Article No 8004
Posted on July 30, 2010 by Kalani
For many reasons the Rhodes Scholar and Oxford alumni turned politician G.L. Peiris appears to be a misfit in the UPFA Cabinet. And it is this discrepancy that made him a better contender for the job he is handling now as the Minister of External Affairs. However the very reasons that earned him the job appear to be making the life miserable for the professor.
He was getting on the job fairly well — cultivating nations in his own way and creating an impression that the UPFA can still talk business when his belligerent colleagues went on to deliver spectacular summersaults making the professor feel apologetic about his diplomatic-savy ways.
As the international community was making mammoth efforts to separate drama from reality the professor was expected to clean the table while making quite un-G.L. type statements. The volatile elements in the government felt he was not aggressive enough in fighting the UN and the international community said Sri Lanka was going back on commitments.
The latest one hears is that there is going to be a no-confidence motion against the External Affairs Minister for his ‘failure’ to prevent the appointment of a UN panel on Sri Lanka.
It goes without saying the government handling of the UN panel was a disaster. Blowing hot and cold all through out it confused the international community and in the process got itself too confused about what it meant to be a respectable nation. Better diplomacy would have saved the day and helped retain some of the NAM friends who ran away after expressing solidarity when they saw the theatrics here.
G.L. Peiris certainly is not the best foreign minister to serve a Sri Lankan government but he certainly is not among the worst.
The problem is not with the foreign minister but the approach of the UPFA towards diplomacy. The government has sent all signals that it does not have any faith in international relations and would instead resolve matters by emotionally blackmailing the agencies and nations.
The dangerous part of the story is that while everybody else in the country is convinced that its approach had been an utter failure the UPFA is under the impression that it has worked.
FRIDAY, 30 JULY 2010 00:00
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