Ambassador Butenis has work cut-out putting diplomacy back on track

New US Ambassador Patricia Butenis would be best served re-defining the basic postulates of US diplomacy to weed off the fallacious ideology that had masqueraded as diplomacy in recent times. Gut-instinct has proven to be a poor basis for decision-making in the context of Sri Lanka's annihilation of LTTE threats to its territorial integrity. Imposing preventive diplomacy on Sri Lanka is archaic, impractical and unacceptable in the 21st Century. Using US aid as leverage became a myth starting with Robert Blake's watch. Madam Ambassador has her work cut out.

First, the wicked US diplomatic counter-punch that preached the futility of a military solution to the Northern conflict was totally uncalled for. When that prophesy of "unwinnable war" went caput, attempts were made by the US to impose a ceasefire during the dying hours of LTTE war. That was the nadir of Sri Lanka-America foreign relations in recent times.

Patricia Butenis. Courtesy: Asian Tribune

Equally intriguing is the constant rant from the US: "release the IDPs no matter what". Sri Lankan Government's total attention to the IDP settlement has not been recognized by the US. Strangely as I write, the Obama administration announced changes to atrocious conditions of detainees in Afghanistan at American detention center in Bagram in, promising some relief.

These detainees have already been held for six years. They have had no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as "enemy combatants," military officials said. But Sri Lanka's crucial screening of the former LTTE cadres among the IDPs for security reasons is deemed an act of human rights breach by the US. Double standards are staring the US in the face.

Rabidly anti-Sri Lankan NGOs

Back home here, equally damning was the policy towards some rabidly anti-Sri Lankan NGOs that operated in the Vanni as the self-appointed human rights watchers not being able to explain the nature of their work and account for the vast funds expended. Much of their advertised projects had been a cover for undermining the war on terror. No traces of their much publicized work were found so far. Senior LTTE cadres in custody are spilling the beans on their allies, both local and foreign about the fifth columnists working in Vanni. Their collaboration with the LTTE is starkly obvious now.

The US had not shown any repulsion to these acts of sabotage. Strangely Britain, one of allies of USA's war on terror that urged everyone to join that effort, is reportedly probing whether any British weapons had been used by Sri Lanka in its war on terrorism. Strange still is that these very same governments had not proclaimed their jubilation at Sri Lanka's victory over terror. Defeating the ruthless LTTE seemed to have exuded animosity towards Sri Lanka from the West.

The sensible option the new ambassador has is not to play loose with facts and avoid any partisan posturing. That is the hope of many US tax payers like me who were astonished at what went on in the name of diplomacy. Sri Lanka had always unequivocally insisted that the West respect the country's inalienable right to charter its own course of action: a dynamic sacrosanct even by American constitutional dictums. It is time that the western countries realized that diplomacy is far superior to threats, sanctions and derision. The "Big stick" diplomacy died after George W. Bush's Iraq misadventure.

Obama administration made an attempt to resurrect the lost art of diplomacy with some basic moves towards Iran as the doctrine of sanctions and derision failed miserably in Cuba and Iran making them more intransigent. It can be stated with certainty that building a trust, and opening the possibility of wider negotiations are far superior than unmitigated super-powerdom advanced by the Bush doctrine. Vast majority of US tax payers expressed that when they elected Obama as President.

Ambassador Willis got US to suspend PL 480 Food Aid to Sri Lanka (midday milk and buns distribution to schoolchildren). Some even warned that Sri Lanka's tea market in the US would be jeopardized. They ignored that the franchise holders of petroleum stations had more than amortized their investment outlays prior to the Government take over of company properties.

New Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike rallied the people to support her move addressing them to be ready for any tightening of belts due to the threatened sanctions by the US Embassy. She branded the West as "rapacious" a bold statement by a head of State of a Third World nation at a time the US was ruling the seas. Of course, the petroleum refinery and imports are still in the hands of the Government and the tea market is still in full swing. The US Government was wise enough to restore the PL 480 Food Aid after a lapse of about eight to nine months to normalize relations with Sri Lanka reportedly fearing one-upmanship by the Chinese-almost like the chatter today about Chinese dominance in Asia.

Playing catch-up

Even after the passage of over 40 years since Frances Willis, US foreign policy dictates have not changed too much. China and India have made sizeable inroads into the Asian region. Their sphere of influence has tripled while US seemed destined to do the "catch-up". Many believe that the intransient and palpably incongruent and even hostile stance taken by the US at times has prompted many nations to seek refuge elsewhere and seek more sympathetic allies.

Sri Lanka has wisely sought most-favourable-nation-treatment from China, Japan, Ukraine, Libya and Iran with steady support from India and Pakistan. The US aid to Sri Lanka is not even among the first three donor categories and is fast losing its foothold in Sri Lanka. Using US foreign aid as leverage is a weapon that lost its efficacy.