Now there is more. Assange makes himself available for Skype interviews from the embassy and has hosted a talk show for the Russian government-funded TV channel RT. He has boasted of having received stolen property—the emails of different organizations and individuals in the United States. And it seems he is timing their release—first to embarrass the Democratic National Convention and now near the election to give fodder to the Trump campaign and its media supporters. Assange even timed a major dump of Clinton emails in an attempt, it seems, to divert attention to away from the now infamous Trump groping tape.

He’s been able to do all this thanks to diplomacy. So it seems fair to ask: Are WikiLeaks activities in transparency a public good and are they good for diplomacy?

To have an impact, transparency must be applied to every state—not used to bludgeon just one. If it wants to be valued as a window into duplicitous diplomacy, then WikiLeaks should probe the communications of all states. If WikiLeaks denies the right of all confidentiality in state communications then let them make that case. Most would strongly disagree. How states communicate is part of a continuous and changing relationship.