Wednesday, March 19, 2014

We have no friends! Only those who use us for their ends – so who will protect us? That is a question that smart diplomacy could have avoided.

All Sri Lankans MUST realize that we are now completely isolated in this world, with no country that we can call our friends. We appear to be making a habit of isolating ourselves wherever we go! At least the Americans have two friends at least those of Canada and UK, who need each other for their own benefit and vice versa, but we cannot say that of India, China or Russia.

If you think China and Russia are friends you must be delusional. They don’t do anything that is NOT advantageous for them just like in the case of the Western Powers. So now it is payback time for Sri Lanka to vote with Russia, in the new resolution in the United Nations on the illegal annexure of Crimea. YES we will have to vote for with Russia, saying it is OK to annex Crimea!!! What a twist in the knickers that will be for the President’s foreign policy, because that precedent alone is enough to compromise Sri Lanka, and lead us down to separatism.

How can we ask Russia to defend us when the resolution to break up SL is put forward by our enemies, if you believe what the JHU says, a constituent party of the UPFA governing coalition? The JHU is just sound pollution.

China WILL NOT vote with Russia on the break up as they have Tibet that they annexed, who if they vote independently will vote for separatism! At a stroke we have compromised and sold our souls to the new imperialists!

We should have kept our non alignment as a reality and not as fiction, and created a foreign policy that is MOST beneficial for Sri Lanka, like Singapore has in its case. Singapore has designed their usefulness in such a way, that NO country wants to make Singapore an enemy, they all want to be friends, so why could we not be the same as we are in a strategically more important position on the globe than even Singapore is!!! 

To put it simply, we are ISOLATED and all this is due to the policies of arrogance of our Government. The Friendship that is bogus with Russia has just been bared open, when Crimea voted to be independent something we cannot permit in the world of diplomacy, due to the implications of Northern Tamils seeking a separate state. Of course the Russians have double standards, but the precedent that their action has created, is very worrying in the Sri Lankan context as they will NOT be able to support Sri Lanka in future and VETO a prevention of a break up.

China on the other hand ONLY wants Sri Lanka for no other reason than for their own sphere of influence with no special love for Sri Lanka in particular.

If one really looks at China’s relationship, there IS NOTHING of value to SL. They are NOT a trading partner of Sri Lanka, instead they are a rival and competitor, which is worse. Further they seek a free trade deal with Sri Lanka for a destination for their goods, and not as an export market for ours, no matter what the JHU says or thinks, by dreaming that we can easily diversify our dependence on a few Western Countries for our a destination for our manufactured exports.

GOSL relationship with India is at its worst ever. We had a chance to cement our relationship with India, by resolving our issues with the Tamils, but we chose not to and instead have decided to ally ourselves with China as a counter to India, BAD CHOICE!!

We must never forget that we are culturally, and economically within the Indian sphere of influence and we can benefit hugely with being friends with India, as we can access its markets, and be a HK type satellite for India, which will form a commercial hub for Indian commerce, as an entreport and docking point for large container carriers.   

We have enough experience of relations with India, and will able to manage the relationship to our advantage if we are able to solve our mutual interests, by giving a level of autonomy, that will ensure permanent unity of the Country as One Nation. This must also be in India’s self interest as they have far more diverse and troublesome ethnic communities who may wish to secede given half a chance.

This is a GOOD point for the Opposition to expose the hypocrisy of our so called friends, and inform the people that a middle path of non-alignment that we have followed all along is a better solution in the longer term interests of Sri Lanka, and we can leverage the increasing geopolitical advantage we have to our benefit.

The hysteria generated by the Govt. is a red herring, and merely meant to win votes back home to falsely pontificate to the world that their action has been endorsed by their electorate, and they do not have to answer to the international community.


The outcome of the UNHRC is willed by the GOSL to be against SL so they can continue their current behavior with impunity. It is regrettable that the best interests of Sri Lanka are not the primary motives, with longevity of power being at the top. I just hope the people begin to realize that which is self-evident.  

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it's true that SL tends to play its own hand in international affairs, maintaining an independent outlook. in this crimea case it will indeed be imprudent to vote with Russia if the event came about as it undermines SL's and many other country's unitary state argument.

all of this doesn't matter that much in the mind of Joseph Perera, who is the average voter.

he cares about cost of living -- food, gas, electricity, schooling, health care, etc-- as well as ease of life -- holidays, work hours, traffic, prospects of sickness, etc. you must speak to joe perera in those terms if you want to sway him and his family.

arguments about human rights and good governance fall flat with him unless you clearly and concisely tie it in with one of those 2 factors