Since the diplomatic cables were revealed by wikileaks, there has been a debate about the tension between freedom of expression and the security of the state. With Japan, once again, wikileaks revealed precious informations saying that Japan had been warned two years ago that their nuclear power plants might not be capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes.
It might be that they did what they could and that it was not possible to have better infrastructures. Whatever we think about that information, it will probably put the government’s choices into question and provoke a debate about nuclear power plants that is necessary. It will also force the government to be more transparent about the issue.
This example shows us how wikileaks could cause a constructive discussion about important issues between the people and their government. However, it is necessary to be careful not to take that information without its context. Who was governing at that time? Who took the decisions?
The danger of the “explosive” revelations provided by wikileaks is to forget that they are incomplete information. It is something that need to be investigated to avoid blaming the wrong people for what happened. It is very easy to read this as a scandalous information and directly link it to the actual government and its current handling of the crisis concluding that they are the one to blame.