Embassy Row

Global threat

The capital of Alaska might be more than 7,500 miles away from Sri Lanka, but the ambassador from the Indian Ocean nation warned foreign policy authorities in Juneau that terrorism similar to what is assaulting his country can spread to the shores of America’s northernmost state.

“One could well ask why people living half a world away … should be concerned about what has been described by the media as an ethnic conflict in a far-away island,” Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke told the Juneau World Affairs Council Forum over the weekend.

“Living in a global village as we do today, we are all too aware that what happens on one side of the world can create waves, not mere ripples, on the other side of the world.”

He cited the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, planned by Osama bin Laden while sheltered in Afghanistan. The destruction of the World Trade Center and assault on the Pentagon shocked Americans, but the effects also were “felt acutely in all parts of the world, leading practically to a global economic meltdown,” the ambassador said.

At that time, Sri Lanka already had suffered about 20 years of attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who pioneered such terrorist tactics as suicide bombings in their demand for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland. The United States branded the Tigers a terrorist organization in 1997, but most of the Western world ignored the threat to Sri Lanka until the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Goonetilleke said.

“During the early years of the conflict, Sri Lanka’s plea for help — a lone cry in the wilderness — was unheard by the world until the ferocity of terrorism reached the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “Undoubtedly 9/11 was the catalyst, opening the eyes of the Western world to the lethality of terrorism.”

The ambassador praised the United States for its “consistency and dogged determination to eradicate the influence” of foreign terrorist organizations from its borders.

Mr. Goonetilleke dismissed the Tigers’ claim of historic discrimination by the island’s Sinhalese majority, noting that most Tamils live in areas outside those controlled by the rebels and that the rebels have assassinated Tamil leaders who oppose their goals.

Today, nearly three decades of conflicts have cost tens of thousands of lives and continue to take a toll on daily life, although the island’s democracy remains stable, he said.

“The capacity of vulnerable states like Sri Lanka to withstand continuous terrorists onslaughts … is limited,” the ambassador added.

“When nations are constantly compelled to face this kind of situation for decades, … the loss of lives and property, the constant fear of terrorist attacks and self-imposed constraints damage the social fabric and deeply affect intrinsic human values, draining out the compassion and kindness inherent in all of us.”

Without the support of stronger nations, Mr. Goonetilleke warned, terrorism “will take a toll on democracy.”

View of Japan

As the cherry blossoms fade around the Tidal Basin in Washington, the Japanese Embassy concludes an annual survey of Americans to gauge their attitudes toward the nation that donated the delicate trees to the nation’s capital.

The surveys, conducted every year since 1960, show a remarkable consistency: More than 40 percent of Americans continue to view Japan as the most important U.S. ally in Asia, the embassy said in releasing its latest poll of 1,500 respondents.

Among foreign policy specialists, the rate is higher at 54 percent. Only 34 percent cited China as the most important U.S. partner in Asia, and 10 percent picked Russia.

Nearly half of those contacted in the survey, conducted between February and March, agreed that Japan should gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison @washingtontimes.com.