by UNICEF; originally published February 24, 2004 SECURITY COUNCIL: Plight of Children in Armed Conflict Reaches Watershed Stage [press release] [NEW YORK, 20 January 2004] – The battle to uphold the rights and well-being of children exposed to armed conflict “has reached a watershed moment,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the issue told the Security Council today…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: International
The People’s Sovereignty
by George Soros; Foreign Policy, New York, January/February 2004 The People’s Sovereignty How a new twist on an old idea can protect the world’s most vulnerable populations George Soros is a financier and philanthropist. Sovereignty is an anachronistic concept originating in bygone times when society consisted of rulers and subjects, not citizens. It became the cornerstone… Read more »
Open Letter to US Secretary of State
by Appuacci; originally published February 5, 2004 Dear Mr. Secretary, Today is February 4, 2004; the day Britain handed over the reins of government to the people of Sri Lanka (the former Ceylon). Lord Soulbury, in a Foreword to the book A Divided Nation by B. H. Farmer, showed his bitter disappointment at the direction Ceylon took during… Read more »
Is She Truly Sovereign?
by Taraki; Daily Mirror, Colombo, originally published February 4, 2004 Sri Lanka is not a sovereign state. Firstly it does not enjoy sovereignty over its external affairs. Secondly, it cannot exercise its sovereignty over the full extent of territory over which it claims a sovereign right. Thirdly, a section of the people in whom, according to… Read more »
Britain Puts UN Child Soldier Plan on Hold
by Reuters; London, February 1, 2004 UNITED NATIONS: Britain, angered that Northern Ireland appears on a UN list of countries where youths are recruited as soldiers in “armed conflicts,” has put on hold UN plans to crack down on the use of child warriors, diplomats said on Wednesday. Britain has asked Olara Otunnu, the UN special… Read more »
A Reply to ‘India’s Interest in a JVP Sri Lanka’
by Arvalan; originally published January 28, 2004 “Falling in love is awfully simple. Falling out of love is simply awful” This is a response to “India’s interest in a JVP Sri Lanka” contributed by Thileelar in the Sangam website on the 22nd January 2004. With all due respect to him, I find Mr. Thileelar’s article contains… Read more »
Judge Voids Part of Anti-Terror Act
by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, January 26, 2004 Citing Free Speech, Judge Voids Part of Antiterror Act WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 — For the first time, a federal judge has struck down part of the sweeping antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, joining other courts that have challenged integral parts of the Bush… Read more »
Caste in Transition
by V. G. Julie Rajan; Hinduism Today, Hawaii, April/May/June 2003 issue http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2003/4-6/30-35_caste.shtml Caste in Transition Education, economics and protest drive changes and reform to India’s ancient societal divisions Caste is not a pleasant topic for Hindus, and in the international arena today, it has elicited a shame upon the Hindu religion. I have written this article… Read more »
India’s Interest in a JVP Sri Lanka
by Thileelar; originally published January 22, 2004 While there have been many articles written about the military importance of Srilanka to India, many have overlooked the role of Srilanka in India’s long term economic vision. It is obvious that India has been aspiring to be an economic powerhouse and seeks to organize the south Asian countries… Read more »
An Indian Takeover of Sri Lanka?
by Wakeley Paul; originally published January 22, 2004 While both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan President are claiming friendship with the Indian government, it is obvious that the Indian government is playing up to the President rather than the LTTE. The Indian government has declined the invitation to be part of the aid donor group… Read more »
Still Time Left to Revive Peace
by Rajkumar Sivapatham (UK); TamilCanadian, published January 20, 2004 Sri Lankan Peace – There is still some time left to revive In view of the events that are happening fast in Sri Lanka, it is important to assess them and have a clear understanding of the situation. I am sure the Sri Lankan Tamils inside and… Read more »
Think, India, Think
by Sebsan; Melbourne’s 3CR Tamil Voice, December 22, 2003. The Tamil version is published in www.tamilnaatham.com Sri Lanka is going through political turmoil caused by a constitutional crisis, whilst the Indian political arena is also tensed at the moment. The ruling BJP has achieved unexpected victories in the recently held state elections. At the same… Read more »
Professor Nagl’s War
by Peter Maass; The New York Times, January 11, 2004 Maj. John Nagl approaches war pragmatically and philosophically, as a soldier and a scholar. He graduated close to the top of his West Point class in 1988 and was selected as a Rhodes scholar. He studied international relations at Oxford for two years, then returned to… Read more »
Global Myths and Realities
by Wakeley Paul; originally published January 11, 2004 GLOBAL MYTHS AND REALITIES AMERICA¹S APPROACHPresident Bush, on his recent visit to London made a rather presumptuous statement at the Royal Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace when he said. “Your nation and mine in the past have been willing to tolerate oppression for the sake of stability……Now we… Read more »
Review of ‘Elusive Mind’
by Shan Ranjit; from Circle Digest, Tuesday, December 30 2003, Volume 2001 : Number 3311 INSIDE AN ELUSIVE MIND ; BOOK REVIEW OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE The latest book by Narayan Swamy (henceforth referred to as NS) on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its chief, Vellupillai Pirabakaran is a disappointment. I would… Read more »
US Presidential election 2004
Received from a Sangam member: I encourage Sangam members to get involved in the US 2004 presidential elections. I think now is a good time throw our support behind a candidate and engage our community to get involved locally around US. The relationships we build now with local supporters and party officials can help us… Read more »
Indonesia’s Secret War
by New York Times editorial; January 3, 2004 Do the tactics of Indonesia in Aceh sound quite familiar to Sri Lankan Tamils? In fact, where did the Indonesians learn from? We wonder why the Times is concerned about these tactics in Aceh, but had no concern for the NorthEast. Must have something to do with oil…!… Read more »
Aiding the Devil
by Saravanan Suresh Kumar, Bangalore; published January 3, 2004 By providing military aid to Sri Lanka, India is weakening further the current troubled peace process. We still seem to have not realized that the Sri Lankan problem is not one that can be solved militarily. We are creating new problems and not solving the existing one…. Read more »
Federal Solutions Amidst Chaos
by Dr. Robert C. Oberst; Daily Mirror, Colombo, December 19, 2003 Federal solutions amidst government chaos in Lanka Over the last 20 years, neither side in the Sri Lankan civil war has shown a willingness to negotiate the conflict with the other side. Until Norwegian mediation, there were few direct meetings between the two sides and… Read more »
Asian Balance & the Subcontinent
by C. Raja Mohan; The Hindu, December 18, 2003 Note from the person who kindly brought this article to our attention: Singapore journalist/academic Cherian George (born and bred Singaporean keralite)wrote an article a few years back titled “Replacing British Empire [in India] with an East Asian Empire.” In my view it can happen with the help… Read more »