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Foreign policy mistakes of JRJ and AKD’s tilt to the US
 For the present government perhaps a re-read of Karl Marx, Lenin and Engels may help clarify the NPP’s international analyses |
It is becoming increasingly clear that President Dissanayake is following the missteps of late former President J.R. Jayewardene in his approach to international relations. Former President JRJ, always suspicious of Indian interests, attempted to hitch his government’s policy to those of the US, in the belief the US and the West would stand by him in the event of relations breaking down with our giant neighbour.
JRJ forgot that markets determine big power support. When India forcibly air-dropped food supplies in the north during the ethnic conflict in this country, neither the US nor the West European countries condemned the move. India after all was a huge market for those countries.
Today, we are watching with growing fear, horror and shame our present left-leaning government once again showing its readiness to bow to the wishes of the US. In the present case, our government in an effort to placate the US remained one of the few states which did not walk out when the Israeli premier addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
Making matters even worse was the fact that our president and his party, before they were elected into power, organised anti-Israel demonstrations both here and abroad against Israeli atrocities in Palestine. Perhaps it is the mountain of still unpaid foreign debt and the fact that the US is our biggest export market that led to our government’s weak-kneed stance at the UN General Assembly debate on the ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine.
President Dissanayake did not even mention Israel by name as being the aggressor in the conflict.Nor did he mention the word genocide in his brief reference to the criminal acts taking place in Palestine. Even more shameful was a Sri Lankan diplomat’s presence during Israeli premier Netanyahu lie-filled rant where he promised more attacks on unarmed Palestinian men, women and children while diplomats from other nations walked out.
As we questioned earlier, is the National People’s Power (NPP) government led by President Dissanayake making a mistake similar to what the late president Jayawardene made when he attempted to sideline India during the initial stages of the thirty-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam (LTTE)?
Today there is a shift in the balance of power on the international scene. The US is no longer the foremost economic or military power. China, India, Russia, the African countries and the West Asian countries are coming together in BRICS. These are the major economic players of today and in the future. They are using their own currencies for payment avoiding the US dollar.
The reality of today is that the power of the US dollar is on the decline.
Again, our largest source of foreign exchange earnings are the countries of West Asia (also referred to as the Middle East) where millions of our migrant workers are stationed.These workers remit their earnings to Lanka.It is these funds which help repay our external debt.
By playing up to US and Israeli interests at the expense of the goodwill of these nations, are we not jeopardising our biggest source of foreign exchange?
Is our government in a position to face a possible backlash of a closure of the Middle East/West Asian job market because of the government’s spineless support of Israeli genocide in Palestine? Are we ready to absorb the millions of our workers who could lose employment in the event of such a possibility?
Again, has this government forgotten that Israel is not really a friend of this country? Lest we forget, while the Israeli government trained Lankan troops during our civil war, at the same time it (Israel) was training LTTE cadres in military and naval warfare to counter the Lankan military and navy.
Being a small nation with scant financial resources, while taking stands on diverse issues, we need to ensure we do not back the wrong power as the late president Jayawardene did during his presidency.
For the present government perhaps a re-read of Karl Marx, Lenin and Engels may help clarify the NPP’s international analyses. As Henry Kissinger famously said, ‘there are no permanent friends, only interests’.
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