Jayantha Dhanapala
You wouldn't have guessed it from my lack of blogging about it, but there is a Sri Lankan at the 'forefront' of the hunt for the next UN Sec-Gen.
Betting men are putting him ahead of all the other candidates. He is certainly facing criticism. Some of which is unfounded, especially the criticism that 'he can't solve problems in his own country so how will he be able to solve global conflicts?'.
The Sri Lankan conflict is a particularly entrenched one. Unfortunately not all world issues are easy to solve, and no country is totally free of problems. Also, let's not forget that the LTTE is the third deadliest terrorist group in the world, and invented the suicide bomb. Quite formidable opposition that would make negotiation quite a tough ask. Also, under that logic we wouldn't even think of employing an American to the post, or any counter-terrorism post, simply due to the mess in Iraq.
Having said that, I am skeptical about Jayantha Dhanapala's chances. He is a UN insider at a time when the UN needs reform, and despite being the forerunning Asian candidate he won't have the backing of many Asian Countries: India and Pakistan will both be fielding their own candidates, and ASEAN will be backing a doomed Thai candidate.
Still him being Lankan has got to count for something. Sri Lanka has issues with itself but none with outsiders. It's a country that manages to simultaneously have military agreements with Israel AND openly support the PLO AND gets on well with both Pakistan and India (minus the Tamil part). In terms of a candidate who comes from a country that offends no one, he can't be beat.
Betting men are putting him ahead of all the other candidates. He is certainly facing criticism. Some of which is unfounded, especially the criticism that 'he can't solve problems in his own country so how will he be able to solve global conflicts?'.
The Sri Lankan conflict is a particularly entrenched one. Unfortunately not all world issues are easy to solve, and no country is totally free of problems. Also, let's not forget that the LTTE is the third deadliest terrorist group in the world, and invented the suicide bomb. Quite formidable opposition that would make negotiation quite a tough ask. Also, under that logic we wouldn't even think of employing an American to the post, or any counter-terrorism post, simply due to the mess in Iraq.
Having said that, I am skeptical about Jayantha Dhanapala's chances. He is a UN insider at a time when the UN needs reform, and despite being the forerunning Asian candidate he won't have the backing of many Asian Countries: India and Pakistan will both be fielding their own candidates, and ASEAN will be backing a doomed Thai candidate.
Still him being Lankan has got to count for something. Sri Lanka has issues with itself but none with outsiders. It's a country that manages to simultaneously have military agreements with Israel AND openly support the PLO AND gets on well with both Pakistan and India (minus the Tamil part). In terms of a candidate who comes from a country that offends no one, he can't be beat.
posted by Dileepa at 9:34 am
2 Comments:
Please do not misrepresent what we have said.
Dhanapala's candidacy is over. Fullstop. For an analysis of why, please see:
http://chapter15.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/shashis-impact-on-other-candidates/
Apologies for any confusion. By saying 'betting men' are giving him the odds, I was referring to your quote of Foreign Policy's odds (hence why I linked to it), not the opinion of your blog.
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