In the Battlefield by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 17, 2004 After the posting of my review of the Sooriya Puthalvargal 2003 Memorial Souvenir in the Sangam website [June 23, 2004], I received two appreciatory emails for the details I had provided on Black Tigers. One was from American academic Dr. Robert Pape, Associate Professor in Political Science,… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Military
Building Peace on Shifting Sands!
By V Gunaratnam, July 11, 2004 Try building peace on shifting sands. That’s what the Tamils and the LTTE are being asked to do with the Sri Lanka government. Ranil Wicremesinghe laid the groundwork for the peace process, and things were taking shape for negotiations to start on the ISGA when Chandrika Kumaratunga took power… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Covert Military Activities in Maddakalappu
by R. Shan Former Maddakalapu –Amparai LTTE women wing leader Nilavini went to Colombo with Karuna, escaped and rejoined LTTE in Maddakalapu. Speaking to the BBC Tamil service on Sunday( 20/6/04) she said: “Initially we were all together in Colombo under Sri Lanka n Army(SLA). Later Karuna moved to a separate place.” She and four… Read more »
A Review of the ‘Sooriya Puthalvargal’ 2003 Memorial Souvenir
Homage to the Black Tigers by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 23, 2004 LTTE leader Pirabhakaran has been assigned the [un]flattering accolade as one of the ‘pioneers’ of suicide bombing warfare, by his adversaries and quite a few academic turkeys. In my opinion, quasi scholars like Rohan Gunaratna or, for that matter, Yoram Schweitzer [currently affiliated… Read more »
Kumaratunga Prepares to Unleash the Sinhala Army
THE ACTION GROUP OF TAMILS (TAGOT) Kotte, Sri Lanka Email: tagots /A_T/ hotmail /D_O_T/ com”>tagots /A_T/ hotmail /D_O_T/ com PRESS RELEASE 15 June 2004 Kumaratunga prepares to unleash the Sinhala army The current political developments and war preparations in Colombo flow naturally and logically from the Sinhala President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s unparalleled anti-Tamil jingoism during her first… Read more »
Karuna Facing Defector’s Dilemma
by Sachi Sri Kantha; published June 3, 2004 There are two books adjacently placed in my study, since their titles share an affinity. The first is ‘The Oldest Profession – A History of Prostitution’ (1993 print) of an English translation of a German language original by Lujo Bassermann. The second is, ‘The Second Oldest Profession – Spies… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Killings Unite Tamils
by T. Sabaratnam; published June 2, 2004 Weekly Review Killings Unites Tamils; India’s Policy Changes The foul Murder Iyathurai Nadesan is dead. The cause he espoused, Tamil Nationalism, has received fresh vigour. The entire northeast ground to a halt in unity today (Wednesday); not merely to mourn the death of a 49 year-old Tamil journalist who… Read more »
Thinking the Unthinkable
by V. Gunaratnam; published May 10, 2004 Power to change Power springs from the people, not a piece of paper that is a country’s constitution. When power becomes an instrument of oppression by the tyranny of the majority, as against the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the need for justice empowers those oppressed to seek such remedies… Read more »
ANZAC Day and the Eelam Tamil
by Sabesan (Melbourne); TamilNaatham, April 26, 2004 ANZAC Day and the Eelam Tamil“Anzac Day mirrors the soul of our nation, And shows the price it was willing to pay, To secure our freedom, knowing if it was lost, That soul would sicken, and would wither away” (Bernard Sprunt) ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably… Read more »
Power, Terror, Peace, and War
Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at RiskSpeaker: Walter Russell Mead, senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy, Council on Foreign Relations; author, Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at RiskPresider: John Parker, Washington, D.C., bureau chief, The Economist Council on Foreign Relations Washington, D.C. Tuesday, April 20,… Read more »
Foreign Intervention, Part 2
by Neville Jayaweera; The Sunday Island, Colombo, February 22, 2004 Foreign intervention and Sri Lanka’s changing fortunes Part 2The coming crisis by Nostradamus Part 1 We have seen that for securing the interests, primarily of the US and partly of India and Japan, intervention in Sri Lanka is an imperative. Already, the US’s frenetic interest… Read more »
Straw Man
Tamil Guardian editorial; London, April 15, 2004 Straw Man: Karuna’s revolt was overstated and its defeat welcome When the LTTE’s then Special Commander for the Batticaloa-Ampara district declared in early March that he was splitting from the movement and establishing a separate administration in the eastern region, the development was described as the movement’s most… Read more »
Sri Lanka Scene: Revolt Strengthens Pirapaharan
by T. Sabaratnam; Colombo, April 13, 2004 Weekly Review Revolt Strengthens Pirapaharan Fled in a Hurry Karuna’s revolt is now history. It collapsed abruptly. Karuna fled Sunday night in a hurry with a group of about 15 of his confidantes and bodyguards. They escaped in two vehicles. They fled towards the Tharavai-Kudumbimalai region in the Thoppigala… Read more »
SWOT Analysis
by R Shanmugananthan; published April 14, 2004 It was a swift operation commencing Friday. By Monday it was all over. It took only three days to retake the entire liberated lands in Maddu-Amparai. In these three days an area comprising many thousand kilometres have changed hands with minimal disruption to civilian life. Once again the LTTE… Read more »
TNA MPs Pushed Around by SLA
by Surinamala; The Sunday Leader, Colombo, April 10, 2004 PM stakes and the war setting http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20040411/politics.htm ..[T]he events last week could well lead to a situation of a severe backlash from the LTTE given the conduct of the President and the security forces over the five TNA MPs from the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts considered loyal… Read more »
Vanni Trip, Section V, Part I
by K. Mylvaganam; Tamil Circle, published April 13, 2004 We are back in the wilderness of concrete blocks and polluted air from the heavenly atmosphere of Vanni. We had a wonderful time with our people there. The place we put up our house is surrounded with hundreds of our boys and girls from the LTTE. They… Read more »
‘Another Fine Job, Well Done’
by Rajkumar Sivapatham; published April 13, 2004 As the new year is born, the situation in the eastern Sri Lanka has changed upside down. The so-called Karuna crisis is effectively over now, as predicted by the people who know the inside out of the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka. However, for the past 5 weeks or… Read more »
Life After Former Col. Karuna
by The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT); Kotte, Sri Lanka, March 19, 2004 The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT) Kotte, Sri Lanka Email: tagotsl /A_T/ hotmail /D_O_T/ com PRESS RELEASE 19 March 2004 LIFE AFTER FORMER COL. KARUNA The Reaction in the Sinhala south to Karuna’s exit from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is varied…. Read more »
Pandora’s Box
by V. Gunaratnam; published March 29, 2004 On the Brink As Sri Lanka stands on the brink of plunging into the murky waters of post-election politics, a veritable Pandora’s box full of political imponderables awaits the Tamils – a Tiger revolt, JVP shenanigans, Buddhist clergy in politics, and a powerful new political alliance. All hell will… Read more »
Terrorism Refined & Distinguished
by Wakeley Paul; published March 29, 2004 Those described by their enemies as ‘Terrorists’ who are engaged in a struggle for Independence from foreign domination, have often wound up as international heroes. Some obvious examples are Jomo Kenyata who defied the British in Kenya, Nelson Mandela who suffered imprisonment and humiliation at the hands of the… Read more »