{"id":1750,"date":"2011-11-14T02:21:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T02:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2012-05-18T13:49:34","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T13:49:34","slug":"wikileaks-dont-push-sri-lanka-towards-burma-like-isolation-american-ambassador-butenis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-dont-push-sri-lanka-towards-burma-like-isolation-american-ambassador-butenis\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Don\u2019t Push Sri Lanka Towards Burma-Like Isolation &#8211;  Butenis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1754\" style=\"width: 439px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/patricia-a-butenis-colombo-telegraph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1754\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1754\" title=\"Patricia A Butenis - Colombo Telegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/patricia-a-butenis-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"429\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/patricia-a-butenis-colombo-telegraph.jpg 429w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/patricia-a-butenis-colombo-telegraph-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 429px) 100vw, 429px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1754\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Butenis - while trying not to push Sri Lanka towards Burma-like isolation from the west.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>By Colombo Telegraph &#8211; <strong>\u201cOur challenge is strongly to encourage the Sri Lankan government to embrace reconciliation, accountability, and respect for human rights, while trying not to push the country towards Burma-like isolation from the west\u201d the American Ambassador to Colombo wrote to Washington<\/strong> A leaked US unclassified diplomatic cable discussed the post-war challenges in Sri Lanka. The colombotelegraph.com found the cable from WikiLeaks database. The cable was written on October 30, 2009\u00a0by the US Ambassador to Colombo Patricia A. Butenis. Under the subject of \u201cSri Lanka Scenesetter\u201d the Ambassador Butenis wrote \u201cSri Lanka at a pivotal point in its modern history. The end of the long secessionist war with the LTTE opens up opportunities for national reconciliation, political reform, economic renewal, and international re-engagement. The question is whether the Sri Lankan leadership has the vision, determination, an courage to seize the opportunity. The Sri Lankans value their relation with the United States.\u201d \u201cOur challenge is strongly to encourage the Sri Lankan government to embrace reconciliation, accountability, and respect for human rights, while trying not to push the country towards Burma-like isolation from the west.\u201d she further wrote. Below we give\u00a0the relevant part of the cable. Related news; WikiLeaks:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/2011\/11\/08\/wikileaks-i-am-not-saying-we-are-clean-basil-to-us-senate-foreign-relations-staff\/\">\u2018I am not saying we are clean!\u2019 &#8211;\u00a0 Basil to US Senate Foreign Relations staff<\/a> WikiLeaks:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/2011\/11\/09\/wikileaks-the-war-had-%E2%80%9Cnot-been-clean%E2%80%9D-gota-to-us-senate-foreign-relations-staff\/\">The war had \u2018not been clean\u2019 Gota to US Senate Foreign Relations staff<\/a> WikiLeaks: \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/2011\/11\/10\/wikileaks-gsl-is-very-interested-in-greater-engagement-with-the-u-s-moragoda\/\">GSL is very interested in greater engagement with the U.S. \u2013 Moragoda<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/2011\/11\/11\/wikileaks-tissa-vitharana-thanked-us-for-pushing-sri-lanka-closer-to-china\/\">WikiLeaks: Tissa Vitharana thanked US for pushing Sri Lanka closer to\u00a0China<\/a><\/p>\n<pre>VZCZCXRO4345\r\nPP RUEHBI\r\nDE RUEHLM #0999\/01 3030802\r\nZNR UUUUU ZZH\r\nP 300802Z OCT 09\r\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\r\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0700\r\nINFO RUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 1995\r\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 9031\r\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 7269\r\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON 5192\r\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3419\r\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO 5144\r\nRUEHSM\/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0679\r\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 4255\r\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 9594\r\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 6888\r\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO 1353\r\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI\r\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA 3802\r\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC\r\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC\r\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS\r\nUNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000999\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INSB; H (pass to SFRC staff)\r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: N\/A\r\nTAGS: <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PGOV_0.html\">PGOV<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PREL_0.html\">PREL<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PREF_0.html\">PREF<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PHUM_0.html\">PHUM<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PTER_0.html\">PTER<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/EAID_0.html\">EAID<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/MOPS_0.html\">MOPS<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/CE_0.html\">CE<\/a>\r\nSUBJECT: Sri Lanka Scenesetter\r\n\r\n<a id=\"par1\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2009\/10\/09COLOMBO999.html#par1\">\u00b6<\/a>1. (SBU) Sri Lanka stands at a pivotal point in its modern history.\r\nThe end of the long secessionist war with the LTTE opens up\r\nopportunities for national reconciliation, political reform,\r\neconomic renewal, and international re-engagement.  The question is\r\nwhether the Sri Lankan leadership has the vision, determination, and\r\ncourage to seize the opportunity.  The Sri Lankans value their\r\nrealtions with the United States.  Our challenge is strongly to\r\nencourage the Sri Lankan government to embrace reconciliation,\r\naccountability, and respect for human rights, while trying not to\r\npush the country towards Burma-like isolation from the West.\r\nBUTENIS<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":36353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,1,26,27],"tags":[1436,1143,1139,1437,1161,1134,1438,1185,1439,1440,1263],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-politics","category-news","category-war-crimes","category-wikileaks","tag-american-strategy-on-sri-lanka","tag-authoritarianism","tag-democracy","tag-economic-renewal","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-human-rights","tag-national-reconciliation","tag-patricia-a-butenis","tag-political-reform","tag-post-war-sri-lanka","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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