EDITORIAL: WikiLeaks leaves America shining

Despite the efforts at ridicule and denigration by the partisan and jingoists, if anyone has emerged with reputation enhanced from the publication of the diplomatic cables on Jamaica by America's envoys in Kingston, it is the United States and its diplomats.

At the very least, these cables, made available by the online transparency organisation, WikiLeaks, and reported on by this newspaper, underline America's interest in and support for our country.

Moreover, analysed with dispassion, the unvarnished assessments of Jamaican institutions and personalities revealed in the cables ought be a boon, especially to the Jamaican Government, its policymakers and political leaders, assuming that they are serious about advancing the interests of the country.

It is perhaps, however, worthwhile to remind ourselves of the role of diplomats.

They are, usually, the first line of contact between their hosts and the nations they represent, articulating the interests of their home countries and engage in on-the-ground management of the bilateral relations between the states. The interpretation placed by diplomats on information they gather on the domestic environment and send to their centres helps to inform policy by their home government.

Indeed, we know that cables just as frank and fulsome as those sent to Washington by America's envoys are received in Kingston from Audrey Marks, Jamaica's ambassador to the United States, George Ramocan, Jamaica's Consul General in Toronto, Canada, or, say Courtenay Rattray, our man in Beijing. Our diplomats are no less perceptive.

What is especially significant about the Kingston cables is just how keen the Americans follow developments in Jamaica and how much they have attempted to be supportive.

Substantial US investment

That, of course, is understandable. The Caribbean Sea, where Jamaica is located, forms America's 'third border', and Jamaica is a close neighbour visited by large numbers of US citizens. Many Jamaicans also live in the United States, and there is substantial US investment in our country.

Additionally, we occupy one of the world's busiest shipping routes, making us strategic in the security and other interests of the United States. This is compounded by the fact that Jamaica's geographic position makes it a trans-shipment point for the smuggling of narcotics from South to North America.

For these reasons, and more, the Americans have good cause to want Jamaica's social and economic stability and to help shore up its democracy.

There is little doubt from the cables that America's diplomats in Jamaica are active and richly engaged in providing their Government with the information to underpin its support for our economic development, buttressing our sometimes shaky institutions and enriching our democracy.

The process, however, demands that they be frank about what they see. The mirror image of this, when viewed especially by ourselves, is sometimes unflattering. Hence the harrumphing and the bipartisan circling of the political wagons. Naked emperors aren't dressed because they so decree.

But this uninvigilated insight into how America's diplomats interpret our circumstance should be of significant value to those who would lead and shape Jamaica's national policy.

Moreover, the WikiLeaks revelations add to the transparency in governance, which citizens so crave. The disclosures have been good for Jamaica.

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