Since hearing about the WikiLeaks leaking of over 250,000 classified U.S. State Department files last night, information has come up with how the State Department felt about Argentina and its current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. According to the documents released, the diplomatic cables show that the U.S. government questioned Kirchner’s mental health and her handling of stress, as well as how much decision making was actually made by her or her husband Néstor, the former president who recently passed away. This information has been reported by the Buenos Aires Herald in English, even though this information originally came from the Spanish newspaper El País.
Additionally, the State Department looked to do a profile on the Argentine president to judge her personality and possibly work ethic. More information is said to be released in the following days and weeks, and none of it will be helpful to the credibility of the U.S. State Department or any sector of the U.S. government. This information leak is bad news, and while I agree that the truth should be known if a crime has been committed, I can’t tell if an actual crime has been committed here other than the leaking of classified documents.
Everyone knows that people inherently talk behind the backs of others, whether maliciously or not. You just try to move on and imagine that it’s not happening, but finding out about it always makes you feel kind of queasy. I feel that way about this. I’m not sure if this information is going to change a system which may or may not have been flawed or abused, and all it seems to have done at the moment is increase worldwide disdain and hatred for the United States. It’s almost like that scene from the movie “Mean Girls” when the girl’s notebook is read to the entire class and the students hear how badly they’ve been talked about.
I find it really interesting because I’m considering a career with the State Department, and this information leak will obviously affect a future career for anyone involved with international affairs. I’m afraid that all along I’ve been telling people that I want to study international relations to help, and they’re now going to think that I’m just like every bad American they’ve ever heard about or seen on TV. In the next few days more information about this will become available and we’ll see just how much worse it gets.
Jon
Travel Guy 