Wikileaks and sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me

According to the latest Wikileak revelations there was an attempt by Israel to coordinate their slaughter of innocents in Gaza with Abbas's Fatah and Egypt. In their defence it has to be said that both the PA and Egypt refused to take control of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave in, as 'Haaretz' puts it, "case of Hamas defeat". Is this an implicit admission by the Israelis that there was no victory in Gaza? Of course, there could be no victory, after all, 'Hamas' didn't exactly engage the Israelis in hand to hand combat did they. Indeed, there wasn't a fight and, as Norman Finkelstein rightly contends, "the so-called War in Gaza was a massacre.

Yes, in their defence it has to be said that Abbas and Mubarak refused to accept Israel's "generous" offer. However, we might, indeed, wonder to just what extent Abbas's 'Fatah' organisation in particular has degenerated to a state where Israel can actually envisage having it aiding and abetting the mass murder of Palestinian men, women and children. Indeed, we might suspect that only realpolitik considerations restrained Abbas, while Mubarak probably failed to see the attractiveness of policing Gaza on Israel's behalf. 


It is in Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East that we have the real revelations by Wikileaks. Or, even if it is embarrassing for Washington, are we really concerned about not so diplomatic diplomats seeing President Medvedev's relationship with Putin as similar to the fictive friendship that Robin enjoyed with Batman? Does it really matter that Washington finds the German Foreign Minister arrogant, the German Chancellor lacking in creativity, President Sarkozy over-sensitive and authoritarian and Berlusconi politically weak party animal who is also incompetent? ..... and really who cares whether US diplomats highlighted "inappropriate remarks" made by Prince Andrew about a British law enforcement agency and a foreign country? No, as the old saying goes, "sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Moreover, business is business and don't be surprised if we find Angie, Guido, Silvio, Nicholas, Dmitri, Vladimir at some time in the not too distant smiling accross the table at their "friends" in Washington.

However, the revelations on the Middle East represent something else and with us being told that Arab heads of state are urging America to attack Iran, we might, at best, even begin to wonder if there is any real strategy behind these revelations. After all, with the leaks also showing a trigger happy Israel, just itching to pull the trigger and attack Iran, it might be construed that the United States is acting as some sort of restraining influence and when they do decide to attack Iran .... well, they will be telling us all that, although, they have been planning it for years, it is something they just couldn't avoid doing. Indeed, it is in bearing that in mind that we might want to consider the latest news from Teheran where President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has "dismissed the leaks as a "worthless" psychological warfare campaign against his country," while Israel "feels vindicated by the public exposure of Arab and international concern over Iran's nuclear programme."

Therefore, we will probably have par for the course smiles all round at the next G20 conference, ..... and, what about Julian Assange's secret promotion in Langley, Virginia? Of course, I am, no doubt, being a little bit unfair on Julian there and extending the bounds of academic caution. The real news, however, has to be that Israel no "feels vindicated" and, if nothing else, we have moved a little bit closer to an attack on Iran today.