Julian Assange  Contrary to what might appear in the New York Times or the Washington Post - the cables emanating from WikiLeaks don't show - "While WikiLeaks made the trove available with the intention of exposing United States duplicity, what struck many readers was that American diplomacy looked rather impressive. The day-by-day record showed diplomats trying their hardest behind closed doors to defuse some of the world's thorniest conflicts, but also assembling a Plan B. - David Sanger, New York Times (12/5/10):'

Nor do they show - "...what struck us, and reassured us, about the latest trove of classified documents released by WikiLeaks was the absence of any real skullduggery. After years of revelations about the Bush administration's abuses--including the use of torture and kidnappings--much of the Obama administration's diplomatic wheeling and dealing is appropriate and, at times, downright skillful. - New York Times editorial (11/30/10)"

Nor as the Washington Post would have you believe do the cables show that - "By now, I think we have learned that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has vast ambitions. Among them is the end of American government as we know it. On his website he describes the leaked U.S. diplomatic cables in dramatic and sinister terms, evoking the lost ideals of George Washington and claiming that they demonstrate a profound gap between the United States' "public persona and what it says behind closed doors." Alas, the cables don't live up to that promise. On the contrary--as others have noted--they show that U.S. diplomats pursue pretty much the same goals in private as they do in public, albeit using more caustic language."

There are examples of what the authors above opine, for sure, but the skullduggery hailed as being so absent by The New York Times is there for all to see had they but the open eyes and mind to see it. 

The United States trying to strong arm the Germans into not executing legally obtained and justifiable arrest warrants for 13 CIA officers for example.

Or America's denial (to its own people and others) that it carried out any bombing in Yemen which the documents show it clearly has.

The secret deal with the UK to ensure the USA could store or transport outlawed cluster bombs on British soil.

And in the latest release today I read that the American Mission in France urges "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory."

So, those culprits in Europe? What dreadful deed have they committed which necessitates the USA hurting them, inflicting long term widespread pain ultimately leading to victory for the USA? They dared to take an ethical and moral position rather than an economic one and made moves to outlaw the cultivation of MON810 (Monsanto 810) which of course is genetically modified corn seed.

America was prepared to hurt it's allies in the pursuit of economic gain regardless of the ethical and moral position of Europe and the concerns of its citizenry in relation to genetically modified crops.

There are so many possible outcomes of the release of all this information that it leaves any analyst a little bewildered. In many ways the individual is best placed to handle, deal with and respond to this information than any Government, Corporation or Organisation - why? Because the individual needs only to fillet their own interests from the vast amounts of information - Governments, and in particular the USA govt has to deal with it all, 260,000 damage limitation exercises. Such an exercise I would imagine is impossible - and there's the danger. The USA Govt cannot win this head to head with WikiLeaks, it can huff and it can puff and it can threaten to blow down the house of WikiLeaks - but the damage will remain done. What can it do now? It has to turn our attention elsewhere - if it is not to have an administration in total disarray it must focus the people of the world on something other than WikiLeaks, buy itself time to manipulate and deal with the leaks - I suspect the live firing from South Korea will commence shortly - and if the North retaliates get ready for troubled times of epic proportions as the the Govt of the USA does all it can to preserve itself.