Revelations made by WikiLeaks on what the United States thinks of Malta – and what Maltese politicians told US representatives here – might not have great repercussions here except for some kind of embarrassment that confidential conversations now have been made public.

But the exercise to disclose more than 250,000 US State Department cables – only 125 of which dealt with tiny Malta – may have serious consequences in relations between the Unites States and individual countries, and the whole world community at large. The uncensored and unredacted files may put people’s lives in danger too, and this has been condemned by some quarters.

This newspaper, in fact, chose to remove the names of non-elected individuals and non-diplomats.

With regard to the disclosures on Malta well, really, there weren’t too many surprises. One of these was the way Iran tried to invest several billions in the Maltese banking system, a prospect that local authorities flatly refused.

The rest was, as we say, already well-known, and what the United States Ambassadors Molly Bordonaro first, and Doublas Kmiec later, sent back home were views that were similar to what was perceived locally.

That local prime ministers are restricted in their choice of Cabinet members from a pool of elected parliamentarians is an issue that has been discussed several times. And perhaps this is one of the reasons why Lawrence Gonzi, after his experience between 2004 and 2008, chose to have a leaner Cabinet when he was re-elected as Prime Minister a second time.

That the Labour Party had strong reservations on the Partnership for Peace programme was out in the open too, as a Labour government in 1996 had withdrawn Malta’s membership a day after being elected.

What needs to be pointed out also is that while some of the documents speak of facts and their interpretation, other comments made are solely based on opinion which is, as we all know, subjective.

Having said this, it is quite intriguing to find out that local politicians feel comfortable enough to disclose their innermost thoughts to foreign representatives in Malta. Very often, they are quite reluctant to admit, in their public speeches, what they really think. They were, however, quite frank with the US representatives here.

It makes one think.