April 8, 2020 · 8:11 pm

Embracing the LTTE Strategy in 2008/09: Norway, USA, UK, France and the Human Rights Conglomerate as Complicit Tiger Allies

 Michael Roberts

 In his wide-ranging autobiographical tale of his numerous engagements in Sri Lanka and for Sri Lanka Michael Lord Naseby has condemned the LTTE for its deployment of so many Tamil civilians as a “human shield” and “bargaining counter” during the last stages of Eelam War IV in 2008/09. Let me, here, endorse the criticism and encompass the Western nations of Norway, USA, Britain and France as well as the Secretariat of the UN under Ban Ki-Moon for becoming de facto partners in this Tiger programme; while noting that several human rights agencies in the West and a few in Sri Lanka became accessories in this high level hostage enterprise.[1]

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April 8, 2020 · 12:39 pm

The Legal Contradictions behind Sunil Rathnayake’s Pardon

Neville Ladduwahetty, in The Island, 8 April 2020, where the title reads “Pardoning of former Corporal Sunil Rathnayake”

It is reported that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has granted a pardon to former Corporal Sunil Rathnayake, who was convicted of murder, unlawful assembly and common intent by a Trial-at-Bar in 2015. On appeal, the judgment was upheld by a five Judge Bench of the Supreme Court. There is considerable reaction from the public both nationally and internationally for the decision taken by the President. As part of this reaction the Human Rights Commissioner of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has written to the President, expressing ‘deep concern’ about the pardon granted in view of the seriousness of the crime committed. Having expressed concern, the HRCSL has gone on to state that while death sentence is mandatory for murder, they “would have been in agreement” had the President “commuted the death sentence to long term imprisonment given the serious nature of the offence”.

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April 8, 2020 · 5:10 am

Rescuing the Tigers in 2009: KP, Norway and the West

It is unclear whether this item is from today in 2020 in the Daily Mirror online …. or …. from 23rd November 2012

TITLE = “LTTE Leader thwarted Oslo’s Moves for a Ceasefire in 2009”

By D.B.S. JEYARAJ
Q: The recent media exposure about an internal report compiled by the UN regarding its role and conduct in Sri Lanka has focused much attention on the final phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. You also made several observations in this respect when I interviewed you in detail in 2010 for the “Daily Mirror”. In view of the media spotlight on this issue I am thinking of focusing on it again to clarify certain matters. Shall we re-visit those past events again?
Yes. I am also seeing a lot of interest in the subject again. Old things are being dug up again. As usual some facts are being suppressed or distorted by interested people. I am ready to talk about whatever I know in this so that some aspects of the truth are made known.

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April 7, 2020 · 5:14 am

Wuhan: Its Life-World in Video Scale

Absorb. Reflect.

Address One’s Prejudices.

 

Discard Sinophobia and ‘Trumpism’.

But .… also Meditate on Urbanism and Its Modalities of ‘Skyscraper Isolation’ [my little thought re high-rise individuation and self-centredness]

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April 6, 2020 · 2:30 pm

Comprehending Covid 19 Comprehensively

Romeo F. Quijano, M.D., 3 April 2020, whose chosen title is “Origin of COVID-19: Ecological, Historical and Geopolitical Perspective”

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that is threatening modern civilization today is a disaster that was bound to happen mainly because of human folly. This is an inevitable consequence of the dominance of a neo-liberal, national security state doctrine with a military-industrial complex pushing for perpetual war and corporate globalization. This has devastated entire ecosystems, distorted medical science and dis-empowered communities.

A computer generated representation of COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2). Credit: Felipe Esquivel Reed/Wikimedia Commons

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April 6, 2020 · 6:53 am

Covid Knowledge in California

Dr Deepthi Jayasekara, April 05, 2020in  essay entitled “COVID 19-What we know now” **

The phase 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic is over and we are in phase 2 now. Phase one dealt with preparedness for the crisis which was defined in terms of health and economic consequences.  Phase 2 is the reality check in the midst of actual crisis where COVID 19 is sweeping across the globe. The pandemic is unfortunately crushing dreams, lives and businesses in every country. This is crunch time for most of us except the southern hemisphere which is anxiously waiting for their winter in the months to come. Some countries are more impacted than others based on the level of preparedness to the pandemic and also because of logistic reasons. The testing for the virus is carried out or not carried out due to varying reasons per guidelines set forth by their countries. Unfortunately, the denominator for each country based on number of tests done will determine the real case fatality in the end. The final analysis of these figures will surface only after post-pandemic epidemiological studies.

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April 5, 2020 · 2:14 pm

Sunil Rathnayake’s Amnesty: Details and Context

C. A. Chandraprema, in Sunday Island, 5th March 2020, where the title is “Sunil Ratnayake: Politics of a presidential pardon”

A veritable caterwaul of protest has erupted from local and international NGO quarters over the presidential pardon extended to a former soldier Sunil Ratnayake, who had been convicted and sentenced to death over an incident, in 2000, when eight Tamil persons including a five-year-old child were killed in Mirusuvil in Jaffna. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, in a statement, that the release of this individual was an affront to the victims who lost their lives in that incident. An Al Jazeera report on this matter explained that Sunil Ratnayake had been sentenced to death for ‘slitting the throats’ of Tamil civilians including four children. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, and the International Commission of Jurists have also condemned the release of this convict. Furthermore, 22 foreign funded NGOs in Sri Lanka have issued a statement saying, among other things, that the President has given his blessing to a ‘cold-blooded killer’.

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April 5, 2020 · 1:46 pm

Facing Coronavid: Gota’s Middling Performance

Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 5 April 2020, whose chosen title is “Empower the President to manage COVID-19″


A sizable percentage, if not the majority of the country’s intelligentsia, opposed Gotabaya Rajapaksa‘s candidacy for the Presidency. The former Secretary Defense and, subsequently, also for Urban Development, acquired a reputation between 2005 and 2015. ‘Strongman’ and ‘Dictator’ were some of his uncomplimentary nicknames. Some tried to prevent him from contesting the Presidential election on the basis; he had yet to surrender his American citizenship.

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April 5, 2020 · 11:39 am

Western Covid Fever against China excoriated by Kalinga and Fair Dinkum

ONE: Kalinga Seneviratne: “COVID-19: Sinophobia Threatening to Endanger Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention” ** … https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/sustainability/covid-19/3435-covid-19-sinophobia-threatening-to-endanger-strengthening-the-biological-weapons-convention

SYDNEY (IDN) – With the spread of COVID-19 to Europe and the US a bout of Sinophobia seems to have infected the western media. On March 29, Australia’s 60-minute program – that is well known for sensational reporting – broadcast a program that portrayed China as the villain of the COVID-19 pandemonium, and just stopped short of calling for war against China.

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April 4, 2020 · 5:27 pm

The Covid Failures in USA from Inside a Hospital — A Lankan Physician

Gaya Kulasinghe

I thought to write a few words on FB, especially for my friends in Sri Lanka, though I have never posted my personal views on social media before.  As a physician, currently working in front line, dealing with new Coronavirus pandemic in a leading hospital in USA, I have witnessed a drastic difference between USA, which believes it is a part of the first world and Sri Lanka, known as a third world country.

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