Global Review: Secrets and Changes

Wikileaks:

This week, Wikileaks has released what it calls "The Gitmo Files." These documents have an in-detail account of everything about prisoners include health reports, treatment and overall conditions of the infamous prison. 

So far as I can see, the only media outlet that has caught up on it so far is a Wikileaks former-partner: The NYTimes. Their direct relationship seems to have ended after a feud between the two organizations, but the NYTimes was able to get the documents through an "anonymous source." Since putting up its paywall, I viewed by 20 free articles, in the first ten days of the month and have since been banned or asked to pay. 

The documents also detail the governments guide for rating the threat level of detainees, in what they call the "Threat Matrix."

When I have the time, I'll delve deeper into the documents but some important highlights include:

• military analysts sometimes ignored serious flaws in the evidence, 
• releasing some wrongly judged a minimal threat and 
• holding others who were no threat.

The Times has also posted a Note for the Reader that I think everyone should read. Also posted (and more importantly) is a public government letter from the Pentagon about the release of the information, that you should also read before following the topic further. You can read it here. 

With time constraints and limited media look-in so far, I'll post on it as soon as I can with my own looks into the files. If you are a loyal reader, then you should know that I'm an avid supporter of what Wikileaks does and have defended them many times in the past, see here and here. Let's hope these documents reveal important things!

Obama and Syria:

U.S. officials have confirmed to Haaretz, that it is considering possible sanctions against Syria  as a response to its crackdown on democracy protests. This following the administrations intentional ignorance of the crackdown of protests in the small capital of Bahrain.

The administrations influence on Syria is limited, however such a move is obviously based on Syria's alliance to Iran (and its ties to Hamas and Hezbollah). There have been several reports that show Iranian fighters and officers aiding Syria in its crackdown.

I think that something must be done to stop the crackdown and help promote democracy in a nation where a minority (the Alawites, a branch of Shia Islam) rule over the majority (87% of the population is Sunni Muslim).

The move by the U.S. comes days after President Saleh of Yemen agreed to step out of office in a deal to end his country's civil strife, due to regional meetings with Gulf nations (most likely pressured by the United States).

Although I support any move to help protesters establish a democracy in the region, I also think (as I've said before many times) that the U.S. needs a more even handed approach with the goal of promoting democracy as a central tenet of its foreign policy (using different means in different countries).

There is much to be said about the geopolitics of the region, and one that deserves more than half a post! I'll be on it in no-time!

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