Features

The President versus the hegemonic West

Published

2 years ago

2023/10/8

By Uditha Devapriya

The President has a way with interviewers, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. Be it a local or a foreigner, his distaste or contempt for them comes out. His champions tend to see this as a sign of his intelligence. His critics, on the other hand, see it as a mark of his lack of it. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent confrontation on German television was a case in point: it essentially brought out the man that he has been for the last 25 years.

To say this is not to defend Western double standards, which is what Wickremesinghe’s champions think he attacked on television. The West’s line on its own values came out fully in the recent diplomatic spat between India and Canada. Though it reportedly shared intelligence with Canada, the US has so far not made an explicit pronouncement on the issue, no doubt because India is too valuable an ally in the region to lose over such mundane concerns as the killing of a man. Wickremesinghe has of course given his two cents on the Indo-Canada spat, unsurprisingly in India’s favour. More regularly than ever, he is making a name for himself by taking potshots at the West, accusing them of hypocrisy.

But of course they are hypocrites, and of course they need to be called out. Leaving aside the merits of demonising the West when Sri Lanka has become more dependent than ever on Western markets and financial institutions, however, one wonders what the President is aiming at with his strategy of lambasting them over issues like Ukraine and human rights.

The Deutsche-Welle interview, for instance, focused on the recent Channel 4 documentary. The official government response to the documentary has been to appoint a Commission. On television, however, Wickremesinghe reflected none of that, instead opting to accuse his interrogator of brandishing neo-colonialist rhetoric against his country.

Sri Lanka’s relations with the West have never really been stable. Yet by this point, the Sri Lankan government has chosen to submit itself to the diktats of the IMF, World Bank, and ADB, all of which have links with the West. Though one can consider these institutions as neutral umpires, playing a difficult game in the midst of geopolitical turmoil across Asia and Africa, one can also consider them as intermediaries and tools of Western powers.

The US and the West have a direct interest in the policies these organisations advocate. In that light, one wonders how the President’s remarks will go down with Western government officials, policymakers, and academics, as well as interests hostile to Sri Lanka.

Again, this is not to say his stance is wrong all the way. On Ukraine, for instance, he has consistently maintained that NATO’s enlargement pushed Russia to launch an offensive backed by militias and oligarchs. From a certain standpoint, there is nothing to dispute in this position.

It may even be factually accurate. That he maintained such a line even as the sole sitting Opposition MP from his party, long before last year’s crisis, is a credit to him. The same goes for his positions on China and India, his seeming reluctance to take sides in the great geopolitical game in the Indian Ocean, and his unwillingness to become the ideologue over the West that he was, as Prime Minister, from 2001 and 2004.

It is no secret that Sri Lankan politicians, especially the more nationalist among them, like taking potshots at the West, because the West at least pretends to be accommodative of such criticisms. This is definitely not the case with Russia and China, for very valid reasons. Yet for how long will even the West brook the sort of criticisms that Wickremesinghe has issued over the last year?

The West’s method of retaliation has been to withdraw economic concessions, like the GSP Plus. The West also curries more favour with ordinary Sri Lankans than China or India, since the scale of the crisis has made many Sri Lankans more suspicious of the latter two countries than of countries like the US. These two points are obviously not in favour of any President who has turned attacking the West into a sport.

It is certainly ironic that a political figurehead once considered the most pro-Western in the country has turned against the West. But behind the President’s defensive posture may be his need to appease his political allies, particularly in the SLPP, as well as hardliners in the Opposition. The mistake political commentators make with regard to Wickremesinghe is that they imagine him to be this or that: they try to fit him in one ideological hole or the other.

But Wickremesinghe has been trying to be President for more than a quarter-century: I was barely a year old when he made his first attempt, and next month I will turn 30. In that light, the President’s motives seem palpably clear: this is his one and only chance to shine in the limelight abroad, and he is doing so, now, as an advocate of multipolarity, just as he tried his luck as an advocate of the West while serving as Prime Minister.

But if Wickremesinghe thinks the way to advocate multipolarity is by demonising the West whenever and wherever he may be, he is sadly mistaken. There is no one way of skinning a cat, and no one time-tested way of criticising the hegemony of the Global North. From Latin America to West Asia, the trend is towards regionalisation, towards a form of globalisation that is more representative of the Global South. The likes of Lula da Silva, my candidate for Elder Statesman of the World, are not merely parroting anti-American diatribes: they are putting such criticisms into practice, by linking up with the Global South.

Wickremesinghe’s modus operandi, on the other hand, has been to parrot rhetoric, while his government does little to act on his statements. We are multipolar in speech, but are we in deed? The Foreign Minister regularly speaks of multi-alignment. But that’s not the same thing.

This, I think, is the most valid criticism one can make of Wickremesinghe’s denunciation of the West. The West, of course, may tolerate it for a while. But the Sri Lankan government has made itself more vulnerable by submitting to the IMF and World Bank, to their policies, and prescriptions. If all the President can do is demonise the West, while enforcing painful neoliberal austerity at home, then we are in that proverbial Right Royal Mess. That is less a criticism than a comment on our status quo, and on where it is taking us.

The writer is an international relations analyst, independent researcher, and freelance columnist who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com.

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Related Topics:India NATO Opposition organisations Ranil Wickremesinghe Ukraine and human rights

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Maduro abduction marks dangerous aggravation of ‘world disorder’

Published

10 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Venezuelan President Maduro being taken to a court in New York

The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US special forces on January 3rd and his coercive conveying to the US to stand trial over a number of allegations leveled against him by the Trump administration marks a dangerous degeneration of prevailing ‘world disorder’. While some cardinal principles in International Law have been blatantly violated by the US in the course of the operation the fallout for the world from the exceptionally sensational VVIP abduction could be grave.

Although controversial US military interventions the world over are not ‘news’ any longer, the abduction and hustling away of a head of government, seen as an enemy of the US, to stand trial on the latter soil amounts to a heavy-handed and arrogant rejection of the foundational principles of international law and order. It would seem, for instance, that the concept of national sovereignty is no longer applicable to the way in which the world’s foremost powers relate to the rest of the international community. Might is indeed right for the likes of the US and the Trump administration in particular is adamant in driving this point home to the world.

Chief spokesmen for the Trump administration have been at pains to point out that the abduction is not at variance with national security related provisions of the US Constitution. These provisions apparently bestow on the US President wide powers to protect US security and stability through courses of action that are seen as essential to further these ends but the fact is that International Law has been brazenly violated in the process in the Venezuelan case.

To be sure, this is not the first occasion on which a head of government has been abducted by US special forces in post-World War Two times and made to stand trial in the US, since such a development occurred in Panama in 1989, but the consequences for the world could be doubly grave as a result of such actions, considering the mounting ‘disorder’ confronting the world community.

Those sections opposed to the Maduro abduction in the US would do well to from now on seek ways of reconciling national security-related provisions in the US Constitution with the country’s wider international commitment to uphold international peace and law and order. No ambiguities could be permitted on this score.

While the arbitrary military action undertaken by the US to further its narrow interests at whatever cost calls for criticism, it would be only fair to point out that the US is not the only big power which has thus dangerously eroded the authority of International Law in recent times. Russia, for example, did just that when it violated the sovereignty of Ukraine by invading it two or more years ago on some nebulous, unconvincing grounds. Consequently, the Ukraine crisis too poses a grave threat to international peace.

It is relevant to mention in this connection that authoritarian rulers who hope to rule their countries in perpetuity as it were, usually end up, sooner rather than later, being a blight on their people. This is on account of the fact that they prove a major obstacle to the implementation of the democratic process which alone holds out the promise of the progressive empowerment of the people, whereas authoritarian rulers prefer to rule with an iron fist with a fixation about self-empowerment.

Nevertheless, regime-change, wherever it may occur, is a matter for the public concerned. In a functional democracy, it is the people, and the people only, who ‘make or break’ governments. From this viewpoint, Russia and Venezuela are most lacking. But externally induced, militarily mediated change is a gross abnormality in the world of democracy, which deserves decrying.

By way of damage control, the US could take the initiative to ensure that the democratic process, read as the full empowerment of ordinary people, takes hold in Venezuela. In this manner the US could help in stemming some of the destructive fallout from its abduction operation. Any attempts by the US to take possession of the national wealth of Venezuela at this juncture are bound to earn for it the condemnation of democratic opinion the world over.

Likewise, the US needs to exert all its influence to ensure that the rights of ordinary Ukrainians are protected. It will need to ensure this while exploring ways of stopping further incursions into Ukrainian territory by Russia’s invading forces. It will need to do this in collaboration with the EU which is putting its best foot forward to end the Ukraine blood-letting.

Meanwhile, the repercussions that the Maduro abduction could have on the global South would need to be watched with some concern by the international community. Here too the EU could prove a positive influence since it is doubtful whether the UN would be enabled by the big powers to carry out the responsibilities that devolve on it with the required effectiveness.

What needs to be specifically watched is the ‘copycat effect’ that could manifest among those less democratically inclined Southern rulers who would be inspired by the Trump administration to take the law into their hands, so to speak, and act with callous disregard for the sovereign rights of their smaller and more vulnerable neighbours.

Democratic opinion the world over would need to think of systems of checks and balances that could contain such power abuse by Southern autocratic rulers in particular. The UN and democracy-supportive organizations, such as the EU, could prove suitable partners in these efforts.

All in all it is international lawlessness that needs managing effectively from now on. If President Trump carries out his threat to over-run other countries as well in the manner in which he ran rough-shod over Venezuela, there is unlikely to remain even a semblance of international order, considering that anarchy would be receiving a strong fillip from the US, ‘The World’s Mightiest Democracy’.

What is also of note is that identity politics in particularly the South would be unprecedentedly energized. The narrative that ‘the Great Satan’ is running amok would win considerable validity among the theocracies of the Middle East and set the stage for a resurgence of religious fanaticism and invigorated armed resistance to the US. The Trump administration needs to stop in its tracks and weigh the pros and cons of its current foreign policy initiatives.

Features

Pure Christmas magic and joy at British School

Published

10 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Students of The British High School in Colombo in action at the fashion show

The British School in Colombo (BSC) hosted its Annual Christmas Carnival 2025, ‘Gingerbread Wonderland’, which was a huge success, with the students themseles in the spotlight, managing stalls and volunteering.

The event, organised by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), featured a variety of activities, including: Games and rides for all ages, Food stalls offering delicious treats, Drinks and refreshments, Trade booths showcasing local products, and Live music and entertainment.

The carnival was held at the school premises, providing a fun and festive atmosphere for students, parents, and the community to enjoy.

The halls of the BSC were filled with pure Christmas magic and joy with the students and the staff putting on a tremendous display.

Among the highlights was the dazzling fashion show with the students doing the needful, and they were very impressive.

The students themselves were eagerly looking forward to displaying their modelling technique and, I’m told, they enjoyed the moment they had to step on the ramp.

The event supported communities affected by the recent floods, with surplus proceeds going to flood-relief efforts.

Features

Glowing younger looking skin

Published

11 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hi! This week I’m giving you some beauty tips so that you could look forward to enjoying 2026 with a glowing younger looking skin.

Face wash for natural beauty

* Avocado:

Take the pulp, make a paste of it and apply on your face. Leave it on for five minutes and then wash it with normal water.

* Cucumber:

Just rub some cucumber slices on your face for 02-03 minutes to cleanse the oil naturally. Wash off with plain water.

* Buttermilk:

Apply all over your face and leave it to dry, then wash it with normal water (works for mixed to oily skin).

Face scrub for natural beauty

Take 01-02 strawberries, 02 pieces of kiwis or 02 cubes of watermelons. Mash any single fruit and apply on your face. Then massage or scrub it slowly for at least 3-5 minutes in circular motions. Then wash it thoroughly with normal or cold water. You can make use of different fruits during different seasons, and see what suits you best! Follow with a natural face mask.

Face Masks

* Papaya and Honey:

Take two pieces of papaya (peeled) and mash them to make a paste. Apply evenly on your face and leave it for 30 minutes and then wash it with cold water.

Papaya is just not a fruit but one of the best natural remedies for good health and glowing younger looking skin. It also helps in reducing pimples and scars. You can also add honey (optional) to the mixture which helps massage and makes your skin glow.

* Banana:

Put a few slices of banana, 01 teaspoon of honey (optional), in a bowl, and mash them nicely. Apply on your face, and massage it gently all over the face for at least 05 minutes. Then wash it off with normal water. For an instant glow on your face, this facemask is a great idea to try!

* Carrot:

Make a paste using 01 carrot (steamed) by mixing it with milk or honey and apply on your face and neck evenly. Let it dry for 15-20 minutes and then wash it with cold water. Carrots work really well for your skin as they have many vitamins and minerals, which give instant shine and younger-looking skin.