By Gandara John

A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable for he is known and he carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims and wears their face and their arguments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation. He works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city. He infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.

–      Marcus Tullius Cicero (106BC – 43 BC)

A siege is considered one of the oldest forms of warfare dating back to 3000BC. A siege in years gone by was a military blockade of a fortress or city which an attacker was unable to take easily by military force; that city was often defended by a resolute leader who refused to surrender.

In such circumstances the attacker would encamp outside the city walls and prevent, for example, the supply of food and other essential provisions, vital for those living inside, reaching the city.

The siege was a protracted manoeuvre that was intended to cause attrition and weaken the resolve of those under siege. To the attacker the main objective remained the same, the conquest of the city; when the city was sufficiently weakened and if the city did not surrender the attacker would then launch an assault on the city.

A characteristic feature of siege warfare was that it would encourage the flawed nature of a traitor to surface; this character trait, deeply embedded in the genetic make up of the flawed individual would blossom with a siege. The siege gave the traitor ample opportunity to walk out into the night when those in the city were asleep, talk with the enemy and negotiate terms of surrender or agree, for a fee, to surreptitiously ‘open the fortress doors’ at an opportune time.

In Sri Lanka, the US waged war on the island with their Sri Lankan mercenaries, for a near 30 years. Also supporting the US from within were CBK and Ranil, who between them gifted 2/3^rd of the coastline and the adjacent sea, 1/3^rd of the island territory and, by 2005, were on the verge of giving the US mercenaries internal self governance for ten years.

The US camel had put its head into the Sri Lankan tent through the co chair mechanism and through their Norwegian partner from the NATO; the US controlled the Administration, the Planning and the Finances in the North and the East; and through their mercenaries the security of the land, sea and air gifted them.

When the mercenaries were crushingly defeated, despite gigantic US efforts to save them, the US was left crippled, unable to carry on the ‘mercenary’ war.

Many thought that the war was over; in their minds ‘war’ is confined to the physical engagement of armed combatants; if that were the understanding yes, the war was over.

While engaging in armed combat with the terrorists, did we identify correctly the main enemy? If we did not, our plans would not cater for the main enemy. A mercenary combatant is not necessarily the main enemy. The other enemies could be described as auxiliary forces; of course they have to be catered for.

Following the armed defeat of their mercenaries, the US immediately switched tactics; unable to defeat Sri Lanka militarily via their mercenaries they embarked on siege warfare against Sri Lanka.

Trade and Arms embargoes, economic and financial sanctions, seizing assets and other such measures are the modern ways of engaging in siege warfare. When the isolation of a city (now country) is complete, it is referred to as a failed or pariah state.

By imposing trade barriers, withdrawing trade concessions, bad mouthing the country, discouraging investment, denying loans and making the country answerable to organisations controlled by the enemy, the US commenced a siege war of attrition against Sri Lanka.

In Iraq when trade and economic sanctions were imposed by the US in 1990, over half a million children were killed; this war crime Madeline Albright dismisses as being inevitable.

Cuba stands as an example of a heroic country that refused to surrender despite the US conducting siege warfare on it for nearly sixty years; that was the caliber of the people and their leaders.

In days of old to make the siege more effective the attacker invented siege machines. These machines ranged from artillery to bombard the city, to scaling ladders and grappling hooks to climb the walls, to ramming machines to break down the fortress door, to boring machines to get inside the city, all with the aim of demoralizing and weakening those besieged.

In Sri Lanka the modern day siege machines were put into operation; the artillery is the media; it is interesting to note that Google is flying a ‘balloon’ to connect up the island with Wi-Fi just before the General Election. The battering rams are the concocted stories of Human Rights Violations, War Crimes, Bad Governance etc: and the boring machines are the NGOs acting as fifth columnists.

In Feb 2010 the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) plus, a preferential system of tariff granted by the EU and the US under WTO rules to selected developing countries as a financial enticement to conform to their requirements geared to global control,  was suspended.

In November 2014 the traitors walked out of the city walls into the night, to talk with the enemy who were conducting a siege on the island; it was done outside the country.

A siege spawns traitors and is geared to pay off, as in ancient times, those who would betray their country.

On 08 Jan 15 the enemy conducting a siege on the country breached the island security when they came in through the gates that were opened from within.

CBK was triumphant; I did it” she said, claiming that she organized the ‘traitor’ crawl’ into the night to talk covertly with the enemy.

The traitors are jubilant that the siege is being lifted; they are projecting capitulation as a victory.

In Geneva where there is a resolution against Sri Lanka at the HRC, the pressure appears to be tapering off. Sri Lanka is now getting a good press, trade barriers are being lifted and investment from the West is being encouraged.

Ranil is jubilant; he says smugly, The country has been integrated into the global economy this month with the United States and European Union emerging to reauthorize GSP Plus trade concessions to Sri Lanka.”

Why was the siege lifted?

While Sri Lanka won the 30 year war against the US mercenaries, on 08 Jan 15 it lost the siege war to the US when Ranil and the others capitulated to the enemy.

The ‘Hindu’ report and the TNA manifesto, gives the lie to Ranil’s stony silence on the issue; the country is regressing to the 2005 status quo.

When Ranil says he is for a unitary state he is deliberately misleading because Federalism will be first granted under the umbrella of a unitary State; the separation agenda will follow when the concept of ‘Right to self determination’ is drummed.

Is this what the soldiers sacrificed their lives for? Is this what the people want?

The Sri Lankans have the opportunity to defeat the traitors, the TNA and the US on 17 Aug 15.