A dream team of political and military leaders, backed by brave, well-trained soldiers, sailors, airmen, police and civil defence personnel have wiped out the LTTE militarily. The brilliant combined forces campaign was probably the best counter-terrorist operation ever seen anywhere in the world.

Sabotage and Murky Motives

Ominously, victory came in the teeth of threats and sabotage from some of the most powerful countries in the world, who, to their eternal shame, misused their economic and international clout to try to browbeat Sri Lanka into letting the LTTE off the hook, for their own murky motives. Strangely, these countries, self-proclaimed leaders of the war on terror, were hell-bent on preventing Sri Lanka from wiping out the most dangerous terrorist in the world. The UN too debased its prestige by going along with the big power bullies.

Their joint misbehaviour was motivated by more than hypocrisy and double standards, as will be suggested later in this note.

Protected Species

It was not the sabotage in itself that took us by surprise, because we had, ever since the military operation looked like succeeding, been bombarded with bad advice from the big power Friends of the LTTE. The refrain was familiar - there is no military option, the war is unwinnable, stop the war, negotiate with the LTTE, produce a political solution immediately. It had also long been obvious, from the way western countries allowed the LTTE and its front organisations to flout their own anti-terrorist laws, that the LTTE were a protected species in the west.

The Frenzy

This time around, what was astonishing was how, after our forces had brought the LTTE to its knees, the LTTE’s western supporters threw their ostensible neutrality to the winds, and frantically urged the GOSL to declare a ceasefire and negotiate with the LTTE! The ostensible reason for their sudden frenzy was their alleged concern for the safety of Tamil civilians being held hostage by the LTTE as a human shield. The sheer absurdity and patent hypocrisy of their demand, and their persistence in pressing it regardless, was a red alert. Even more shocking was how, when their demands were rightly rejected, they went to unheard-of lengths to crucify Sri Lanka internationally. They are hereby christened the Crucifixion Club (CC).

Intimidation

The advance guard of Boy Wonder Miliband and Kouchner, with humanitarian haloes sitting incongruously on them, represented countries with a long and inglorious record of humanitarian crimes, including the nightly thousand-bomber air raids that laid waste a losing Germany in World War Two; "shock and awe": bombing of Iraq, (killing 600,000 and displacing millions of Iraqis) the tortures at Abu Graib, Guantanamo Bay prison and the bombing of Afghanistan, Miliband, unfazed by failure, organised a resolution against Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council. This failed spectacularly due to smart work by our Mission in Geneva. He also persuaded Clinton (whose election campaign had been funded by Tamils for Clinton) to announce that the USA would be opposing the IMF loan of $1.9 billion - a particularly despicable act of big power bullying. Western countries have also brandished the threat of War Crimes Tribunals, and a Security Council resolution, and the non-renewal of GSP Plus. Doubtless there will be more intimidation to come.

Additional apparently minor pinpricks were insistence on "unfettered access" to IDP camps by aid groups and media, a foreign presence at the screening process when admitting IDPs to camps, a larger role for the UN, and the despatch of a ship carrying ostensible food supplies from UK, without our permission. These are not as minor as they seem, as will be explained later in this note.

Tyros, but Voicing National Policies

It is tempting to ridicule the Boy Wonder and his apparent disciple the mis-speaking US Secretary of State, but we must assume that they are voicing, though clumsily, the considered policy of their countries. Similarly with other spokesmen faithfully lining up behind Miliband. They are united in their determination to crucify Sri Lanka.

So, just as the LTTE has been wiped out militarily, we need to brace ourselves to withstand, and defeat as we must, the manoeuvres of the CC.

Threat Assessment

As in any battle, we need to identify the nature and magnitude of the threat we face, in order to mobilise the resources required to overcome it. The persistence of the CC suggests that there is much more to their frenzy than meets the eye, or had been generally assumed. We have so far attributed western indulgence towards the LTTE, and antagonism to Sri Lanka to ignorance, brainwashing, naivete, bribery, vote banks, neocolonial yearnings, and pique at the failure of the Miliband-Kouchner misadventure, or western embarrassment at seeing us prove all their traditional wisdom (unwinnable war, etc.) dead wrong.

But none of these, singly or jointly, can account for the intensity of their efforts to crucify Sri Lanka what is going on now seems much more, for instance, than believing the lies of LTTE propaganda, or nursing vote banks in England and Canada, or enjoying the pay and perks of stooging for the LTTE. Least of all is it due to any genuine feeling for the LTTE or the Tamils, who are mere pawns - along with Sri Lanka - in a bigger game being played by the big powers.

Intervention Menu

Reviewing the big power/UN misuse of power, (ably supplemented by the Tamil diaspora) one sees a pervasive common factor, i.e., the objective of establishing a right for big powers to intervene in our internal affairs on various pretexts, regardless of our sovereignty.

The very fact that Miliband and Kouchner, and the hordes that followed them, were allowed to thrust themselves upon us was a CC step towards establishing the right of intervention.

The demands made by the CC that the GOSL should declare a ceasefire was an outrageous intrusion into internal affairs. So was the demand that foreign institutions should monitor the screening of IDPs. The implications were that we do not know what to do or how to do it, and need CC supervision even in security matters.

Behind the demand for access to the war zone to all aid groups to IDP camps is the implication that we are incapable of organising, relief operations by ourselves. From past experience, the aid groups would drive around in their Pajeros, provide miniscule but highly publicised ‘aid’, enjoy the high life of Colombo, and claim that they saved the IDP all on their own.

Foreign media access is demanded in order to propagate the CC view that everything here (whatever the actual situation) is appalling, and calls for intervention. Recent experience even with reputed international media, suggests that preconceived emotional notions prevail over balanced reporting. Sri Lanka would be damned regardless, with spurious authenticity conferred by media presence on the spot.

The CC’s botched attempt to have the Human Rights Council censure Sri Lanka was an attempt to blacklist us internationally via the UN. Similar motives lay behind having Sri Lanka taken up by the Security Council. The icing on the CC cake was the threat of War Crimes Tribunals, to complete our blasting internationally.

The UK/US announcement of their opposition to the IMF loan of $ 1.9 billion was intended to cripple us economically. The reasons given cast doubt on our integrity in utilising aid funds, and thereby on our overall competence as a country.

The intrusion mania also prompted the despatch of a ship carrying ostensible food supplies from UK, despite our rejection of the offer.

The proposed larger role for the UN is an attempt to insert a prestigious but pliable proxy which will do their bidding.

The Tamil diaspora’s patently false accusation of genocide (when more than half the Tamils live prosperously and comfortably outside the north and east) provides the CC with a vital ingredient for their plans, as shown below.

Profile of a R2P Candidate

The picture that is being painstakingly constructed by the CC is that of a country that persisted with war despite external requests to desist; that conducted the war in a manner that war-rants trial before a War Crimes Tribunal; that cannot be trusted to screen refugees fairly; that cannot cope with the refugees, that has no press freedom, that is on the hit list of the Security Council and the Human Rights Council; that needs a larger UN presence within it; that cannot be trusted to properly utilise an IMF loan. In short, the objective of the CC is to portray Sri Lanka as a failed state which cries out for foreign county/UN intervention.

R2P The Key

It is the fabrication of a right to intervention that is the theme running through the CC’s bullying, and this accounts for the CC’s determination to crucify us. For if they succeed in invoking R2P and barging into Sri Lanka, they could establish a powerful precedent for introducing a worldwide regime of big power colonial- type rule, with a pliant UN to help.

Kite-Flying

For years western powers have been flying intervention kites. Tony Blair tried to peddle a right to "humanitarian intervention." Others propagated a doctrine of a "failed state." The intervention lobby eventually had some success when the UN General Assembly and Security Council adopted a report which included a section headed "Responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and war crimes against humanity."

Deadly Responsibilities

This big power sleight of hand had three pillars - 1) each state’s responsibility to protect its own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. No problem here. 2) Then came the first trick. The international community would "help" states to exercise this responsibility, and help the UN set up an early warning system. 3) Finally, the big one. The international community, through the UN, can use diplomatic and other peaceful measures to protect other countries’ populations, and if peaceful means fail, take collective, decisive action through the Security Council. There is no specific mention of force, but its possible use is implied.

Charter for Re-Colonisation

If the real motivation of the west in crucifying us is to set us up for an R2P invasion, which could serve as the model for further outrages on other small countries, it would account for the extreme malice behind the CC’s actions. The CC goal would then be to use the crucifixion of Sri Lanka as the first step in implementing a word Charter of Re-Colonisation.

For our part, we would have to realise the nature of the threat facing us, and mobilise our resources to overcome it, as we must.

Kouchner Tit-Bits

It is interesting to note that Kouchner, who accompanied Miliband, was an ardent advocate of R2P. Even more interesting, he participated in a kind of R2P before the term came into use. After the US/NATO bombing of Yugoslavia led to the separation of Kosovo from Serbia, he helped lay the groundwork for Kosovo’s UDI. Here is an extract from an UN release dated 15 July 1999:.

Kosovo made an unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) from Serbia in February 2008.

Counter-Measures

Sri Lanka, which wiped out the deadliest terrorists in the world largely by its own bravery, skill, and brains, and in the teeth of intense pressure from big powers, is perfectly capable of thwarting any R2P misadventures. We can expect continuous harassment, and must deal with it firmly, refuting the falsehoods that will doubtless be invented. The remedy of persona non grata must be used, and the number of NGOs drastically slashed. We need to mobilise all our diplomatic and legal skills, strengthen law and order island-wide, care for the IDPs, and boost economic development. Above all, we must avoid the mistake of rushing to further devolve power without taking into account the experience of the past thirty years, and, more basically, without even having identified the problems which the Thirteenth Amendment plus is intended to solve.