Wikileaks Scandal Continues

Several weeks on from the clandestine distribution of more than 250

,000 private foreign office cables via its website, the trouble continues for Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. Following leaks of the cables, gleaned from anonymous sources, during the last week of December, a transnational flurry of lawsuits, rape accusations and extradition requests have dominated the world press.

The leaked cables correspond to more than 250 United States embassies and consulates, and countless foreign diplomats stationed around the world. The documents themselves range from the positively juicy to the shockingly mundane, including barbed remarks about well-known foreign leaders down to complaints of below-standard consular food and out of control paper costs in some of the US foreign offices.

Considering the volume of information comprised in the leaked documents, their real significance may not become clear for some time, as so-called "highlights" will have to be extracted and evaluated before any major disciplinary action is taken or foreign policy direction affected.

The intervening weeks have seen Assange garner headlines across the globe, ending with his incarceration in a British prison awaiting trial for extradition to Sweden for what many suspect to be trumped-up or altogether fabricated sexual assault charges dating back several months. His immediate fate will be decided in a British court later this week, as he has been denied bail for his pending extradition to Sweden.

Most recently, the webhosting of leaked documents has led to varied speculation by Western journalists about their potential effects on United States foreign policy, and for how diplomats from other countries may alter their relations with the US as a result of the leaks. In the web hosting of one controversial opinion piece, an American journalist has gone so far as to suggest that the overall result of the leaks will be a renewed faith in the way American foreign policy will be perceived abroad, as it revealed a "principled, intelligent and pragmatic" approach.

by: Edward Markson

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