Comments on: Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy: Missing the Woods for the Trees

By: leon

leon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:59:42 +0000

Castedeus hit the nail on the head. China,India,Russia and the African nations have their” separatist issues”. That is the reason these states supported SL at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
It is worth mentioning that the Tamil Diaspora is very united now and GOSL should not think their troubles are over.Last Satarday Tamil protesters were outside the GAP stores in Manhatten asking the shoppers not to buy any apparel made in SL..This type of protests is gathering momentum and will continue.You are bound to see more of this in the future.There are moves to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines.

By: Sinna Siththar

Sinna Siththar — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:54:24 +0000

Expediency is not a substitute for long term strategic thinking. A glimpse of diplomatic success would have mere transient effect, but that is wahat Sri Lanka is famous for.

Diplomatic success should create a win win situation for parties involved in the equation. Sri Lanka being a minor player in South Asia leave alone the world, has neither the intellectual nor the physical resources to be part of the great games played by the powerful actors. It is in a precarious situation, just like the proverbial monkey whose tail was caught in log when it pulled the wedge.

I am afraid Sri Lanka is going to get hurt more in the future by the lumpen growing powers.

Borrowing more money from a loan shark is not an achievement but a failure of the state’s domestic and foreign policies practiced in the past 61 years after independence. I know I should not gloat too much about the achievements and progress of the Sri Lankan state given that there were two insurrections and a prolonged war since 1971. I would rather not indulge in impulse.

By: Castedeus

Castedeus — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:34:14 +0000

Dayan, thank you for your comments. Indeed, the support from the African and Asian blocks was not axiomatic and had to be actively nurtured, a role you performed very effectively in Geneva. My use of the words “instant success” are admittedly misleading in the context. And yes indeed, support from Russia was imperative. The way I see it, Russia, in addition to being a permanent member and still a (re-emerging?) power to be reckoned with, has separatist issues of their own (South Ossentia, Abkhazia). So along with China (Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang) and India (Kashmir, Tamil Nadu), support for a One Sri Lanka policy and opposition to outside intervention is in their interest. This must be nurtured and preserved by the Sri Lankan state as has been done so far to great effect. Its a shame the Administration has displayed its “rural idiocy” (to borrow Prof. Fonseka’s term) on FP yet again by throwing out one of the best SL thinkers on the subject, of our time.

Lankan, it is exactly the kind of arrogance and triumphalism you exude that presents the biggest danger to the Sri Lankan state. Despite opposition to it, there has been no prior record of human rights criteria to granting an IMF loan…. in my mind, despite opposition, it was coming through. But please note that loans are no substitute for facilities we already have…. why the substitute mentality? Why not maximise? In the long run, hubris such as yours wins nothing my friend.

By: Aruna

Aruna — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:04:01 +0000

It’s Sri Lanka that will have the last laugh.

PS Sri Lanka just got the 2.5 billion dollar loan and has an excellent relationshop with both India and China. JR didn’t have a great relationship with India at all.

By: Sinna Siththar

Sinna Siththar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:28:39 +0000

Lankan,

J R Jeyawardne in his days was compared to Chanakia and Machiavelli. The outcome of his game is out in the open now, nearly 50 years of destruction. Outcome of the foreign policy decisions made in the last few years will have repercussions for a long time to come.

In the meantime people of Sri Lanka irrespective of their race, religion, etc wil continue to suffer from the great games played the great powers, Sri Lanka is only a small pawn in the Indian Ocean.

Let us wait and see who is going to have the last laugh.

By: Lankan

Lankan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:24:45 +0000

What a laugh. The government took all the right steps. It has vanquished the LTTE, stood up to the west, revitalised its links with Asia and is now about to receive a 2 billion dollar loan from the IMF.

NO REGRETS.

By: Sinna Siththar

Sinna Siththar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:32:22 +0000

The author has lucidly put across a summary of foreign policy events and short term successes that had helped Sri Lanka to win the war against LTTE after 30 years of destruction.

If India, China, Russia, Pakistan and Japan have enormously contributed to the successful prosecution of the war then there is always a question of why did these countries help Sri Lanka in the first place. What are these countries expecting in return from Sri Lanka?

India in the past played a major role in creating and sustaining Tamil Armed Militant groups of which LTTE was the only armed group able to sustain a prolonged war against the Sri Lankan state. Eventually India along with Sri Lanka decided to destroy LTTE and indeed destroyed it lock stock and barrel. A pertinent question here is can India create and sustain another form of militancy if Sri Lanka refuses to taw or comply with its foreign policy and economic interest. Tamil inalienable rights are incidental to Indias own interest and India is not driven by the Tamil rights.

Norway as a facilitator, facilitated the begining of LTTE’s demise. Since then its downhill for LTTE and its leader all the way to the last minute. LTTE’s relation with Norway was misunderstood by Prabaharan and the equallent in the Sinhala community. The whole purpose of Norway’s benelovent involvement was to weaken the LTTE by giving it a false prominence. Prabaharan the military “genius” fell for the Machiavellian ways of Solheim of Norway.

The west has retreated for a short while in relation to Sri Lanka, which does not mean they have lost control over the region. Perhaps the West created space for India to establish itself not only the regional power but a growing world power given that India needed much delayed foreign policy success in South Asia. The international community including India gave Prabaharan a long rope to climb out of the pit. He neither understood the significant of long rope nor his difficiencies. He did not use it to climb out of the pit but inadvertenly hung himself along with many civilians.

Therefore, Sri Lanka has been given a long rope, I hope it uses wisely to get out the Sinhala Buddhist nationalism.

By: President Bean

President Bean — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:02:35 +0000

Everyone seems to be arguing about ‘Foreign Policies’ and ’13 Amendments’….isn’t it time we discuss about the rule of ‘The Gang of Four?’ Even with all its mistakes…democracy is better than a dictatorship!

By: Dayan Jayatilleka

Dayan Jayatilleka — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:03:43 +0000

Good article and a very welcome conribution to the debate. However i need to clarify one point. the article reads “These alliances, together with a long-term presence within the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) served Sri Lanka well even after the war. At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva , Western states sponsored a resolution against Sri Lanka demanding investigations into war crimes. But the move was hampered once again by China and member-states from the Global South. Instead, the African and Asian blocs helped table a counter-resolution that favoured Colombo with instant success.”

This reading omits two things. firstly, none of this support is axiomatic and has to be actively nurtured. A week or so after Sri lanka’s victory at the Un HRc, there was vote on Sudan , which Sudan lost and the West won, despite China’s vote for Sudan. On this occasion, India, Nicaragua and Bolivia abstained, while they had solidly supported Sri Lanka. Secondly, the otherwise excellent analysis omits the R word : Russia.

By: ericsor

ericsor — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:12:26 +0000

This article is all ready out dated.
Why does the Author still believe that economic sanctions on Sri Lanka would be imposed by wentern nation? Sri Lanka is about get IMF loan.