Decision Makers Know Better

One of the interesting aspects about the Wikileaks revelations is how it demonstrates that in many areas, decision makers are a lot better informed than mere readers of newspapers (or blogs). Given how clueless much of the media and commentariat often is, this is mildly reassuring. Here are some random examples:

Al Jazeera isn't, actually, independent at all. It spouts what the Qataris want it to spout.

Hezbollah has an Iranian-built fiber-optic communications network of its own, that makes it even more independent of the rest of Lebanon than previously published. Lots of the player in the area don't like this.

The Americans operate spy planes over Lebanon. The British aren't happy about this, but don't get asked. Keep this in mind the next time you (inevitably) read about how pernicious the Israelis are for flying over Lebanon to keep updated.

Christopher Hitchens, meanwhile, explains how destructive Julian Assange is. Evelyn Gordon, following Henry Kissinger, explains that what decision makers know can be irrelevant, when their paradigm for understanding it is all wrong (h/t Barry). And an Egyptian official demonstrates that it's possible to blame the Jews (Israelis, in this case), when no conceivable facts exist to support one's silliness. Dutch officials will pay for the most repulsive anti-Israeli lies, if they're cloaked with some politically correct bauble-words.

Finally, an American tourist in Israel noticed an enormous opportunity the Israelis were inexplicably missing, so he set about rectifying, thereby probably becoming much richer, but also demonstrating that much of the chatter about and around Israel is less important than facts on the ground, so to speak (really, on the ground).