THE LEAKAGE of emails sent by Sir Kim Darroch, former UK Ambassador to the US, to his
superiors in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, in which he described the White House as “uniquely dysfunctional” and US president Trump as “inept” came as an unpleasant surprise to civil servants who expect their communications to be secure.
Originally, we were not fully aware of the context to which the observations applied. But last weekend’s revelations of the British newspaper which received the emails are horrendous.
It referred to the unilateral decision by Trump to withdraw from the 2015 agreement between the US (under former president Obama), Europe, and Iran which agreed to drop sanctions against Iran in return for Iran’s cooperation not to produce enriched uranium (which is a necessary component of nuclear weapon). This historic agreement, to which Iran had adhered prior to the US withdrawal, was considered to be a triumph. Darroch’s emails, now exposed, suggest that Trump’s withdrawal was done to spite Obama and his legacy.
At the time of writing, the fallout arising from the revelations are not clear. Nevertheless, they will be far-reaching Iran is entitled to be extremely angry and has already been engaged in brinkmanship with the UK about oil sales allegedly to Syria.
The Iranian people have also suffered economically from the reimposition of sanctions. A key infrastructure project for German company Siemens to build rail facilities in Iran was cancelled due to US pressure.
Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Fei is languishing in Vancouver, Canada, albeit in salubrious circumstances, as she is out on bail awaiting an extradition hearing in a Canadian court. The extradition case stems from US allegations that she broke sanctions versus Iran by deceiving the Hong Kong bank, HSBC, that the loan she was seeking had nothing to do with an Iranian company. Personally, I thought that HSBC was being disingenuous by claiming that it did not know of the alleged sanction-breaking nature of the loan. Naivete is not an attribute I associate with HSBC.
Unsurprisingly, China has just arrested another Canadian citizen. This may be a bargaining chip used for the release of Meng.
Tit for tat.
The Canadians are taking their sweet time in processing the extraditions case against Meng who faces a lengthy jail sentence in the US. If found guilty of sanctions-breaking, I believe that Canada will delay the extradition proceedings still further as a result that the threat to her freedom comes as a result of Trump’s vindictiveness.
I predict, therefore, that the fallout of the leaked emails will be serious and lengthy.
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Meanwhile, the British police are investigating the leakage. Will they get very far? If they identify the leaker, then criminal proceedings will surely ensue.
Civil servants are unhappy. Emails written as a legitimate part of Ambassador Darroch’s duties, have truncated his career (which was, in any case, due to be completed by Christmas). Civil servants will hold back if their confidential communications are insecure.
Comparisons with the Wikileaks scandal of a few years ago are inevitable but there is no allegation concerning the Darroch emails that any hacking took place. Impropriety within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office seems to be a possibility.
Wikileaks resulted from electronic hacking and was, as we recall, extremely widespread. For example, former US Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney who had a generally agreeable image here was in fact sending less-than-complimentary opinions about President Aquino to her bosses in the State Department, Washington D.C.
Shame!/PN
