On the US Foreign Assistance Pause
US President Donald Trump has ordered a 90 day pause on all foreign assistance and aid programmes, with a few exceptions. The pause is supposedly for the US government to take an…
Diplomacy
Four Takeaways from the UN Security Council Resolution on Gaza
The recent UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza from which the US, not surprisingly, abstained marks a crossroads in the history of Israel and the future of Palestine….
The President Versus the Hegemonic West
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has a way with interviewers, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. Be it a local or a foreigner, his distaste or contempt for them comes out. His…
Sri Lanka and the World: Towards a New Approach
Speaking in Parliament in 1996, Anura Bandaranaike dwelt on the legacy of his father and mother. He spoke of how the world had viewed Sri Lanka in their time and how it…
Paying Attention to the Voices That Will Not Be Silenced
As the world marks another International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, in Sri Lanka, which has the second highest number of forcibly disappeared in the world after Iraq, families of…
Begging Around the World: An Evolving or Receding Foreign Policy?
Sri Lanka has reached out to the Russian Federation owing to the growing national crisis in the country, a national crisis that involves foreign exchange, fuel, power and of course basic essentials…
The Two Year Crash Course
“We can only shake our heads at how all of us followed this lunatic…” A German general (quoted in Volker Ullrich’s Hitler – Downfall – 1939-45) The first seeds of America’s Afghan…
Sri Lanka in Quicksand at UN Human Rights Council
As the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) meets for its 48th session, the dire situation in Sri Lanka is under international scrutiny. Amidst ongoing concerns, work has begun on holding the…
History, Analysis and Lessons: How Multilateralism is the Future
In its opening preamble, the resolution declaring 24 April as International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace reaffirms ‘…the commitment to settle disputes through peaceful means and the determination to save…
Sri Lanka and UN: Courting Controversy
The Sri Lankan government, faced with grave international concerns about human rights, has made little effort to soften its confrontational approach at home or abroad. As a result, it faces a highly…
President Joe Biden’s Impact on the World and Sri Lanka
The result of the US presidential election of 2020 has far reaching consequences not only for the United States but also globally. Within the US, the outcome will surely benefit African American…
US Unable to Counter China’s Hold on Sri Lanka
The primary objective of Secretary Pompeo’s visit to South and South East Asia (Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Indonesia and Vietnam) was to drum up support for the US Republican team in the…
The Eagle Has Landed in the Lion’s Den
Over the course of October Sri Lanka welcomed two of the world’s prominent powers, China and the US, to the country. In early October, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa held talks with Yang Jiechi,…
Mike Pompeo Seeks to Stop Sri Lanka’s Slide to China
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was in Sri Lanka last week as part of his Asian tour that included regional power India as well as the Maldives. Coincidently his visit came…
Needed: A Foreign Policy Beyond the Shackles of Necessity
Within weeks of each other, the Chinese Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State visited Sri Lanka, underscoring our importance in the geostrategic struggle for power in the Indian Ocean or…
