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“Timeo Danos et dona ferentes”, wrote Virgil, one of the greatest of Roman poets. With Latin rarely taught in our schools in the last several decades one might be forgiven for translating the above into English for the uninitiated- “beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” The Greeks are hardly in a position today to bear anything but grief seeing that their cupboards are even barer than Mother Hubbards. Without providing succor to a people who gave birth to democracy which we are all asked to practice by western political evangelists, the western world shows little concern for their cultural brethren wallowing in misery.

While mulling the moral in Virgil’s words it might be appropriate at this time of the year to remind ourselves of the three wise men who came from the east following a star and bearing gifts for a new born child. Colombo is not Bethlehem. But we too have been visited by more than three wise men-and women- since 2015 dawned with the birth of a new government. They did not come from the east. They came from the west. The gifts they carried were sheaves of hypocrisy and platitudes gift- wrapped as paeans.

Those who traditionally turn to the west only on bended knee naturally swallowed whole all this with great alacrity ignoring the tone of patronizing arrogance that accompanied them.

Ambassador Shannon was deliberately over-generous when he praised Sri Lanka's contribution to the development of a regional consciousness which promoted the values of democratic governance and respect for human rights, freedom of navigation etc. Mr. Shannon is seen here being received in Trincomalee by Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando.

The latest bearer of western wisdom and seeming concern for righting the wrongs Sri Lanka as a nation had undergone, is a chap called Ambassador Thomas Shannon, Under Secretary of State (designate) for Political Affairs who spent a few days in Sri Lanka telling us of great deeds Sri Lanka is said to have accomplished unknown, it seems, to its own people.

Ambassador Shannon was deliberately over-generous when he praised Sri Lanka’s contribution to the development of a regional consciousness which promoted the values of democratic governance and respect for human rights, freedom of navigation etc.
Shannon cleverly avoided mentioning which period in our history he was referring to. Extolling the virtues of human rights is surely ironical coming from those who still deny these rights to detainees in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.

Had Shannon done his home work he would surely have known that Ceylon/Sri Lanka had been governed for extensive periods under emergency law by both SLFP and UNP governments. Many civil liberties were suspended during those times including media freedom.

His reference to “respect for human rights” therefore would come as a shock to many. Once again Shannon carefully avoids mentioning when in our history we influenced the reshaping of a regional consciousness. It is a classic of the art of non-clarity.
Ambassador Shannon seems to have a conveniently short memory. For the last decade or so, the US has been increasingly antagonistic towards Sri Lanka. Statements by then US Ambassador to Colombo Robert Blake and his boss in the State Department Richard Boucher are evidence of this growing antipathy to Colombo.

To that might be added the confidential diplomatic dispatches from the US embassy in Colombo to Washington exposed by WikiLeaks which says it all. This growing antagonism culminated later years in the strongly anti-Sri Lankan resolutions the US introduced in the UN Human Rights Council castigating Colombo for its human rights record and accusing it of multiple sins.

Having done all that to rub Sri Lanka’s face in the dust, Ambassador Shannon has the unmitigated gall to say in Colombo what great feats the country has accomplished in creating a regional consciousness across a range of subjects.

It appears that the intemperate denunciations of yesteryear have suddenly undergone political sublimation with the advent of a new government. Mind you, even the yahapalanaya administration has not been spared the rod, so to say, as the recent US-led resolution at the UNHRC clearly shows. The Sword of Damocles, to resort to a cliché, continues to hang over our heads despite the fashionable hyperbole that each passing preacher from Washington would like to shower on us only to be gladly embraced by our obsequious flag wavers.

A previous UNP government is said to have extended a helping hand in Washington’s illegal activity euphemistically called “rendition” wherein terror suspects are moved to jurisdictions outside the US so they could be detained, interrogated and even tortured.

But such abetting is hardly the reason for Washington’s sudden interest in Sri Lanka and the lavish praise we endure. Only the politically naïve would believe that the current rush of high-level US officials to Colombo is to say thank you for violating human rights we are said to respect on behalf of Washington’s notorious rendition programme.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera might talk in glowing terms of the “level of excellence that relations between Sri Lanka and the US have reached today” as he did when meeting Shannon and gloating over what he claims has been achieved since January.

But if his speech writer did not have his or her tongue in both cheeks, it surely shows the lack of understanding of US intentions against the background of Washington’s geopolitical interests after its “Pivot to Asia” foreign policy readjustment that Barack Obama declared nearly five years ago.

Limitations of space do not permit a deeper look at the significance of this policy shift and the way things are actually shaping up for the US in the Asia-Pacific region. Suffice it to say that if our foreign policy pundits at Republic Square think that the best thing we could do is to tie ourselves to Washington’s apron strings intoxicated by the exhilaration of this moment of unprecedented attention then we are in deeper trouble than we thought for it displays a lack of political perspicacity.

Any observer of foreign affairs would know that the Obama pivot was essentially focussed on deterring China. The question is how successful has this been?
In pursuit of this policy of containing China’s influence, Washington lobbied all its closest friends in the region to turn their backs on the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Instead of spurning membership of the AIIB, it was Washington they rebuffed. That includes Washington’s transatlantic cousin the UK.

State Department officials rush to Colombo not because they are enamoured by the demeanour of Sri Lanka’s leaders. Rather it is because of the recalibration of our foreign policy which implied less reliance on China and something like a 180 degree turn to the West, the UNP’s traditional comfort zone.

If anybody turned successfully to the Asia-Pacific it was not Obama but Russia’s Putin who checkmated Washington and the West by signing a massive energy deal with China last year in Shanghai when the West was threatening to cut European imports of Russian gas in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis.

Those following the run-up to next year’s presidential race in the US would know that both Republican and Democratic candidates are all positioning themselves to run against Obama’s foreign policy.
To overly rely on Washington pulling our chestnuts out of the fire or hurrying to Colombo with millions of dollars in investment along with official goodwill, it would be a tragic mistake. Other countries that sought Washington’s assistance or found themselves invaded and occupied have come to realize this.

In welcoming Ambassador Shannon our foreign minister reportedly said that 2015 is a milestone year in Sri Lanka-US relations. One hopes that this milestone will not prove to be a millstone round Sri Lanka’s neck.