Judging by the profound glibness shown by a wide range of U.S. officials in response to the latest Wikileaks document dump, you’d think that Julian Assange had simply republished a pile of old newspapers.

“I’m not entirely sure why we care about the opinion of one guy with one website,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.  We are meant to feel exceedingly reassured that there is nothing to worry about in these dispatches.  “Nothing in any document that allegedly is in the tranche of WikiLeaks or in possession of WikiLeaks changed the role of any diplomat, anywhere in the world,” argued P.J. Crowley of the State Department.  Even the Russians picked up on the exact same talking points, dismissing the revelations in the documents with quips about “Hollywood characters,” and hearty laughs about the incompetence of U.S. intelligence.  This coming from the government whose Desperate Housewives deep cover spies got caught arguing over mortgages.

Anytime we hear so many politicians saying that something isn’t important, the opposite tends to be true.  No, it may not be a revelation to anyone in Russia that Putin is the “Alpha Dog” (in fact, he probably enjoys the compliment), or that Ramzan Kadryov made it rain with $100 at a lavish wedding.  However it is somewhat more important that we have confirmation from the Azeri president that orders from Medvedev must make one more stop for approval – representing a constitutional breakdown in the country’s governance.