Is the JVP signalling left and turning right?

09 April 2024  |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | Since their visit to India at the invitation of the Indian government in February, leaders of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-led National People’s Power coalition have become the poster-boys and girls of a complicated Sri Lankan political landscape, in a pre-election period. The once-marginal parliamentary group’s leader is …

Big power brinkmanship and Sri Lanka’s elusive ship in the Red Sea

08 March 2024  |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | There appears to be confusion over diverse reports on the deployment of a Sri Lanka Navy ship in the Red Sea, to participate in a US-led military operation against Houthi ship attacks. President Ranil Wickemesinghe has remarked on this mission at various events, but it is still …

Emmanuel Macron déclare que le Sri Lanka et la France sont deux nations de l’océan Indien

05 octobre 2023  |  Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | La journaliste Lasanda Kurukulasuriya revient sur la visite d’Emmanuel Macron dans le Pacifique cet été. Une visite qui fait écho aux voyages de hauts responsables US dans la même région. L’intérêt des puissances occidentales pour le Sri Lanka et les petites îles du Pacifique ? Officiellement, elles veulent aider …

Emmanuel Macron says Sri Lanka and France are two Indian Ocean nations

11 September 2023   |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | French President Emmanuel Macron visited Colombo late July, after a tour of Pacific island states. From 24 – 28 July he visited New Caledonia, Vanuatu  and Papua New Guinea (PNG) – the first a French colony, the second a former possession. The French Embassy described Macron’s brief …

Why have Pacific and Indian Ocean islands suddenly become important?

31 August 2023  |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | Sri Lanka hosted two high profile visits 28-29 July, by France’s president and Japan’s foreign minister. For both, Colombo was but one stop in a larger itinerary. President Emmanuel Macron made a whistle stop in Colombo after  a Pacific tour of New Caledonia, Vanuatu  and Papua New …

Geopolitics dominates new phase in Indo-Sri Lanka relations

03 August 2023  | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe made his first visit to India for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 21 – a year to the day since he took office. His remarks ahead of his trip at an Indian CEO’s forum in Colombo, gave a …

Sri Lanka’s energy crisis and the geopolitics of Jaishankar, Nuland visits

16 February 2023  |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | Visits to Sri Lanka by two top foreign officials took place within a fortnight, recently. The optics of these tightly choreographed events may have obscured the nuts-and-bolts objectives sought by these big-powers who, as Quad members, are on the same page in their bid to counter China’s …

Sri Lanka president elaborates on the geopolitics of two oceans

02 October 2022 | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya In a recent speech at the National Defence College President Ranil Wickremesinghe made comments on the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean, some of which throw light on aspects of his approach to foreign policy - and others that point to some grey areas.  “The geopolitics of the Indian …

La tournée de Nuland en Asie du Sud et la stratégie Indo-Pacifique des Etats-Unis

05 Avril 2022  |  Par Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | Alors que les grandes puissances sont engagées dans un bras de fer herculéen qui se joue sur la scène mondiale avec l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, Victoria Nuland a effectué une brève visite au Sri Lanka. L’ancienne secrétaire adjointe aux Affaires européennes et eurasiennes a été …

Nuland tours South Asia amid Ukraine crisis to strengthen US security ties

02 April 2022  |  By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya  | The brief Colombo visit of US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland comes against a backdrop of a herculean power struggle between world powers, playing out on the world stage with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nuland, former Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, is seen …

Sri Lanka, Maldives in crosshairs of US proxy war in the Indian Ocean

03 April 2021 | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | Maldivian parliamentarians have been up in arms since the government’s signing of a defence agreement with India in February which, according to a leaked draft, permits Indian military presence.  It is reported that the majority (48 out of 51) of those demanding that the agreement be disclosed …

Secret US document reveals Sri Lanka’s ‘IndoPacific’ role

18 March 2021 | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | The launch in Colombo of a Trilateral Maritime Security Secretariat, for cooperation between Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives, merits closer scrutiny. This is on account of revelations contained in a newly declassified document from Washington, that could throw light on the provenance of the new entity. …

ECT, WCT and power sector – new theatre of big-power rivalry

17 February 2021 | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | The resolution of the East Container Terminal saga with a cabinet decision that the Sri Lanka Ports Authority would retain 100% ownership and control, was widely seen as a victory for nationalist forces in general and the port trade unions in particular. Events that followed however raise …

Foreign policy: Is ‘neutrality’ consistent with ‘India first?’

08 September 2020 | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | In several interviews after his recent appointment as Secretary to the Foreign Ministry, Adm. (Retd.) Jayanath Colombage has sought to explain the newly-elected government’s thinking on matters of foreign policy. In these media interactions it’s evident that he conveys the views of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The president …

Sri Lanka Easter bomb attacks and the role of Western intelligence agencies

17 June 2019  | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya | Speculation that Western intelligence agencies had a hand in the well-coordinated, precision-timed Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka arises from a number of sources and circumstances. Analysts are still trying to figure out how the little known group ‘National Thawheed Jamaath’ (NTJ) could have orchestrated such a …