Basically there seems to be two opinions put forward by Sri Lankan commentators regarding the reason as to why the Western countries tried desperately to stop the war against the LTTE terrorists. Some believe the West was concerned about the injustice supposed to have been done to the Tamils by the Sinhalese over the years. Others quite correctly say that they were motivated by neo-colonialist ambitions.

The former viewpoint if it is to be accepted has to be based on the premise that the Western countries are just and fair in their dealings and that their humanitarian concerns are genuine. But their past as well as present activities tell us a different story. The Red Indians who were the original inhabitants of America were massacred and their land was robbed by white invaders. It is more than two hundred years since this happened but very little has been done to redress this injustice and improve their living standards. The same could be said about the African Negroes they brought as slaves to work in the lands they had grabbed from the Red Indians. Quality of life indices indicate that these minorities have not been given equal opportunities and space to improve their living standards.

Human right violations by the West in the wars that they had started in the Middle East are even more deplorable. Millions are killed in the name of world peace and anti-terrorism but it is no secret that the purpose of these wars is to maintain their grip on the oil rich Middle East. Yet they claim they are the world leaders and champions of justice, equality and fair play. Some of our analysts seem to have forgotten that the Western countries have not given up their colonialist agenda. The main aim of their scheme is exploitation of natural resources that belong to poor helpless countries. Trade and aid are designed and operated not for the benefit of the poor but the rich. The IMF, World Bank, ADB, WTO and other UN institutions are nothing but tools used for exploitation of the poor countries.

The Western countries would even resort to mass murder to maintain their grip on the world economy. The ultimate goal of all this is nothing else but economic exploitation. Some analysts who seem to be obsessed with a cultural determinism tend to go at a tangent and lose sight of this ultimate aim of the neo-colonialist. They forget that the rich West could maintain their luxurious life style only by plundering the poor. The purpose of the cultural domination that the West attempts is nothing but economic exploitation. The war against the Islamic culture is aimed at maintaining the grip on the oil rich Middle East. That against the Chinese culture is to stop Chinese expansion. Cultural domination by itself is meaningless unless it opens the avenues for economic exploitation.

Commentators who ascribe an honourable motive to the actions taken by the Western Countries against Sri Lanka have not only disregarded the above mentioned atrocious record of the USA and Europe but also seem to have overlooked another important factor. The reason as to why China, Russia, India and other third world countries stood up in support of Sri Lanka has not received a careful consideration. Reason given by these countries for supporting Sri Lanka was that there was no evidence of large-scale killing of civilians by intention. If we accept this explanation we are being simplistic and we will miss the larger dimensions. Obviously the big players in this game belong to two opposing camps. The USA and Europe are the leaders of the camp that wanted to nail Sri Lanka while China and Russia give leadership to the opposing camp, which saved Sri Lanka. Polarization of world powers and the cold war are resurgent phenomena in today’s world. The line of demarcation was clear in the voting pattern in the UN on the Sri Lankan issue.

It is naïve to think that China, Russia and others supported Sri Lanka just because they are in the opposing camp or because they saw the injustice of what was being perpetrated against tiny Sri Lanka that was fighting for its survival. Elements of such sentiments may also have contributed to the final outcome but the main reason cannot be as simple as that. Obviously China and Russia saw the underlying neo-colonialist agenda of the West.

They saw that the ultimate target was not Sri Lanka as such but the emerging Eastern powers, their convergence and their organizations which the West perceives as a threat to their colonialist interests. Sri Lanka happens to have a geo-political strategic importance in the Indian Ocean and has therefore become a bone of contention in the global power struggle. Whether this would augur well or ill for Sri Lanka in the future would depend on how it handles its foreign relations.

China has launched a major investment and development project and is busy developing the necessary international relations with the relevant countries. The project seems to involve several continents extending from East Asia, going round South Asia into Africa and beyond into Latin America. Along this road lies Sri Lanka strategically projecting out into the Indian Ocean with no other land southwards. And China is building a harbour right at the tip of this horn, Hambantota. China will not want this land to be destabilized for a destabilized Sri Lanka will not serve its interests. On the other hand the USA and Europe would want to thwart the Chinese expansion effort and a destabilized Sri Lanka would serve their agenda.

Russia is recovering fast from the West engineered fragmentation of their Soviet Union and they have not forgotten who did it. They have started manipulations to get the states they lost back into their fold. Further, they have several conflicts with NATO and as a counter measure have formed an alliance with China called "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization". Significantly Sri Lanka has recently been given observer status in this organization. China, Russia, India and fast developing Brazil have formed yet another alliance to safeguard their interests. Thus the polarization of world powers and more importantly the shifting of the balance of power towards the Eastern bloc is very much in evidence with Sri Lanka inextricably involved in the process.

How should Sri Lanka handle this situation is the critical question; for it could impact decisively on Sri Lanka’s security, defense, sovereignty and territorial integrity. No doubt Sri Lanka’s foreign policy should be based on non-aligned principles, yet the geo-politics of the day in relation to its unique strategical situation must be given due consideration in formulating foreign and defense policies and also special friendships and alignments. Look at how these world powers play the game! China is engaged in massive trade pacts with the USA. Russia is helping the USA in their war in Afghanistan and also having a dialogue with NATO. Similarly we could certainly have friendly relations with everybody but also develop special relations and alliances with countries that help us when in need with no strings attached. Our President visits Iran, Libya, Myanmar etc. possibly because he understands the undercurrents of world politics.