{"id":131480,"date":"2014-10-09T00:13:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T18:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=131480"},"modified":"2014-10-15T16:31:55","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T11:01:55","slug":"the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Soft And Hard Of Diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Malinda<\/a>

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

It was reported that the United States of America had softened its stand on Sri Lanka.\u00a0 This was after President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> met US Secretary of State John Kerry<\/span><\/a> on the margins of the UN General Assembly. Jen Psaki<\/span><\/a>, spokesperson for Kerry and the US State Department has since said that the US position on Sri Lanka had not changed<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s still hard. \u00a0\u00a0Not news, though.<\/p>\n

Psaki elaborates thus: \u2018We would like our relationship with Sri Lanka to achieve its full potential. That will only happen if Sri Lanka builds enduing peace and prosperity for all of its diverse ethnic and religious communities. That\u2019s why the Secretary made clear to the President that Sri Lanka needed to take meaningful steps to act like a country that is no longer at war but instead is now building a future that includes all of its citizens.\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps Psaki hasn\u2019t heard the adage \u2018charity begins at home\u2019 for if he did he would be agitating for an end to structured racism in the USA which results among other things in racial profiling and the regular pumping of bullets into the bodies of Blacks and Latinos by white police officers who are subsequently absolved of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\"Mahinda<\/a>But if indeed he hasn\u2019t heard of home-charity, it might have something to do with the fact that his office is not about \u2018home\u2019 but about \u2018abroad\u2019 even though all interventions and engagements are predicated with the now tired and meaningless caveat \u2018to ensure the security of our country\u2019.\u00a0 What does one say to a country that is perpetually at war and yet preaches peace to the rest of the world?\u00a0 What does one say to a country that destroys other countries and robs the yesterday, today and tomorrow of millions of people and yet talks of \u2018building futures for all citizens\u2019?<\/p>\n

The point is that softness and hardness are just carelessly and illogically used descriptive of US policy towards this or that country.\u00a0\u00a0 The only way to win the friendship of the USA (and thereby obtain softness-degree desired) is to play ball.\u00a0 In other words, do Washington\u2019s bidding; in a word, enslavement.<\/p>\n

This simple truth, clearly, has not been understood by whoever interpreted what transpired at the Rajapaksa-Kerry meeting.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing to gain by misinterpretation.\u00a0 Indeed, there\u2019s no practical value in any kind of interpretation without concrete evidence with which the claim can be anchored.\u00a0 Another important element in this game is to understand that there\u2019s absolutely nothing to gain by playing word games with who have the power to write and re-write script and even deny authorship.<\/p>\n

It is far more profitable to listen, nod, smile, shake-hands, pose for photograph and leave.\u00a0 Whatever is said and even what\u2019s not said will be read and transmitted as per Washington-requirement.\u00a0 Indeed, in situations such as the one which prompted this soft-hard talk, the more sensible diplo-speak would have President Mahinda Rajapaksa asking Kerry about Seed Global Health founded by his daughter Vanessa Bradfor Kerry, a physician and healthcare administrator.\u00a0 He could have also asked if his other daughter Alexandra has made any new films after \u2018The Last Full Measure\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is easier than talking politics with the powerful.\u00a0 Unless you want to submit or making an offer that is impossible to refuse but one which plays Russia, China and India against the USA with respect to overall strategic interests and comparative advantages.\u00a0 This side of that kind of give-take proposal, it is patently silly to say, hear and then indulge in sophomoric interpretation games.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/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-131480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Soft And Hard Of Diplomacy - 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\/the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Soft And Hard Of Diplomacy - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-08T18:43:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-15T11:01:55+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=\"3 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\/the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-soft-and-hard-of-diplomacy\/\",\"name\":\"The Soft And Hard Of Diplomacy - 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