{"id":94131,"date":"2019-10-20T13:52:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T20:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=94131"},"modified":"2019-10-21T15:07:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:07:04","slug":"yahapalana-and-the-united-states-of-america-part-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/20\/yahapalana-and-the-united-states-of-america-part-17\/","title":{"rendered":"YAHAPALANA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Part 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nshould take a look at the way other countries are dealing with USA.  We could start with Iran. USA\u2019s interest in\nIran started due to its oil. American companies were drilling Iran\u2019s oil. USA\ngot rid of Iran\u2019s popular ruler, Mossadegh and replaced him with the awful Shah\nReza Pahlavi. The Shah\u2019s secret police SAVAK was assisted by CIA and Israel\u2019s\nMOSSAD. The Shah was unpopular and the USA had to take him away. A theocratic\nIranian state, openly hostile towards USA, came into being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA then\nstarted its present day battle with Iran. Iran has loomed large in American\npolitics, despite the distance, observed analysts. There was the \u2018Iran hostage\u2019\ncrisis, the \u2018Iran Contra\u2019 issue, \u2018Iran nuclear programme\u2019  and so on.  \nIran returned the compliment. Iran criticized USA at every turn. When you\nclick on Al Jazeera today, there is sure to be an Iranian authority on the\nscreen, scolding USA. Iran is simultaneously fighting three cold wars, Israel,\nSaudi Arabia and US, commented TIME. Iran\u2019s\nleader Ayatollah Khamenei, has \u2018confounded every US President\u2019 for the last 30\nyears, said TIME. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is\nVenezuela. USA is   meddling in Venezuela\ntoo. USA wants Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro to go. USA is supporting\nopposition leader Juan Guido, who has declared himself \u2018Interim President\u2019\nwithout any constitutional right to do so. Guido\u2019s wife was invited to the White\nHouse to meet President Trump.  The US,\nCanada, EU and many OAS countries have recognized Guido as the Interim\nPresident, making the country have two Presidents, observed analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is   support for Maduro too. Russia, China, Cuba,\nIran, North Korea and dozens of other countries at the United Nations have\njoined together  to show support for\nVenezuela in its showdown with the United States, said France 24\u201d (on 14.2.19).\nMaduro is winning in Venezuela, said analysts speaking on France 24\u201d (on\n2.10.19)  Maduro told Trump \u2018don\u2019t repeat a\nVietnam in South America\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela  \nformed a support group of its own in the UN, of around 50 countries.\nWhen he spoke to the media in February 2019, Venezuela\u2019s Foreign Minister was\nflanked by the ambassadors of several countries including Russia, China, Iran,\nCuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, North Korea, Syria, the Caribbean countries and the\nPalestinian representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela and Palestine on behalf of the\nNon-aligned Movement, presented a draft resolution to the United Nations Human\nRights Council in July 2019 condemning the imposition of sanctions by the\nUnited States and its allies against Venezuela and other member\nstates. The document also reaffirms the “inalienable right” of every\ncountry “to choose freely and develop, in accordance with the sovereign\nwill of its people, its own political, social, economic and cultural systems,\nwithout interference from any other State or non-State actor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft resolution was approved with 28\nvotes in favor, 14 against and five abstentions. “I am grateful for the overwhelming\nsupport of the member states of the UN Human Rights Council for the resolution\npresented by NAM in favor of Venezuela, said Maduro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

India is now\nhaving second thoughts about its link with the USA. India has already\nestablished contact with Russia and now it is trying to settle its disputes\nwith China. China and India met at a\nsummit in Chennai in October 2019.   This is the 19th occasion that they have met\nsince Indian Prime Minister   Modi took\noffice, said analysts. Some meetings were informal visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this meeting India wanted China to do\nsomething about India\u2019s\ntrade deficit with China. India has a trade\ndeficit of USD 53 billion in China\u2019s favor, the biggest India has with any\ncountry. China said it was willing to address the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s  drug industry and India\u2019s IT services have\nlong sought  market access to China.  China said both were welcome. In return, China wanted India to consider\nHuawei\u2019s bid for India\u2019s proposed 3G network and not be swayed by U.S.\npressure. The United States has asked\nits allies not to use Huawei equipment, which it says China could exploit for\nespionage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China also seeks to link some of her\nrelatively backward, land-locked Western regions with India’s North-East.\nIndia’s North-East is rich in strategic resources, such as, mineral and energy\nreserves, said analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana on\nthe other hand is continuing its link with USA. Sri Lanka\u2019s High Commissioner\nto India, Austin Fernando paid a courtesy call on the US Ambassador to New\nDelhi in December  2018 at the US Embassy\nthere. The High Commissioner held cordial discussions with the US\nAmbassador on a wide range of affairs covering subjects such as economy,\nbilateral and multilateral relationships of Sri Lanka, trade relations with the\nUnited States of America and the country opinions on foreign relations and\ngovernance issues. The High Commissioner briefed the US Ambassador on the\npolitical situation in Sri Lanka and the need for robust involvement of the US\nin the economic front and promoting economic assistance to Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA\nis determined to capture Sri Lanka, politically and militarily. The most\nimportant  of these  for USA, at the moment is  the military aspect. Robert. O. Blake, U.S.\nAmbassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 2006 to 2009, visited Sri Lanka  in May 2019. He said that Sri Lanka is a very\nattractive partner  and  a military role is expected of Sri Lanka. Military links between USA and Sri Lanka are\ngetting strengthened, he said. USA military and Sri Lanka military train\ntogether. There are joint exercises with all three services.  The US embassy and Prime Minister Ranil\nWickremesinghe have separately  denied \nthat US plans to set up a military base in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to US-Sri Lanka\nmilitary-to-military partnership, Sri Lanka \nalso entered into a \u2018Comprehensive Partnership Agreement\u2019 (CPA) with\nJapan in October 2015. Japan is part of\nthe USA Quad. The recent tripartite agreement between Sri Lanka, India and\nJapan on Eastern Terminal of the Colombo port should be examined taking into\nconsideration Western powers seeking to dominate Sri Lanka,   added Shamindra Ferdinando, in June 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana is\nalso trying to link Sri Lanka with ASEAN. Sri Lanka has asked ASEAN to include\nSri Lanka as an ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner to strengthen engagement with\nASEAN and its member countries. Sri Lanka submitted its dossier for Sectoral\nDialogue Partnership to ASEAN in March 2019 ASEAN has links to USA. The United\nStates began engaging with ASEAN as a dialogue partner in 1977, and has\ncooperated with ASEAN ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA wants Sri\nLanka to sign two agreements which will benefit USA militarily. The first of\nthese, ACSA, has already been signed. An Acquisition and Cross Servicing\nAgreement (ACSA)  between Sri Lanka and\nUS was first signed in 2007 by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as Defence Secretary and\nexpanded in 2017 by the Yahapalana government, said Yahapalana . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACSA between the two states provides for\n\u2018logistical support, supplies and services\u2019 to each other\u2019s militaries. While\nthe support is said to be \u2018reciprocal\u2019 it may be inferred that the agreement is\nweighted heavily in favour of the US, since Sri Lanka  army does not engage in military adventures\nabroad, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both\nagreements say  that the USA army can\ncome into Sri Lanka in   an unforeseen\nsituation.  However, unlike the 2007\nagreement, the 2019 agreement has annexures which  list by name, the various military units which\ncan come in.  With the signing of ACSA, we are no longer non-aligned,\nannounced  Tamara Kunanayagam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics  are pursuing this matter of ACSA because it\nhas not been made public. Opposition wanted to know why even after two years\nthe signed text of the ACSA was not tabled in Parliament  by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The  agreement \nhas not being presented to the Cabinet, Parliament and the people, they\ncomplained . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana\noffered excuses. Yahapalana said that \nthe ACSA  Yahapalana  signed with USA had less number of pages than\nthe ACSA signed in 2007. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in Parliament\nthat You don\u2019t measure the harmfulness of an agreement based on the number of\npages. That depends on the content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wimal\nWeerawansa  responded to Prime Minister\u2019s\nobservation that the new ACSA signed had only five pages.\u201d I am tabling the\nAgreement signed during Gotabhaya Rajapaksa\u2019s period. It has only eight pages<\/strong> and no\nannexures. The  recent ACSA document  has 83 pages with more than 50 annexures .I\nhave a copy of it. I also have with me the Sinhala version forwarded to the Cabinet.\nThis contains only the primary section, concluded Weerawansa..\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once ACSA was\nsigned the USA  moved onto the second\nagreement, the SOFA. Although the full details of the proposed SOFA pact still\nremain largely confidential what is now known should surely ring alarm bells\namong those in this country concerned about its sovereignty and security, said\nSunday Times. From the little that is\nknown about the SOFA, its terms will reduce the host state to the level of a\nneo-colony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A draft copy of the Status of Forces Agreement\n(SOFA), now under negotiation between the US and Sri Lanka, obtained by the\nSunday Times<\/em>, reveals a number of Washington\u2019s demands that would impinge\non Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement said  The US is seeking that aircraft and vessels\nof the US Government to be free from boarding and inspection.\u201d This means none\nof the state security arms, like the Navy, Coast Guard or the Customs can board\nany US military vessel or aircraft when it is in a Sri Lankan airport or sea\nport – or even vehicles on land and helicopters, an internationally accepted\nsovereign right of a country. The US wants exemption from licence, Customs\nduties, taxes and any other charges within Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US is also seeking authorization for its\ntroops to wear uniforms whilst \u2018on duty\u2019 in any part of Sri Lanka, carrying\narms and radio communications equipment.Both in terms of the Sri Lanka\nConstitution and normal laws, only the armed forces and the Police are\nempowered to carry out this task. The only exceptions are Sri Lankans who are authorized\nby licence. In addition, Washington wants US troops and contractors to be\nallowed to enter and leave Sri Lanka, individually or collectively, with the\nuse of only their US identification. This will mean they will carry no\npassports or visas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the\nprivileges that the US has asked for, is the right of US military personnel to\ncarry weapons and be subject not to Sri Lankan jurisdiction but to US law in\nthe event of some crime or criminal activity. They will be beyond Sri Lanka\u2019s\njurisdiction even if one of them kills or wounds a local person with his\nweapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nstationed in Sri Lanka will be using their US driving licences which need not\nbe produced before any local authority. Nor would their passports or other\ntravel documents be inspected . Their vehicles on Sri Lankan roads cannot be\ninspected or boarded. They could kill anybody and get away with it as they\nwould just wave their diplomatic papers. There is also a clause that exempts US\nvessels and aircraft being boarded and inspected by Sri Lankan authorities. It\nalso exempts equipment and other articles and material being used under this\nagreement, from inspection within Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil\nWickremesinghe   said in Parliament  that SOFA was not an agreement but an\nexchange of letters signed between the US Embassy and our Foreign Ministry.\nThese agreements generally establish the framework under which US military\npersonnel operate in a foreign country. SOFA provides for rights and privileges\nof covered individuals while in foreign jurisdictions and how the laws of\nforeign jurisdictions apply to US personnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been\ngoing on from 1995, he said. Such letters were exchanged in May, 1995 during\nthe Presidency of Chandrika Kumaratunga. One of the letters is as follows: The\n(Foreign) Ministry is pleased to inform the above-mentioned personnel that US\nmilitary personnel, civil employees of the Department of Defence will be\naccorded the same status as provided to technical and administrative staff of\nthe Embassy of the United States. The Ministry also wishes to inform that this\nreply shall be considered an agreement effective May 16, 1995. This shows\nthat diplomatic privileges are already accorded to US military personnel and\ncivil employees of the Department of Defence, he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since there\nwas  so much  opposition to SOFA, the USA changed SOFA\u2019s\nname to  \u2018Visiting Forces Agreement.\u2019 A\nVisiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is a version of a Status of Forces Agreement\n(SOFA) that only applies to troops temporarily in a country. Philippines\nPresident Duterte threatened to abrogate the VFA the Philippines had with the\nUS, but found that  the  treaty can only be repealed by an Act of the\nUS Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\nSirisena said in August 2019  that SOFA\nshould not be signed without his approval. He made it  clear that he was the Minister of Defence and\nSOFA was a subject that came under his purview. S  \nsaid that it will suspend talks on \nSOFA until the presidential election is over. The US embassy hopes to\ntake it up again after the Presidential election of November 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan \nintelligentsia wanted \nclarification about these agreements. This was the first time that the\npublic had even thought about such matters. \nUntil now,  sixty years past\nindependence,  the intelligentsia had\nshown no interest in the agreements that \nthe  government  were signing. \n They trusted  the government not to sign anything  mad. This time it was different.  The intelligentsia were concerned as to what\nmess Yahapalana was getting them into. They made inquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law \nrelating to treaties says that the Head of state, Head of government and\nforeign minister can sign  on behalf of\nthe country, said Palitha Kohona when consulted.   In US A \nthese officials cannot sign a treaty until US  Senate had approved it. Sri Lanka has no such\nsafeguards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These agreements are legally binding,\nKohona  told his concerned audience.  Once you enter into an agreement you are bound\nby it. We sign these things \nvoluntarily   and then find that\nwe are obliged to  realize the\nprovisions.  With superpowers there is no\neasy way out of it, he said. You can get out of a treaty only on the treaty\u2019s\nown conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara\nKunanayagam  added to this.There may be\nan International law of Treaties but still they cannot go against the UN\nCharter. We are entitled to protect our resources, our land. There is a right\nto permanent sovereignty, said Tamara Kunanayagam.\u201d Future government must say it will not\nrecognize the treaties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nintelligentsia debated   on how to get\nout of these treaties, when the next President comes in. Military treaties will being in troops. If\nthe Americans come how to get rid of them, pondered the intelligentsia. Land grabbing is violation of international\nlaw but it may be difficult to throw them out, if US leases our land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way,\nthe intelligentsia decided was to keep them out at the start itself. A new organization\nnamed STOP USA was started in Colombo in June 2019. The objective is to\nprevent the three USA treaties.\u201d The\norganization was joined by many lawyers, politicians and artists, reported the\nmedia.The\norganization seems to be going strong.<\/em>\nIn August there was a Stop USA meeting at Gampaha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a third\nUS-Sri Lanka  agreement, the Millenium\nCorporation Compact. The time frame for MCC Sri Lanka\nCompact has now ended\nsaid the US  Ambassador in August 2019.\nThis was the first time that this kind of situation has arisen in the final\nstages of signing the agreement, she said, adding that it will be very\ndifficult  to convince the MCC board that\nthey should continue with the deal. The government is still undecided. I don\u2019t\nknow what to do as there is not much we can do now,\u201d  she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those supporting\nthe United States of America praised the MCC agreement. It is only a critic of\nthe most destructive kind who would see the compact as having nothing of value\nto Sri Lanka, they said. The MCC Compact should be seen as having essentially\nthe same aims as other foreign-aided development ventures, including those\nfunded by, for example, the numerous UN agencies operative in Sri Lanka. What\ngoes for the latter goes for the MCC Compact as well. It needs to be noted that\nthe Compact has been and will be worked out in collaboration with the Sri\nLankan government, said   USA\u2019s admirers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nColombo-Trincomalee railway link   which the\npublic associate with the MCC,  would not\nbe dividing the country, it would be linking it more strongly, they said.  In Japan, there is a high-speed railway line\nbetween Tokyo and Nigata. The bullet\ntrain takes less than two hours to complete the journey and  no one has access to the bullet train track. This train\ntrack has not divided the country or the people, but actually connected them\nwith a fast and safe mode of transport. A high-speed railway link between\nColombo and Trincomalee ,  would   also connect the two places . It will  accelerate income growth and job creation,\nbringing about economic benefits to people, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who\nwere anti-USA flatly rejected this. ‘There’s nothing called a free lunch’ they\nsaid. The intended Compact falls into the sort of  lunch which carries a price. It could serve\ncertain foreign policy aims of the US and could be described as designed to\nmeet specific national interests of the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTrincomalee \u2013Colombo link is going to be Sri Lanka\u2019s first electric rail link.\nIt  is viewed with suspicion because it\nis suggested by the USA. It has a clear \nmilitary  importance to USA, but\nfor  no one else. USA has brought in\nmilitary items by plane  to Katunayake\nand then transported them by road to their ships in  the Trincomalee sea. High speed train will be\nbetter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA is busy trying to create\nanother military opening  to try and enter\nSri Lanka . The doctrine of Right to Protect (R2P).\nR2P  has been developed as an excuse  to justify international intervention by sovereign\ncountries in  the domestic affairs of\nother countries. it is viewed with concern by the countries that the US is\ntrying to get into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 R2P  \nflies in the face of the founding principles of the UN, said analysts.\nThe UN Charter already  covers the\nobjectives of global peace based on sovereignty and equality. the way to\nachieve this is given in chaps 6, 7, 8 of the Charter. UN agencies have been\nsuccessful in  maintaining global peace\nand R2P is unnecessary.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Commission\non Intervention and state Sovereignty (ICSS) established in 2000 and headed by\nGareth Evans of the International Crisis Group, \nissued in 2001, a report titled \u2018Responsibility to Protect\u2019 . This\npresented the idea that the international community has the responsibility\nto  intervene militarily, when there are  crises in \nsovereign states, in order to bring \u2018security and justice\u2019 to the victim\npopulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The ICISS report was not accepted by national\ngovernments. The idea was projected at\nvarious  summits such as 2005 World Summit,\nand member states reluctantly agreed after a lengthy debate to include\nreference to R2P in the outcome document, limited to two paragraphs 138 and\n139. in 2006, UN Security Council\nresolution 1674 of 2006 reiterated the reservations of paragraphs 138 and 139. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in 2009 Ban Ki Moon put\nforward a report \u2018 implementing the responsibility to protect\u2019 it was debated\nin General Assembly in 2009 with 94 member states voicing concerns and the\nresulting resolution only records that it had taken note of the resolution. UN Secretary General\u2019s report  of 2010  only refers to the existence of R2p in paras\n138 and 139 of the World Summit Outcome, concluded analysts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US has put in place a set of \u2018interfering agencies for R2P\u2019\nsaid G.H.Pieris. . They include government agencies associated with foreign\naffairs in powerful countries, key humanitarian activists in and around the\nOffice of the Un High commission for Human rights, scholarly \u2018think tanks\u2019 at\nleading universities, international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty international,  International Crisis Group and the  \u2018Chicago R2P coalition\u2019. The global advocacy\nnetworks  for R2P includes elite level\nNGOs in operating in third world states and key personnel in powerful media\nfirms. R2P has not developed any further, but Sri Lanka must take note of the\nfact that R2P is  still hovering in the\nair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently\nUSA is the largest single contributor to the UN paying 22% of the budget. This\ngives them financial clout. With the creation of\na  Human Rights Council to replace UN\nCommission on Human rights, in 2006 a busy special procedures regime  was established to monitor Human Rights in\nparticular countries.  The Universal\nperiodic review of member countries is used by the US to blackmail non\ncompliant countries. US  also expanded\nthe operational coverage of UNHCR to included IDPs and other affected\npopulations. A global NGO movement\nwas  nurtured  parallel with this.  More than 3000 NGOs have been named as\nofficial consultants to the ECOSOC with many more contributing unofficially\nthrough the embassies, said Kamal Wickremasinghe. (CONTINUED) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka should take a look at the way other countries are dealing with USA.  We could start with Iran. USA\u2019s interest in Iran started due to its oil. American companies were drilling Iran\u2019s oil. USA got rid of Iran\u2019s popular ruler, Mossadegh and replaced him with the awful Shah Reza Pahlavi. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94131","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=94131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}