>I can't believe I'm defending the U.S. government here, I'm quite a critic of it. But they actually do do lots of good stuff.
The US, like any state, does what it needs to to protect its interests. For example, the US fights against corruption in some foreign countries. The reason they do this is because corruption makes it harder for US corporations to penetrate the corrupt state's market. The US is fine with corruption when it benefits them.
The US state's work for disarmament is similar. They wish to maintain the advantage of their own nuclear arsenal, so they work to prevent those not on their team from acquiring nuclear weapons. It's self interest.
A state is like a business. With guns. And each state has a brand that it promotes.
>You can be a critic of the U.S. government and think Wikileaks is being reckless here.
The real recklessness in this case is the laughably poor opsec of the US. If Wikileaks was able to get ahold of this info it's very likely that foreign intel has historically as well.
I would say that if you're a critic of the US government you recognize the utility of exposing the attempts by the US to steal the credit card numbers and biometrics of UN leaders (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable...), attempts to steal the DNA of African leaders (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/...) etc. This kind of criminal activity shows a large disrespect for the rest of the world.
>I can't believe I'm defending the U.S. government here, I'm quite a critic of it. But they actually do do lots of good stuff.
The US, like any state, does what it needs to to protect its interests. For example, the US fights against corruption in some foreign countries. The reason they do this is because corruption makes it harder for US corporations to penetrate the corrupt state's market. The US is fine with corruption when it benefits them.
The US state's work for disarmament is similar. They wish to maintain the advantage of their own nuclear arsenal, so they work to prevent those not on their team from acquiring nuclear weapons. It's self interest.
A state is like a business. With guns. And each state has a brand that it promotes.
>You can be a critic of the U.S. government and think Wikileaks is being reckless here.
The real recklessness in this case is the laughably poor opsec of the US. If Wikileaks was able to get ahold of this info it's very likely that foreign intel has historically as well.