{"id":3629,"date":"2012-01-16T01:46:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T01:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=3629"},"modified":"2013-06-06T15:44:57","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T10:14:57","slug":"wikileaks-gota-and-basil-are-to-provide-political-cover-to-mahinda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-gota-and-basil-are-to-provide-political-cover-to-mahinda\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Gota And Basil Are To Provide Political Cover To Mahinda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMoreover, one of their biggest roles is to provide political cover to the President. The President often has Gothabaya and Basil take credit for decisions so he can appear less involved in actions that earn the GSL criticism at home and abroad.\u201d the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3633\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/gota-basil-colombotelegraph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3633\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3633\" title=\"Gota Basil-colombotelegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/gota-basil-colombotelegraph.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/gota-basil-colombotelegraph.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/gota-basil-colombotelegraph-275x300.jpg 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3633\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sometimes he avoids decisionmaking altogether by delegating many responsibilities to Gothabaya or Basil, allowing him to avoid blame for unpopular decisions.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d details the Presidend Rajapaksa\u2019s decision making process. The cable was written on May 15, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Blake wrote \u201cThe President is often reluctant to make decisions and will stall for time, particularly on important issues. Sometimes he avoids decisionmaking altogether by delegating many responsibilities to Gothabaya or Basil, allowing him to avoid blame for unpopular decisions. The most notable example of the President&#8217;s stalling tactics is the slow progress of the All Parties Representative Committee (APRC) process and the delay in the submission of the SLFP devolution proposals to the APRC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe relationship between the President and his brothers, obviously, is a family one as well as a political one. There is much that we don&#8217;t know about how they interact. Nonetheless, it is clear that the President&#8217;s brothers play an important and influential role in shaping GSL security and political policy. Moreover, one of their biggest roles is to provide political cover to the President. The President often has Gothabaya and Basil take credit for decisions so he can appear less involved in actions that earn the GSL criticism at home and abroad. The concentration of power in the Presidency means that Mahinda Rajapaksa, with the help of his brothers, has a unique opportunity to advance key national interests. Thus far, he has failed to use that power to develop a national consensus on a devolution proposal that could form the basis for renewed peace negotiations.\u201d ambassador Blake further wrote.<\/p>\n<p>We give below the\u00a0relevant part of the cable;<\/p>\n<pre>VZCZCXRO5144\r\nOO RUEHBI RUEHLMC\r\nDE RUEHLM #0698\/01 1350532\r\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\r\nO 150532Z MAY 07\r\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\r\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6029\r\nINFO RUEHRL\/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0380\r\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0087\r\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7068\r\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5157\r\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3729\r\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0943\r\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3800\r\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2880\r\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7654\r\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5335\r\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2019\r\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\r\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\r\nRUEHLMC\/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION PRIORITY\r\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000698\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\r\nMCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE\r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/12\/2017\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\/PTER_0.html\">PTER<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PHUM_0.html\">PHUM<\/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: PRESIDENT RELIES ON BROTHERS FOR POLICY ADVICE AND\r\nPOLITICAL COVER\r\n\r\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\r\n<a id=\"par3\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2007\/05\/07COLOMBO698.html#par3\">\u00b6<\/a>3.  (C)  The President is often reluctant to make decisions\r\nand will stall for time, particularly on important issues.\r\nSometimes he avoids decisionmaking altogether by delegating\r\nmany responsibilities to Gothabaya or Basil, allowing him to\r\navoid blame for unpopular decisions.  The most notable\r\nexample of the President's stalling tactics is the slow\r\nprogress of the All Parties Representative Committee (APRC)\r\nprocess and the delay in the submission of the SLFP\r\ndevolution proposals to the APRC.\r\n\r\n<a id=\"par16\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2007\/05\/07COLOMBO698.html#par16\">\u00b6<\/a>16.  (C)  COMMENT:  The relationship between the President\r\nand his brothers, obviously, is a family one as well as a\r\npolitical one.  There is much that we don't know about how\r\nthey interact.  Nonetheless, it is clear that the President's\r\nbrothers play an important and influential role in shaping\r\nGSL security and political policy.  Moreover, one of their\r\nbiggest roles is to provide political cover to the President.\r\n The President often has Gothabaya and Basil take credit for\r\ndecisions so he can appear less involved in actions that earn\r\nthe GSL criticism at home and abroad.  The concentration of\r\npower in the Presidency means that Mahinda Rajapaksa, with\r\nthe help of his brothers, has a unique opportunity to advance\r\nkey national interests.  Thus far, he has failed to use that\r\npower to develop a national consensus on a devolution\r\nproposal that could form the basis for renewed peace\r\nnegotiations.\r\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,63,74,27],"tags":[1143,1139,1161,1134,1741,1457,1779,1263],"class_list":["post-3629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics-2","category-uncategorized","category-wikileaks","tag-authoritarianism","tag-democracy","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-human-rights","tag-rajapaksa-brothers","tag-rajapaksa-family-dynasty","tag-rajapaksa-trio","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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