Lately this country has been subjected to a humiliating climb-down from a lofty pedestal of pontificating arrogance from its leaders all the way to Geneva. Leaders, have no concept of Geopolitics and International Diplomacy. A bunch of amateurs at enormous expense, a record delegation, was sent to further embarrass and shame this country, to such a degree, that an unprecedented claim by the UNHC for HR that they were intimidating people and organizations was made on the members of the contingent while they were in Geneva.
I maintained earlier that some humility and a sense of reality using the existing Diplomatic Cadre of the country could have achieved a win in the form of the withdrawal of the resolution on the promise of intent. Our country’s diplomats are perfectly capable of achieving it without interference from government. However they were aghast at the antics and poor advice given to the President in using the people he sent over.
It is a result of playing to the gallery in Sri Lanka for local political and populist gain that they sacrificed all common sense in this small event in Geneva. I do not want to go into all the missteps they have made since the end of hostilities to patch up relations with all its supporters, but in reality they have done everything to antagonize those countries who assisted us directly in winning the LTTE war and which form our main trading partners. Now even India is being targeted for abuse, something our jokers in power are going to regret before too long.
You just don’t mess with India. We need India for a lot of things. It has to be on the back of India that this country grows, not Europe or China. China has done no favors in lending us money at usurious interest rates, that will hold our country forever in debt to them. At least when India gives us a line of credit and assists us with projects, there is an element of grant, as they see Sri Lanka as a definite part of their strategic interest, something which we do not treasure nor do we appreciate. Though I grant it India does not like to see a very prosperous Lanka!
These double standards that the superpowers adopt, are not at all relevant in how we play the game of international Geopolitics. They are not new, they have been in operation from the beginning, and until we are also in the same league we will just have to play second fiddle. It has nothing to do with how loud we shout and what threats we make, as all of that is on deaf ears out of the country and only heard by the gallery to which we give too much credit. They foolishly believe that their leaders are truly patriotic, safeguarding the interests when the opposite is true.
Just consider all the aspects of the peace dividend. We have not received anything of the sort, except for a little bite from Japan. Humility could have allowed us to rebuild the North by now, and begun all the infrastructure for business establishment, development and large scale agricultural projects, including the revival of the Elephant Pass and Paranthan Salterns. Go there and you see nothing happening, just the land being divided amongst government stooges so they can sell it at a profit to some unsuspecting buyer in the future.
If this is not treachery of the first order then what is? Who is responsible for this? It is none other than the President of the Country as he holds all the cards and seems to play them only at his pace and not that of the country.
The person who won the war for him is now in jail, only increasing his popularity. What should have been done was to allow him his freedom to be a parliamentarian so that his weaknesses as a human will become patently obvious to all. In time people will realize that his forte was in that particular time and place to win the war and that he should live in happy retirement following his favorite hobby! Instead he is being made larger than life, and therefore a potential threat to democracy and the blame again is squarely on the President as all the charges on which he is incarcerated are politically motivated and not justifiable in law.
In fact the political gamble the President has taken to keep him locked up will backfire on him and time prove this. History will judge him for this. The lost opportunities of his administration will be what it will all be about, not the pyrrhic victory of the war. Many sycophantic journalists who try to influence public opinion are merely falling into this trap, unable to think clearly years ahead to how their writings and the leadership will be judged due to this simplistic approach.
This administration has failed in every sphere of their development. They have not achieved any tangible results. The harbor they built is a white elephant, the airport is also one. The highway is not up to international standards, the new power stations are a national disgrace, the roads are crumbling as this has been the gravy train upon which their power is in place. They have made millionaires out of hundreds of people to ensure their financial support.
The balance of payments is in a no win situation as are the foreign reserves. The education system and people’s confidence therein is shattered. All new projects and complexes are handed out to friends and confidants and those who pay the highest bribes and the story just goes on. As for law and order or more to the point, a lack of it, that requires a further discussion. More later!
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