Thank you, Ambassador Robert Blake...

Sathyam Commentary
15 October 2007

Thank you, Ambassador Robert Blake...

I acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to the reflections of Paul Coelho in an article entitled 'Thank You, President Bush' written in 2003, some four years ago. - Nadesan Satyendra

"..The Sri Lankan military has achieved important victories in the past year, including the defeat of the LTTE in the east and the sinking of many rebel tankers used to deliver military and other supplies to the Tamil Tigers. Such victories and US support for Sri Lanka should demonstrate to the LTTE that they cannot hope to win this conflict... To help relieve the suffering of the displaced, the US has donated food worth USD 14 million so far this year with another shipment valued at USD 9 million set to arrive in the island later this year... But both sides (government and LTTE) must realise there can be no military solution to Sri Lanka's conflict..." US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, at a luncheon meeting at the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo on13 October 2007

Thank you Ambassador Blake for reminding us of the important victories that the Sri Lanka military has achieved in the past year.

Thank you also for reminding us of the defeat of the LTTE in the East.

Vaharai - the Unfolding Misery

Thank you for your warning that 'such victories and US support for Sri Lanka should demonstrate to the LTTE that they cannot hope to win this conflict' - and thank you for reminding us of the might of the United States.

America, America, War Paar Ada!

Thank you for telling us of the support that the US has given and continues to give the murderous Sri Lanka regime of President Rajapakse - and in this way, reminding us of the support that US governments have given, from time to time to other murderous regimes including those of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, the Shah Pahlevi of Iran and Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua.

Shah
Iran

Batista
Cuba

Pinochet
Chile

Duvalier
Haiti

Somoza
Nicaragua

Thank you for reminding us of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's disarming remark "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."

Thank you also for not insulting the intelligence of your audience by repeating the claim of your predecessor, Ambassador Lunstead in 'United States' Role in Sri Lanka's Peace Process, 2002 - 2006' that the US has no interest in military bases in Sri Lanka.

Thank you for your open meeting with Comrade Wimal Weerawansa, of the JVP on 2 October 2007, and reminding us of the visit by Comrade Wimal Weerawansa to China in June this year.

Thank you for reminding us of the international dimensions of the conflict in the island of Sri Lanka, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region and China's "String of Pearls" strategy as foreign oil becomes a center of gravity critical to China's energy needs.

Thank you for informing the American Chamber of Commerce, at the luncheon meeting in Colombo that to help relieve the suffering of the displaced, 'the US has donated food worth USD 14 million so far this year with another shipment valued at USD 9 million set to arrive in the island later this year.'

Thank you for turning a blind eye to the intentions of the Sri Lankan State which has returned to the logic of Sinhala colonisation of the Tamil homeland.

Thank you, Ambassador Blake for reminding us of the power that flows through the barrel of the gun and allowing the people of Tamil Eelam to know what it feels like to be powerless and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform it.

Thank you, therefore, for not listening to us and not taking the moral legitimacy of the Tamil Eelam Struggle for freedom seriously but know that we are listening to you and that we will not forget your words.

And we will also not forget the words of the US Massachusetts House of Representatives in June 1981 calling for the 'Restoration of the Separate Sovereign State of Tamil Eelam' and calling for the public recognition of 'the right of self determination by the Tamil people of Tamil Eelam' - though you may have forgotten them.

Thank you for telling us that 'both sides (government and LTTE) must realise there can be no military solution to Sri Lanka's conflict' and thus reinforcing our own belief in the words of Sri Aurobindo in 1907 -

"A feeling or a thought, the aspiration towards liberty, cannot be estimated in the terms of concrete power, in so many fighting men, so many armed police, so many guns, so many prisons, such and such laws, ukases, and executive powers. But such feelings and thoughts are more powerful than fighting men and guns and prisons and laws and ukases. Their beginnings are feeble, their end is mighty. But of despotic repression the beginnings are mighty, the end is feeble..."

Thank you for reminding us that victory will not come by recourse to armed might (as Iraq illustrates) and that you may ban the LTTE but you cannot deny the nuclear energy of a people struggling for freedom from alien rule.

And as to when victory will come, thank you for your scarcely concealed concern that the words of wisdom in Mahatma Gandhi's Pledge of Resistance in Transvaal, Africa, 1906 may indeed stand the test of time -

'..If someone asks me when and how the struggle may end, I may say that, if the entire community manfully stands the test, the end will be near. If many of us fall back under storm and stress, the struggle will be prolonged. But I can boldly declare, and with certainty, that so long as there is even a handful of men true to their pledge, there can only be one end to the struggle, and that is victory...'

Thank you, Ambassador Blake, because without you we may not realise to the maximum our own potential to mobilise.

We would like to say to you with Marcus Aurelius (who said it some 1800 years ago) "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too." And, perhaps you may want to learn something about patriotism and the nobility of the struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam to be free from alien Sinhala rule from that which Swami Vivekananda said many years ago -

"...They talk of patriotism. I believe in patriotism, and I also have my own ideal of patriotism. Three things are necessary for great achievements... First, feel from the heart... This is the first step to become a patriot, the very first step. (Second) You may feel, then; but instead of spending your energies on frothy talk, have you found any way out, any practical solution, some help instead of condemnation...? (And Third) Yet, that is not all. Have you got the will to surmount mountain high obstructions. If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?... Have you got that steadfastness? If you have these three things, each one of you will make miracles..."

So, please do enjoy your luncheon meeting and whatever glory it may yet bring you. Thank you, again, Ambassador Robert Blake....