{"id":149761,"date":"2015-08-27T12:35:35","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T07:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=149761"},"modified":"2015-09-01T16:34:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T11:04:50","slug":"on-war-criminals-privileged-holidaymakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-war-criminals-privileged-holidaymakers\/","title":{"rendered":"On War Criminals &#038; Privileged Holidaymakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Chaminda+Weerawardhana&amp;x=12&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chaminda Weerawardhana<\/span><\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_123154\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Chaminda-Weerawardhana-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-123154\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-123154\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Chaminda-Weerawardhana--150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Chaminda Weerawardhana\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Chaminda-Weerawardhana--150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Chaminda-Weerawardhana--50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-123154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Chaminda Weerawardhana<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ex British Prime Minister and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/politics\/tony-blair\/11670790\/Tony-Blairs-25m-property-empire-around-the-UK-in-pictures.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">multi-millionaire<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Tony+Blair&amp;x=15&amp;y=3\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tony Blair<\/span><\/a>\u2019s summer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/inviting-blair-dismissing-muslim-sentiments\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">holiday in Sri Lanka<\/span><\/a> has been taking place under privileged conditions, with next to no media exposure. A visit that takes place on the invitation of those holding the reins of power in Colombo, the Blairs were provided with state security and amenities during their visit. Two people who have played a special role in facilitating this visit were, indeed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mangala+Samaraweera&amp;x=11&amp;y=0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mnagala Samaraweera<\/span><\/a> MP and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Chandrika+Kumaratunga&amp;x=14&amp;y=3\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chandrika Kuamaratunga<\/span><\/a>. The former, a clothing design graduate of Central Saint Martin\u2019s in London, was also instrumental in fixing up a meeting between Tony Blair and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Rajapaksa&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> back in 2006. That meeting took place in Britain, at a different time, for Messrs Samaraweera, Rajapaksa and Blair. In the previous year, Samaraweera played a frontline role in Rajapaksa\u2019s presidential campaign, which led to Rajapaksa\u2019s election as Sri Lanka\u2019s fifth executive president. In that same year, Blair secured his third re-election as British Prime Minister, with a parliamentary majority slashed to a mere 66 seats (as opposed to UK Labour\u2019s 160-seat majority in the previous parliament). Having been Prime Minister since 1997, Blair\u2019s popularity was in decline. A key reason for this was Blair\u2019s decision to support the Bush administration\u2019s war in Iraq, in the absence of a 2nd UN resolution. At the 2005 general election, the Liberal Democrats castigated Blair as responsible for the carnage that was Iraq, an argument that won for them a good few disenchanted Labour voters.<\/p>\n<p>Flash forward to 2015.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Mahinda-Mangala.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-149768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Mahinda-Mangala.jpg\" alt=\"Blair - Mahinda Mangala\" width=\"245\" height=\"196\" \/><\/a>Samaraweera<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Having just won the general election with a high count of preferential votes, Samaraweera has been reappointed to a cabinet ministerial portfolio somewhat removed, to say the very least, from his profession-proper (i.e. fashion designer) \u2013 that of foreign affairs. Indeed, Sri Lanka often distinguishes herself in appointing individuals with no prior experience in diplomacy and\/or international civil service, no significant foreign experience, experience with international consultancies, or remarkable foreign language skills (other than Sinhala, Tamil and English) to spearhead its foreign policy apparatus. Having said that, Samaraweera\u2019s appointment is less appalling, when compared with some of his predecessors, and more alarmingly, the track record of foreign affairs ministers who happened to be highly qualified, such as university professors. To borrow from Paul Auster, the Music of Chance certainly appears to be in Samaraweera\u2019s favour in the 2015 quarter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rajapaksa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rajapaksa was ousted from power in January 2015. Local specifics put aside, this was the result of an operation that received U.S. and Indian endorsement. Given the security challenges the USA is facing in the South China Sea, there is a clear effort to ensure that USA-friendly governments hold power across the South and Southeast Asian regions. In this light, it was neither majoritarian politics, corruption nor nepotism that caused disfavour for Rajapaksa internationally, but his close ties with Beijing. Rajapaksa\u2019s second attempt at a political comeback was equally thwarted, through political machinations that ensured the West\u2019s preferred outcome. Media reports indicate that Rajapaksa has nonetheless decided to remain in politics, most probably to wait for a new opportunity to spearhead a Sinhala nationalist uproar against the Ranil Wickremesinghe government. There is no question of the fact that the Rajapaksa ousting has been favourable for media freedom and fundamental rights. Domestically, a primary cause of public disenchantment with the Rajapaksa administration stemmed from the myopic policies of his siblings and preposterousness of his offspring. Despite his downfall, Rajapaksa continues to command the support of a considerable segment of the Sinhala community.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mahinda-Tony-Blair-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-149766\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mahinda-Tony-Blair-.jpg\" alt=\"Mahinda Tony Blair\" width=\"350\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mahinda-Tony-Blair-.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Mahinda-Tony-Blair--200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>Internationally, the Rajapaksa administration\u2019s biggest controversy involves atrocities committed during the last stages of the war, and in its immediate aftermath. The Channel 4 revelations have provided insights into such violent excesses that could have been avoided, in the best interests of the Sri Lankan state. In an era of smart phones, selfies and quick information transfer, occurrences of this nature cannot be pushed under the carpet, as the Rajapaksas initially envisaged. The issue has been used for political advantage in both Tamil and Sinhala nationalist circles, with relatively little done in the interests of the people who lost loved ones, orphaned children, single mothers, parents who lost their children, who are all forced to live with the burden of their suffering.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say it out and loud: the Rajapaksa administration\u2019s post-war by-line that it fought the war with \u2018zero civilian casualties\u2019 is, if anything, is a blatant con. No counterinsurgency operation is fought with zero civilian casualties. If an investigation is to be held on every act of atrocity committed in the war\u2019s latter stages and immediate aftermath, the finger is very likely to be pointed at those who held the highest decision-making powers in Sri Lanka\u2019s security establishment back then, especially presidential sibling Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a citizen of the United States of America.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blair<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Blair, our protagonist of a holidaymaker, has a deeply <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arrestblair.org\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">tarnished reputation<\/span><\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Lets-indict-Tony-Blair-for-War-Crimes\/268057170711\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">his own country<\/span><\/a>, with allegations of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/jeremy-corbyn-tony-blair-could-face-war-crimes-trial-over-illegal-iraq-invasion-10439020.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">war crimes<\/span><\/a> looming large over his prime ministerial legacy. The release of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iraqinquiry.org.uk\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chilcot Report<\/span><\/a> has been deliberately dragged on. Despite inconsistent <a href=\"http:\/\/anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk\/2012\/10\/justification-narrative-definition.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">justification narratives<\/span><\/a>, it is a clear reality that the Bush-Blair adventure in Iraq \u2013 launched against <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/the-iraq-invasion-the-six-wise-men-tony-blair-ignored\/5426918\">expert opinio<\/a>n<\/span> \u2013 opened a Pandora\u2019s Box of instability and terror in the Middle East, which has today transpired into the ISIS phenomenon. In this backdrop, Blair\u2019s 2007 appointment as the Quartet\u2019s Special Envoy to the Middle East was all but futile (he resigned from this duty earlier this year).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Chandrika-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-149765\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Chandrika-.jpg\" alt=\"Blair Chandrika\" width=\"639\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Chandrika-.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Blair-Chandrika--300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/a>New Labour, largely Blair\u2019s brainchild, represented, <em>pace<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.polis.leeds.ac.uk\/assets\/files\/students\/student-journal\/ug-winter-11\/aimee-oakley.pdf\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">minor exceptions<\/span><\/a>, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dannydorling.org\/wp-content\/files\/dannydorling_publication_id1286.pdf\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">continuation<\/span><\/a> of a <a href=\"http:\/\/anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk\/2013\/04\/margaret-thatcher-is-dead.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Thatcherite<\/span><\/a> outlook. Labour under <a href=\"http:\/\/www.russellbrand.com\/videos\/who-is-worse-for-britain-blair-or-corbyn-the-trews-e364\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Blair<\/span><\/a> veered so much to the right that in retirement, Blair\u2019s true colours recently emerged when he strongly condemned <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeremyforlabour.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Jeremy Corbyn<\/span><\/a> MP\u2019s Labour leadership bid. Corbyn, MP for North Islington since 1983, has been wrongly classified as representing an \u2018extreme left\u2019, when in reality, he upholds a moderate social democratic policy agenda. Blair has predicted the \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/aug\/12\/tony-blair-labour-faces-annihilation-if-jeremy-corbyn-wins-leadership\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">annihilation<\/span><\/a>\u2019 of Labour if Corbyn is to be elected leader in September 2015. Blair\u2019s aversion was for a man who, aged 66, has injected unprecedented new energy to the Labour Party through his leadership campaign, attracting a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/politics\/2015\/07\/whos-backing-jeremy-corbyn-young\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">large following of youth<\/span><\/a> and securing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2015\/aug\/23\/jeremy-corbyns-opposition-to-austerity-is-actually-mainstream-economics\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">expert endorsement<\/span><\/a> for his economic policies, a breath of fresh air to repeated austerity. Blair condemns Corbyn\u2019s social democratic policies \u2013 which more and more people embrace heartily \u2013 as \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/tony-blair-on-jeremy-corbyn-and-the-future-of-labour-former-prime-ministers-speech-in-full-10406691.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">old-fashioned leftist<\/span><\/a>\u2019. While Corbyn\u2019s popularity rises day by day with his agenda filled with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JeremyCorbyn4Leader?fref=ts\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">jam-packed public meetings<\/span><\/a>, Blair categorically discards the views of Party members, calling for a leader who would unconditionally stand by the capitalist interests that Blair represents. The 2015 Labour leadership campaign has unambiguously exposed Blair\u2019s right-wing and outright anti-democratic leanings. Corbyn, for his part, has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/jeremy-corbyn-hits-straight-back-at-tony-blair-his-big-problem-is-were-still-waiting-for-the-chilcot-report-to-come-out-10406888.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">responded<\/span><\/a> in no uncertain terms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blair, Rajapaksa and <em>yahapalana<\/em> whitewashing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both Blair and Rajapaksa terms of office are stained by allegations of war crimes and both have demonstrated anti-democratic tendencies. Blair took Britain into an outright illegitimate, ill thought-out and neoliberal military venture in the Middle East. In fairness to Rajapaksa, he fought a secessionist foe within the national territory of the country he led. There was a long track record of failed efforts at seeking a negotiated compromise \u2013 a situation that led to the view that the only way forward lay in militarily defeating the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=LTTE&amp;x=7&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">LTTE<\/span><\/a>. Despite the atrocities, and as opposed to Blair\u2019s Iraq nightmare, Rajapaksa\u2019s war served to improve national security in his country. Rajapaksa\u2019s failure mainly lay in the non-respect of no fire zones, violence upon the surrendered enemy, and the unwillingness to launch a credible national mechanism to examine such atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>What leaves one bemused is the ostensibly anti-Rajapaksa Colombo elite\u2019s attitude towards Blair. Why do Sri Lankan leaders, supposedly committed to the rule of law and good governance, court Blair? The answer partly lies in the Colombo elite\u2019s blind admiration of all things Western and white. The visit of an ex-British Prime Minister is thereby perceived as an \u2018achievement\u2019 of the <em>yahapalana<\/em> government\u2019s measures to rebuild Sri Lanka\u2019s \u2018image\u2019 internationally. That ex-Premier\u2019s record in the UK and on the world stage is irrelevant to Colombo\u2019s elite. In their euphoria over Blair, they ignore the fact that the dubious records of Blair and Rajapaksa are equally controversial. Their prejudices and biases make Rajapaksa the villain\/village thug and Blair a distinguished foreign dignitary.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, Colombo may intend to request Blair\u2019s help when dealing with the UN HRC and Western governments. Blair himself has promised to talk on behalf of Sri Lanka internationally. Colombo will certainly have an influential friend in Blair, but steps of this nature do not differ from the Rajapaksas hiding behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Desmond+de+Silva&amp;x=10&amp;y=0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sir Desmond de Silva QC<\/span><\/a>, costly lobbying firms and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Chris+Nonis&amp;x=9&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chris Nonis<\/span><\/a>\u2019s London contacts to hide their wartime failures. A mature and more advisable approach is that of harnessing international links with individuals with strong track records of standing for human rights, the duplicity of the international system and injustice, in all its forms.<\/p>\n<p>The day the Colombo elite reaches that level of maturity, beyond their neo-colonial, \u2018Master-race-worshipping\u2019 hangover, Sri Lanka could take real forward steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":149165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8,6980],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-sri-lanka-parliamentary-elections-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On War Criminals &amp; 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