Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
Sri Lanka’s Millennium Challenge Compact and the US ‘Pivot to Asia’
By LasandaKurukulasuriya
During the run-up to Sri Lanka’s November presidential election there was widespread agitation against attempts to rush the signing of a compact with...
Big powers converge in Colombo during Lavrov’s visit
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
Jan. 23, 2020
It was an unusually busy week for the foreign ministry in Colombo earlier this month when there werevisits by Russian,...
Sri Lanka – Swiss embassy ‘abduction’ drama: An elaborate charade to...
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
December 8, 2019
A strange diplomatic drama has been playing out in Sri Lanka’s capital over the past couple of weeks. The Swiss...
Sri Lanka’s new ‘strongman’ president and the fears of the West
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
With ceremonies redolent with symbolism, followed by administrative moves that sentclear messages to the public, Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office as President of...
Sri Lankan presidential candidacy: Pyrrhic victory for key player
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
“Everything must change, so that everything can stay the same” is a much quoted line from Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s classic in political...
US military logistics hub in Sri Lanka: duplicity and doublespeak
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
While Sri Lankan politicians were distracted by apower struggle between the president and prime minister in December, the world’s superpower pulled off...
Indian Ocean geopolitics behind Western diplomatic behavior in Sri Lanka
Jan.9, 2019
By LasandaKurukulasuriya
Sri Lanka’s seven-week political impasse towards the end of last year, caused by a clash between the executive and legislature, was resolved...
Sri Lanka’s parliamentary crisis and Western ‘concern’ for democracy
Sri Lanka’s legislature has been in disarray since 26th Oct. when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked his prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, replacing him with his...
“Security cooperation” in the Indian Ocean: Does it make sense?
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriiya
International conferenceson maritime affairs in the Indian Ocean region have seen a spike in recent times. Sri Lanka has invariably figured in...
Sri Lanka in the cross-currents of shifting power alignments in the...
By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
The Indian Ocean has been the focus of frequent and intense diplomatic activity in the past few years. These interactions have had...