在维基解密(WikiLeaks)泄露美国外交电报事件发生两周之后，很多美国人都想看到朱利安•阿桑奇(Julian Assange)锒铛入狱。但在我看来，美国人应该给这个男人颁发一枚奖章。当然，那么多的机密外交电报被曝光，确实是件丢脸和令人尴尬的事情。阿桑奇看上去的确也不喜欢美国。但是，他和他的维基解密却为美国做了一件大好事，他们无意中推翻了外界数十年来对美国外交政策所持的阴谋论观点。
无论是欧洲和拉美的左翼人士，还是中国和俄罗斯的民族主义右翼人士，长期以来都一直近乎肯定的认为，美国人关于其外交政策的一切公开说辞，只不过是在为某种秘密议程打掩护。该议程可因兴趣而变，或者为了照顾大公司（哈里伯顿(Halliburton)！）的利益，或者为了颠覆某个左翼政府，或者为了削弱对手国家。无论美国的秘密议程是什么，它肯定是存在的——只有那些天真到愚蠢的人才不这么认为。
关于美国大使馆围墙内正上演着某个邪恶事件的看法，甚至成了英国电影和电视连续剧的常见主题——无论这件邪恶之事是操纵英国民意（《农夫的午餐》(The Ploughman’s Lunch)）、掩盖核犯罪（《丑闻风暴》(Defence of the Realm)），还是欺负他们的英国同僚（《神出鬼没》(Spooks)）。
然而，经过长达两周的曝料，维基解密非常充分地揭示出，美国在任何特定问题上所持的公开立场，通常与非公开立场并无两样。目前仍有许多电报尚未曝光，或许其中还潜藏着一些惊人的事件。但是，过去两周曝光的文件罕有证据证明，美国外交政策中存在耍两面派或背信弃义之处。世界各地的阴谋论者对此一定非常失望。
美国人在公开场合表示，他们愿意在互利的基础上与中国建立牢固的关系，但他们也担心中国的某些经济政策正在损害美国工人的利益。事实证明，美国人在私底下也是这么表示的。
在一份预言美中关系将步入更加动荡阶段的电报中，美国驻华大使洪博培(Jon Huntsman)坚称，“我们必须想方设法保证美中关系朝着积极的方向发展”，同时确保美国工人能获得更多好处。中国的许多民族主义者和网民发展出一套详尽的理论，认为美国图谋遏制中国的崛起。但维基解密中并不存在这方面的暗示。
在公开场合，美国人长期以来一直宣称，他们相信伊朗正在研制核武器，此举对世界和平构成了威胁，但他们的优先选择是和平解决伊朗问题。维基解密证实，美国人私底下也是如此表示的。实际上，那些关于伊朗的真正极端的言论，并非出自美国人之口。主张对伊朗实施军事打击的是沙特国王，把伊朗政府描述成“法西斯主义者”的则是法国总统尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)的一位高级顾问。
在公开场合，美国人对人权和腐败问题深感担忧。事实上，如果你阅读了从肯尼亚发出的电报（以此为例），你会发现他们私下里同样对这些问题感到担心。这些美国人以为自己是谁，竟然在公开场合和私下里都说同样的话？
维基解密的确揭示出，美国的公开声明与私下言论有时存在差异，但那往往是美国代表在施展外交手腕，而不是耍两面派。因此，美国人从未在公开场合声称，他们认为俄罗斯政府极度腐败、不民主并受到有组织犯罪的渗透。那将引起不必要的对峙，并可能产生适得其反的效果——因为俄罗斯政府会把任何此类言论都描绘成对祖国的侮辱和针对俄罗斯的阴谋。然而，据维基解密爆料，美国人在内部沟通中就是这么说的；相对于在公开场合大肆宣讲，此举实际上大大提升了这些指控的可信性。俄罗斯总理弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)为此几乎怒不可遏，这恰恰证明维基解密对莫斯科方面多么具有破坏力。土耳其总理也威胁要起诉维基解密，因为后者指称他拥有瑞士银行账户。
这类爆料取得了意想不到的效果，在一些国家中提升了美国官方声明的可信度，而这些国家通常极度不信任美国的声明。因此，我们在巴基斯坦看到了蔚为壮观的场面：该国报纸纷纷登载诋毁印度人的假冒维基解密电报。
当然，在维基解密的爆料中，也有一些反映美国人不甚光彩的一面的内容。比方说，美国政府命令派驻联合国的外交官搜集联合国官员的个人信息，其中包括信用卡号码。（我知道美国现在缺钱，但它真的已经缺钱到如此地步了？）不过，就连一些可能受到暗中监视的联合国官员也没表现得火冒三丈——因为他们认为，来自四面八方的间谍活动正是外交生活中令人遗憾的一面。
总体而言，维基解密所展现出的美国形象是正面的。美国外交政策给人的印象是：讲求原则，明智而务实。或许，这才是一条曾经保守得最为严密的秘密。
译者/汪洋
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001036052
After two weeks of WikiLeaking, many Americans want to see Julian Assange locked up. Instead, they should give the man a medal. Of course, it is embarrassing and awkward to have all these secret diplomatic cables published. Mr Assange certainly seems to be no fan of the US. Nonetheless, he and WikiLeaks have done America a massive favour, by inadvertently debunking decades-old conspiracy theories about its foreign policy.
For the European and Latin American left, just as for the Chinese or Russian nationalist right, it has long been all but assumed that whatever the Americans say publicly about their foreign policy is simply a cover story for some sort of secret agenda. What that agenda is can vary, according to taste – the interests of a powerful company (Halliburton!), the subversion of a leftwing government, the weakening of a rival nation. But whatever the Americans’ secret agenda was held to be, they definitely had one – only the absurdly naive could believe otherwise.
The idea that something sinister is going on behind the walls of the US embassy even became a commonplace of British films and television series, whether it was the manipulation of British public opinion (The Ploughman’s Lunch), covering up nuclear misdeeds (Defence of The Realm) or just pushing their British colleagues around (Spooks).
And yet, after a fortnight of revelations, WikiLeaks has revealed that, remarkably enough, the public position taken by the US on any given issue is usually the private position as well. There are plenty of cables yet to be released – and perhaps there are some bombshells still out there. But the documents published over the past fortnight have provided very little evidence of double-dealing or bad faith in US foreign policy. Conspiracy theorists all over the world must be deeply disappointed.
The Americans say, in public, that they would like to build a strong relationship with China based on mutual interests – but that they are worried that some Chinese economic policies are damaging American workers. This turns out to be what they are saying in private, as well.
In a cable predicting a more turbulent phase in US-Chinese relations, Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador, insists: “We need to find ways to keep the relationship positive,” while ensuring that American workers benefit more. Many Chinese nationalists and netizens have developed elaborate theories about American plots to thwart China’s rise. There is not a hint of this in WikiLeaks.
In public, the Americans have long said that they believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons and that this poses a threat to world peace – but that their preference is to deal with the Iranian problem peacefully. WikiLeaks confirms that this is what they are saying in private, too. Indeed, the really radical statements about Iran are made by non-Americans. It is the Saudi king who advocates a military strike on Iran. It is a senior adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France who describes the Iranian government as “fascist”.
In public, the Americans make a fuss about human rights and corruption. It turns out that, if you read the cables from Kenya (for example), they also worry about these issues behind closed doors. Who do these Americans think they are – saying one thing in public, and the same thing in private?
Where WikiLeaks does reveal a gap between America’s public statements and private discussions, it tends to be because US representatives are being diplomatic rather than duplicitous. So the Americans have never said in public that they regard the Russian government as deeply corrupt, undemocratic and penetrated by organised crime. That would be needlessly confrontational and might be counter-productive – since the Russian government would portray any such comments as an insult to the motherland and a plot against Russia. However, the revelation that this is what the Americans are saying in their internal communications actually gives these accusations far more credibility than if they were aired publicly. The barely suppressed fury of Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, is testimony to just how damaging the WikiLeaks are for Moscow. The Turkish prime minister has also threatened to sue over WikiLeak allegations that he has Swiss bank accounts.
These kind of revelations have had the unexpected effect of boosting the credibility of US pronouncements in countries where they are usually deeply distrusted. So in Pakistan, we have the spectacle of newspapers printing fake WikiLeaks cables that say nasty things about the Indians.
Of course, there have been a few revelations that do not reflect well on the Americans. There is the order to US diplomats at the United Nations to hoover up personal details of UN officials, including credit card numbers. (I know that the US is short of money, but has it really come to this?) But even some of the officials who might have been spied upon do not seem terribly outraged – since they assume that espionage from all quarters is an unfortunate fact of diplomatic life.
Overall, the picture of the US that emerges from WikiLeaks is positive. America’s foreign policy comes across as principled, intelligent and pragmatic. That was, perhaps, the best-kept secret of all.
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