by Guy Dinmore, InterPress Service, April 17, 2023 KAYIN STATE, Myanmar, Apr 17 2023 (IPS) – Food is passed around a campfire, and a guitar strums as cool night air tumbles down mountain cliffs, relieving the jungle of its heat. A dozen or so young Myanmar activists – some having just travelled long distances evading military… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Analyzing Patterns of Violence in Colombia Using More than 100 Databases
by Valentina Rozo Ángel, Human Rights Data Analysis Group, California, US, September 20, 2022 In 2016, the Colombian Government and the guerrilla group “Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP)” arrived at a peace agreement, which included the creation of the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-repetition (Truth Commission;… Read more »
Canadian MP Gary Anandasangaree on IMF Bailout of Sri Lanka
by Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree, Ottawa, Canada, March 21, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/live/bVp5wnT83mo?feature=share On Parliament Hill, Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree discusses the International Monetary Fund’s bailout program for Sri Lanka to help bolster the country’s struggling economy. He is joined by Ahrabi Rajkumar (advocacy lead for People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka), Madura Rasaratnam (associate… Read more »
British Mercenary’s £4M Fortune Revealed
A former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left millions of pounds in his will. by Phil Miller, Declassified UK, March 14, 2023 One of Britain’s most rapacious mercenaries amassed a fortune worth £4m before his death in 2008, an investigation by Declassified UK has found. The soldier… Read more »
Civil Society: Stop Intimidating the Judiciary
by Civil Society in Colombo, March 202, 2023 Stop Intimidating Judiciary by Civil Society March 20 2023
Sinhala-Buddhism & The Nation State Of Sri Lanka
by Lucian Arulpragasam, Colombo Telegraph, March 15, 2023 Lucian Arulpragasam Our Genetic Commonalities It has been proved by DNA studies conducted by Professor Kamani Thennekoon and others (cited in her article dated Feb. 2019 in The Island) that: “Most DNA studies comparing both the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils show no large genetic difference, suggesting that both populations… Read more »
IMF Approves Sri Lanka’s $2.9bn Bailout
by Agence-France Press in The Guardian, UK, March 20, 2023 President vows to get economy back on track through ‘prudent fiscal management and ambitious reform agenda’ The International Monetary Fund has approved Sri Lanka’s request for a $2.9bn bailout, raising hopes for an easing of its economic crisis. The IMF’s board confirmed it had signed… Read more »
The Politics Behind the CIA Controversy in Sri Lanka
by A. Jathindra, Eurasia Review, USA, March 16, 2023 Blaming foreign conspiracies engineered by the CIA, RAW and MI6 is commonplace in local politics. The nationalists in the Sinhala and Tamil camps invoke this trite trick when they find themselves with something of a hot potato. On Feb 22, former SLPP mouthpiece and leader of… Read more »
The Elusive Political Solution in Sri Lanka
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, India, March 9, 2023, undated March 10 Early February, a group of saffron-clad Buddhist monks gathered near the Sri Lankan Parliament and burnt a copy of the 13th Amendment. They were registering their rage and protest after President Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to implement the law in full. He had… Read more »
HCHR on Sri Lanka
by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, March 7, 2023 Global update: High Commissioner outlines concerns in over 40 countries In Sri Lanka, debilitating debt, and economic crisis, have sharply restricted people’s access to fundamental economic and social rights. Recovery policies will need to redress inequalities, and invest in social… Read more »
A Soldier’s Dream
by A. Nillanthan, March 4, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with some improvement by the Editor.] The soldier said on the last day that Buddha had appeared in a dream to him in a army camp in Nilavara on the island of Sri Lanka. As Rauf Hakeem once said, the statues… Read more »
It’s Time to Rethink the Idea of the “Indigenous”
by Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, February 20, 2023 Many groups who identify as Indigenous don’t claim to be first peoples; many who did come first don’t claim to be Indigenous. Can the concept escape its colonial past? The term was shaped by social-evolutionist thinking; white settlers used it to designate the “primitive” other. Podcast… Read more »
Elite Capture and Corruption of Security Sectors
by United States Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, February 17, 2023 Executive Summary Closing the Effectiveness Gap The objective of US security sector assistance is to help build effective, accountable, responsive, transparent, and legitimate security sectors in partner nations to address common security risks. Such action ultimately benefits US national interests, as when the United… Read more »
No Power Cuts and No Elections?
by A, Nillanthan, February 25, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with some improvement by the Editor.] The power cuts have been stopped since the 16th, but the electricity bill has increased by 66 percent. What does the government want to convey to the people through this? Stopping power cuts means you… Read more »
Essense of Entrepreneurship
by Raj Rajaratnam, Jaffna, January 14, 2023
Sri Lanka’s Duplicity on Promises to India
by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam via EINPresswire, New York, January 26, 2023 “History Repeats Itself First as a Tragedy, then as a Farce”. “Indo-Lanka Accord and Implementation of the 36 years old 13th Amendment.” Indo-Lanka Accord Gives India the Legal Authority to Intervene.” — V. Rudrakumaran NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, January 26, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/… Read more »
India’s Timely Help Ensured Sri Lanka’s Economic Survival during Crisis
:Sri Lankan envoy Moragoda by Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu, Chennai, January 26, 2023 India’s support to Sri Lanka during its economic crisis, that External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar underlined during his visit to Colombo last week has opened a new chapter in ties between the neighbours, says Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda…. Read more »
Reviving the Northern Economy in Sri Lanka
Speech made by Dr. Indrajit Coomarasamy Colombo, January 21, 2023 [Speech in English with an introduction in Tamil]
Thirteen Again?
by A. Nillanthan, Uthayan, Jaffna, January 29, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with some improvement by the Editor.] “This will not divide the country. According to the decision of the five-judge panel, especially regarding the 13th amendment, we are in a unitary state. I agree with power sharing. The provincial councils… Read more »
UPR Report on Sri Lanka
by UNHRC Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, February 1, 2023. Report presented to 53rd session of UNHRC, June 2023 G2303666.pdf (un.org) Video of Sri Lanka’s review, February 1, 2023 – Sri Lanka Review – 42nd Session of Universal Periodic Review | UN Web TV Video of adoption of the UPR report February 3,… Read more »