{"id":66249,"date":"2017-05-20T00:05:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T06:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=66249"},"modified":"2017-05-19T16:43:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T23:43:43","slug":"modis-bonhomie-and-the-new-machiavellian-twist-in-indian-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/05\/20\/modis-bonhomie-and-the-new-machiavellian-twist-in-indian-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Modi\u2019s \u00a0Bonhomie and the New Machiavellian Twist in Indian Diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>R Chandrasoma<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The accomplishment of strategic aims can \u2013 at times \u2013 be achieved by suavity and charm when a direct and blunt approach would make the opposition bristle in fear and anger. Let us take the overarching or grand strategy of Modi and the Indians in dealing with their historic neighbor Sri Lanka. There is one word that sums it all \u2013 Balkanization. Given a neighbourhood that is unfriendly but riven within by political divisions and ethnic antagonisms, the optimal strategy is to foment such divisions by deceitful overtures that pass off as instances of genuine concern. Modi \u2013 the artful Indian Prime Minister \u2013 used the Celebration of Wesak to advance a nakedly political agenda \u2013 to weaken the Sri Lankan State by openly patronizing Non-State Actors. His address to a vast crown of flag-waving \u2018Indian Tamils\u2019 in the Sinhala Heartland was \u2018a shot fired across the bow\u2019 by our dangerous neighbour \u2013 that the supposed million or so \u2018Indians\u2019 in the hills constitute a rapid reaction \u2018political force\u2019 that could be enlisted to thwart any attempt by \u00a0a \u2018Sinhala Government\u2019 to \u00a0challenge the regional suzerainty of Big Brother .<\/p>\n<p>That he also met the \u2018Koti Tamils\u2019 of the North and \u2018pow-wowed\u2019 with their leaders will not occasion much surprise \u2013 this group is a foster-child of Imperialist India. That Modi thought it fit to stir the political pot on the occasion of Wesak shows the depth of the political depravity of a country that once (the time of Nehru and Gandhi) pretended to lead a moral force in global politics. A concluding thought on our own brand of \u2018moral politics\u2019 &#8211; the \u2018vintage\u2019 advertised by our own President and Leading Light MS \u2013 needs to be stated. Our Leader declared with unshaken firmness and authority that Modi\u2019s visit to our country was entirely and unequivocally religious. Like in most matters he was dead wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>R Chandrasoma The accomplishment of strategic aims can \u2013 at times \u2013 be achieved by suavity and charm when a direct and blunt approach would make the opposition bristle in fear and anger. Let us take the overarching or grand strategy of Modi and the Indians in dealing with their historic neighbor Sri Lanka. There [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-r-chandrasoma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66249","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=66249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}