Bharat Rakshak

CAN SRI LANKA DITCH AMERICA AND EMBRACE CHINA?
By Gamini Weerakoon

Sri Lanka’s friends - Dimitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa went into warm embraces with Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia at the St Petersburg International Economic Conference last month but there were only brickbats for Rajapaksa from British political leaders such as David Cameron and the US State Department during the same period.

The Russian and Chinese leaders had assured the Sri Lankan president of their backing against attempts by the UN, which is strongly urged by leading western nations such as the United States and Britain, to compel Sri Lanka to probe alleged war crimes by its armed forces.
On Wednesday the US State Department urged the Sri Lankan government to ‘quickly address allegations of war crimes and ‘demonstrate that it is able and willing to meet these obligations as it seeks reconciliation’. If Sri Lankans do not do this there will be ‘growing pressure from the international community to examine other options’ the State Department had said.
While the issue of whether the United States and its allies have the moral right or the right under international law to make such demands on a sovereign state has been questioned before and will no doubt be reiterated, it also appears to mark a point of departure in foreign policy of Sri Lanka and the West

Are you in the government? Are you in the Rajapaksa family? If not, then the Chinese government is probably no great friend to you.
The Chinese government’s relationship is state to state, not person to person. It is important to remember this, and doubly important to remember that you, unlike Louis XIV or Mahinda VI, are not the state.
The Chinese are building ports, infrastructure and public spaces. Remember who did that last time? It was the British. The British colonial regime built roads, railways, infrastructure and the artificial port of Colombo. They imported docile labourers from India and paid off Sri Lankan elites to serve the regime. They also introduced legislation to allow for the outright sale of land.
What’s happening today? The Chinese are loaning money for road and rail projects in the north. They’re also giving loans for power and infrastructure and they built the artificial port of Hambantota. They import cheap Chinese labor, or deport their own prisoners as forced labor. In the process, they have bought off the Rajapaksa family with arms and funds. That family is now introducing legislation to allow foreigners to buy land outright and has already sold land near the Galle Face Green to a former arms supplier.
There is no doubt that the British pillaged the country and poisoned race relations. The price for casting off that colonial hangover, however, seems to be another stiff drink from the same wretched quaff.
That colonialism consisted of Sri Lankas elite’s selling off the country’s resources to make the British Empire colossally wealthy and secure. Chinese colonialism consists of the Rajapaksa family selling off Sri Lanka’s resources with the added innovation of doing most of it through loans, thus making Sri Lankan taxpayers foot the bill for their own subjugation.
Think about it. Is the Chinese government a friend of Sri Lanka, or a friend of the family? What benefits Sri Lankans directly is human-to-human contact, be it trade, tourism or immigration, on those counts, how does China stack up.
Sri Lanka’s main export partners are the US, Europe and India. Around 1% of an estimated $7 billion USD in exports are to China. China is our second biggest import partner, so they make money off of us. Our people don’t really make money off of them.
Most of Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals come from India and Europe. Around 2% of an estimated 48,000 tourists in May 2011 were from China. That’s 1,337 people.
Most Sri Lankans working abroad go to the Middle East. According to 2008 data from statistics.gov, one (1) person migrated to China that year.
Most Sri Lankans studying abroad go to Australia, UK, the US or Canada. Up to 15-20,000 Sri Lankans study abroad. In 2008, by Australian estimates, 24% of Sri Lankan students went there. Chinese numbers are unclear. Each year the Chinese government offers 104 scholarships, but it is not yet a major education destination.
So, by all the counts that matter to the Sri Lankan people, China is not our number one friend or partner. But they are number one to the ruling family.
Thus, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cosy relationship with the Chinese serves his interests much more than the nation’s. He’s turning against the nations that provide business for Sri Lankans, business that puts food on the table. He’s turning against the nations that come and visit us, providing livelihoods for thousands and human connection for more. He’s also turning against the places where ministers and ordinary people try to get visas to study or work.
Make no mistake, Mahinda Rajapaksa is selling out the country to the Chinese to enrich himself and his family. The infrastructure is needed, but the loans and debt are not. And the Sri Lankan people would be wise to question the intentions of the people giving us ‘free money’. From Africa to Asia, the Chinese have shown no compunction about destroying foreign environments or lives to further their own interests. They simply pay off elites and take what they need. And they don’t really need you.
So, welcome to your new colonial masters, and enjoy the new infrastructure. The British built our Town Hall. Now the Chinese have given us a Performing Arts Center a few blocks away.

SRI LANKA’S ALIENATION IS WORSENING
Although there is mounting pressure internationally against Sri Lanka (SL), with Western countries and the European community taking a tough stand against it, the President of SL however reposed immense confidence in India and the Commonwealth countries that they would stand by SL.

Are you in the government? Are you in the Rajapaksa family? If not, then the Chinese government is probably no great friend to you.
The Chinese government’s relationship is state to state, not person to person. It is important to remember this, and doubly important to remember that you, unlike Louis XIV or Mahinda VI, are not the state.

And what better time to do this than after a triumphal victory? This should address the anxieties of Sri Lanka and give it an opportunity to renew its social contract with all its peoples. Winston Churchill once said: “In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity.” It will be useful to follow such advice, since it appears to have worked well in history. Rajapaksa will serve the Sri Lankan nationalist cause more if he delivers minority rights and reassures his majority community that they can be secure and progress can be faster when their policies and state institutions are inclusive, rather than exclusive and jingoist. The Sri Lankan Opposition also should not indulge in nationalist chest-thumping outbidding each other. Such haggling has led Sri Lanka through enough tragedies.

Every discourse on a political solution in post-war Sri Lanka has centred on a single argument: President Mahinda Rajapaksa, having won the war against the LTTE, should have no problem delivering peace to the larger Tamil society and polity. Not only the Tamils in the country or their Diaspora brethren believe in it but the international community also has faith in such presumptions.

The reverse is also true. Sections of the Sinhala polity and intellectuals, as also their counterparts in the Government apparatus, still see the TNA in the same mould as its war-time self. They see it all only in black and white. There is no space in their minds for shades of greys. Individual Sinhala leaders and thinkers may have their preferences and perceptions, and the TNA leadership, they all have concluded, per se, is moderate.

If President Rajapaksa is not able to – or, were even unwilling to – give the Tamils an acceptable political solution, no other leader in his place for a few more decades to come could do so. None would even want to venture out in that direction. In theoretical terms, it could include Tamil leaders of the three denominations, namely, the Sri Lankan Tamils, the Upcountry Tamils and the Muslims, even if one were to become President or Prime Minister.

The only tangible reason for western antagonism appears to be China. China is the sole challenger of the sole remaining superpower in the western world. Rajapaksa is obliged to China for supplying the massive flow of armaments without which his victory over the LTTE would not have been.

Nosoj said ...

Not sure if this reflects the average Sri Lankan , but, just check out the comments on this page. Quite pacqui !

Having interacted with numerous Sri Lankans in the Gulf, I can confirm that the views expressed in the 'comments' share commonality with that I've experienced

The common Sri Lankan grown up on stories of -
- RAW training camps for the LTTE in TN
- TN being a logistic base for the LTTE
- GOI turning a blind eye the movement of man and material between India & SL
- vocal support offerred by TN politicians

and that India was FORCED to change all this once SL started cultivating China & Pakistan

Basically they lay the blame of the entire LTTE mess firmly in India's lap, and believe that they politically managed to stop India by playing 'my enemy's enemy is my friend'

TIRUCHY: Urging the Centre to introduce a resolution at the UN for declaring Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa as a war criminal, the CPI on Friday made it clear that it was ready to join hands with its arch rival, the BJP, to press for this demand in Parliament.
'It is time to nationalise the issue, since a unanimous resolution pressing for this demand has been passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, which represents the will of Tamil people. There is no opposition to this demand in the State and now the issue should be moved forward to the national stage', CPI State deputy secretary C Mahendran told reporters here.

thusitha wrote:This is where I got it from and they definitely mentioned BJP.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cpi-bjp-read ... 0-118.html

Nobody can fool everybody, all the time, unless everyone is Sinhala and the “nobody” is a Rajapaksa. That seems the philosophy of Mahinda Chinthana.
The Rajapaksa’s thus try to fool the Sinhala South again, but not the neighbours next door who know how many times the “lie” was taken home to Delhi, for want of diplomatic subtleties and not the Tamil Diaspora either, who are determined to square off with this Rajapaksa regime on war crimes first, before political solutions are spoken of.

Yet this Rajapaksa regime continues with the same naïve approach in avoiding a pragmatic political solution to the Tamil problem, for no apparent advantage. They fail to understand that any political compromise on a broadly consented solution could only benefit them more than any other, with social stability, unity and international confidence that should help ward off advocacy for investigations on war crimes and crimes against humanity. Perhaps also with its own, a more robust apparatus than the deflated Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission

If Srilanka does not tow our line and provide a meaningful reconciliation plan for the Tamils, it is fair for us to use any means to force the issue. If SL thinks that they can use PRC and TSP to force our hand, then we have to use what ever is in our arsenal to force their hand.

yes the LTTE venture turned out not so good for us, but may be we can learn from the mistakes and use better tactic this time.

It is power play. If SL thinks they can play the field, we should too.

thusitha wrote:Sri Lanka is slowly coming to age. We are not the village idiots that we use to be.

Without a consciousness that you are a part of the Indian Civilization, and need to both devote your energy to it and receive your energy from it, you will remain a village idiot!

Stan_Savljevic wrote:RajeshA, why are you derailing thread after thread with this Greater Indic fancy? Once is fine, twice is pushing it, three time and more becomes Rahul Mehta-esque.

RajeshA wrote:

thusitha wrote:Sri Lanka is slowly coming to age. We are not the village idiots that we use to be.

Without a consciousness that you are a part of the Indian Civilization, and need to both devote your energy to it and receive your energy from it, you will remain a village idiot!

UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera said today that there was a possibility of Sri Lanka being taken before the International Criminal Court (ICC) before the end of this year by the International Community over allegations levelled against the country of human rights violations committed during the war. Addressing a media briefing, he said that the government had resorted to laughable acts in rejecting the allegations without conducting a proper investigation.

Most corrupt leaders give themselves a decent interval of at least a couple of years before they descend into dictatorial mode and ensconce their family members in positions of power. But President Mahinda Rajapaksa came pre-packaged and ready to distribute the wealth of the nation to his family and he already had a head-start on this.

To this day there is no accounting for the US$ 183,000 Treasury approved fund he obtained for Helping Hambantota, a charity to help Tsunami victims in his constituency. For an obscure law practitioner in the outback of Tangalle until he became prime minister on April 06, 2004, his meteoric rise to presidency was envied by long-standing contender to presidency Ranil Wickremasinghe, the opposition leader.

The ICC collaborates very closely with the UN Security Council and its mandate to bring war criminals to justice has been proven by its success as stated above.

Apart from international calls for the government to justify killing civilians in their thousands (the exact numbers will never be known) and other atrocities locally the President is ignoring warning signals of total discontent among his populace the majority of whom are Sinhalese.

The clock is ticking for the Royal Family’s demise but how graciously would the government let go of its reign?

Colombo, 28 July, (Asiantribune.com):
Latest UNICEF report for July 2011 has blown out the hype of exaggerated repetitions by - international elements saying that there were '40,000 civilian deaths' during the final stages of the Sri Lankan humanitarian campaign.

The UNICEF report in its latest analysis of missing persons accounts the numbers as 2,564 individuals. The report also reinforces the Government's policy on zero civilian casualties endured during the end of the conflict resulting in the world's largest rescue mission.

In its independent report prepared in collaboration with the Northern Provincial Department of Probation and Child Care and Government Agent of Vavuniya, UNICEF reveals that 676 children- of which a staggering 64% that holds LTTE terrorists culpable of forcible recruitment of underage to war.

UNICEF says it launched the project, Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) in Dec. 2009 over 9 districts in response to a spate of tracing requests received since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009. It believes in spite of difficulties in tracking down those listed missing; more children could be found and re-united with their families. It says that so far 78 children have been matched and referred to probation for tracing, verification and reunification.

Earlier, Gordon Weiss, the Former UN Spokesperson in Sri Lanka in his infamous Channle-4 presence alleged security forces as responsible for deaths of 'over 40,000 civilians herded by LTTE in a narrow stretch of land’.

In response to his comment, the UN distanced itself by stating that the statement made by Gordon Weiss was his personal account and not that of UN. Stunned by the UN response, Weiss during a book launch in Melbourne Australia last week, revised his vague figures as 10,000 stirring much controversy.

On 15th February 2006, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Sri Lanka Joanna VanGerpen in a communiqué‚ released stated that, "Over 5,300 child soldiers have been enlisted by the

Though the USA aid to SL has been declining, now USA has threatened to cut of the aid. Amma's supporters could view it as her influence with Hillary

thusitha wrote:SwamyG said ...

Though the USA aid to SL has been declining, now USA has threatened to cut of the aid. Amma's supporters could view it as her influence with Hillary

The biggest question is can they afford to give us money? To me they are in a terminal decline.

You demand liberties in the name of our principles that you deny in the name of yours.

thusitha wrote:SwamyG said ...

Though the USA aid to SL has been declining, now USA has threatened to cut of the aid. Amma's supporters could view it as her influence with Hillary

The biggest question is can they afford to give us money? To me they are in a terminal decline.

With increasingly gargantuan corruption, rising economic woes and confrontations with sectors of society ranging from trade unions to university academia, past tactics of capturing public opinion may not always hold good. In discussions mid this week with some practitioners of the Matara Bar for example, considerable disaffection with the way that the country is being run, (emanating even from those who supported this regime at last year’s polls), was clearly evident.

It may also not always be possible for the government to cling onto that exceedingly useful international war crimes cry. Even in the absence of an effective opposition therefore, it may become increasingly difficult for the regime to hold back popular rebellion. And it is certainly opportune for President Mahinda Rajapakse at least now, to realize the value of safeguarding constitutional democracy for the good of his own administration, if the good of the country is no longer a persuasive reason.

Tamils and Muslims face discrimination in Sri Lanka as there is a lack of a level-playing field for these communities in the Island Nation, according to political analyst and two-time nominee to Sri Lankan Parliament A Kandappah.

unless you have had some near or dear ones caught in the middle, all this Human Rights etc. is just a canard.

The ethnic polarisation which is taking place in Sri Lanka does not augur well for stability and security. The increasing disenchantment of the Tamils against the policies of the Government – what forms will it take need to be seen. If the President and the ruling party are genuinely interested in ethnic reconciliation, they must immediately give up the policy of majoritarianism which had been the main stumbling block towards peace since the dawn of independence. Magnanimity in victory, which many democrats consider to be the hall mark of statesmen, is completely absent in Sri Lanka. If the aspirations of the Tamil minority groups are ignored at the altar of Sinhala majoritarinism, history may repeat itself in the island republic. For those who do not learn from history, they will be compelled to relive it.

Melbourne, Jul 12 (PTI)

New Zealand government denied the entry to a boat carrying 88 Sri Lankan asylum seekers stating that they would not be welcomed in the country, according to media reports today.



The PM considered that the message of not being welcomed in the country, given out to the asylum seekers was not harsh.

"If New Zealand doesn't have strong policy in this area then what it ends up doing, in my view, is sending completely the wrong message, which is that we welcome people who are going to jump the queue, that we want people to put their lives at risk," Key added.

US fighter jets intrude into Lankan air space

Govt. to protest; combat planes believed to be from the Seventh Fleet
By Leon Berenger

The government will protest to the United States over the intrusion of Sri Lanka’s air space by a squadron of ten fighter jets. The Sunday Times learns that the protest will be handed over to the US Embassy in Colombo by the Ministry of External Affairs.

“What we are trying to establish is whether the US fighter jets had violated the oceanic air space or the territorial part of it,” Civil Aviation Director Genera H. M. C. Nimalsiri told the Sunday Times yesterday.
“In terms of accepted international norms, anyone wanting to use the country’s air space is required to file flight plans and obtain prior approval,” he said.

A senior Air Force official speaking on grounds of anonymity admitted that there were periodic incursions by US combat aircraft into Sri Lanka’s air space. “There were occasions where we had to tell them to move out,” he said.

“We have communication intercepts to confirm that they were carrier-based aircraft. In this instance we have reason to believe that the jet squadron was from the US Seventh Fleet,” he said. The tracking station atop Pidurutalagala -- the tallest point in Sri Lanka -- was the first to identify the intruding US aircraft. Officials there immediately conveyed it to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The tracking station with modern radar equipment with a range of 200 nautical miles and covers 380 kilometers of airspace. A US embassy spokesperson declined to comment yesterday.

A senior Sri Lanka Air Force official speaking on grounds of anonymity admitted that there were periodic incursions by US fighter jets into Sri Lanka’s air space. “There were occasions where we had to tell them to move out,” he said.

“We have communication intercepts to confirm that they were carrier-based aircraft. In this instance we have reason to believe that the jet squadron was from the US Seventh Fleet,” he said.

The tracking station from Pidurutalagala -- the tallest point in Sri Lanka -- was the first to identify the intruding US aircraft. Officials there immediately conveyed it to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The tracking station with modern radar equipment with a range of 200 nautical miles and covers 380 kilometres of airspace.

Kashi wrote: US sending out a message to the Lankans?