WikiLeaks Cables are Dispatches from a Beleaguered America in Imperial Retreat

[unhappycamper]

WikiLeaks Cables are Dispatches from a Beleaguered America in Imperial Retreat
by Neal Ascherson
Published on Sunday, December 5, 2010 by the Sunday Observer/UK

There's more to the WikiLeaks dispatches than leaks. Look behind them, at the writers, and you see the loyal rearguard of America: an imperial power in retreat.

There was a tradition in our Foreign Office that a retiring ambassador could blow off steam. In a final, exuberant telegram to Whitehall, he could say exactly what he thought of the country he was leaving, and of the folly of the Foreign Office in ignoring his advice.The best telegrams were treasured by young diplomats. But they began to leak into the press. And a few years ago this privilege was suppressed.

Now the WikiLeaks eruption has smothered the world with the secret thoughts of the state department's ambassadors. Today's Observer, focusing on China, reveals fascinating data about Chinese "muscle-flexing, triumphalism and assertiveness" (as the US ambassador put it). But with the cables comes a snapshot of the state department itself. It's a unique window on America's search - with diminishing confidence - for a coherent, inspiring account of what the US is trying to achieve in the world.

These diplomats who didn't want us to know their thoughts are not mere cogs in an imperial machine. Many emerge as wise, courageous, patient, likable men and women- especially the women, who lead so many US embassies. Their view of their host countries is not rosy. You begin to absorb their vision, in which America is the only adult in a world of grasping, corrupt, unreliable teenagers who cannot be abandoned to their own weakness.

~snip~

Behind all these diligent reports glows an evening landscape, in which a declining empire has lost its way. When communism collapsed, the US expected to become the unchallenged global superpower. But instead the US instantly lost control of countless nations and movements stampeding away from cold war discipline. Paradoxically, it was in those cold war years that America had been in charge of most of the world, mostly by consent, and knew why it was in charge. Now that world has burst into a thousand pieces: all sharp, many of them unstable, some of them fearfully dangerous. And the certainty of mission has gone.

[Catherina]

1. I hope accept the retreat with a bit more grace

As the last sentence in the article states

A British ambassador said: "Our duty at the Foreign Office has been to cover Britain's retreat from greatness and to prevent that retreat turning into a rout." One day the state department may say the same about its service to America.

There's no reason for so many people in the world to suffer as we fight the inevitable, accelerating decline. Take care of our own and make it as painless for ordinary people as possible instead of protecting the vultures who exacerbated things.

Rec'd

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. quite a nic e piece.

and one I would have missed if you had not posted it.
Many thanks, and K&R.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. It's amazing how quickly our "democratic" government can mobilize the forces of suppression.

But, are unable, or unwilling, to confront the Republicans.