It is clear why a number of the WikiLeaks cables were classified. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after all, would just as soon not have her criminal involvement in attempted theft of UN credit cards made public. Some, however, seem secret just for secret’s sake.
One of the documents, declared classified under Reason 1.4 (national security) is a cable from the US Embassy in Rangoon, Myanmar, and centers entirely on the operations of the Myanmar National Football League (MNL).
The document contains no information that couldn’t have been readily obtained through a google search, and suggests that the MNL operates largely the same as a fledgling soccer league in any other nation does.
Indeed, the only unique information in the document is the bizarre speculations from officials that the league is some plot by the Burmese junta to stifle dissent, and comments that show an almost laughable misunderstanding among officials of how a professional sports league works.
It may well be embarrassing that officials didn’t understand why anyone would own or sponsor such a team even as they received information showing the league’s attendence soaring and the sponsors (mostly companies selling things like beer and bottled water) seeing major increases in sales, but is it really a matter of national security for the US?
This is a good story because it's a glimpse into the mindset of the diplomats in a far flung outpost of the empire on the eve of it's fall. One common thread emerging from these is that nothing, however seemingly insignificant, is too small for Washington to care about and take an unhealthy interest in. This is just sick. American diplomat culture has the same imperious arrogant, self righteous and superior air as the great empires that went before it. No wonder people hated the Persians, the Assyrians, the Romans and the British.
Maybe the answer lies in whose beer, and whose bottled water?
"The teams are sponsored by regime cronies and businessmen"
". He then added that several of the businessmen will receive incentives from the regime, such as construction contracts, new gem and jade mines, and import permits, which will more than offset their costs. Sponsorship may also bring its own benefits. XXXXXXXXXXXX explained that due to advertising associated with the MNL, several owners, including Sai Sam Htun who owns Alpine Water, have seen an immediate increase in business revenue"
"While admitting that the MNL is “just good fun,” a number of our contacts question the regime’s motivation behind creating the league. Several have commented that it may be a way for the regime to distract the people from ongoing political and economic problems, or to divert their attention from criticism of the upcoming 2010 elections"
LMAO
what an out rage a regime using sports to enrich business men and to distract the people from repression and upcoming election who would have thought of such heinous crimes
"Several have commented that it may be a way for the regime to distract the people from ongoing political and economic problems…"
Sorta like what the the US sheepherders do for their sheeple with the NFL and the NBA and the NCAA and NASCAR and MLB and…
Sports, religion and teevee. The greatest tools of brainwashing the world has ever known.
Mr Ditz
I thought you had become a hardened cynic by now about the activities of the US Government abroad but this persuades me you are not:
"is it really a matter of national security for the US?"
An an exceptional state anything that happens anywhere in the world at any time is a matter of national security for the US. It doesn't matter what any rational person might think, it just is. If my next door neighbour farts today, for instance, that is a matter of national security for the US. He is a terrorist for purposefully releasing methane, a greenhouse gas twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. Harden up, Mr Ditz, harden up!
A comedy if it weren't so pathetic. But clearly the US has adopted the same mindset as the israelis. Everyone who works in a government building from the janitor upward is sworn to the utmost secrecy, everything they do is a matter of national security, not a word can come out.
What the obsession with secrecy reveals is some level of guilt among the corrupt in Washington. They can pretend to be self-righteous all they want, they can pretend they don't owe any explanations to anyone, they can live their lives convinced their position and salary makes them right, but at the end of the day, they are condemned to this secrecy because if anything is leaked it completely exposes their immorality, stupidity, corruption, and illegal behavior- which is the only way they know how to behave.
I have to agree that the WikiLeaked cables don't reveal any great secrets. And even those that are a bit more revealing don't really disclose anything that those of us who are paying attention didn't already know. However, what they do show beyond a shadow of a doubt is the US's utter hypocrisy, the squander of taxpayer resources and their rampant ignorance. In the world is reading the inanity of these supposedly well-educated, professional, official bureaucrats and laughing at their ignorance. And that is the god dang shame of it all. There is now doubt that the country has gone mad.