A lot of the information in the leaked diplomatic cables seemed to be simply embarrassing/socially-awkward, of the "The local population thinks President X is a

A lot of the information in the leaked diplomatic cables seemed to be simply embarrassing/socially-awkward, of the "The local population thinks President X is a doodyhead, and he throws huge tantrums when event Y is mentioned; be aware" sort. That sort of stuff caused diplomatic friction, for no obvious gain. One of the dodgier things about wikileaks (and claims that what they were doing was akin to journalism) was that they released so much of it, if their goal was somehow revealing corruption or something. [It certainly fit private Bradley Manning's goals, as he did just want to cause embarrassment. But wikileaks itself was supposed to be doing something more noble.]