Circa 7th October 2022, I inserted Natasha Gooneratne’s Memo in Thuppahi on Facebook: “An Exposure: Human Rights as a Tool of US Intervention”. …. ………………………………..So, readers should focus initially on this MEMO = https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/04/an-exposure-human-rights-as-a-tool-of-us-intervention-
THAT Item drew the following two comments in Facebook which I then circulated to Natasha and a select few others by EMAIL.
Comment in FACEBOOK by Arun Devan, October 2022: “If you don’t like USA, then don’t go with the begging bowl to US and West. Sri Lanka can choose to stave or be slave. Little choices – thanks to the brutal war and useless spending on military now.”
Comment in FACEBOOK by Richard Simon, October 2022:“Why does the US want to intervene in Sri Lanka? Serious question.”
EMAIL RESPONSE to these Two Comments from “Fair Dinkum”, 8/9 October 2022
Arun Devan’s argument is oversimplistic and flawed — a defeatist argument that takes us down the wrong path entirely.
Richard Simon’s question displays disingenuity, arrogance and ignorance about the modius operandi of the US. His question is not a serious question but a deliberately deceptive one. Has he heard of the word “geopolitics”? Of course, the US seeks to counter China and Simon’s knows this very well. He is playing a little game here with his narrative. We have seen the US attempt to sabotage Sri Lanka-China relations through the massive American disinformation campaign, as we saw, for example, in the much-discredited China debt trap narrative.
Simon’s should read about how the US seeks to influence countries around the world to gain a geopolitical advantage over the world in what is laughingly called the “Rules Based Order”. The US never acts in the interests of any other country other than the US – one only has to look at how the US is now destroying Europe.
Another very fine example is OPEC. When the US went to OPEC with a begging bowl asking them to increase oil production after sabotaging Russia supplying oil the world, OPEC refused and announced they were reducing oil production by two million barrels per day, which by the way, the US is also doing for the same reasons as OPEC. How did the US’s Rules Based Order respond to the OPEC refusal to increase oil production? By lifting its arse and shitting on the planet with threats of punishment by untold sanctions and other means. For example, watch the media over the next few days and we will see the US start to accuse every OPEC country of human rights abuses in a vain attempt to gain control over OPEC countries.
The notion of genuine human rights has become a joke, a caricature of US imperialism. The meaning of human rights has been so debased by the US using it constantly as a tool of diplomacy, while the US itself is one of the great abuses of human rights. The US will not win this fight as OPEC is moving away from the West to the East – to better ties with Russia, India, China, the Middle East, Africa and South America (all non-western countries which is most of the world) which offer fair and just partnerships.
The US always has to find a bogeyman to mount its wars – Saddam Hassan was a bogeyman, then Gadaffi, followed by a host of others, then it became Xi, then Putin, and now it is OPEC who is the new Bogeyman.
The claim China is a bogeyman is nothing but an American centric worldview. We can learn a lot about Mr Simon by deconstructing his narrative. The only bogeyman in the room is the US led by an insane President, surrounded by a bunch of ignorant stupid advisers.
Sri Lankans ought to appreciate China a little more as a good friend. After all, China was one of the few countries that helped Sri Lanka to provide military assistance needed to defeat the LTTE. Hey Sri Lankans? Do you remember the war and which government won it? Or has the collective Sri Lankan memory faded so much that Sri Lankans can no longer tell the good guys from the bad? And in the recent UN resolution A/HRC/51 that sought accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka; the countries supporting the motion were mainly Western countries such as the US, UK France, Germany, and also Ukraine — none of which are beacons of human rights. It shows the US is no friend of Sri Lanka but is attempting to use the human rights card to gain influence over the political life of Sri Lanka. That is a statement of fact.
Which countries opposed the motion? China, Bolivia, Cuba, Pakistan, to name a few, while those abstaining included Brazil, Cameroon, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and many more. These countries are good friends of Sri Lanka, not the West. The Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister was right and correct to reject the motion as a foolish political stunt, which, of course, it was.
Incidentally, another motion that went before the UN recently was the debate on human rights in Xinjiang. Only Western countries + Japan and South Korea supported the motion. Most countries either opposed it or abstained. Those opposing the motion included Brazil, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, and the UAE while those abstaining included Malaysia Ukraine, Malawi, and many more. I find it fascinating that the countries opposing the motion or abstaining consisted of the vast majority of Muslim nations around the world – Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE + others which means none of these countries have bought into Western disinformation that claims genocide is taking place against Muslims in Xinjiang, and why? Because there is NO evidence to substantiate these claims. It is total propaganda and these countries know it as any level thinking person can discern.
Sri Lanka needs to keep a cautious eye on Japan for it may not turn out to be the friend many think it is given it acts as a proxy for the USA. We have to ponder why Japan voted against China, but abstained from the motion against Sri Lanka. We can see that this has absolutely nothing to do with human rights in the case of Xinjiang or Sri Lanka. The way Japan votes in the UN on human rights is revealing about its true motives in Sri Lanka.
China has never sought to influence Sri Lanka. Where is the evidence? China will continue to have good relations with Sri Lanka which is beneficial to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a neutral country, or at least it is supposed to be, but that may not last given Ranil takes his orders from the US Embassy.
FAIR DINKUM
