South Asian journalists introduced to US agency-concept in making to fight China's BRI

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2018, 20:20 GMT]
One of the eight journalists, who took part in a recent US-orchestrated ‘reporting tour’ posed a question on the Rohingya issue in Myanmar to Brig. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, deputy director for operations of US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) at Hawaii's Honolulu. Declining to comment, Anderson said it was a State Department and national leadership issue. “We are not against the fact that China wants to have a global presence and wants to be involved globally, so long as they don't want to subvert or change a system that has been working very well for the last several decades,” he told Rezaul Karim, the Bangladeshi journalist. The US commander was looking forward to military-to-military engagement with Bangladesh. During their trip, the journalists were introduced to the concept of the new finance agency, the USIDFC, which is being conceived to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative.
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US-China trade war escalates, APEC summit ends without joint communique

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2018, 07:29 GMT]
“The United States will not change course until China changes its ways,” said US Vice President Mike Pence, who was continuing the hardline rhetoric against China at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit held in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) capital of Port Moresby on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping in his address asked: “Which direction should we choose? Cooperation or confrontation? Openness or closing one's door? Win-win progress or a zero-sum game?” The meeting ended without the parties agreeing on a joint statement.
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Genocidal Sri Lanka's maritime and naval greed expose attitudes of powers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2018, 11:29 GMT]
Maithiripala Sirisena, the incumbent SL President and Ranil Wickramasinghe, the now disputed SL Prime Minister, increased military-to-military maritime training with the USA, India and Japan between 2015 and 2017 while seeking to exploit the China-tilt ‘achievements’ of the Rajapaksa government. The SL Navy was receiving naval vessels as gifts from all the powers after the 2015 regime change. However, the SL State wanted more and more, believing that the geopolitical paradigm experimented through the genocide on Eezham Tamils would bring it fortunes. The naval ambitions went to the extent of wanting 25 powerful naval vessels from different actors to create a powerful naval fleet. At the same time, SL State's maritime economic ambitions were aimed at making Colombo the financial hub in the Indian Ocean.
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US House Democrats, blind on genocide, express escapist concerns on SL 'reforms'

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 November 2018, 11:07 GMT]
Dina Titus, the co-chair of the Sri Lanka Caucus in the US House of Representatives, has stated along with fellow Democrat Representatives, David Price and Eliot L. Engel on Friday, urging the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena to uphold the commitment of his government to democratic governance and reopen the SL Parliament. In a letter to Mr Sirisena, the US Democratic members expressed deep concern that the suspension of Sri Lanka’s Parliament circumvents the country’s constitution and democratic process.
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Germany promotes trade with genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 November 2018, 12:25 GMT]
The Federal Republic of Germany, which is the 4th largest economy in the world and the biggest economy within the European Union, has been accelerating trade moves to create business opportunities for ‘Sri Lankan’ and German companies between March and October 2018. Germany is also home to a large number of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils. Tamil grassroots activists in Jaffna have urged increased awareness among the Tamil diaspora at the wake of a call to conceive a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against genocidal Sri Lanka as the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena installed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. In the meantime, a report by the leading German media house Deutsche Welle said: “German companies have so far invested around one billion dollars in Sri Lanka. Compared to China’s investment since 2005, that figure is modest.”
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Obama,Clinton, Power accountable for protracted genocide haunting Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 November 2018, 21:24 GMT]
From Hillary Clinton to Samantha Power, the principal actors of Barak Obama's administration knowingly abetted the Sri Lankan State, which was committing genocide and paved the way for the post-2009 paradigm of structural genocide by swapping international investigations with incompatible transitional justice for the sake of their geopolitical access. Particularly after 2015, the Obama administration promoted the cosmetic changes to the unitary constitution of genocidal Sri Lanka and wanted Tamils to adopt collaboration politics with Sinhala rulers, which is interpreted as Quisling Politics by the grassroots of Eezham Tamils. Samantha Power, who was the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (August 2013 – January 2017), is now escaping with soft Tweets while Clinton is silent.
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Military coercion takes upper-hand in Indo-Pacific, soft power era is over

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 November 2018, 23:36 GMT]
“I think in 15 years — it’s not inevitable — but it is a very strong likelihood that we will be at war with China,” said United States Army Europe (USAREUR) former Commander Lt. General Ben Hodges while addressing Warsaw Security Forum on 24 October in Poland. Hodges was making a point to his European partners that the USA would not be able to deter both Russia and China at the same time at the event of a global confrontation in the future. In his drive to convince the US allies in Europe to take a larger share in their preparedness to deter Russia, the former US Commander was implying that the priorities have changed and the military assets of the USA were going to be concentrated in the Indo-Pacific in the long run. The unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka is deeply caught up in the geopolitical disputes, on which it has sustained its anti-Tamil political space so far.
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SL Police blocks memorial monument for 1984 massacre victims in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2018, 11:04 GMT]
The police of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, stationed at Oddu-chuddaan has blocked the resettled Tamil families of Othiya-malai village from proceeding with erecting a memorial monument for civilians who were massacred by the occupying Sinhala military in 1984. Only 50 of 110 families living in the village in 1984 managed to resettle after 27 years in 2012. Since then, they use to mark the massacred victims at the Rural Development Society building, where the massacre took place. This year, the families resolved to put up a small memorial monument in remembrance of their loved ones. However, the SL Police has warned the families against erecting the memorial.
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SL military defies court order, erects Buddha statue in Mullaith-theevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2018, 09:28 GMT]
Emboldened by the recent re-emergence of Rajapaksa brothers in the South, the occupying Sinhala Army has erected a Buddha statue at Neeraavi-eattam (Neeraaviyadi) on Friday. The SLA 593 Brigade was openly violating a stay order on converting Pazhaiya-Chemmalai Pi'l'liaayar temple into a Buddhist vihara, Karai-thu'raip-pattu Divisional Secretariat officials told TamilNet on Monday. The SL Army soldiers were having a Buddha statue covered in a glass box inside their camp. On Friday, they moved it to the disputed Neeraaviyadi temple, the sources said. Both the UNP regime, which was controlling the SL Archaeology Department until recently, SL President Maithiripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa's SLPP have been competing to Sinhalicise Neeraaviyadi, the Tamil officials said.
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Restoration of Tamil Heroes Cemeteries should start from Trincomalee: Maaveerar families

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2018, 10:32 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military, which was being trained by the United States Indo-Pacific Command at Trincomalee, desecrated the Tamil Heroes Cemetery at Aalang-ku'lam in Champoor, Trincomalee last year. It is preparing to do the same also this year, the families of war dead Tamil fighters said. “How could the militaries, which claim as belonging to civilised world order, collaborate with the Sinhala military, which razed our Heroes cemeteries to the ground and continues to desecrate the Thuyilum Illams,” asked a Tamil father from Champoor in Trincomalee. The Tamil diaspora in the West should first get its host countries to respect the Tamil Heroes when they land in Trincomalee and set an example for reconciliation, the Tamil families in Champoor said.
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Colombo's landgrab unrelenting in Mannaar district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2018, 14:13 GMT]
The SL departments of Forest, Wild-Life and Archaeology have seized 30,272 acres of lands in Mannaar district while the occupying SL Army and Navy continue to retain 2,583 acres of public and private lands, the officials of Mannaar District Secretariat said. The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is less willing to release lands in Mannaar in comparison to other districts in the North. At the same time, SL Departments of Forest and Wildlife conservation have emerged as the most aggressive agents seizing lands of Eezham Tamils in the district. 32,855 acres of lands have been absorbed into the so-called sovereignty of the SL State from the country of Eezham Tamils.
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UNP promoted Sinhala colonisation of Vanni allocating housing scheme

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 October 2018, 09:25 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) has allocated more than 10% of houses provided to resettling people in Mullaiththeevu district to Sinhala colonisers in Ma'nal-aa'ru, which is Sinhalicised into Weli-Oya and is functioning as a separate division within the district, civil sources at the District Secretariat said. The houses have been provided within the past three years, the sources further said.
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Professor Boyle calls for BSD Campaign against genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2018, 17:14 GMT]
Transitional Justice does not work with genocide. The Eezham Tamils must now conceive a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against genocidal Sri Lanka, Professor Francis Boyle, an eminent American expert in international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, told TamilNet after SL President Maithiriapala Sirisena installed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the SL Prime Minister in the island. “Now with Rajapaksa back in power, we are going to need BDS. In today’s New York Times his son said he is going to run for President next year and they will win. We will be back to where we were in 2009, a Decade ago. As I argued in my lecture, Transitional Justice is not going to work here. Time for BDS!,” Professor Boyle said on Sunday.
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Let Sinhala nation decide its fate, keep focus on Tamil struggle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2018, 23:51 GMT]
The constitutional coup is an outcome of a fierce competition raging between UPFA and UNP agents, who want to exploit the accelerating trade-war between the two powers, the USA and China. The USA has already established its strategic military access to the island through India. The current dispute is not aimed at taking military or diplomatic side with a particular actor, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said. The right-wing populistic SLPP led by Rajapaksa, the strongman from Hambantota and the centre-left SLFP chaired by Sirisena, another strongman from Polonnaruwa, are staunch Sinhala nationalist parties having the blessings of the Buddhist establishment. The SL military is excited by their unity. Tamils, having no leadership after the LTTE, are puzzled. They are deceived to believe that China is behind Rajapaksa and that the USA is sticking with Wickramasinghe.
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Sirisena stages constitutional coup, installs Rajapaksa as SL Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2018, 23:39 GMT]
The executive president of genocidal Sri Lanka, Maithiripala Sirisena, has suddenly installed former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the SL Prime Minister after withdrawing his UPFA from the so-called ‘good governance’ alliance on Friday night. The soft parliamentary coup, which seems to be a carefully planned secret move, has been justified by Mr Sirisena as adhering to the constitutional provisions of the unitary state. Mr Sirisena, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, had this already in mind when he addressed the UN General Assembly last month in the USA, political observers in Jaffna commented. Maithiripala was praising his troops on the ground during his UN visit to Donald Trump's USA. The UNP is now reaping what it sowed 40 years ago in 1978 when the late J.R. Jayawardene introduced the executive presidency.
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Justice Wigneswaran decides to launch new political party

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 October 2018, 21:37 GMT]
Naming his new initiative as Thamizh Makka'l Koodda'ni (TMK), former Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council Justice C.V. Wigneswaran on Wednesday summarised the raison d'etre for the new party in a well-attended meeting at Nalloor in Jaffna. The political goal of the TMK would be aimed at achieving a political solution on the basis of Tamils' right of self-determination and shared sovereignty, he said. The party would be prepared to accept a federal solution with undivided North-East as its basic unit, he said. The former Supreme Court Justice came with an initial list of 10-points and urged the people to shape the strategy of the party through public debate.
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SL Police steps up harassment of Tamils after Sinhala extremist MPs heritage-trip

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2018, 08:26 GMT]
The SL Police at Nedungkea'nii n Vavuniyaa has again harassed the trustee board of Aathilingkeasvara deity at the heritage hill of Vedukku-naa'ri in Vavuniyaa. The SL Police has told the temple trustees that even putting up a rope ladder is interpreted as construction work which is prohibited. The latest harassment comes after Sinhala parliamentarians belonging to Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) or National Freedom Front, an extreme Sinhala nationalist JVP-breakaway group, which is aligned with former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, visited Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa earlier this month and confronted the Tamil villagers.
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SL Navy harasses resettled Tamils in Musali by blocking access road with barbed-wire

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 October 2018, 17:07 GMT]
The occupying SL Navy of genocidal Sri Lanka has blocked the access route to the pockets of released lands in the coastal village of Mu'l'li-ku'lam in Mannaar mainland on Saturday. Barbed-wire was put up blocking access along the main road, which is also the main supply route to the military base. The SL Navy base is located in 35 acres. However, it retains hundreds of acres of lands in Musali division. The coastal village of Mu'l'lik-ku'lam lies 45 km south of Mannaar city bordering with Puththa'lam district. The resettled people started to protest in front of the SL Navy base on Sunday. The SL Navy lifted the barbed-wire only after Parish Priest Fr Lawrence negotiated between the protesters and the Navy. The people said the SL Navy has started to behave in a more hostile than before.
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New Delhi owes a public apology on Jaffna Hospital massacre

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 October 2018, 19:04 GMT]
Thirty-one years have elapsed, but the Indian state is yet to tender a public apology to Eezham Tamils for its brutal massacre of more than 60 civilians, including 21 doctors, nurses and other medical staff as well as the warded patients at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in one of the brutal massacres witnessed in the history of Jaffna. The killings took place during the invading Indian military was at war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1987. The war crimes committed by the IPKF on the soil of Eezham Tamils have not been adequately investigated, said the medical staff who marked the 26th year of the massacre committed by the so-called Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).
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Justice for Nimalarajan should start with Tamils addressing IC paradigm of injustice

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 October 2018, 21:45 GMT]
The University community in Jaffna and the journalists in the North and East marked the 18th death anniversary of Eezham Tamil journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. There is no point in demanding investigations from the Sri Lankan State anymore. Tamils should start addressing the wrongdoers in the international community first on delivering the long-overdue international justice, commented journalists in Jaffna vowing to bring the issue into a wider debate in 2019. Tamils should launch a global movement to address the paradigm of international injustice if they are serious about remembering the sacrifices made by Tamil journalists of the calibre of Nimalarajan, Nadesan and Sivaram, they said.
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