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.

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

WHISTLE BLOWER ALERT! (so anti-American)

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer

Thomas Drake of the NSA (!) is getting tried on Espionage charges for informing the American public about the Defense Department's unethical tactics of surveillance.

"ThinThread, the “little program” that he invented to track enemies outside the U.S., “got twisted,” and was used for both foreign and domestic spying: “I should apologize to the American people. It’s violated everyone’s rights. It can be used to eavesdrop on the whole world.” According to Binney, Drake took his side against the N.S.A.’s management and, as a result, became a political target within the agency."

PLEASE READ: IT'S 10 PAGES

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