Today has WikiLeaks returned with its largest ever release of formerly confidential information. The "Kissinger Cables" include over 1.7 million diplomatic records from 1973 to 1976 and has developed a search engine for its records. Calling it WikiLeaks' Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD).
Knowing your own history, or the history of your culture, is important because it helps us to know who we are while molding the future.
The only way we can understand who we are and how we got to be that way is by studying the past. Similarly, the only way we can understand others is by studying their past. If we don't understand what made them who they are in terms of how they think and act, we will make all sorts of mistakes in our interactions with them. Think of how you treat people differently based on how you know them. The same is true for countries when it comes to diplomacy.
Does WikiLeaks help us to shape the future or destroy the possibilities of improving it?