USA is the most hypocritical nation in the world as casc said, we are not half as bad as they are. It doesn’t matter anymore. The US wont be able to help us or hurt us very soon. They are going to have enough issues with their own economy and wars.

February 8, 2008 5:39 AM

sri lankan, You hurt me, I’m an economist. You said,

“O.K my theory is this- the greenhous effect will come to Canada before Sri Lanka therefore all Canadians must learn to build igloo’s for protection.”

You are wrong. The greenhouse effect is going to be a blessing than an evil to canada! it will increase the arable land and other productive land in canada! in fact canadians are already preparing for it! however, it will affect SL pretty badly!!

however, i agree with your “theory” that protecting the country is MUCH MORE important than protecting the economy. Tibet is a good example of a booming economy without a country! Tibetans are leaving it in thousands although it is a booming economy in which they have no stake in! the same can happen to SL if we (as usual) mix-up our priorities.

having said that, the economy has a big say in protecting the nation. if the economy collapses, there won’t be enough resourses to fight the war. also consider what i said in a previous post – Tamil Diaspora’s economy is now bigger than the SL economy! this says ALOT about the relative power of the two parties at war and what is GOING TO COME.

therefore we MUST consider the economy as well in a war. from an economic POV, the war MUST be won ASAP. ASAP is not equal to FAST but as soon as possible. USD 1.5bn / USD 26 bn = 5.7% this puts us in a very very bad situation + in record books. if this continues for another few years, yes we are stuffed.

unfortunately the financiers of the SL war have no say in the war and have no credible info. on what the govt; is doing with their money! if SL govt. was a company, it’s directors will be long gone. However, the ECONOMIST magazine had in the past published many anti-SL stuff. So the bottomline is while the war is more important than the economy, for the war to proceed there should be a good economy AND the SL economy that has been vandalised by the war/surrender/stalemate must be salvaged soon if we are to face the MANY challenges the pro-LTTE diaspora is going to throw at us.

Agree? I think you will disagree.

February 8, 2008 4:53 AM

The article below is from a recent publication put out by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This is a big and wealthy think tank in Washington which has many distinguished Americans. The head is a former Senator from Georgia. The head of their South Asia Program is Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka. She is very anti-govt and anti MR. She frequently testifies about Sri Lanka in a very negative way in the U.S. House of Representative and in the U.S. Senate. As patriot has said there is a lot of hypocracy in the U.S. and western government positions regarding Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Government is far more observant of human rights than is the U.S. or British government in Iraq. According to the British Medical Association’s (Lancet) study of 2004, 600,000 Iraqi civilians were estimated to have been killed. About one fourth of the Iraqi population is displaced either as internal refugees or as external refugees. You can see from the recent CSIS publication (see below) how biased these people are against Sri Lanka. There is not a single mention of the LTTE bus bombings that took place in January of this year.

I am not a Christian but I belive there is a verse in the bible which says “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone”

Center for Strategic and International Studies
South Asia Monitor Publication, Feb 5

“Rajapaksa is a pragmatic nationalist but has neither a strategic vision nor a commitment to a compromise settlement. His efforts to forge a consensus within the political mainstream have failed, while taking the government further away from the kinds of proposals that might produce a settlement. The military gambit: The Sri Lankan government’s priority since Rajapaksa’s election has been to press for military success, hoping then to settle on its own terms. The army has achieved some gains.

Human rights crisis: Meanwhile, the conflict has created a massive human rights crisis. The International Crisis Group estimates that more than 1,500 civilians have been killed and 250,000 displaced in the crossfire since 2006. The total death toll is far higher, certainly several tens of thousands. Up to 40,000 civilians have allegedly been displaced by the Sri Lankan Air Force’s raids on the LTTE in the east. Claymore mines have taken their own human toll, most recently killing nine Tamil schoolchildren. There have been hundreds of extrajudicial killings and over 1,000 disappearances. Both sides blame each other for “collateral damage.” UN Human Rights Commissioner, Louis Arbour was bitterly criticized by the Sri Lankan government for drawing attention to the killings of humanitarian aid workers in the island nation.”

http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/id,62/
Teresita C Shaffer, Director
South Asia Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
1800 K Street, NW, Washington DC, 20006
Phone: (202) 887-0200; Fax: (202) 775-3199
http://www.csis.org/saprog/

February 8, 2008 4:39 AM

Anybody know why the purchase of Chengdu F-7s and what model they are ? BTW check www.airliners.net for some SLAF photos.

February 8, 2008 3:36 AM

Some Sri Lankans in this blog worship America and UK and they would speak against me but i know that anyone with a ounce of intelligence would realise this. This was is all about western imperialism and neo colonialism, Malcolm X said that every colonolial power that retreated a conquered nation would leave behind individuals who would be ready to fight for the colonial interests and defend it with there lives, this is exactly whats happening in sri lanka the LTTE and NGOs are protecting Colonial interests and are ready to kill for them.

The JVP was destroyed by MOSSAD and CIA in ’89 when rohana wijewwera said that “when we come in to power we shall not let any western powers control SRi Lanka and we shall not pay debts” the CIA saw a threat to there colonial interests so they defeated it. This world is run by dirty greedy imperialist corporations there is no denying it. Listen to IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE’s song its in youtube, he says a lot about it.

IT’S BETTER TO DIE ON YOUR FEET THAN LIVE ON YOUR KNEES” – General Emiliano Zapata

February 8, 2008 3:22 AM

Cunning said,

“Now that we have the LTTE on the ropes, this is the best time to talk peace. We can win the hearts and minds of the Tamil population in the Wanni. Even if we take the Wanni (which we will), I fear we will become like Iraq (2 bombs per day somewhere in the country). This would be a disaster to us (‘us’ meaning those who still live in SL–you people who live outside don’t have to worry about this).”
————————————-

I feel your pain, especially for someone runing a sucessful business. War is not good for the economy. You certainly have every right to demand how this war is conducted. Everyone knows what the LTTE wants (a seperate state) but do you think the violence will stop if this is granted to the LTTE. I go to India every year to see some relatives near the Bangladesh border. There is permanent unofficial warfare between the Indian Border Security Force and Bangladesh Riffles near the border areas of these countries. Mind you this is a country India created. The people are ethnically the same, the national anthem is composed by the same person. The same thing happed betweened India and Pakistan. After the British drew the borders between India and Pakistan, there has been permament warfare between these countries. Each country is intent on detabalizing the other. The LTTE claim to a seperate state will not end with VP getting eelam. There will no doubt be a pause like what happend after the CFA, and then the LTTE will no doubt attempt to destroy what would be remining of the Sri Lankan state.

February 8, 2008 2:44 AM

Defnet, why does SLAF parade their equipment specially the Gabriel ASM and Elbit upgraded Mi 24 with the ATGW ? Don’t they need them in the battle theater now ? Just dont make sense.

We are not at a Stalemate. How can that be when SLDF keeps pounding their FDL’s ! It’s just a matter of time when we will get past Vavu and Mannar. DB (backlightarrow) is right.. EPS is very important but, we cant approach head on anymore it has to be a Gen.Schwarzkopf’s flanking move.

February 8, 2008 2:42 AM

DN,
Somebody wrote about a 4 barrel motar launcher invented by two officers in the Army. It was called ‘KemPiya‘. Two officers were Brig. Kempitiya and Brig. Piyasoma. Unfortunately it was a total failure. Few years ago it was seen rusting in Palaly.

February 8, 2008 2:26 AM

All,
I just viewed the Madhu attack video. It is horrific. they are just innocent children, going to or coming back from school. It is definitly a claymore, from the left side right in front of the back door. But interesting things I noticed are -

1. Somebody started videoing it within 1 min of the attack. You can see a woman getting down from the bus and people dropping their bicycles and running to the bus. Who would carry a good quality video camera in that jungle except LTTE ? I wouldnt expect that much fast videoing even if that happened in front of Sri Lnka Rupavahini Corporation. Mostly people will be shoked for at least sevaral minutes unless you expect it.

2. The shrapnell marks are dripping with blood [out side, and very high] Only way that can happen is when some children standing outside the bus and claymore blasted behind them. That coud send their flesh with the shrapnels.

It is likely that it blasted when the bus stoped for children to get down or get in.

Defencenet, could you give us what you think please.

February 8, 2008 2:17 AM

cunning,

You are right. But you have to understand the concept of targeting here! The LTTE bombs might be smaller but they designed and placed to cause maximum civilians casualties! Yes the SLAF bombs are significantly bigger, but they are TARGETING the LTTE infrastructure and destroy it. But the nature of war and the LTTE’s insistence on locating their military units very close to civilian settlements means that civilian casualties are inevitable.
The only thing we can do is to hope that the SLAF are very discriminating when it comes to engaging their targets. The SLAF DOES NOT go around intentionally targeting civilians.

February 8, 2008 2:05 AM