I have to admit, I'm kind of in awe of all the recent WikiLeaks chaos. One of the most engrossing aspects of the subject is how 5 of the world's largest newspapers were simply ordinary (albeit B-list) shills in the process of information dissemination - in other words, it was a website that actually broke the story. The big papers simply republished what was already out there on the world wide web. Really makes you notice how the traditional media is now so easily left in the dust vis-à-vis the web - and therefore, unfortunately, as irrelevant as we've ever witnessed.

Diplomacy is the second oldest legal profession but arguably the least understood. This reality has triggered disparate assessments of the impact of WikiLeaks’ release of thousands of U.S. confidential diplomatic dispatches. The consequences for the conduct of diplomacy are far-reaching and go beyond U.S. fundamental values of freedom of speech and transparency.

America has adopted a tough all-or-nothing position at the Cancún climate change summit, fuelling speculation of a walk-out if developing countries do not meet its demands. At the opening of the talks at Cancún, the US climate negotiator, Jonathan Pershing, made clear America wanted a "balanced package" from the summit.

The latest WikiLeaks release suggests that China is trying to distance itself from the North Korean regime and may be struggling to rein in the country, which is heavily dependent on China.

In my book Guerrilla Diplomacy, I argue that if development is the new security in the age of globalization, then diplomacy must displace defence at the centre of international policy. More recently, in a short article on science diplomacy, I observe that when it comes to assessing the role of science and technology (S&T) in international relations, one is confronted by a significant paradox.

It is arguably the biggest global story of the month, and quite possibly the year. Yet the biggest leak of confidential government cables in history has not been enough to elicit a proportionate reaction from the Jordanian media, even when Jordan plays an actual role in this bit of news.