Before the latest round of Wiki-leaking, US President Barack Oba-ma came to the Lisbon summit to reaffirm the common ground and common values shared by the EU and the United States. My president described our work together as “the most complete partnership”.
Will the recent Wikileaks distribution of purported classified cables strain this transatlantic collaboration? Some in the international press have indulged such overstatement, but Malta’s reporters, editors and commentators have eschewed sensationalism in favour of good judgment and fair-minded coverage.
As US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has concluded, the Wikileaks episode is not the end of effective foreign diplomacy. This occurrence will prompt the embassies of every nation towards additional prudent steps to narrow the scope of access to what is desirable to be kept in confidence. This is just common sense.
That said, let me be clear: I have not visited the Wikileaks website, nor will I. As a matter of law, I cannot confirm whether what may be there is authentic or publicly comment upon the particulars of any substance revealed there.
What Wikileaks has allegedly done is hardly heroic whistle-blowing, as some continue to characterise the action. That’s a bit like comparing hot biscuits made of homemade Ħobża tal-Malti with a saltine cracker.
That which is secret is not necessarily bad or wrongful. Keeping a confidence has its place, whether in the tracking of terrorists or not tipping off drug runners and illicit arms dealers. A whistle blown in those circumstances is about as welcome as the referee in a football match sounding off at random or without cause.
It is no less important, and arguably of greater concern, for the civil order to be preserved by the rule of law.
Clinton has also succinctly explained the potential impact of disclosure on individuals who face heavy-handed regimes that could physically punish or detain those who disagree with them.
Thankfully, everything em-bassies do is not a matter of such gravity. Much of our work simply concerns getting the rules straight between two countries that are good friends or helping in useful ways (e.g., our recent agreement to update airport security with unintrusive, state-of-the-art explosive detection equipment), or promoting new business (e.g., our new avoidance of double taxation treaty) that can supply jobs and a better life for citizens of both countries, especially those who have less than what is needed for a decent existence.
Befitting of a nation of ‘uncommon kindness’, Malta’s diplomatic personnel – ours or others – aspire to our higher nature and to our work for the common good of all of our citizens.
One current example of this is next week’s World Music Festival (December 9 to 11) under the superb leadership of Ambassador Jean-François Delahaut of Belgium, whose president has ably served for the past six months as president of the European Council.
The concert, which builds on the Django jazz traditions of Belgium, will nicely illustrate the harmonious origins of the music of many nations in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Indeed, one can hear this lively music all the way in California, which is a nice reminder of the truth of Obama’s recent summitry: The EU and the US are indeed “complete partners”, and no purported leaked document can refute their resolve.
Mr Kmiec is US Ambassador to Malta.