{"id":44491,"date":"2015-12-17T21:36:45","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T01:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44491"},"modified":"2015-12-17T21:36:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T01:36:45","slug":"as-outgoing-president-barack-obama-may-visit-myanmar-and-sri-lanka-next-year-as-pair-of-us-foreign-policy-success-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44491","title":{"rendered":"As Outgoing President, Barack Obama May Visit Myanmar and Sri Lanka Next Year as “Pair of US Foreign Policy Success Stories”."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Dibbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was another high-level U.S. visit to Sri Lanka this week. State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon visited the island nation from December 14-16. <\/p>\n

The highlight of his trip seems to have been the formal announcement that the first \u201cU.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue\u201d will be held in Washington this February. <\/p>\n

The dialogue will focus on four broad areas: governance, development cooperation, and people-to-people ties; both economic and security cooperation; and global and regional affairs.<\/p>\n

Shannon\u2019s remarks after his meeting with Sri Lanka\u2019s Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, were very optimistic. Here\u2019s part of what he said:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s contributions to the development of a regional consciousness \u2013 one that promotes the values of democratic governance and respect for human rights, freedom of navigation, sustainable development, and environmental stewardship are noteworthy.<\/p>\n

We welcome Sri Lanka\u2019s contributions to global peacekeeping and humanitarian disaster assistance and believe that your armed forces can also play a constructive role in ensuring a bright future.<\/p>\n

In May, Secretary Kerry and the Foreign Minister announced that our two governments would launch a Partnership Dialogue to build on that history of exchange and to intensify our cooperation across the board and to further enhance our relationship.<\/p>\n

On December 15 in Trincomalee, Shannon spoke about development assistance and the work of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). On December 16 in Colombo, he had more words of praise for Sri Lanka. Here\u2019s a paragraph from that speech:<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is an example of the power of citizens to reinvigorate their democracy, to retake control \u2013 through the ballot box \u2013 of their country\u2019s trajectory, and to set a course to a brighter future. We now look to Sri Lanka to also provide inspiration to others around the world, to show them how justice and compassion can overcome a difficult past and help create a stable and prosperous future, and strengthen a nation\u2019s security, prosperity, and prestige.<\/p>\n

In his December 16 speech, Shannon made a fleeting reference to accountability for wartime abuses and the recently passed UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Yet, quite clearly, the focus of his trip was elsewhere.<\/p>\n

With each passing month, U.S. support for Sri Lanka appears to be getting stronger and the prospects of the Barack Obama administration applying more sustained diplomatic pressure on Colombo (regarding accountability for wartime abuses, ongoing human rights abuses, and other difficult, unresolved subjects) looks increasingly unlikely. Indeed, this slobbering love affair seems be in full swing.<\/p>\n

The possibility of Obama visiting Sri Lanka has been on the table for some time and Shannon\u2019s visit would suggest that the president certainly hasn\u2019t ruled out such a trip. Given the way U.S.-Sri Lanka ties have been evolving, one could even imagine Obama visiting both Myanmar and Sri Lanka next year, perhaps even on the same trip \u2013 talking human rights, improved governance and successful democracy promotion efforts. <\/p>\n

We\u2019d likely hear about \u201chistoric moments\u201d and U.S. \u201cengagement.\u201d We\u2019d probably be reminded of the importance of trade, aid, and free elections, while linking it all to America\u2019s pivot to Asia.<\/p>\n

An outgoing U.S. president, quite conveniently, would have a pair of foreign affairs success stories; those seem to be in short supply these days.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Diplomat<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Dibbert There was another high-level U.S. visit to Sri Lanka this week. State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon visited the island nation from December 14-16. The highlight of his trip seems to have been the formal announcement that the first \u201cU.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue\u201d will be held in Washington this February. The dialogue will …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘As Outgoing President, Barack Obama May Visit Myanmar and Sri Lanka Next Year as “Pair of US Foreign Policy Success Stories”.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44492,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44491\/revisions\/44492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}