Playing with the Dirty Laundry of American Diplomacy

Those mentioned in the cables will be cautious about contacts with American diplomats.

If someone is coming to see you and your place is far from being tidy, you first go to the bathroom to hide what is most intimate and could tell your guests most about you: your dirty laundry. No one must see it, because it contains secret information about you and your habits others should not know about. You also hide other stuff that would humiliate or embarrass you or hurt other people’s feelings. Otherwise, they might not want to talk to you again. This is exactly what happened to the State Department.

One might assume that Americans, especially those who have access to documents that are not supposed to be published, would not even think of humiliating their country and one of its most powerful institutions. In the case of WikiLeaks, however, the world has been indulging itself in throwing around the dirty laundry of American diplomacy for more than a week now. What’s more, it looks like this fun game is going to last another couple of weeks or even months. President Barack Obama and the head of American diplomacy, Hillary Clinton, did not exactly sound convincing when they stated that the WikiLeaks affair will not damage America’s reputation, nor will it have any consequences concerning Washington’s relations with its partners, friends, fair-weather friends and enemies.

The fact that the American ambassador in Moscow called Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “Robin” and Prime Minister Putin “his Batman” certainly did not amuse Medvedev. Even if this comparison might sound funny, what is behind it is not funny at all. Quite the contrary — some cables talk about highly sensitive topics, such as agreements that were hard to reach and other similarly tender subjects concerning international relations. What is most worrying is probably the way they sound: “Oh, look at these fools, they have agreed, but we actually just led them all up the garden path.”

What is even more concerning, however, is the fact that the documents were being leaked by 250 American diplomatic missions, a network that covers the entire globe. As more documents are revealed, the more surprised and insulted heads of states and governments there will be all around the world. Consequently, they will lose trust in the makers of diplomacy — the ambassadors, who are one of the main sources of information for the State Department and the White House.

It is too early to make predictions about the consequences of the WikiLeaks affair, but what is clear is that the reputation of American diplomacy will be severely damaged. Washington was aware that the State Department needed reforming, but it was also repeatedly emphasized that this concern was of low priority. Will those mentioned in the cables now be cautious and suspicious in contacts and talks with American diplomats and officials in high ranks? They certainly will, but what is worse for superpowers like the United States is that this avalanche of diplomacy’s dirty laundry is going to damage the foundations on which all political, military and any other kinds of power are based.