Epress.am News from Armenia
The internet changes many relationships and set traditions, for example, in the area of copyright, which, in reality, serves not so much the rights of authors as it does of large companies. The internet has caused a revolution, the result of which is not yet clear. This is how publicist Hrant Ter-Abrahamyan responded to a request by Epress.am to comment on the US cables released by WikiLeaks over the past two weeks.
“But it can be so that, thanks to that, the public good can be distributed more justly [fairly] among people. The WikiLeaks story, perhaps, is something similar. Secret diplomacy, by and large, is an anti-democratic institution, nearly unchanged from the inherited Age of European Absolutism (17–18th century). It has many sins before mankind. For example, it didn’t have a small role in terms of giving rise to the two world wars. It’s interesting that the Bolsheviks, with one of their first decrees, promised to eliminate secret diplomacy, which, along with people’s right to self-determination, was the slogan of the socialists at that time. Unfortunately, the Bolsheviks themselves didn’t keep keep their promise. Today, thanks to WikiLeaks, that issue is again being raised,” he said.
According to him, mankind might in fact become a witness to that, that today’s technological means also allow the attack of “one of the last bastions of absurdism.”
According to publicist Arakel Semerjyan, with respect to the leaked cables, all the countries in the world become divided into two groups:
“Those countries for which these revelations were simply the next scandal, and those countries for which the discoveries had and will have a fatal effect. We all understand that Armenia is in latter group. For the countries in the second group, the WikiLeaks findings can conclude as with the resignations of certain high-ranking officials, also with a change in government, while the countries in the first group have nothing to fear, since they are so open before their public that it’s very difficult to find machinations in their activities.”
He noted that in Armenia’s case, on a state level, one thing is declared, but another thing is done, as in the case of foreign, as well as domestic relationships.
“For this reason, each new release can shake the entire country. It seems to me that the main WikiLeaks references to Armenia haven’t yet been revealed, and the Armenian authorities are terrified of these expected revelations. Isn’t it true that the RA government’s connection with the Oct. 28 crime will be proved with these findings, and that there will be new evidence about the armed coup [implemented] through the Armenian army, as a result of which unarmed demonstrators were killed, injured and hundreds were imprisoned?” asked Semerjyan.
The publicist was convinced that, specifically, with respect to Armenia, WikiLeaks had a positive influence, since “a part of the crimes committed by the government over the years were uncovered and will still be uncovered, and these revelations will eventually lead to a change in regime, after which new government will be so honest that they will be afraid of neither WikiLeaks nor governmental or non-governmental organizations.”