Please get off your sanctimonious high horse and try to read and understand. And also think before you give yourself a psuedonym. Dont want to appear nationalistic do we?

read here

We moved several times: from Sri Lanka to Canada before Indi was born; from Canada to Sri Lanka when he was three; from Sri Lanka to the US when he was five; and back to Sri Lanka when he was an adult in university. In no case were the moves determined by compulsion; rather they were based on some forms of opportunity-endowment calculations (though the move in 1987 to the US on the eve of the second JVP insurgency may have had a tinge of compulsion).
As professionals who function within the “universal” culture of academia, we are more capable of moving, than most.

In each case, including in the last move in 2002, there were many opportunities. Sri Lanka in 2002 was a land of hope. The Ceasefire Agreement was in force; peace talks had momentum. The economy was picking up after the disastrous decline of 2001. Economic reforms were in the air.

The opportunity to make a difference with a government running on the twin platforms of peace and economic reform existed. The endowment, in the form of relevant skills and experience, not only of the theory of economic reform, but also of the practice of implementing reforms, existed. An international consulting assignment, funded by IDA money (over 70% grant component), enabled the surmounting of the financial barrier to the move.

We have no regrets about moving to Sri Lanka in 2002; we might do it again!

Just to preempt a few more of Raquel’s possible questions; yes we have roads, electricity, walls that are not made of cow dung, trees, people who speak english and not everyone rides around on elephants! (the most common questions I’ve had from the ignoramuses I’ve encountered).

There was a pool of blood on the road, as residents and police tried to help. The officer blamed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
Published: Mon May 1 02:06:34 EDT 2006

‘War is not Prabhakaran’s end objective,’
maybe, at the moment it is, if we go by his actions. he may cahnge it after trying ot what he can get.

‘the LTTE had to make sure that they were dealing with a government that represented the other extreme as well, not just Ranil’s middle. This makes for a more permanent solution, when one is reached.’
? then what about the daily attacks.

‘Lakshman K and Sarath Fonseka, they are both leaders who were highly anti-LTTE and opposed to the peace process ‘
really ? that does not prove anything either way . it merely proves that ltte wants to get rid of opponents who may trouble them either in war or peace. sf would have given them more trouble in war not in peace .

‘If Sarath was killed, we’d have still gone back, but to a less-trigger-happy staus quo’
this is a contradiction. that s was almost killed was the cue for pulling the trigger.

I disagree with Sittingnut. You can’t assume that the LTTE want war. Mahinda and the JVP would have scuttled the peace process if Ranil had gotten in, so the LTTE had to make sure that they were dealing with a government that represented the other extreme as well, not just Ranil’s middle. This makes for a more permanent solution, when one is reached.

Plus, if you look at both Lakshman K and Sarath Fonseka, they are both leaders who were highly anti-LTTE and opposed to the peace process (Lakshman thought that GoSL was giving too much and was opposed to anon-unitary state), and Sarath is basically one of the toughest commanders we’ve had for a while.

And you see what’s going to happen now, there was a violation, there was a retaliation, and now we’re going back to the table. If Sarath was killed, we’d have still gone back, but to a less-trigger-happy staus quo. Closer to peace? I think so.

I think you’re analysis is a bit wonky, Sittingnut.

do they deny that ltte engaged in daily direct attacks on military throughout the period when they were insisting that government disarm karuna?
do they deny that government showed patience and still insisted on peace talks even while they are being attacked by the ltte?
do they deny that military did not engage in direct attacks against ltte before 25th except at sea(which was forbidden to ltte in the cfa)?

so what right has the ltte to insist that government disarm the paramilitary before peace talks?
it is clear that ppl who put forward karuna as an excuse for ltte are ether biased against the government in the extreme or have problems with basic logic. that is the only way we can explain this inability see the obvious fallacy.

lets face the facts since elections
ltte helped mahinda buffalo to win by enforcing a election boycott.
why? bc they thought he will be easily blamed for war.
it became even more clear that ltte was planning a war this year by p.’s hero’s day message.
ltte started attacking the military in december
military showed restraint in not engaging in reprisals. and buffalo to his credit allowed this
international community condemned the ltte and pressured them to attend peace talks.
ltte stopped its attacks on military for a while.
government foolishly promised to control the paramilitaries in geneva
killings by both ltte and paramilitaries of individuals continued.
government was predictably to comply with disarming of paramilitaries . it was manifestly impossible and impracticable. and it was probably stupid follow through too
as next round of talks drew near ltte again started to attack military
military showed commendable restraint again
international commnity condemmned the ltte and put pressure on them to resume talks
ltte then started attcking civilians in trinco
after a bomb that killed civilians a riot broke out and was controlled by military with in 2-3 hours (much quickly than in other countries btw)
victims of the riot included all communities
ltte attempted recreate it by intensifying attacks against civilians but there was no repeat riot even though some of the civilian killings were very brutal.
ltte attempted to kill army commander.
buffalo ordered limited military strikes.
ltte continues to attack military and civilians.
some civilians are killed in the military strikes. may be bc ltte was sing them for cover .

ngos through out this failed recognize the restraint show by the military. quite in contrast to slmm and international community.
they failed to condemn the ltte and made much of few instances when military failed to show restraint as in mannar in january
one of them ‘centre for policy alternatives’ issued the very biased report on trinco riot. whch was in fact a partail word for word plagiarism from post by pro ltte blogger dbs jeyaraj.

these are facts.

ppl who deny them have to produce the the evidence to support them
what is quite clear is that ltte was driving for war through out this period . some ppl including myself predicted in decmeber(see my posts during that time) that based on evidence ltte wanted war in spring of 2006 .

well it seems we were right unfortunately
only ltte will see it will get nowhere by war either.

We all know that wht Kinda prick your mother is..

Yeah.. She fuckin NGO and all she does and do is tryin to make money out of War… She pretends to be a saint-like..

Huh… Whiney Bitches like your Mom needs to be stripped infront of the Whole nation..

Your Momma Never said a Good thing about the Sri Lankan army whos protecting your Brown [Edit] ass while you Blog in the AC back in sri lanka.. whose protecting your Bitchy mom up in SL now.. Right now,,,

So dont Blog about your Moms SAD SMS whuch made mommys girl cry.. Cry about the Money your mom bribed from the Innocent people of this country to Educate you ..
How she Smuggled Millions of Rupees through NGO movements… We all know what your Breed are..
So stop Wanking on the Net.
Dadless Rich She Fagget!!!

If GoSL were not accomplices to these killings, they certainly looked the other side and have done nothing to investigate them.

Yes, Karuna would be difficult to disarm. I never said it would be easy. But the GoSL promised to disarm all paramilitaries at Geneva I. Since they returned from Geneva they have done nothing. False promises will not lead to peace.

If the GoSL are not supporting Karuna actively, they are definitely allowing him to act freely. Which is tacit support, in my view.

Why do you think the LTTE are getting so agitated, after five years of relative peace? Because they are under pressure for once – Karuna is hitting them and they want his faction out of the picture. That is why they went to Geneva, on that issue alone. The fact that the GoSL reneged on their promise to clamp down on paramilitaries has meant that the LTTE are now punishing the GoSL for their duplicity.

You say the SBS transcript contains nothing new. Well, it contains an interview with the GoSL’s Defence Secretary (who is the President’s brother) where he learns about the existent of paramilitaries in GoSL territory. To date he has done nothing about it. Why not? Because it’s too difficult? Well, his government made a commitment to clamp down on them at Geneva. If it was too hard to implement they should have never made the promise.

Face it, the GoSL is two-faced. They ask for peace on one side but from the other side they are striking the LTTE using Karuna. This is not a genuine way to operate, and those members/supporters of the GoSL that take the moral high ground and say that the GoSL is innocent in all of this need to open their eyes. I am not an LTTE supporter, but I don’t expect them to come to the table if the GoSL is attacking them covertly.

You may not believe me, but I know that Karuna is in GoSL hands, and is working with them closely. When the war starts proper the Karuna faction will be given free rein to operate as rogue agents in LTTE territory, infiltrating LTTE areas and working with the GoSL armed forces to attack the LTTE.

As you say, this is a good thing militarily, which is why the GoSL wants to keep him. So they play a two-faced game, because that’s the only thing they can do if they want to keep Karuna in their pocket.

I don’t know whether this is a good or a bad thing. Are we creating a new monster, in the same way that the US created a monster by building up the Taliban? That remains to be seen.

All I wanted to bring to the fore was the idea that the GoSL may not be as innocent and rosy-cheeked as some people seem to think. It’s not as one-sided as people think. It’s an impossible situation and I can’t see a solution. I just wanted the facts that I know to be known.

what strikes are you talking about? the air+artillery attacks in the last couple of days (which have seemed to abate)? o r some other strikes that haven’t registered in the media?

if it’s the former, i don’t really see a problem with this. if war does break out, it would be expedient, from a SHORT TERM miltary strategy point of view, to tap the karuna faction for some intelligence.

i don’t understand why people like you think it’s so simple to disarm the Karuna faction (and i refrain from calling them a paramilitary force because as the slmm woman says in your link, there is absolutely no proof that they are being given support by the govt). do you think that there is any popular support for the military to risk the lives of its soldiers pursuing karuna forces when both sides are fighting a common enemy? and given the lack of popular support, where do you think the political will to do so will come from? imagine that the GoSL was ‘genuine’ and, in trying to apprehend Karuna’s forces, suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. can you imagine how much weaker the GoSL’s position would be (militarily AND at the bargaining table because one is necessarily related to the other) and how much messier things would be in the combat zones, not just for SL soldiers but for tamil civilians and everyone else?
it would be a disaster. so no, i don’t think the GoSL’s failure to crush the karuna wing is indicative of their lack of genuineness.

and i read the transcript of your SBS show … there is absolutely nothing new there and certainly nothing that would demonstrate that the GoSL is “backing Karuna (officially)”.