WikiLeaks' slowly spilling flood of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables has sparked a fierce debate around the world about not only the ethics of this leak, but its very value. My first training is not as a journalist, but as an historian and a philosopher, which means I've got a fancy way to describe this situation: an epistemological quandary, i.e., we don't know what we should know.

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.

Here's the question: How much difference would it really make if all these "private" diplomatic meetings were public?...how much would world politics change if all these conversations were held in public so that people could see and hear what was being said?

However, we have to add our voice to those supporters of the free flow of information who argue that it is vital that the public - and in this globalised village we mean every citizen of the world - has as much information at their disposal about how those in control of the levers of power utilise that power as possible.

Why are diplomatic cables secret at all? It's a fair question to ask as we assess the WikiLeaks disclosures and the damage they may do. Overall, there are very few surprises in these cables.

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.

Last year, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed an unorthodox way to return Guantánamo Bay prisoners to a chaotic country like Yemen without fear that they would disappear and join a terrorist group.