Self-interest means that countries will still send and receive private messages. It would be an exaggeration to say that diplomacy will never be the same again. The diplomatic cables, professionally drafted by ambitious officials eager to display their sharp minds and silver pens, are more compelling and revealing. The mass leaks of terse, jargon-ridden fragments of reporting from the battlefield form a mostly confusing mosaic. WikiLeaks said they showed that American and allied forces there had colluded in (or at least not stopped) the torture of Iraqis by the local authorities. The next leak, in October, was even bigger: nearly 400,000 documents relating to the Iraq war. The Taliban said that it was cross-referencing the material against its hit-list. Critics said (but have not proved) that they endangered intelligence sources too. These included details of botched operations. In July it gave media outlets 90,000-plus documents about the war in Afghanistan. In April it released footage showing an attack in Iraq in 2007 in which an American helicopter killed two Reuters staff and a dozen bystanders, apparently mistaking camera equipment for weapons. This year WikiLeaks has focused almost exclusively on American government secrets, using material apparently leaked by Mr Manning. Oddly, that material has now disappeared from its website. Cheekily, WikiLeaks also published classified Pentagon and British military documents about the damage leaks can do to national security. That kind of casual damage to bystanders sits oddly with the founding mission of WikiLeaks, as outlined in 2007: вЂњOur primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their governments and corporations.вЂќ Early targets included high-level corruption in Kenya alleged illegal activities in an offshore operation of the Swiss-based bank Julius Baer the American prison camp at GuantГЎnamo Bay Scientology's beliefs and practices Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account the membership list of the far-right British National Party and a toxic-waste scandal in Africa. Next time he is asked to share his expert insights on a matter of huge importance to America's government, he may be less helpful. The name is not given, but could easily be deduced. To establish that source's credentials, the cable's author lists his family connections (Iran), his place of business (Baku), his education (British), and his distinctive sporting career. Marked вЂњsecretвЂќ and for American eyes only, it contains some spicy details gained from a вЂњwell-connected businessmanвЂќ. A good example of this is a cable about a firm supposedly involved in breaking arms sanctions on Iran. America appears humiliatingly unable to keep its own or other people's secrets. Individually, the disclosures are trivial: some would be barely newsworthy if published legally. But solemnly recording that the Russian prime minister is the real power in his country, or that the Italian leader enjoys hard partying, or that France's Nicolas Sarkozy is vain and mercurial, seems a waste of taxpayers' electrons.ДЇor the most part, the leaks' content is less important than their source, and the manner of the betrayal. So is the вЂњshadowyвЂќ Russian-speaking intermediary ferrying lavish gifts between Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi. Diplomats being instructed to act like spies, snooping on Ban Ki-moon and filching the frequent-flyer and credit-card details of other senior UN officials, sounds like a scandal. They range (see article) from the explosive to the ho-hum.

The first slivers started appearing on November 29th.

Wikileaks moon secrets