More Wikileaks Backlash

"Backlash" has become the word of the week so I shall engage in a bit myself.

The backlash from the release of diplomatic cables has the website Wikileaks bouncing around the net looking for a safe haven. This backlash resulted in people like Joe Lieberman demanding that sites like Amazon cut all ties to the website. This backlash resulted in a coordinated attack on anti-Wikileak websites that caved in to political pressure. This backlash has caused us all to begin questioning the very core nature of the internet. My backlash does not wish to show support for any individual or group embroiled in this controversy. There is almost too much opinion flying around this situation. In fact, I would rather investigate the nature of the lash itself.

Cloud computing, blogging and global communications have all had a pretty easy time of it up until recently. Anyone clamouring for a reduction in what they felt was the pervasive influence of these media could simply choose to opt out. Or rather, they believed that they could opt out. This controversy has highlighted just how integral the internet is in society and it has done so in the guise of a major threat to the freedom of information on the internet. Again, I am not stating an opinion on whether information should or should not be curtailed on the net. The point I am driving at is that the honeymoon period is over for 'Web 2.0'. It is becoming increasingly obvious that it must now gain a political impetus in either opposition or agreement to global politics in order to protect its own existence.

Some critics seem to view two possible outcomes of this situation: the end of political influence on the internet or the end of the internet as we know it. A third, less exciting result is equally possible: the crisis will crumble without any resolution. The politicians will go back to their camp with Assange's scalp, the hackers will go back to theirs with a safe domain for Wikileaks. The world will keep spinning. However, to ignore the lessons and potential threat to both sides caused by this argument could be fatal to either one.

While this controversy may go away, it leaves the fundamental question of "who owns the internet and the content of the internet" utterly unresolved and increasingly urgent.

-The English Student

Rising and Underlying Tension I

World politics is constantly driven by tension.

A quick look at any newspaper will give the most casual follower of world events an insight into the current tension gripping the international community. Riots in Iran continue and have widened the gap between the Iranian government and the UK and US. North Korea continues to defy United Nations sanctions. The Honduras crisis continues, the African Union has pulled out of the International Criminal Court and the Israeli and Palestinian conflict continues. In addition to this, tension and fighting remains a constant in Georgia, Iraq and Afghanistan. So the obvious question is, are we heading for another world war?

These types of patterns have occurred many times before. World wide tension came to a head in the early twentieth century with two world wars and countless smaller conflicts. What was the result of these wars? Utter destruction and desolation is an obvious answer but if we look at the modern state of these countries another result is apparent. There is no whisper of tension remaining between former world war enemies in Europe. France and Germany have become strong allies and the UK continues to engage with the mainland. These wars were awful, but they were cathartic.

Compare this situation to the Cold War of the late twentieth century. There was a huge level of tension between these countries with a constant threat of war hanging over the heads of every citizen across the world. However, war between Russia and America never broke out and tension between these countries has never been fully dissipated. The "cult of the leader" remains strong in both countries and this is often founded on governments defining themselves in contrast to the old enemy.

Make no mistake, I am a committed pacifist but it seems that rising and underlying tension very rarely is solved by anything except war.

-The English Student