Parliament recently approved Rs. 60 million by way of supplementary expenditure for the Ministry of External Affairs. The official reason given was that it was to "account for the parity variation losses occurred in accounting process of the Overseas Mission (sic) in other words, to off-set the fluctuation of the Sri Lanka Rupee viz-a-viz foreign currencies.
This put paid to the Central Bank's continuing claims that the Sri Lanka Rupee is holding strong viz-a-viz foreign currencies; so then, who is telling the truth.
Economists say that the Central Bank may be right here. While they say that the Rupee may be kept afloat by various ways, it is kept without much fluctuation viz-a-viz foreign currency. If so, then is the Ministry correct.
A senior Ministry source said; "well, there are other expenses to meet nowadays". Pressed as to what they were, she said "see, our mission in Geneva had to organise a crowd to come and protest against the UN in the Palais dueing the current sessions".
"Who is going to pay for their transport costs - the bus and van hire etc.,"she asked. "They had to be carted from various cities in Europe".
The problem was that the pro-LTTE Diaspora lives in and around Geneva. They were able to outnumber the pro-Government demo ten to one!
So, the Ministry that writes famously to Ban ki-moon about a "seemless" l'affire between his panel report (acknowledging the panel in the process) and the LLRC sanctions money to be paid for transport to protest agaisnt the same Ban Ki-moon in Geneva. Sha ! foreign policy ala Lanka for you.
 Top cops in verbal scrum
It was a match of different sorts for two retired cops, one who was high ranking and the other a mid-level one. It took place in the dressing room of a club.
The high ranking man, known for his involvement in many a controversial affair and his better half were livid that the retired mid-level officer did not perform well as a referee at a match. "You ruined the game," shouted the better half.
Unable to take the verbal barrage from the husband-wife combination, the middle level officer shot back. "If I ruined the game, you ruined the police service," he shouted. The couple immediately left the room.
WSJ compares Palestine with Eelam
The Wall Street Journal, a rigidly right-wing conservative newspaper and one of the highest circulated dailies in the US, has remained traditionally pro-Israel routinely playing up to the Jewish lobby. So, it was not surprising that it launched a virulent attack on the Palestinian bid for UN membership and urged the Obama administration to respond by cutting funds to the United Nations.
But in arguing against Palestinian statehood in its editorial last week, the WSJ tried to unjustifiably draw a parallel with the LTTE demand for a separate state in Sri Lanka. In effect, it said if the "Tamils of Sri Lanka" cannot have a separate state, why should the Palestinians?
But the comparison also extended to other separatists worldwide: the Uighurs and the Tibetans battling China, he Basques militating against Spain, the Chechens terrorising Russia, the Kurds fighting the Turks and the Iraqis, and the Flemish trying to break away from Belgium.
The editorial declared that the list of peoples "with plausible claims to statehood is as long as the current number of U.N. member states, if not longer "(not true, because the UN now has 193 member states and separatist groups are nowhere close to that figure.)
Sex charge also in JVP conflict
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is embroiled in an internal crisis with feuding factions hurling accusations at each other.
At one top level discussion among party seniors of the old guard, a lady member backing the extremists dropped a bombshell.
She accused a senior member of the party of making improper advances towards her.
One leader was heard saying that the complaint also merited investigation.
Forgery rewarded in sordid diplomacy
The story of a career diplomat accused of forging a document -- falsely proving his proficiency in French with a fake certificate from an institute in London -- was recorded in these columns early this year.
But there is an intriguing sequel to it. Although the External Affairs Ministry had plenty of evidence to interdict him, it stopped short of seeking criminal charges, which carry prison sentences for such offences under the penal code.
But the ministry initiated only an administrative/disciplinary inquiry. The official leniency shown to the officer concerned outraged other career diplomats who were trying to protect the image of their politically tarnished profession.
But an ex-ambassador, who returned to the ministry as additional secretary recently, has rewarded the rogue diplomat by not only bringing him back to the service but also anointing him as an assistant director under her spreading wings.
As a result, says one official source, there is a "lot of kala bala" (commotion) in the ministry. The ambassador herself has had a longstanding notoriety for sucking up to her bosses to win favours and get plum appointments overseas. The question now being asked is: what is the role of the External Affairs Minister in this sordid episode?
What did three-wheeler mayor do?
The UPFA Mayoral candidate Milinda Moragoda was campaigning in Colombo city when he ran into a crowd of three-wheeler drivers who had much to complain about. They were getting short-shrifted by traffic cops who were trying to clear roads of pavement hawkers and parked three-wheelers.
The three-wheler drivers said that they too had one of their tribe as Mayor of Colombo, but got no relief whatsoever from him. City rate-payers recall how the three-wheeler driver came to high office through fortutious circumstances, and no sooner he became His Worship the Mayor ordered for himself a brand new limousine for his travel. He not only kicked out his three-wheeler, but it seems, forgot his professional colleagues as well. "He did nothing for us" was the lament.
Shortly thereafter, Moragoda happened to visit the watte (garden) that the former Mayor inhabited - before he rose to high office. The place was full of squalor and no good it seems has come to the area despite the illustrious inhabitant of the area becoming Mayor. A wag was to say in the one-time Mayor's favour; "at least he cannot be accused of abuse of power to help his friends or relations".
Double stand on Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan
One of the biggest impediments to the conduct of Sri Lanka's foreign policy has been the remarks made by different ministers on different issues.
Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem and Petroleum Resources Minister Susil Premajayantha went to the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek. They were special envoys of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and were seeking that country's support for Sri Lanka during the current 18th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council.
Upon their return, Hakeem made a statement that Sri Lanka in turn would support Kyrgyzstan's efforts to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
The remarks embarrassed External Affairs Ministry officials in Colombo. The reason - the Sri Lanka government has written to Pakistan that it would extend its fullest support to that country to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Rudd says it's a UN report
The New York based Inner City Press has this to say about Australia's Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd.
"While Sri Lanka's government claims that the Panel of Experts report describing war crimes is "not a UN report," that is precisely what Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd called it Thursday night at the UN when Inner City Press asked him about the report.
"Rudd had been scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. about the Commonwealth. Notably, there is a move to oust Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth in light of war crimes. "But Rudd's stakeout was pushed back past 9 p.m, at which time he opened on wider themes. Inner City Press asked the first questions, about Palestine and the move in the Commonwealth to push for accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka.
"Rudd answered that members of the Commonwealth have been watching Sri Lanka over the last two years, "acutely aware of the report written by the UN," and of the government's Commission.
Rudd said that the Lessons Learnt report must deal with the "issues raised in the UN report." He said there will be many more conversations, that the key is the content of the Lesson Learnt report." Australia is in hot contest with Sri Lanka for the hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
 Wijesekera waits for wishes
One time Cabinet Minister, in both PA and UNP governments, Mahinda Wijesekera, who was injured in a Tiger guerrilla bomb attack in Weligama, had the misfortune of being misquoted in the UN Panel's report on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. The three-member panel concluded he was dead.
This week, Wijesekera was pleased that UNP General Secretary, Tissa Attanayake had telephoned him and wished him for his birthday. He complained to Attanayake that none of his ministerial or Parliamentary colleagues was now visiting him.
Attanayake paid a visit on the same day. Wijesekera asked him to pass the word around that his ministerial and Parliamentary colleagues were welcome to visit him.
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