The suicide bomber’s head was found in one of these trees (gross photo). Araliya photo by Anjz
Aththa had a sensible comment which I think explains the general apathy, in Colombo at least. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. What Ranil bought us in 2001 was a peace process, not peace. Successive governments have enjoyed the benefits of peace without processing anything, and each time this decision has been supported by Sri Lankan voters. In the Western Province and the South we have resumed tourism, business and general walking around without pissing our pants. However, the peace process effectively died when CBK seized the ministries and no on has revived it. Because the cease fire still held, Sri Lankans have gotten complacent without realizing where exactly we are. We have mistaken purgatory for heaven and now they’re giving us hell.
As Aththa says,
It is essential that we condemn the active violence of the LTTE; it is equally important the we condemn the passive violence of the Sinhala majority which refuses to respond with a political solution. Both are forms of violence.
I repeat: anyone can see how much people in the government controlled areas benefited after the violence was stopped as a result of the ceasefire; no equivalent benefits flowed to the people in the LTTE controlled areas or even in the government controlled areas in the North and East (unless the reduction in the likelihood of being bombed or otherwise killed is seen as a benefit). The one exception is mobile telephony, but as they say, you can’t eat phone calls. Then one has to ask who benefited most from no-war/no-peace. The politicians, the businesses and the middle classes in the South, primarily in the Western Province.
This is not to say that the LTTE is somehow justified in its terrorism. They are a brutal, facist force to be mentioned in the same breath as Al Qaeda, I wish the international community would understand that they’re not cool. People (Tamil, Muslim, whatever) in the North and East, however, are suffering and we have to resolve this problem. There is no point debating policy with a facist terrorists, so Sri Lankans have to work through our rickety democratic institutions and make the peace ourselves. The Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) was the first step to that, not the last, as mentioned in its preamble.
What Happened?The overall objective of the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (hereinafter referred to as the GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (hereinafter referred to as the LTTE) is to find a negotiated solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
The GOSL and the LTTE (hereinafter referred to as the Parties) recognize the importance of bringing an end to the hostilities and improving the living conditions for all inhabitants affected by the conflict. Bringing an end to the hostilities is also seen by the Parties as a means of establishing a positive atmosphere in which further steps towards negotiations on a lasting solution can be taken.
Ranil negotiated the Cease Fire Agreement in 2002. This is from BBC, but in 2002, ‘De-commissioning of weapons begins; the road linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of Sri Lanka reopens after 12 years; passenger flights to Jaffna resume.’ Also, ‘both sides exchange prisoners of war for first time. Rebels drop demand for separate state.’ However, in 2003 Chandrika Bandaranaike seized the relevant ministries and the peace process stopped. Nothing has happened since then.
You’d think that Sri Lankans would be pissed at her dangerous hissy fit, but in 2004 the SLFP took over Parliament, Ranil was tossed out and Mahinda was made Prime Minister. That’s when the terrorism restarted, with a suicide bombing targeting Douglas Devananda in 2004, Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination in 2005 and now the suicide bombing targeting Sarath Fonseka. Incidentally, two of the targets were Tamils who have the audacity to oppose the LTTE. In 2005 Ranil ran on a platform of resuming the peace process while Mahinda called for ‘re-evaluating’ the current cease-fire, which apparently means low level war. Anyways, we have been in purgatory since 2003, and it was foolish to think that it could last.
What To Do?
I dunno. Drink? Dr. Uyangoda has some more coherent points on Moju. What most people (myself included) want is for the cease fire to continue. In fact, the main agenda of the recent Geneva talks (besides a vacation) was to simply reaffirm the cease fire. That means that I can enjoy a pleasant life and build plans for the future without getting pulled over every night or worrying about Douglas Devananda exploding as he drives down Dickman’s road. Which would be great. However, while No-War/No-Peace may be possible, No-War/No-Peace/No-Development is not. As Uyangoda says, there has to be concrete economic gains in the North and East for this ‘cold war’ we have going to melt. If the LTTE is an evil facist empire then the only way to beat them, like the Soviets, is with refrigerators and color TV, not rocket launchers. Plus is is absolutely vital, as Mahinda rightly said, that communal rioting must be avoided in the short term. The LTTE may be terrorists, but Sri Lankans have to behave better than that. This means that we have to work with NGOs and Civil Society that actually do work in these areas and have trust with the LTTE in order to improve lives in the North and East. Of course, that would mean overcoming a whole lot of lazy in the Western Province which, more likely than anything, will just end up drinking more. As secondary points,
Is Mahinda The Right Leader?
He’s not especially visionary, but Mahinda is ostensibly hawkish enough that he can make concessions that Ranil would get chewed out over. He is behaving with great moderation (perhaps out of impotence) and the JHU/JVP extremists are relatively quiet. I think the team he sent to Geneva was unqualified and generally shit, but Mahinda can make concessions that Ranil couldn’t.
What About Karuna?
I was talking to a venerable lawyer who said that you don’t necessarily want to negotiate with your enemy when they are weak. Negotiations require trust, and one option for GoSL is to give up Karuna, to the extent that it can. Of course, the Karuna split is internal within the LTTE and it’s questionable whether GoSL should sacrifice the dissident (yet also facist) voice of eastern Tamils, but is a strategic option.
Regardless, I’d say that the desire for the status quo is so strong that people are generally going to do fuck all and hope that the problem will go away. The guy who started the peace process has been rejected twice at the polls and its unclear if Sri Lankans will ever accept the compromises and hard work involved in peace, especially if they can enjoy the benefits with only a few corpses to pay. I, for one, have gone back to life as usual (if I ever left it) and I don’t know if that’s right or wrong.
Actually the peace process was on the ropes long before Mahinda came to power. The LTTE pulled out of talks in April 2003, months before Chandrika took over the defence ministry portfolios. Now I’m not saying the peace process as it has been under Ranil, Chandrika or Mahinda was inclusive or perfect. You have to put this whole matter in perspective. You had to have been there in 1995 when Chandrika first came to power and we had peace talks with the Tigers. You have no idea how betrayed people felt when the LTTE unilaterally pulled out of that peace process and sank two Navy ships.
What I’m trying to point out is that trust building should have been an essential part of the peace process from the beginning. From that perspective GOSL under Ranil seemed to do pretty well (in fact went a bit overboard). We disarmed paramilitaries (who promptly got slaughtered), ferried the LTTE in our helicopters, gave them visas to go abroad, etc. Now in return what trust building did the LTTE do? From the beginning they prevented the SLMM complete access to areas under their control, carried out killings, was caught importing weapons, etc, etc. As I have mentioned multiple times the LTTE violations outnumber the SLA ones by an order of magnitude.
With the backdrop of the LTTE not even attempting to build trust and Ranil’s policy of more and more appeasement is it suprising that he was voted out of power. We haven’t forgotten the fact the LTTE has usually called ceasefires to rearm and refresh, there was no difference in their actions this time.I think its time we stopped pointing fingers at each other, there is no way to build trust if there is no reciprocation by the LTTE at all. They had that opportunity right at the beginning of the peace process and they blew it.
Its apparent Prabhakaran is evil as is the LTTE. A similar person historically with his cult following is Hitler. The only option then was to kill Hitler and I firmly believe that Prabhakaran has to be killed as well. In the end we will have to negotiate with the LTTE but we need a more moderate leadership to negotiate with. Of course simply killing him will not work either, we need to marginalise him and then kill him. Your suggestion of refrigerators and colour tvs will work up to a point, but Prabhakaran has to be isolated and disposed off. It remains to be seen if Mahinda and his government can be innovative and courageous enough to make this happen.
In my opinion, as I always say, the main issue why we can not find a solution is, we are not ready to talk about the one and only solution LTTE demand for. That is, “Tamil Ealamâ€. That is the main issue for the war. The rest of the issues other tamil’s claim that they face in Sri Lanka can be solved by dialog (not mobitel). The answers, talks we are having now are related to those secondary issues. For example, discussing whether Federalism will be the solution or not etc.
Why one can not understand and accept that LTTE is fighting for Tamil Ealam and not because of the issues we frequently discuss.
From LTTE terrorists point, they have clearly and repeatedly said that they do not want to negotiate anything other than an end solution towards the “tamil ealam’. Unfortunately from Government point (until the President Mahinda came to power and gave his first speech as the President) no leader directly has given a reply to the LTTE’s demand. They all have kept quiet talking of a Federalism, Distribution of power etc where LTTE have never agreed upon. That’s the only straight forward thing President Mahinda have done so far. After that, he too started to do the same. Wasting time with Norway and misleading the Country and LTTE terrorists both, about the contents of the Peace Talks.
Once we start to talk about Tamil Ealam, anyone will be able to see the answer to this problem.
Great Post Indi. Makes me feel a whole lot less confused-really nice summing up of the situation so far and one that my predominately right brain
can grasp.
Childof25 you hit the nail…but only a glancing blow. You know the types that knock it out of the perpendicular and then you have to bring it back and whack it again? One of those blows…not right on the head. We have to kill Uncle Prabha. Unfortunately, unlike Hitler, the Tamils revere, respect and worship Uncle P. The Gerries were just really, really frightened of Hitler. You see before he became a cock, Hitler was somewhat legitimately appointed as head of the German peoples in 1933. The war began in 1939. Naz should have the specific dates cos she was there…. :)
You see Uncle P never had that cloak of initial legitimacy to hide behind. He is, and always has been, an evil terrrorist. One that the Tamil people under him (which is clearly not all Tamil people) have grown to love. He is the persona of a Hitler, the ruthless evil of Bin Laden, and the charisma of Che Guevara all rolled into one. Somewhere down the line when they are compiling a list of Top 100 Terrorist Leaders…he’ll be somehwere near the top. Definitely Top 3.
And therein, lies the problem. If we kill him, we solve part of the problem. But someone’s just going to take over and ride his memory and hia machinations. Before killing him we have to kill his ideology. Expose him for the selfish hypocrite he is. The man who lets his children sit GCE’s while recruiting others children to look after them with the aid of a firearm. And the scariest part is some families give their children willingly to the organisation and its Great Leader.
Some news report I read, says that demand to serve in the Suicide Squad is so great that lots have to be drawn to undertake missions.
So Indi is right. Fridges and Colour TV’s will go a long way in breaking down the mistrust that exists between the two communities. Some electricity would help too. Show some Tamil youth a good time and some MTV and they’ll realise that what they’re fighting for isn’t really all that flash. We have to break the LTTE up ideologically before we break it militarily if at all.
Janapathi while fighting the urge to tell you to go fuck yourself, it seems that you think Eelam is an absolute. Everybody comes to the negotiating table with your highest demand and your lowest offer. You’d be a fool if you didn’t. But you, and a majority of chauvinists like you, don’t understand that Eelam is a matter of degree. It was nice when I could go to Trinco and Arugam Bay. It’s not nice now that I might get blown up in Fort. Is it so bad that I get stopped and checked on the way to Trinco? Given time there will be no need for that. I’d just like to go there and not get caught in the middle of a riot.
What are we fighting for? Superb! We have Jaffna…ta ta ta tata da!! Let’s go raise the Lion flag!! Err…now what?
Erhmmm – ok – i’m going to try this again – can someone pse explain to me what this SLAYER shithead is crapping on about??? What’s this Electra NGO mummy shit? Some sort of take on being born again?
Cheez – anyone would think it was a mad house in SL – ohhh sorry DUDEs (that was just for Sophist the most arrogant blooger since BC) yes, sorry I forgot Sri Lanka is a nut house & Sri Lankans are mad.
Fucking idiots the whole lot of you…
Oh thanks – you’ve answered it really well… Just to add, in typical stupid Sri Lankan fashion, bloggers “mummies” get attacked too. LOL – i can’t imagine this happening anywhere else on the WHOLE planet.
So – there you go, not only are Sri Lankans stupid, murdering, bloodthirsty.lying, uncivilized, wackos…. they are also petty losers that would sooner denegrate each others parents than have peace in that hole they call … “the motherland”. It’s a bloody slum basically, with filthy thugs running around commitiing every crime under the sun. Oh sorry except for a few “nightclubs” a couple of streets in Colombo 5 and of course Cinamon Garders.
Keep killing – that’s what you losers know how to do best. You’re so smart after all. I’m sure the Norwegians would agree with me, whole heartedly.
Sophist – I’m not sure why I only hit a glancing blow :)..I simply said Hitler and Prabha are as evil as each other and both have/had similar personality cults. Actually Hitler was never voted into power, he became Chancellor due to some shenanigans he pulled, in fact the Nazis never even had an absolute majority in parliament. That much I remember from O-level history! And like you said, making a martyr of Prabha will do us no good, he has to be isolated and then disposed off. The thing is how do you capture hearts and minds without access to LTTE controlled areas? The answer to that would be contentious because simply funneling money into those areas without a system for tracking how the money would be spent is useless. Unfortunately this is another issue the LTTE fought tooth and nail, that they be the sole recipients and distributors of aid. Their failure to budge on this is why there has been no peace “dividends” in occupied areas.
Ashanthi – you are an unmitigated racist, you are trying to accuse others of racism to try and hide your own prejudices. Prejudices that are all the more evident by the fact you managed to bring in the Tamil issue into a discussion about singing baila at cricket matches “Someone from the “community” of Sri Lankans – ie all those excluding Tamils should pay the coppers a vist & take them to task about telling people not to sing Biala ” from http://ivap.blogspot.com/2006/01/its-just-not-cricket.html#comments
I suggest you look long and hard at yourself before you accuse others of being closet racists, after all its not us who profess Sinhala and Tamil cannot live together and need to be seperated.
I’m with Indi and Sophist on the point of dispersing the LTTE idealogically, but definitely not with Sophist on the point of giving the tigers any part of Sri Lanka.
imho, the Allied creation of Israel was probably the biggest mistake in world history. By carving out a separate state on ethnic/religious grounds, it set a disastrous precedent. A state (or pseudo-state) of Thamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, on a basis of Thamil domination due to systematic ethinc cleansing… where will that lead the muslims in the east?
The Government of Sri Lanka has made the same basic mistake since 1956; catering to the majority Sinhalese and their colonially-induced inferiority complexes to the detriment of the minority peoples. The Burghers are hardly spoken of, while the muslims generally ride on the coat-tails of the ummah, with increasingly violent protests and effigy-burning.
The global Thamil diaspora is just too widespread and important in their new homelands to be ignored. If anything, you only need to check the detail of the Thamil presence in UK, Norway, Sweden to realise why any of those countries would be interested in the Sri Lankan “issue”.
The Government has failed miserably in its duty thus far. It needs to address the basic issues – legal and otherwise – that have alienated the minority communities in Sri Lanka. Once this has been done, it would be easier to weaken the support from people like Ashanthi, who cling to the ideal of the “freedom fighter” image of “uncle P”. Once the govt. has taken those steps, then the need for violence as a method to gain “recognition” for “Thamil rights” will be useless. This should expose the tigers for what they are: fascist murderers living their dream of the Chola kingdom, in an attempt to deal with an era that left them behind.
Until the govt does something positive, the moral high ground means nothing.
two points
1/
to say there was no economic progress or benefits to population in ne from cfa is not strictly right. remember that lot of items were banned or controlled (including batteries , petrol, cement, some fertilizer ) from being transported there before 2001. ranil relaxed them just before the cfa was signed as a good will gesture. as you know price of fuels went up in jaffa in the last two days, in expectation of the resumption of those restrictions
that there was an economic revival was indicated by the huge increase in demand for vehicles and the land coming under paddy cultivation recent record harvests are partly results of that .
besides governments cannot force economic growth just bc they want to ppl have to get prosperous. to promise all sorts of prosperity just bc there is peace is silly. it has never been that way . peaceniks should stop selling peace like that bc it is a false promise. peace brings opportunity for growth not growth itself. if anyone wants to get prosperous they have to work, with ltte looking over them, to get their cut.
what government should do is get the ltte dependent on government or foreign aid money. p-toms or isga were made partly with that view but some ppl fail to see this point.( that we should at least try to buy the ltte if possible) even though it is distasteful it is better than war.
2/
all this talk is completely besides the point if one party (ltte) really wants war. analysis such as jayadeva uyangoda’s is completely useless in that case(besides he is known to sign pro ltte plagiarized statements of cfa).
from its actions from election boycott down it is clear ltte wanted to start a war this year. they, and bc of that we, will get it.
only way out (with small chance of success) was to put pressure on ltte through international community. make them realize what they will lose if they bring on a war, that is why government showed restraint from dec to 25th so that full blame will go to the ltte, that is why the present strikes were limited in nature (as confirmed yesterday by slmm).
question is will the ltte listen to international community.
if they don’t we will have war no matter what government does.
as to why ltte wants a war is less certain
imo they have realized that for fascist organization peace means weakness, plurality, splits, etc. so if it comes to war we should make them realize that war will not help them either (we must face the fact we cant win either). then they may talk again. then we may buy them.
but that’s all fantasy. now whether we get war is not is in ltte’s hand and they should be blamed for it comes.
The argument that residents of the North and East benefited from the ceasefire is specious. The analogy is that of beating the crap out of somebody, stomping on them with both feet, and then under a “ceasefire agreement” take one foot off. Now, the stomped-upon person has received benefits from the ceasefire.
After the derision that Dr NM Perera (Finance Minister 1970-75) generated by raising prices then lowering them half way and claiming that he had reduced prices, I thought that this particular technique had lost traction in Sri Lankan political discourse. But a new generation must repeat the mistakes of the previous one, I guess.
Please take a look at the evidence of conditions in the North and East. Pick your source, but http://pointpedro.org/2006/04/working-paper-5/ is a possible starting point.
The Central Bank (http://www.centralbanklanka.org/publications.html) gives province-level data on economic conditions. This is another possible starting point.
I prefer data and statistics, but eye-witness opinion is also not bad on this issue. Do people in the Vanni live as well as we do in Colombo? There were new buildings on the side of the A9, but even here, the destruction was not invisible. With the A9 closed and the telephone networks subject to closure at any point, there are no economic benefits that we can talk about. The ability to walk the streets of the place you grew up in, without fear of being picked up by a white van and disappeared, we won’t talk about at this point.
what bit ashanthi?
aththa:
The argument that residents of the North and East benefited from the ceasefire is specious.
peace only brings normalcy including availability of normal goods and services such as those restricted dring war. it is only in that sense that ne province benefited. peace wont bring prosperity and it should not be promised.
Please take a look at the evidence of conditions in the North and East….Do people in the Vanni live as well as we do in Colombo?…
of course not, nor will they be if there was real peace or even if there was no war at all. to promise that as a benefit of peace is wrong. it only leads to disappointment.
to repeat peace does not bring prosperity (otherwise lot of poor peaceful countries will be more prosperous) it merely gives an opportunity to individuals to try to be prosperous. in the same way governments can not bring prosperity just bc they want to.
This bit Electra – it’s on the other post. As I said – it’s so typical Sri Lanka the attacking families bit…
From SLAYER…
Dear [Edit]/ Electra…
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!!!
Is there hope anywhere Ashanti?
The last few days I have been saying that one cannot be a good Canadian and a good person too. Some years ago a Sri Lankan man who had traveled coast to coast in this country said to me, “ Canada! Decent people won’t live here any more.†Around the same time another man said to me, “I love Canada; Canada is good to me! I get a pension, I love the mountains; Canada is good to me! I am from El Salvador. But you! You are a Canadian and Canada is no place for a Canadian. Why don’t you go elsewhere?” What to do, where to go?
Here they’re dumbing down Canadians and importing better-educated foreigners and growing crime, disease, ignorance and poverty dependent industries in the name of job creation.
Medicare means disease maintenance and drug company support. Doctors don’t believe in cures and are now pharmaceutical pushers and Welfare means legalized discrimination, hate and impoverishment. Plus, the churches are performing addiction, crime, poverty and prostitution support and maintenance as the non-profits and charities are performing volunteer exploitation and slave wage job support.
All of this happens under what I call “hate based charity,†i.e. appearance over substance, as most charity is used to subvert and undermine; though there are lots of apparently good intentions by the public, few understand what’s happening and little real charity is allowed.
Wm
http://www.timetender.ca
ashanthi : yes, but again, but none of these terrible habits are endemically sri lankan habits. i was just wondering why you specifically seem to hate sri lankans for perfectly universal human flaws. your comments, especially the previous one ;’ So – there you go, not only are Sri Lankans stupid, murdering, bloodthirsty.lying, uncivilized, wackos’ ‘Keep killing – that’s what you losers know how to do best.’
are you by any chance not sri lankan? or are you one of those that had the privilege of going overseas for studies and/or migrated to ‘greener pastures’ and can therefore can hate on us little third world barbarians guitlessly, now that you’re safely miles away from what and who you used to be?
i’m not defending sri lankans. but i said recently on sumna.com :
not to defend sri lankans or the way we behave (which is most of the time outstandingly disturbing), but aren’t you being a little harsh, not to mention narrow minded here?
i don’t think indifference, or in it’s extreme, inhumanity, is something endemic to sri lanka or to any one nation or nationality. inhumanity, stemming from be it ignorance, indifference or just plain cruelty, is universal and global. it is everywhere and within every nation across each continent. don’t hate on us sri lankans because we are all you see of it.
this is an international issue, and has nothing to do with a certain people, but everything to do with human nature in itself, and the time we live in. (end)
all i’m saying is ashanthi, i don’t think all sri lankans, or for that matter all people, are animals. some of us actually like doing the ‘right’ thing, some of us actually support peace and peaceful resoloutions. and sometimes your spewing venomous things like that in, clearly, pure anger, takes away from what you’re trying to say. i’m sure your point of view is as valid as anyone’s, and you’re obviously not an idiot. i’d like to hear what you’re saying, in fact, i want to, but your opinion is so overlapped by this enormous sort of frustrated, and seemingly mindless anger, that i don’t want to read what you’ve written. i just automatically switch off. and that’s kind of stupid, on my part.
some asshole bitching about my mother really worries me, but having been my mother’s daughter (and her, in turn having been my grandfather’s daughter) i’ve become accustomed to treatment like that by ignorant bigots. all it tells me is that whoever they are, they don’t know a damn thing, thus it’s their loss. we’ve experienced far worse than someone trashing her on my blog. by now, we’re able to have a hearty ha ha about it, luckily.
Since Indi clearly doesn’t want her…I think we should set Ashanthi up with Janapathi.
Sophist – go play with yourself – Indi wouldn’t even exist if not for me :-). Also – let’s not talk about wants here. I weedy,ugly, alcho like India is certainly not my type – Morquendai & Sittingnut (even though they hate each other now) they know who my hubby is – so they can both make an effort & back me up here. OK guys – Ok you two clowns, how about a little support here???
Hey Electra – look, you know I love my people. I truly do. I was just very, very, very angry, furious. I know we have our faults just as much as any other race. Still – because you are all my race & people I expect a lot more from you. I do think we are very intelligent – literate, educated & honestly we are the kindest, most generous people to everyone else on the planet. We just need to stop killing each other.
Please don’t patronize me with the – “you ran away & now you are safe crap”. In fact Electra, how dare you. How the hell was I supposed to have any control over where I grew up when I was not even born?
My father left Ceylon after the first riots in 1956. He never saw my mother for many years whilst he educated himself in the UK – a country which he never grew to love. Finally after many years, my mother joined him and then they moved to “a third world country” – mainly because it was warm, Dad hated the cold :-) I was born many years later. We visited S/lanka often & because of our wealthy relatives went there & had a great time. We also spent a lot of time in the north – a place that was just beautiful that I had hoped one day I might sit under a Palm tree with Morq & S/nut & drink some toddy. Ah well now that I know how much they hate each other, I guess that will never happen. Now that the killing has started in ernest, who knows what will happen.
I don’t know who you are, I don’t know who your Mother is but I do know that it is absolutely pathetic that anyone would make such comments about anyone’s Mother on this forum. Obviously the person who made the comment does know you.
I have every right to be angry with the way Sri Lankans behave towards each other & this is for reasons that you will never know.
So Electra, don’t shoot the messanger, think outside the square & believe me you – on the international landscape – we are a bunch of idiots.
Switching off is probably the best option with characters like Ashanthi. I actually don’t read every comment here, and some posters are so consistently negative that I see the name and just skip them.
ashanthi ; i understand. i finally do. i don’t mean to be patronizing, but i’m allowed to get a little pissed off too sometimes, aren’t i? especially when people bad mouth a nation and a people that i belong to, and well, love. i’m just a little tired of ex-pat types whining all the time, and not really getting off their asses to do anything. of course you are justified in your anger. your last comment was articulate, i could read it, the fury didn’t make my eyes bleed. we’re all angry right now, at ourselves, at the government, at the terrorists. we’re all mad.
– Obviously the person who made the comment does know you. –
not necessarily. the facts that the person laid bare : my name, my school, my mother’s work, my parents separation ; aren’t things i’m exactly discreet about. anyone who knows me, be it thouroughly or through a common acquaintance, or even knows of me, would probably have access to this kind of information. and given his/her opnion, he/she obviously doesn’t know a hell of a lot at all.
Cof25 – I took it as Ashanthi being sarcastic. I didn’t think she meant it in any racist sense instead it was play on the irony of the mythical unity in recent history leading to the mess that is today.
aththa:
Please take a look at the evidence of conditions in the North and East….Do people in the Vanni live as well as we do in Colombo?…
Do people in Moneragala live as well as those in colombo ? What about Hambantota, Matara, Polonnaruwa, Kurunagella etc. Do people in any of these places on average live as well as those in Colombo?
The idea that people in Vanni haven’t benefited from the cease fire because they “don’t live as well as those in Colombo” is IDIOTIC.
The argument that residents of the North and East benefited from the ceasefire is specious. The analogy is that of beating the crap out of somebody, stomping on them with both feet, and then under a “ceasefire agreement†take one foot off. Now, the stomped-upon person has received benefits from the ceasefire.
The only problem with this analysis of yours is the fact that all of the stomping with both feet and “beating the crap out” (and assasinations, killing of innocent villagers, consripting 10 year old children and training children to use military weapons, killing school principles etc.) have been done by the TIGERS.
My God…Ashanthi can actually string together a coherent sentence. Interesting story Ashanthi. About as interesting as the tens of thousands of others of the Tamil diaspora…a lot of whom don’t have wealthy relatives.
The fact remains that while you would dearly love to be Sri Lankan you clearly aren’t. However much people would like to think that they maintain their roots when they go abroad, a token Lion flag and Gypsies CD is not enough to make you Sri Lankan. By your own account you’ve never even lived here…and you judge us from a completely different world view.
This is not to take anything away from your argument. Sri Lankan people are phenomenally annoying. They’re petty, insincere, disorganised, aggressive, hypocritical and the list goes on. But so are a lot of people. We’re no more racist than the British or the French. So don’t think that your vitriolic comments are justified by the same logic as it is okay for a black american to call another one (you know the word). It’s not the same thing.
sophist : well said.
I am happy that there is serious discussion of the underlying condition for the repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement (still said to be illegal by the legal luminary Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, even after its wholesale acceptance by the Mahinda team at Geneva), not withstanding the infantile epithets. My original argument was that the CFA clearly benefited the great majority of the people in the South, while yielding minimal to no benefits to the people of the North and East; that a ceasefire was no substitute for a active process of providing concrete political solutions to the conditions that gave rise to the war; that trust building requires actions to create hope among the constituents of both adversaries that the path of peace will bring more benefits than the path of war.
The people of the South clearly saw that the path of peace yielded more benefits (but they still ran after the chimera that Karuna would win for them the war that the army could not; which suggests a degree of stupidity that is saddening). The people of the North and the East saw none, except for the A9 and mobile telephony. They would have voted for the presidential candidate who advocated the federal solution if they were allowed to. This suggests a degree of intelligence that is also saddening in that it was unreciprocated and not even appreciated.
As far as I know the GOSL has not been at war with the people of Moneragala; has not burnt the crown jewel of their cultural identity to the ground (http://www.news.lk/news_2004_10_262.htm); has not publicly apologized for a pogrom against persons of their ethnic identity (http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/07/26/new02.html); has not bombed the people of Moneragala or used multi-barrel rocket launchers against them; has not taken over large areas of highly populated land for high-security zones, etc. There is, as far as I know, no urgent need to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Moneragala and exert pressure on their armed military leadership to abandon the path of war and accept a political solution.
It is in this context that I stated that the limbo of no-war no-peace was not acceptable to the Tamil people or to any of their leaders (if you don’t like the LTTE or the TNA, ask Ananda Sangaree or even Chandrasekeran). The constituents of the Sri Lankan state (not only MR and his propaganda machine) are to blame for this. They are responsible for EW3 (this is not the start, but just the hotting up; it’s been going on for some time; recall the gunboats, dvoras, etc.?). CBK perhaps is the most to blame for taking over the ministries in 2003 November, days after the ISGA proposals were submitted.
BTW, the fact that the ISGA proposals were submitted for discussion in October 2003 proves that the peace process was ongoing up to that point, and did not stop in April 2003 as claimed by one commenter.
I tell you what I’m not going to apologise for is speaking my mind on the blog. At least I don’t masquerade as some “vitriolic” troll. If you don’t like my style of writing Electra, it’s simple, just don’t read what I have to say. If must admit until I read that comment re the “NGO mummy” here – I have not paid much attention to your comments Electra, or Sophists for that matter. No offence – you know how it is on the blog, one does a lot of browsing. I hadn’t even visited your blog till yesterday.
As for this petty continuing argument about who’s Sri Lankan & who’s not – again it is pretty pointless. So – not only do you all kill & fight amongst yourselves back home, I suppose you’d be kiling & fighting with us if the racist “British & the French” let you. I think comparing us with the British is particularily low.
What I think is the bottom line is you can’t take crticism. You can’t face facts & you can’t deal with the horrendous reality of your situation.Who can blame you for this but I do scold you.
I’m not interested in “other” races, most of them have stopped killing each other on the scale the we do. I’m concerned with us, these blogs are about us. Hence i voice my opinion about us.
Electra – Sophist speaks like a venoumous snake. Not sure why you’re supporting him – but hey, I think I’ve worked out a whole heap fo intrigues amongst you “Sri Lankan” bloggers :-). I also have my sources.
Sophist – I have lived & gone to school in Sri Lanka. I’m not sure why you had make you’re snide remark about me being one of the few Tamils who had rich relatives living in Colombo 7 etc… I think more than any of your other arsehole points, this one gives you away the most … Frankly I think you’d be scared shitless if we had peace & we ALL came back – together, you know why – because we’d be saying to you – look what you let happen & why did you & why were complicit.
I did leave a few requests for you Electra, on your blog – maybe we could move on from this factional posturing. Let us not as pure Sri Lankans diaspora Tamils know if there is anything that we should be doing or can do.
aththa
CFA clearly benefited the great majority of the people in the South, while yielding minimal to no benefits to the people of the North and East
great majority?
if so why did most ppl in south vote against unp and ranil in 2004 & 2005?
there were benefits(like more investor confidence and more tourists) but that was due to restoration of normalcy and economic reforms of unp which however hurt some ppl. and the beneficiaries in the south as in north were ppl who know how to benefit and take the opportunity. it will alway be like that. that’s not going to change whether it be in north or south or in another country.
but they still ran after the chimera that Karuna would win for them the war that the army could not; which suggests a degree of stupidity that is saddening
i am not sure anybody in south ever thought karuna is going to win the war for them. there are ppl who belive in a military solution from the start. karuna at most is just a helping hand.
……, no urgent need to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Moneragala and exert pressure on their armed military leadership to abandon the path of war and accept a political solution.
so why is moneragala so poor ? it only proves that peace does not necessarily lead to prosperity.
They would have voted for the presidential candidate who advocated the federal solution if they were allowed to. This suggests a degree of intelligence that is also saddening in that it was unreciprocated and not even appreciated.
why did they not vote in jaffna town? were they not allowed to there?
that a ceasefire was no substitute for a active process of providing concrete political solutions to the conditions that gave rise to the war
but to build concrete solutions attacks must stop and talks start. as long as there are attacks there will not be trust. and ppl making compromises and patience in face of ltte attacks appear weak. justifiably so. but all 3 governments in power all did that. that is why ranil lost in the south. ltte should do its part if its wants war. breaking the ceasefire repeatedly (several times over government’s transgressions) only proves its insincerity. what do you call attacks since dec good will gestures?
their armed military leadership
well ! do you condemn the suicide attack? is that a legitimate form of attack from ‘armed leadership’?
lets blame the breakdown of peace talks and possible war on those responsible . ltte.
ashanthi:
:-) can’t say anything else.
ashanthi :
-Sophist speaks like a venoumous snake-
so do a lot of us, hmmm?
-Not sure why you’re supporting him –
i’m not supporting him, i merely thought he made a well articualted comment. it doesnt mean i agree with what he’s saying, so much as i liked how concise it was. i didn’t say ‘sophist : i totally agree with you’, i said ‘sophist : well SAID’. big difference.
-but hey, I think I’ve worked out a whole heap fo intrigues amongst you “Sri Lankan†bloggers :-). I also have my sources.-
well, what does one say? good for you…?
ashanthi, i don’t know what it is with you, but it seems to me like you do a whole lot of jumping to conclusions and working up steam much before you’ve actually worked out what you want to say and what your stand is. don’t be so hasty, you’re talking when you’re livid, and like i said, it doesn’t always work in your advantage. quit endlessly defending yourself, if you look carefully enough, you might find that not all of us are endlessly trashing what you say. quit imagining that we are ‘ganging up on you’, we actually aren’t ; each to his own, say i. just calm down a little, and try and make valid judgments. shooting off your mouth (like a lot of us do a lot of the time) i have found, is most often proven to be futile, as everyone really misunderstands what you’re saying and that can be frustrating both for you and them.
you said on my blog :
-In fact I think I might advocate that no-one under the age of 19 should have a blog – certainly it’s not for the faint hearted.-
that has to be the biggest load of bull shit you’ve said. ever.
Electra – what was that you said about being concise?
Sophist is no doubt more Sri Lankan than me & a mate of yours – you stick up for him. As Morq says he should join the army. He’ll learn what happens to tin soldiers in no time.
Re my sources – yes indeed, very good for me :-).
My summary concise response to your next p/graph is I had no idea the blog & my comments were being monitored so closely.
As for no-under 19 year olds having blogs – ahhh got your goat now haven’t I petal. Well – actually I think I might up that to under 21! We don’t want you getting yourself into trouble with School, Mum & Dad or God.
Just joshing with you – you calm down now & stop stamping you feet & chucking a tantrum.
The blogshpere will remain a free medium for the whole world I hope & pray. Including a cheeky self-righteous school-girls who know to give as much stick as they get :-)
Once you’ve calmed down – please send me the info i asked you via my blog – I would appreciate it and I always feel disloyal to Morq when I write more than 2 comments a week on indi’s blog!
Attha: I agreed with most of what you said before, but I’m afraid I agree with the others when it comes to your opinion about the North and East not benefitting as much as the South from the CFA. In fact, until your comment made me stop and think twice about it, my immediate impression was that the CFA had benefitted the North and East significantly more than other parts of the country.
It is true that in absolute terms the people in the North and East are not as rich as those in the South. Well, this is hardly surprising after 23 years of war. Even in terms of nutrition and health the Wanni population trail the rest of the country. No argument there, but in terms of the change that has taken place since 2002, I think the North and East have clearly received most of the benefits in terms of infrastructure, buldings, schools. Ask anyone who went to Kilinochchi immediately after the ceasefire and who have been there since. The economic development is visible.
Central Bank data is unreliable because data collection in the LTTE controlled areas is understandably sketchy and they don’t have previous figures to compare it with. At best they’ll have loose estimates and or projections. You have to talk to people.
Ashanthi: Did you just get dumped? Do you get really bad PMT? Did your parents never love you?
Ashanthi, are you game enough to get pregnant and blow yourself, your baby and other bystanders to a million bits?
If not, please shut up about how great the LTTE is and get over your visceral hatred of the Sinhalese and other non-Tamils.
Ok Electra – now how concise and it logical manner should I respond to this comment from “Iron”!!!!
“If not, please shut up about how great the LTTE is and get over your visceral hatred of the Sinhalese and other non-Tamils”
.
This is exactly the same sort of attacks that Morq gets just because he trys to present a possible other side of the argument. It’s just ridiculous. I have always & constantly condemned & do so again in no uncertain terms any suicide bombing. Ok “Iron” got it?
Yo Sittingnut – I am most pleased to get a smiley out of you machan :-) … though as usual I think you are being cheeky. Anyway – better to have you back being cheeky than stubborn & cranky :-) Err.. PS can we got back to your blog & continue arguing – I really shouldn’t be here…
Can everyone please stop talking to me on Indi’s blog – I’m not going to respond anymore.If you want to talk to me – please post a comment on my blog. I still haven’t removed comment moderator but I will shortly (I promise this time s/nut). Thanks.
– I really shouldn’t be here…-
ha ha! you actually make me laugh. and that’s not in a ‘you’re really funny’ kind of way. i mean, we’re all full of shit sometimes, admittedly even myself, but you take it to another level, especially given that you seem to think you’re so right all the time. you get so caught up in this mud-slinging thing that you very easily lose sight of what the initial conversation was about. why’re you so prinicpally adverse to indi’s blog? because he has a different opinion than you do? why are you so obsessed with morquendi? you guys are best friends now? what are you on about?
what is your POINT, ashanthi? you’re not making a point. have you realized that? the last few comments, all you’ve been doing is insulting other people and defending yourself (when you aren’t even being dissed). so make a POINT. and get to it fast.
of course sophist is my mate, but that doesn’t mean we never agree to disagree. i’m not defending him, he’s perfectly capable of doing so himself if the need should ever arise, i was merely commending the precision of what he said. just because you like someone’s use of language, it doesn’t mean you agree with what they’re saying, just like i sometimes agree with something someone is saying, but dislike the way in which it’s being said. this is how i feel about morquendi, and you even. i almost feel like we’d agree with each other alot if you were actually making sense and staying focussed.
if you bothered to read anything anyone has written here, you may have noticed that we aren’t so hot about going to war. in fact, sophist very blatantly expressed his desire to see all the fighting come to an END. we’re all sick of it. we’re all on the same damn side, blinded by petty, personal bitching. how lame.
atleast i didn’t have to pick on you personally to get my point across, as you did when you said:
‘We don’t want you getting yourself into trouble with School, Mum & Dad or God.
Just joshing with you – you calm down now & stop stamping you feet & chucking a tantrum.
The blogshpere will remain a free medium for the whole world I hope & pray. Including a cheeky self-righteous school-girls who know to give as much stick as they get :-)’
i’m not afraid of getting into trouble, anyone who knows anything about me knows that.
Ashanthi, let’s face it when you said:
“So – there you go, not only are Sri Lankans stupid, murdering, bloodthirsty.lying, uncivilized, wackos…. they are also petty losers that would sooner denegrate each others parents than have peace in that hole they call … “the motherlandâ€. It’s a bloody slum basically, with filthy thugs running around commitiing every crime under the sun. Oh sorry except for a few “nightclubs†a couple of streets in Colombo 5 and of course Cinamon Garders.
Keep killing – that’s what you losers know how to do best. You’re so smart after all. I’m sure the Norwegians would agree with me, whole heartedly. ”
You really meant the word “Sri Lankans” as “Sinhalese” didn’t you?
Stop being such a hateful racist.
Why do you always seem to have a heart attack whenever ANYONE critiques the LTTE?
They deserved to be critiqued, they’re a bunch of savage barbarians.
aththa:
My comment was confined to whether or not it is right to point to the fact that Colombo is more developed than Vanni when arguing that the north east “didn’t benefit from the ceasefire”. You artfully dodged that that point.
I’ll repeat my point : The fact that Colombo is more developed than the North East doesn’t prove that the North East didn’t benefit from the ceasefire.
That argument is invalid, falacious and just plain absurd.
The argument is invalid. Do you get that ? Or are you going to pretent that you don’t get it and dodge the issue by bringing forward some other argument to demonstrate your contention that the people in the north east “didn’t benefit” through the ceasefire agreement.
You may bring forward other arguments if you wish, but the one you presented is plain nonsense.
In other words, the folloging equation is not valid.
People in Colombo live better than in NE = NE has not benefited from the ceasefire.
My point about Moneragala was made just to show you the fact that any difference in the level of development between Colombo and NE proves nothing.
3 or 4 years of ceasefire after around 20 years of war will not magically transform the NE and expecting such a 100% turnaround (instant equality with Colombo, of all places!) is just an excuse for turning a blind eye for the very real benefits that the people of the North East have had from the ceasefire.
I should add that many people who live within the city of Colombo have come from the NE.
Also, the blame for the fact that the benefits of the present ceasefire are “limited” should fall squarely on the terrorist organization (LTTE) that has SHAMELESSLY violated the ceasefire agreement ever since it’s inception and thus leading to a continuation of the sense of uncertainty which prevents more meaningful improvements.
(Or are you denying even this, are you actually denying that 95% of the ceasefire violations are attributed to the LTTE?)
Aththa:
By saying –
“There is, as far as I know, no urgent need to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Moneragala and exert pressure on their armed military leadership to abandon the path of war and accept a political solution.”
By saying this you are clearly indicating the alleged contrast with the NE where there is such a need.
You’ve (perhaps unintentionally) revealed where your real spmpathies are.
So you think that the LTTE is the “armed military leadership” of the people of the NE ?
A terrorist group that is heartlessly cruel to the point where it kidnaps and conscripts even 10 year old children and forces children to undergo military training has become the “military leadership” of the NE people ?
THANKS FOR REVEALING YOUR TRUE NATURE !
Electra – it’s you who says you’re spoilt & you are. Learn to laugh at yourself for God’s sake. Hey I’m laughing at myself when I say “i really shouldn’t be here” – except you keep dragging me back :-). Now that last bit about underage bloggers – was not a personal attack, so please get over it.
I’m not a fan of Indi because of the fanatic bloggers he seems to attract. I found the personal attacks made on various people by Indi’s mates & trolls quite shocking. Going back to the original way you & I got talking – I do believe these too alluded to family.
I’m not obsessed with Morq – we all respect his efforts during the Tsunami & his attempts to try and get alternative points of view across. As you can see by one of the many anon’s frequenting Indi’s blog these days, the latest being Iron – there is constant abuse re. how I’m and Morq are ltte sympathisers & you know it’s mainly because I’m Tamil and … you probably know full well that Morq is not an ltte sympathiser at all.
You’re personally insulting comment to me re how I don’t live in Sri Lanka and therefore have no right to get angry about what is happening there and make a comment on it is … well it’s astounding. Don’t crap on to me about getting points across – my days of writing essays to be marked by my teachers are well and truly over.
There are so many of us who have lost our birthrights through no fault of our own. It looks like with an attitude like that, you wish to continue to deny us the right to our land. Land which I sitll own, I have the title deeds for – and I have these title deeds – unlike so many people in Sri Lankan – because we did not steal this land from anyone by murdering them in the middle of the night but have owned it for 100’s of years maybe even 1000’s). By trying to shut me up you are denying me access to my culture which is being decimated even as we speak. By telling me that I need to moderate my comments to suit you & make them more palatable, you would even deny me the right to express my feelings? As I said before – how dare you.
Now – if you’d like to move on, I’ve asked you to keep me informed on my blog as to what is happening in SL at the moment & if there is anything at all “we” can do. If you’d like to get more nutter closet racist anti-Tamil blogging traffic continuing on schmIndi’s blog – keep going but I don’t have to point out to you, Miss self-proclaimed spoilt brat, exactly what I will think of you.
· When I shared my “good Canadian = bad person†observation with friends, one came back with, “you can’t be a good individual and belong to a group too,†and another said, “what difference does your nationality make?â€
· My immersion into Buddhism has taught me that what ever the Buddha taught has been perverted.
· My immersion into Vancouver Christianism has taught me that Christians don’t read or believe in the bible, but use their Christianism to mask their cowardice and lies in order to feel superior in their evil selfish ways and find community.
· I have come to say that alcoholism and Christianism are inseparable.
· My immersion in the Bible provided for me an ideal for which to aim; Heaven on Earth.
· My immersion into the Bhagavad Gita clarified for me the so-called mystery of the Bible and suggests to me that Siddhartha Gautama could not have reached his enlightenment without it.
· When I ask myself, what does Elam mean? I think of Heaven on Earth or Utopia.
· When I look it up I find that it may mean “high†as I find “Sri†might mean.
· When I think of my immersion in Sri Lanka I think of, Heaven on Earth and Utopia.
· When I think of ideals I see a path to unity; “Elam Lanka.†By focusing on reality and attainable ideals and by sharing them I see potential for consensus, unity and success. But when I think of the current democracies I see manipulated majorities running rough shod over targeted minorities.
· Like the blind leading the blind, freedom designed by slaves, justice by prison inmates and charity by alcoholic, democracy by majority might explain why we get the governments we get.
· May I suggest that, by discussing nature and reality plus by drawing out potential ideals one might succeed at revealing universally desirable goals unto which one might sacrifice fear, greed and hatred for.
Wm
http://www.timetender.ca
Wm: Can I have the name of your dealer?
Ashanthi: To reiterate what Electra said, “WHAT IS YOUR POINT?” Please make it clearly if you have one and back it up with some sembalance of an argument. Don’t just rant like a banshee with her knickers in a twist.
Just some thoughts about Ashanthi. Really guys, what’s her deal? I’ve seen her trolling day and night in so many blogs. It’s as if this person doesn’t have 1. a job 2. any friends 3. anything else to otherwise occupy her. Is she trying to make friends in these blogs and post comments to them all day? Why is she fighting with everyone and feels the need to abuse anyone who doesn’t agree with her. I see that Indi is keeping a gentlemanly silence through all her tantrums. But people like Sophist & others are actually just winding her up for fun. She’s obviously a little sick. Just let her be will you? It’s really cruel to play with someone like this.
Noter, she starts screaming like a mad woman everytime someone critiques the LTTE. I don’t know why. But she feels free to bitch and whine about the “evil” Sri Lankan security forces without a thought to the fact that the “sole representatives” of the Tamils are the ones that are bleeding the Tamil community to bits. I find it funny how this Pro-Tiger girl hangs around Sinhalese people online, going from blog to blog written by Sinhalese individuals and hating on Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese when she feels like it.
Perhaps she realizes that democracy and free speech are dead in her community.
“Land which I sitll own, I have the title deeds for – and I have these title deeds – unlike so many people in Sri Lankan – because we did not steal this land from anyone by murdering them in the middle of the night but have owned it for 100’s of years maybe even 1000’s). ” – So your a veddha? As far as I know they are the only ones who can claim to have owned land for thousands of years in Sri Lanka. Also I don’t think most people in SL obtained land by the novel method of acquisition you mentioned.
When did Morq say I should join the Army?? Where was this?
Ashanthi…did your ‘hubby’ lose a bet or summat?
I found these comments by Electra about Ashanthi very interesting.
http://electra.blogsome.com/2006/04/28/rich-bitch/#comment-3911
Ok folks, what’s going on here? Sorry I am not in touch with your social mores; I am just responding to something I have identified with and have chosen to make some offerings
Ravana: Naïve? OK. Ill informed and ill researched? Yes, but even still Elam, Eelam, Eden or Serendib, the people of the Indian subcontinent seem inextricably interwoven into all of these ideas.
Asking, what is my country like and how do I want it to be, is about acknowledging reality, its potential, identifying attainable ideals and choosing strategies to attain these ideals. Ideals like:
One island one country
One island divided
Sri Lanka for the Singhalese (was this not the initial “democratic” offence)
Eelam for the Tamils
Eelam Lanka for all
Freedom of superstition
Unity with peace and prosperity
Majority over minority
Consensus
Impoverishment over prosperity
Enrichment for all
Rich over poor
Poor over rich
War for dominance
War for hate
War on liberation
One Nation of enriching and free people
One island of subjugating bullies, liars, murders, thieves and thugs
What have I got and what do I want? What am I willing to pay? Get them all down; let them all out.
Wm
Wm: Sorry, Wm. I didn’t mean to offend, it just that your approach to this seems so removed from everybody else’s “practical solution” or “despair” approaches that the juxtaposition makes you seem a bit wacky. No offence meant.
Ravana: I was touched to get your apology Ravana, thanks for reading and you are right; I am very removed and I have not studied the SL bloggs in depth.
I say that “sanity isn’t normal†and “to the normal sanity looks insane.†These sayings aren’t meant to offend here, but they are about thinking outside of the box.
My experience tells me that most people here are too invested in the problem (1.e. employed by the problem) to consider real solutions as real solutions take them out of the box, are uncomfortable, threaten their identities (and jobs) and mean changes, that most are not willing to undertake. It may even be that there are no perceived profits in real solutions.
What say you?
Wm
http://www.timetender.ca
I’m not sure if there is a solution to this problem, maybe there is one but it’s beyond difficult to find one, because like the US, you have a bunch of monkeys making all the important political decisions and unless you elect people who actually use their brains to come up with a good solution, the madness will probably continue. It’s all up to the citizens of Sri Lanka to elect politicians who will change the country for the better instead of for the worse. Ranil definately would have been a better choice, in my opinion.