{"id":122600,"date":"2014-04-03T02:07:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T20:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=122600"},"modified":"2014-04-09T03:34:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T22:04:20","slug":"sison-wrong-cameron-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sison-wrong-cameron-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Sison Wrong, Cameron Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

US Ambassador Michele Sison<\/span><\/a> got it wrong.\u00a0 Addressing a media briefing following the UNHRC vote on Sri Lanka, Sison dismissed allegations that the US-backed resolution<\/span><\/a> was \u2018against\u2019 Sri Lanka.\u00a0 In other words it was \u2018for\u2019 Sri Lanka, she implies.<\/p>\n

Now if the Government of Sri Lanka, which represents the people of Sri Lanka, thinks a resolution is \u2018for\u2019 the country, it would not oppose it.\u00a0 The main opposition parties blame the government for putting the country in a position where such a resolution could be tabled and approved, have not exactly endorsed the document.\u00a0\u00a0 Only the Tamil National Alliance has openly cheered the resolution. The TNA, one time mouthpiece of a terrorist organization which continues to let pro-LTTE elements or LTTE<\/span><\/a>-remnants to dictate party policy, is but a regional political entity whose sway is limited to just one province.<\/p>\n

For Sison to imply that she knows better than Sri Lankan what is \u2018good\u2019 or \u2018bad\u2019 for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans is unadulterated condescension.\u00a0 From any other diplomat it would deserve the tag \u2018unbecoming\u2019, but she\u2019s the representative of a country that has the word \u2018ugly\u2019 stuck on diplomacy and diplomat.\u00a0 She got it wrong, but that\u2019s not a surprise then.<\/p>\n

It must be mentioned that the USA didn\u2019t cover itself in glory when other resolutions were debated, in particular five resolutions condemning Israel (the USA was the sole \u2018nay-sayer\u2019) and the Pakistan-led resolution on drone attacks which sailed through over the objections of the USA, Britain, France and a handful of other members who interestingly had voted against (yes) Sri Lanka.\u00a0 \u00a0The USA objected to \u2018the singling out of Isreal\u2019, even though not too many hours before it put its full weight on \u2018singling out Sri Lanka\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sison got it wrong, but British Prime Minister David Cameron<\/span><\/a> did not.\u00a0 Cameron said \u2018the UNHRC decision on Sri Lanka is a victory for its people\u2019.\u00a0 He got the wording right. His reasoning was off the mark and in that he was quite \u2018Sisonic\u2019.<\/p>\n

It was a victory for Sri Lanka but not in the sense that Government spokesman mean \u2018victory\u2019.\u00a0 The vote was a defeat, never mind that the US got one less than half the voting members to vote \u2018yes\u2019.\u00a0 It is less than consolation to count each abstained vote as a \u2018no\u2019.\u00a0 It was a victory, again in a consolation kind of way, that Sri Lanka, given the massive mismatch vis-\u00e0-vis the USA managed to have 12 countries support her, including China and Russia, not counting out the fact that there were political blocs to contend with.<\/p>\n

It was also consolation that India abstained, but too much should not be made of India\u2019s position since the Indian \u2018explanation of position\u2019 demanded rejection and not \u2018hands-off\u2019.\u00a0 A perusal of the Congress Party\u2019s election manifesto would reveal the truth of India\u2019s oft-uttered assertions of \u2018friendly relations\u2019 with Sri Lanka.\u00a0 The Bharathiya Janathan Party is no better since it is talking \u2018Monroe Doctrine\u2019 these days with obvious reference to Sri Lanka\u2019s ties with Pakistan, China and Russia.\u00a0 These three countries backed Sri Lanka to the hilt.\u00a0 Their statements were unambiguous and not compromised by the kind of pernicious meddling India is known for.<\/p>\n

But Cameron got it right because any process which reveals friend as well as enemy is a significant positive.\u00a0 The vote revealed that India is no friend. The vote revealed that Pakistan, China and Russia are solidly on Sri Lanka\u2019s side.\u00a0 The vote revealed that there is absolutely no point in going beyond general courtesies in relations with the USA, UK, France and India; placating will not purchase a \u2018back-off\u2019.<\/p>\n

The bigger victory is that the government is now forced to acknowledge all this but especially the fact that its own survival and that of the country is dependent on the people standing as one.\u00a0 The government must realize that such unity as necessary to meet the obvious threats articulated in Geneva cannot be obtained without rectifying institutional, constitutional and policy-related flaws that are patently anti-people.\u00a0 Without redressing general grievances that are of economic and political nature, the government cannot count on continued support that is the final and most effective bulwark against meddling of any kind from the likes of Washington and London.<\/p>\n

That \u2018truth\u2019 is political and pertinent.\u00a0 \u2018Geneva\u2019 has produced it.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0In that sense and that sense only, David Cameron, side-kick to Barack Obama though he is, is quite spot-on.\u00a0 There\u2019s \u2018victory\u2019 that counts in all this, subject to the caveat \u2018if recognized, digested and acted upon\u2019.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nSison Wrong, Cameron Right - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sison-wrong-cameron-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sison Wrong, Cameron Right - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sison-wrong-cameron-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-02T20:37:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-08T22:04:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sison-wrong-cameron-right\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sison-wrong-cameron-right\/\",\"name\":\"Sison Wrong, Cameron Right - 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