3 ms·

The excerpts the NYT is reporting in this story are pretty ho-hum. We'll have to wait and see what else is in there but it looks like another Wikileaks hype job

by jsz0 16y ago

The excerpts the NYT is reporting in this story are pretty ho-hum. We'll have to wait and see what else is in there but it looks like another Wikileaks hype job to me. No doubt there's going to be some embarrassing sausage making details in here but it just confirms things we already knew. Pakistan is a complex situation, Karzai's government is corrupt, etc. Wikileaks would be better off releasing this material without the hype and grandstanding.

acgourley 16y ago
Well just as a counterpoint, perhaps you knew these things, but maybe most of the Times readers did not, or perhaps they suspected it but wanted more evidence.
ars 16y ago
The rumors were there, but this is concrete evidence that Arab nations actually want a strike on Iran, but are too scared to say it out loud. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-saudis-iran http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/arab-states-scorn-iranian-evil http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/arab-states-scor... By making this public it could significantly change what happens next with Iran.
- grandalf 16y ago
  I think it will put in context the silly, local squabbles that are behind all this. Iran is a western-style Democracy that has a radical faction thanks to decades of US meddling.
  - ars 16y ago
    Meddling? Sure. But western style democracy?? Did you completely ignore what happened during the last "election" there?
    - grandalf 16y ago
      Ahmadinejad came to power after several years of George W. Bush's anti-Iran rhetoric had galvanized a conservative coalition in Iran. Look at Orkut and Twitter: Iran is a pluralistic, wonderful country. Things like the US dropping bombs next door will tend to radicalize a country's extremists. Iran had been working to topple Saddam for decades and would have made a natural ally for the US. But the US goal was not to remove Saddam, it was to take power in the region, and so Iran (the natural power in the region) had to be an adversary. Since then, we've seen more and more power in Iran go to the conservative faction which was on its way out before George W. Bush.

by jsz0 16y ago

acgourley 16y ago

Well just as a counterpoint, perhaps you knew these things, but maybe most of the Times readers did not, or perhaps they suspected it but wanted more evidence.

ars 16y ago

The rumors were there, but this is concrete evidence that Arab nations actually want a strike on Iran, but are too scared to say it out loud. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-saudis-iran http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/arab-states-scorn-iranian-evil http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/arab-states-scor... By making this public it could significantly change what happens next with Iran.

grandalf 16y ago
I think it will put in context the silly, local squabbles that are behind all this. Iran is a western-style Democracy that has a radical faction thanks to decades of US meddling.
- ars 16y ago
  Meddling? Sure. But western style democracy?? Did you completely ignore what happened during the last "election" there?
  - grandalf 16y ago
    Ahmadinejad came to power after several years of George W. Bush's anti-Iran rhetoric had galvanized a conservative coalition in Iran. Look at Orkut and Twitter: Iran is a pluralistic, wonderful country. Things like the US dropping bombs next door will tend to radicalize a country's extremists. Iran had been working to topple Saddam for decades and would have made a natural ally for the US. But the US goal was not to remove Saddam, it was to take power in the region, and so Iran (the natural power in the region) had to be an adversary. Since then, we've seen more and more power in Iran go to the conservative faction which was on its way out before George W. Bush.