Over two hundred thousand cables between various people within the United States government are set to be released. The confidential documents, acquired by WikiLeaks, mostly concern American diplomatic activities, cataloging interactions with world governments and including sometimes surprising notes about world leaders and various details of diplomatic missions. In the run up to the release of the documents, the U.S. government warned allies that some potentially damaging things may be said, and they have been trying to mitigate any damage they might cause.
In the initial documents, however, there is little in the way of surprise, and it is likely the fallout will not be that large in terms of international relations. The documents are basically what all countries do, trying to keep a grasp on who their allies are and the personalities they deal with on a regular basis. I seriously doubt that anyone believed such documents didn't exist, or that world powers are silently judging each other and perhaps doing a bit of spying in order to keep tabs on everyone else. From what I have seen, the documents are mostly fairly mundane reports and interoffice communications. It's like stumbling onto someone else's email account, less than relevatory but kind of curious all the same.
Naturally, there will be some damage to the reputation of the U.S., partially because of some of the things said, but mostly because it shows a leak somewhere within the organization. The country's ability to keep secrets will come under question, and their intelligence gathering capabilities could be compromised because of it. Still, as every country knows they have a server filled with correspondence of a similar nature, it is unlikely anyone will become enraged by what they see in the leak.
The weird thing about this, however, is not what is happening with the leaks themselves, but the motivation behind the release. WikiLeaks claims that it's all about free information and giving insight into government activities. That's fine, but by dumping out thousands of documents, with little indication of what is important and what is not, they are effectively burying all potentially interesting or damaging information. Simply trying to sort through all the various messages is a challenge, and it would take more time than anyone sane is willing to spend in order to sort through the entire archive, including the chaff, in order to find anything remotely relevant. They are claiming a victory for freedom of information, but the sheer volume of the leak means that this information is just as hidden as before.
Also, early reports from the newspapers they initially leaked some information to just included observations on well known politicians, which came as no surprise. The early angle was one of light gossip, rather than any serious information leaks that might be included, rendering the release as a bit of a curiosity rather than something severe.
People are talking about WikiLeaks, and people will visit their site, which is the motivation behind the leak in the first place. The fascinating thing is that they don't seem to want too many secrets out either, for all of their talk about free information, since they are burying it. I wonder if the extra hits will be sustained, or worth the trouble.
