What have WikiLeaks cables revealed about Tunisia?
As in the recent so-called "Twitter Revolutions" in Moldova and Iran, there was clearly lots wrong with Tunisia before Julian Assange ever got hold of the diplomatic cables. Rather, WikiLeaks acted as a catalyst: both a trigger and a tool for political outcry.
U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have called Tunisia a "police state" and described the corruption there, and social networks like Facebook have helped spread the comments. Many ordinary Tunisians who have complained for years felt vindicated to see the U.S. diplomatic cables.
However, the US State Department rejected claims that the WikiLeaks revelations of rampant corruption had sparked the uprising. A new version of the "Wikileaks didn't bring up anything really new" argument.
"State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley rejected suggestions that blunt assessments of Ben Ali and his family, their lavish lifestyles and graft contained in cables released by the WikiLeaks website had contributed to discontent over high unemployment and poor economy. Crowley said in a Tweet that Tunisians were well aware of the situation long before WikiLeaks published the cables and that Tunisians alone were responsible for the uprising." AP
The WikiLeaks cables concerning the Tunis Embassy may be found
here.