering of the solidity of Western arrogance and the possible beginning of a new world order.

Second, the facts that were revealed by WikiLeaks were not only of U.S. arrogance, but they also involved its diplomatic partners. So there is not even one country that wants its hidden political aims aired to the public, because that would influence the entire stability of the power of regimes that are ruling in various countries that are diplomatic partners of the U.S.

International Instability

The extent of the issue that implies the strength of the arrogance of countries that are dominant in international politics gives rise to worries of the world returning to an era when interstate trust was lost, as happened during the period of the Great Depression of 1929-1933.

The leakage of these diplomatic cables not only splits apart interstate political intrigue, but also various turmoils that have taken place at the national level. As for its impact, all national actors will be more sensitive if it is spread around that, all along, their national policies were concessions to dictating countries, not based on a consensus built with their people.

Now, when the West is busy with the impact of the global financial crisis of 2007/2008, a serious shift in countries’ directions has occurred in placing a global agenda as the priority in policies of international relations. The United States becoming nationalist and neosocialistic under Barack Obama — by lowering imports and subsidies for strategic industries — and core members of the European Union throwing responsibility back and forth for loaning money to Israel and Ireland, along with the rise of ethno-nationalism in Europe, increasingly prove the end of the era of global pacifism.

The needs of an economy that is now pressured by interdependence is directing countries toward an era of new nationalism, where international relations lean toward fulfilling national needs. In the middle of a state’s needs to have this nationalistic attitude, WikiLeaks will become a specter if the intentions for promoting national interests within global politics are uncovered that easily. The phenomenon of WikiLeaks is more than just a war of information. This tool will be feared not only by the United States, but also by every country. Diplomatic cables can be infiltrated. The principle of mutual trust within international relations will be destroyed if this situation continues. Its impact will be that countries will be inclined to behave passively in opening international opportunities and that the people will move more quickly than the state.

WikiLeaks is a dilemma that must be quickly solved.