2011-05-16 “Anti-Americanism” in the US state cables

Authored by Mike Soron.

Discussing a draft declaration from South American and Arab State leaders, a United States government operative lists a series of “anti-American digs” against the US and Israel that were later excluded from the text.

What is considered anti-American is stunning and revealing. This quiet, unassuming cable shows a bizarre and expansive US foreign policy agenda in 2005.

Among statements considered to be anti-American:

• Reaffirming the necessity of resolving all conflicts non-violently;
• Emphasizing the importance of respecting the unity, sovereignty, and independence of Iraq, and not interfering in its internal processes;
• Committing to implementing all UN resolutions non-selectively;
• Recognizing the need for protection of intellectual property, but not when it affects national development, especially in terms of national health policies;
• Emphasizing the need to eliminate distortions (subsidies) in agriculture, which impede developed nations from exploiting comparative advantages;
• Welcoming the recent entry into force of the Kyoto Agreement, and calling on the international community to better protect the global climate.

The cable also described aspirations for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East as “anti-Israeli sentiment”.

An unusually clear window into a USG operatives’s worldview at the time.

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Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa is covering the Wikileaks cables as they relate to Canadian intellectual property and internet law. Do follow.