Another U.S. Base In The Indian Ocean?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Source:
http://www.sibernews.com/news/news-feature/-200703137651/
India, from a long-term perspective, has every reason to be concerned about the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between the U.S. and Sri Lanka. THE TEN-YEAR Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) signed by the United States and Sri Lanka on March 5, which provides for among other things logistics supplies and re-fuelling facilities, has major ramifications for the region, particularly India.
However, New Delhi's silence on the development is a reflection of the changed geo-political environment in the post-Cold War era with the emergence of the U.S. as the sole superpower. The new dynamics in India-U.S. ties could be another reason for South Block's silence.
For all the sophistry and spin by the Americans, the ACSA is a military deal and, on the face of it, is loaded in Washington's favour. For the U.S., it is as good as acquiring a base in the Indian Ocean and at little or no cost. In the immediate context, the ACSA suits the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime as an advertisement of its influence with the superpower in general and in its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in particular.
Just a few years ago, such an agreement would have been inconceivable given the sensitivities of India in view of the geographical proximity of Sri Lanka. For example, the grant of permission by Colombo to Voice of America to establish its transmitter in the island and the leasing of oil tanks in Trincomalee port to pro-American firms were major bones of contention between India and Sri Lanka for decades.
Both the subjects were covered elaborately in the exchange of letters between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka's President J.R. Jayawardene as part of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The key element in the letters was the agreement that given "the importance of nurturing this traditional friendship, it is imperative that both Sri Lanka and India reaffirm the decision not to allow our respective territories to be used for activities prejudicial to each other's unity, territorial integrity and security."
The provisions of the ACSA cannot be described as being detrimental to New Delhi's interests in the current phase of its relations with Washington.
However, in a possible new context India has every reason to be concerned about the pact. A brief summary of the nature of the agreement will illustrate this.
Sri Lanka is the 90th country to sign an ACSA with the U.S.; Washington had been keen on such an agreement for years. The fact it took so long for Colombo to join the ACSA club is illuminating. The agreement provides a framework for increased inter-operability to transfer and exchange logistics supplies, and support and re-fuelling services during peacekeeping missions, humanitarian operations, and joint exercises.
The U.S. is engaged in these operations in different parts of the globe. Sri Lanka, a nation of 20 million saddled with an ethnic conflict, does not have the capabilities or infrastructure for such ventures even if it desired. The definition of some of the operations under the ASCA could be politically tricky. Iraq and Afghanistan are a case in point. Are the U.S. and its allies engaged in peacekeeping operations or waging a war in Iraq and Afghanistan? The answer will depend on who is posing the question to whom.
The categories of allowable goods and services include food, petroleum, and transportation. Of course, the provision of weapons systems or ammunition is expressly prohibited under the agreement. There are examples galore where food and fuel have been used as weapons. Indeed, there are safeguards in the pact that logistics support allowed under it cannot be transferred beyond the forces of the receiving party without consent of the providing party. And all transactions must be mutually agreed upon before any transfer is made.
However, is a foolproof mechanism possible to ensure compliance in letter and spirit of such accords particularly for smaller countries in dealing with a superpower?
Curiously, the signatory to the document from the Sri Lankan side was Gothabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary and brother of the President. The American side was represented by its envoy in Colombo, Robert Blake. The ACSA comes under the Pentagon's jurisdiction. Though the signing ceremony took place in Colombo, the Sri Lankan regime did not deem it necessary to issue any statement on the subject. The Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Information merrily circulated the press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo on the deal.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Source:
http://www.sibernews.com/news/news-feature/-200703137651/
India, from a long-term perspective, has every reason to be concerned about the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between the U.S. and Sri Lanka. THE TEN-YEAR Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) signed by the United States and Sri Lanka on March 5, which provides for among other things logistics supplies and re-fuelling facilities, has major ramifications for the region, particularly India.
However, New Delhi's silence on the development is a reflection of the changed geo-political environment in the post-Cold War era with the emergence of the U.S. as the sole superpower. The new dynamics in India-U.S. ties could be another reason for South Block's silence.
For all the sophistry and spin by the Americans, the ACSA is a military deal and, on the face of it, is loaded in Washington's favour. For the U.S., it is as good as acquiring a base in the Indian Ocean and at little or no cost. In the immediate context, the ACSA suits the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime as an advertisement of its influence with the superpower in general and in its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in particular.
Just a few years ago, such an agreement would have been inconceivable given the sensitivities of India in view of the geographical proximity of Sri Lanka. For example, the grant of permission by Colombo to Voice of America to establish its transmitter in the island and the leasing of oil tanks in Trincomalee port to pro-American firms were major bones of contention between India and Sri Lanka for decades.
Both the subjects were covered elaborately in the exchange of letters between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka's President J.R. Jayawardene as part of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The key element in the letters was the agreement that given "the importance of nurturing this traditional friendship, it is imperative that both Sri Lanka and India reaffirm the decision not to allow our respective territories to be used for activities prejudicial to each other's unity, territorial integrity and security."
The provisions of the ACSA cannot be described as being detrimental to New Delhi's interests in the current phase of its relations with Washington.
However, in a possible new context India has every reason to be concerned about the pact. A brief summary of the nature of the agreement will illustrate this.
Sri Lanka is the 90th country to sign an ACSA with the U.S.; Washington had been keen on such an agreement for years. The fact it took so long for Colombo to join the ACSA club is illuminating. The agreement provides a framework for increased inter-operability to transfer and exchange logistics supplies, and support and re-fuelling services during peacekeeping missions, humanitarian operations, and joint exercises.
The U.S. is engaged in these operations in different parts of the globe. Sri Lanka, a nation of 20 million saddled with an ethnic conflict, does not have the capabilities or infrastructure for such ventures even if it desired. The definition of some of the operations under the ASCA could be politically tricky. Iraq and Afghanistan are a case in point. Are the U.S. and its allies engaged in peacekeeping operations or waging a war in Iraq and Afghanistan? The answer will depend on who is posing the question to whom.
The categories of allowable goods and services include food, petroleum, and transportation. Of course, the provision of weapons systems or ammunition is expressly prohibited under the agreement. There are examples galore where food and fuel have been used as weapons. Indeed, there are safeguards in the pact that logistics support allowed under it cannot be transferred beyond the forces of the receiving party without consent of the providing party. And all transactions must be mutually agreed upon before any transfer is made.
However, is a foolproof mechanism possible to ensure compliance in letter and spirit of such accords particularly for smaller countries in dealing with a superpower?
Curiously, the signatory to the document from the Sri Lankan side was Gothabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary and brother of the President. The American side was represented by its envoy in Colombo, Robert Blake. The ACSA comes under the Pentagon's jurisdiction. Though the signing ceremony took place in Colombo, the Sri Lankan regime did not deem it necessary to issue any statement on the subject. The Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Information merrily circulated the press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo on the deal.
1 comment:
The regime in Washington has become like an evil octopus, it's disgusting detested war-profiteering drug-trafficking blood-thirsty tentacles reaching into more than 90 countries of this long-suffering planet.
Did the PEOPLE of Sri Lanka have ANY say in this so-called ASCA agreement?
ANSWER: No.
It is once again an unpopular regime, this time in Sri Lanka, surrounding itself by a thin vaneer of democracy -- and diplomatically, financially, militarily supplied by the drug-trafficking CIA (Cocaine In America-Cocaine Importing Agency), the Pentagoons, the State Department, and the Dept. of Defense -- making deals with the biggest bloodiest nastiest terrorist regime on the planet.
This is once again an example of how so-called "parliamentary democracy", and so-called "parliamentarians" in general, have proved to be a typical Western-style FIASCO, expamples extraoridnaires of tyical bamboozling and hood-winking going on. Democracy, huh? Parliamentarians are "political mafia" and parliaments all over the world have become nothing more than "sewers of corruption", as the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, recently wisely observed. This is the great democracy AmeriKKKa wants to enforce, empower, expand, and promote around the world? The so-called AmeriKKKan-style "democracy" is nothing more than typical cleptocracy, plutocracy, oligarchy, "sewers of corruption", mafia-style politics, lies, deceit, and BS associated these days with the AmeriKKKan so-called civilisation.
First of all, it is time to make parliamentarians pay with their very lives IF they are suspected, charged, arrested, imprisoned, and convicted of SELLING OUT out the INTERESTS of the PUBLIC and the NATION to FOREIGNERS and FOREIGN corporations and FOREIGN militaries.
I strongly recommend the merciless and brutal hunting down and properly disposing of any parliamentarian pig in any country of the world who engages in such treasonous actitvities as to sell out the interests of the citizens/public/nation.
A citizens' disciplinary committee must be established to investigate any and all parliamentarians, and the activities of parliamentarians of all political stripes, who engage in such treasonous activities as hob-knobbing with multi-natonal corporatations and foreign governments and foreign militaries.
Parliamentarians and parliaments everywhere MUST be made to understand that REAL POWER does NOT reside in the police or the armies or the armed thugs who protect these parliamentarian PIGS, that REAL POWER does NOT reside in parliaments or in the hands of parliamentarians: REAL POWER resides in the hands of the PEOPLE. Parliamentarians must find out the hard way, if necesary, that they can KISS OUR ASSES before an election, but they will NEVER be allowed to KICK OUR ASSES after an election. In fact, annual elections MUST be imposed, no matter what the monetary cost of each election is, because you can NOT put a price on real true democracy.
Finally, I strongly recommend that it is HIGH time for taking whatever measures (usign whatever weapons necessary) to mercielssly and brutally CUT OFF these tentacles of the evil octopus. No matter what the cost. And no matter what the consequences. A "courdon sanitaire" MUST be established around AmeriKKKa so that it never again poses a threat to anybody except its own unfortunate and misguided population.
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