{"id":3381,"date":"2012-01-07T10:45:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-07T10:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=3381"},"modified":"2012-01-07T10:45:58","modified_gmt":"2012-01-07T10:45:58","slug":"wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public together<\/p><\/div>\n

By Colombo Telegraph –<\/p>\n

\u201cBasil and Gothabaya appear not to get along very well. Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public together, seem never to attend the same meetings, and at times offer the President conflicting advice.\u201dthe US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d details the conflicting \u00a0issues between Presidend Rajapaksa\u2019s two brothers, Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. \u00a0The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Blake wtote \u201cFor example, when the GSL was reviewing bids for construction of a proposed new port in Hambantota, Basil and Gothabaya endorsed different Chinese companies. In the end, the President had to split the work between the two companies to appease his brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBasil and Gothabaya also disagreed on whether the government should accept the United National Party (UNP) defectors in January 2007. Gothabaya preferred not to take them into the government and to work more closely with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Basil wanted the crossovers to shore up the ruling party’s position in parliament, thereby negating the need to depend on the JVP for a majority. Their biggest area of disagreement is quite possibly the debate between a military or a political solution to the ethnic conflict. Gothabaya favors a military solution, while Basil evinces skepticism that a military solution is possible. Despite their different agendas, Basil often relies on Gothabaya to provide the necessary \u2018muscle\u2019 to get things done.\u201d Blake further wrote.<\/p>\n

Below we give the\u00a0relevant part of the confidential cable;<\/p>\n

VZCZCXRO5144\nOO RUEHBI RUEHLMC\nDE RUEHLM #0698\/01 1350532\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\nO 150532Z MAY 07\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6029\nINFO RUEHRL\/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0380\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0087\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7068\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5157\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3729\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0943\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3800\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2880\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7654\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5335\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2019\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\nRUEHLMC\/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION PRIORITY\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000698\n\nSIPDIS\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\nMCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE\n\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/12\/2017\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PTER<\/a> PHUM<\/a> MOPS<\/a> CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: PRESIDENT RELIES ON BROTHERS FOR POLICY ADVICE AND\nPOLITICAL COVER\n\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\nDiscord Between the Brothers\n----------------------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>7.  (C)  Basil and Gothabaya appear not to get along very\nwell.  Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public\ntogether, seem never to attend the same meetings, and at\ntimes offer the President conflicting advice.  For example,\nwhen the GSL was reviewing bids for construction of a\nproposed new port in Hambantota, Basil and Gothabaya endorsed\ndifferent Chinese companies.  In the end, the President had\nto split the work between the two companies to appease his\nbrothers.  Basil and Gothabaya also disagreed on whether the\ngovernment should accept the United National Party (UNP)\ndefectors in January 2007.  Gothabaya preferred not to take\nthem into the government and to work more closely with the\nJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).  Basil wanted the crossovers\nto shore up the ruling party's position in parliament,\nthereby negating the need to depend on the JVP for a\nmajority.  Their biggest area of disagreement is quite\npossibly the debate between a military or a political\nsolution to the ethnic conflict.  Gothabaya favors a military\nsolution, while Basil evinces skepticism that a military\nsolution is possible.  Despite their different agendas, Basil\noften relies on Gothabaya to provide the necessary \"muscle\"\nto get things done.\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,63,27],"tags":[1740,1745,1746,1747,1741,1256,1457,1748],"class_list":["post-3381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics-2","category-wikileaks","tag-corruption-in-sri-lankan-politics","tag-hambantota-port-issues","tag-jvp-politics","tag-political-solution-to-ethnic-issue","tag-rajapaksa-brothers","tag-rajapaksa-family","tag-rajapaksa-family-dynasty","tag-unp-defectors"],"yoast_head":"\nWikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - 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\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-07T10:45:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"323\" \/>\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\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/\",\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-07T10:45:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"width\":\"700\",\"height\":\"323\",\"caption\":\"Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public together\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Colombo Telegraph\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo-telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-01-07T10:45:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":323,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colombo Telegraph","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colombo Telegraph","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/","name":"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-07T10:45:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg","width":"700","height":"323","caption":"Many have remarked that they rarely appear in public together"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-discord-between-the-brothers-half-to-basil-half-to-gota\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WikiLeaks: Discord between the brothers -half to Basil, half to Gota"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7","name":"Colombo Telegraph","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Colombo Telegraph"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo-telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/family-colombo-telegraph.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}