{"id":115804,"date":"2021-07-05T15:32:12","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T22:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=115804"},"modified":"2021-07-05T15:32:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T22:32:12","slug":"ambassadors-please-mind-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/05\/ambassadors-please-mind-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassadors, please mind your business!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr UPUL WIJAYAWARDHANA Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Perhaps, I should have\ntitled this US Ambassador, please mind your business\u201d as she seems to be the\nbusybody, doing her utmost to interfere in the internal affairs of our country;\nmuch against the accepted international diplomatic norms. But she is not in\nisolation, as there seem to be other ambassadors, too, though less repetitious\nthan her, who seem to be under the impression that they are viceroys rather\nthan ambassadors. Perhaps, it is not entirely their fault, as there are some\npolitical parties who regularly subservient themselves, helping these\nambassadors to come to such grandiose assumptions. Of course, there are other\nembassies that seem keen on issuing statements on behalf of our Foreign\nMinistry. Then again, this happens because our Foreign Ministry seems to be in\na state of eternal slumber! It looks as if this is the price we, as a country,\nhave to pay for being in a strategic location where superpowers are fighting\nfor dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest\ntweet from the US Ambassador is about presidential pardons, a process misused\nnot only by our presidents but also by presidents of her country, which is\nbetter at preaching than practice! To my knowledge, our ambassadors have not\nissued statements about the actions, even that need condemnation, of the\npresidents in her country. In the hard-hitting editorial Presidency should be\nstraitjacketed\u201d (The Island,<\/em> 26 June) which lays bare the naked\nhypocrisy of all concerned, there is a tongue-in-cheek agreement with the\nAmerican Ambassador\u2019s criticism of the presidential pardon for Duminda. Whilst\nwholeheartedly agreeing with the editor that there should be agreed procedures\nfor presidential pardons than give a free-hand, as at present, going through\nthe list of pardons he mentions, this does not seem the worst. Gota simply\nseems to have followed the hallowed traditions established by JR!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, too, would have\njoined the chorus of heavy criticism of the President but for two reasons, the\nmost important being the leaked telephone conversations between Rajan\nRamanayaka and those involved in the case, which gave the impression that the\npunishment was \u2018fixed\u2019. My knowledge of the law is next to nothing, but a\ncommon-sense approach makes me wonder how a man who was already on the ground,\nafter being shot, by the time the fatal shot was fired could be guilty of\nmurder and imposed the death penalty. The said telephone conversations too\nsupport the theory advanced by some that guilt was manipulated or exaggerated.\nAren\u2019t those who manipulated the over-punishment as guilty as the President who\nfound flimsy grounds for a pardon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever it is, it is\nan internal matter and should not be the concern of the US Ambassador. I do not\nneed to exhibit the niceties of our editor to her, as I have nothing to lose by\nbeing blunt. Afterall, the only goal left in my life is the grave! Do we need\nlessons on justice from the ambassador of the country that has mass murderers\non its payroll? Of course, I am referring to her ex-presidents who have\ndestroyed many countries and killed thousands in the process; all in the name\nof good governance. George W Bush, at least, remains silent, unlike Saint\nObama, who pops up frequently! Jointly, have they not destroyed the Middle\nEast?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon Brown, who was\nan excellent British Chancellor but a poor Prime Minister, revealed in a recent\ncandid interview that the US purposely misled the British Government about\nweapons of mass destruction (WMD). When Tony Blair, another frequent pop-up,\ntold the British Parliament that Saddam Hussain had WMDs that could be\nactivated in 45 minutes, was he purposely telling lies to the British public or\nhad he swallowed dead-ropes by Americans, hook, line and sinker? Whatever it\nwas, he was hand-in-glove with Bush, and jointly responsible for destroying\nIraq and killing almost 500,000. Obama, together with Cameron and Sarkozy, did\na similar demolition job in Libya and Syria. All three countries are worse off\nthan before the American-led invasions. The UN, which passed resolutions to\ngive cover to these invasions, does nothing but hounds us for defeating\nterrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the\ntweets from the US Embassy and the SJB had striking similarities. Who is\ndictating to whom or are they singing from the same hymn-sheet? It is no secret\nthat the Leader of the Opposition is in regular touch, but he seems not to have\nlearned lessons from history. JR was one of the strongest supporters of the US\nand the West, but they denied his request for arms to supress terrorism!\nAmericans, British and French were more interested in saving Prabhakaran than\nhelping us defeat terrorism. When we defeat terrorists, rather than support us,\nthey harass us. Do we need advice from them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bane for true\nreconciliation is the ethnic minority parties whose only priority is\nself-serving. At the drop of a pin, they run to the offices of our neighbouring\nviceroys! Instead, they should cooperate with the government of the day in\nfinding solutions, rather than getting the big-brother to bully us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst telling\nambassadors to mind their own business, we should pressurise our government to\nstop politicking and start nation building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr UPUL WIJAYAWARDHANA Courtesy The Island Perhaps, I should have titled this US Ambassador, please mind your business\u201d as she seems to be the busybody, doing her utmost to interfere in the internal affairs of our country; much against the accepted international diplomatic norms. But she is not in isolation, as there seem to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}