This is the second of a two-part report from Richard Bilton at BBC Ireland on the Wikileaks release of the US Diplomatic Cables and the effects that had on America and its allies worldwide.
Last week’s report looked principally at how the US viewed its allies, particularly in Europe and the Middle East; while this one looks at how it views its rivals and opponents, specifically Russia, China and Iran.
Of course the whole matter is very complex, but the really revealing thing is how different private views are to public statements, which should, of course, warn us not to trust the latter too much.
A problem with the programme for me is it presents everything as though the US views are justified, and that there isn't a different point of view. So in dealing with Russia it shows how Russian moves ‘threatened’ the US and NATO, but pays no attention to how US and NATO moves threaten Russia.
The same can be said of the other two countries under focus, and this is definitely a weak point in the presentation. Nevertheless, at least the programme deals with the leaks and tries to examine what impact they have had on US dealings with the world.
Because of that the programme is way out in front of many that were produced at the time, that tried to befuddle the issues by slandering the personalities involved; and much better than the deafening silence we find from the media about the fate of those same personalities that gave them all the news they thrived on for years.
