ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 attends to vesting. Its main topic is one of the most prominent instances of disclosure in recent political history – the online posting of American war logs and diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks in 2010. The machinations of statecraft have long been matters of dread and fascination. In a series of releases, WikiLeaks and collaborating newspapers brought to the public what was before only available to a limited coterie. The topics addressed could hardly be more significant – thousands upon thousands of civilian deaths, a new ‘Great Game’ afoot, intelligence gathering on both diplomatic friend and foe alike, and complicity in torture. Repeatedly and prominently these leaked documents were said to open the lid on hidden areas of statecraft.
This chapter is not simply a story of investment, but of simultaneous divestment in what has been made available. One of the curious features of revelations is how quickly and thoroughly their solidity can melt into the air. Investments made in what is revealed – say about the import of a photograph – can turn sour. A photo can be faked. Or it can be dismissed as faked. This chapter addresses how belief and skepticism, investment and divestment, the sense that things are what they seem and that things are not what they seem and so on, together constitute attempts to make available.
