15 Responses to “India’s Prime Minister dismayed over Sri Lanka moves to dilute the 13th Amendment”

1. Lorenzo Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 4:46 pm

   I’m not repeating DJ (Don Juan aka Dayan Jeyatilakan).

   But Endia will INVADE SL soon not like in 1987 may be in a different way.

   2014 is an election year. Tamil Madu support is ESSENTIAL for Congress to RETAIN power and BJP to get power. For sometime Tamilians will be kingmakers (among others) until next year. To keep the barbarians happy Endia will invade SL to force 13 amendment.

   We should be ready. We should get a Chinese nuke submarine always docked in our ports to DETER Endia.

   This is what we didn’t do in 1987. We can’t afford the same mistake this time.

   We should also have a plan to DISTRIBUTE millions of guns, claymore mines, grenades, landmines to willing patriots to “take care of” “existing Endian invaders” in SL. The army cannot do these things officially.

   During the Vietnam war pro-US south Vietnamese were killed in millions by north Vietnamese more than the Americunts. This is the strategy to RID ALL Endian “invaders” from the country. Afterwards SL will get a bad name which we can overcome with time. But Endians in SL poses a CONTINUING economic, political, defence, cultural, etc. threat which is worse. That will automatically resolve the “ethnic problem” and all other REAL problems affecting MOST SLs!

   Thereafter Endia will NEVER INVADE SL.

   e.g. IF Ravanan got rid of Seetha Devi when the monkey army invaded SL, Endia would have wept and wept their mistake and never had invaded SL ever again! But he didn’t expect the monkey attack and that was his mistake.

   This is a NASTY strategy but the other option is far WORSE. Sinhalese, pro-SL Tamils and pro-SL Muslims in SL must get into the SURVIVAL GEAR now. Anything is kosher in survival mode.

   If anyone else has a better strategy I like to hear it.

2. Ananda-USA Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 5:50 pm

   My Comment on the Article below:

   As a Patriotic Sri Lankan, I second garawi’s comment.

   The average Sri Lankan enjoys a much higher standard of living and social equity than the average Indian citizen, despite a 30 year war against Tamil separatists, initiated, funded, and orchestrated by India. With similar cultures & economies at independence, one would have expected no difference today between the two countries; so why is there such a vast difference?

   The answer is SIMPLE: The Buddhist mindset of the Majority Community of Sri Lanka has supported and enabled progress in every area leading to the higher economic and social equity. Caste and sex discrimination has vanished, people have attained 95% literacy comparable to advanced Western nations, and enjoy good universal healthcare. Despite what the Eelamist Tamil separatists egged on by Tamil Nadu racists would have you believe, ethnic and religious discrimination has also largely vanished.

   An UNDYING DEDICATION to PRESERVING our Sovereignty remains undiminished!

   ……….
   Garawi’s Comment:

   While the India’s poor is starving the govenrment is meddling in Sri Lankan politics and trying to impose their power on her. It will be better to spent time and money to improve the condition at home before preaching to the others.

   ……………………………………..
   Poorest of poor survive on Rs 17 a day in villages: NSSO

   By PTI – NEW DELHI

   20th June 2013 05:05 PM

   Poorest of poor in the country survive on barely Rs 17 per day in villages and Rs 23 a day in cities, as per the latest data released by the National Sample Survey Office today.

   According to the data, which relates to 2011-12 (July-June), five per cent population on the bottom rung had an average monthly per capita expenditure (MCPE) of Rs 521.44 in rural areas and Rs 700.50 in urban areas.

   On the other end of the spectrum, top five per cent of the population had an MPCE of Rs 4,481 in rural areas and Rs 10,282 in urban areas.

   The National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 68th round of survey is based on samples consisting of 7,496 villages in rural India and 5,263 urban blocks except some remote areas, during July 2011June 2012, the release said.

   On an average on the all-India basis, MPCE was around Rs 1,430 for rural India and about Rs 2,630 for urban India.

   “Thus average urban MPCE was about 84 per cent higher than average rural MPCE for the country as a whole, though there were wide variations in this differential across states,” it said.

   For the average rural Indian, food accounted for 52.9 per cent of the value of consumption during 2011-12. This included 10.8 per cent for cereals and cereal substitutes, 8 per cent for milk and milk products, 7.9 per cent on beverages, refreshments and processed food, and 6.6 per cent on vegetables, the release said.

   Among non-food item categories, fuel and light for household purposes (excluding transportation) accounted for 8 per cent, clothing and footwear 7 per cent, medical expenses 6.7 per cent, education 3.5 per cent, conveyance 4.2 per cent, other consumer services (excluding conveyance) 4 per cent, and consumer durables 4.5 per cent.

3. aloy Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 6:39 pm

   Lorenzo,
   “This is a NASTY strategy but the other option is far WORSE. Sinhalese, pro-SL Tamils and pro-SL Muslims in SL must get into the SURVIVAL GEAR now. Anything is kosher in survival mode.”
   To my mind this will never happen. Sinhalas will have to fight it alone. Like in 1987, no one will come to our aid. “Thaman hisata thama athamaya sevenella”. Our friends will have their own interests to look after. We cannot have 100% reliance on any of them. We are armchair generals and strategists, but we can look back and see how other countries safeguarded themselves from similar adversaries. Hitler’s mighty army could not invade Switzerland when they wanted to do that. That country had a volunteer force of 750,000 men trained and ready for a fight, with cellar of each house packed with essentials to survive for three months. Hitler dared to invade thinking that his army would get bogged down there.
   We should do the same thing. Train 2.5m youths and have them ready whether India invade us or not. To my mind this is the only way to safeguard our continued existence as a proud nation not taking dictates from anybody.

4. Ananda-USA Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 6:49 pm

   BanglaDesh, at least, knows how to PUNISH terrorists and murderers: DO UNTO AS DONE UNTO!

   EVEN BETTER would be to DO UNTO BEFORE BEING DONE UNTO!

   How many of the LTTE murderers captured at the end of the Eelam War have been put to DEATH for their crimes? ANSWER: NONE!

   And so, the FAILURE TO PUNISH continuing unabated in Sri Lanka, will encourage a New Generation of Terrorists to believe that they can kill with IMPUNITY!

   NO AMOUNT of Pious Pontifical Preaching or Human Compassion can Protect the People. Only the Terrible Majesty of Fair & Just Laws applied RIGOROUSLY without DELAY can Protect the innocents! VICTIMS rights MUST have higher priority over those of their TORMENTORS!

   ………………………
   Ten Bangladesh militants are condemned to death

   BBC.co.uk
   June 20, 2013

   A court in Bangladesh has sentenced 10 Islamist militants to death for assisting a suicide bombing in 2005 which killed eight people near a courthouse in the town of Gazipur.

   Police at the time described it as the country’s first suicide bombing.

   The condemned men, all members of the banned JMB militant group, showed no remorse after a judge sentenced them in a crowded Dhaka courtroom.

   The JMB man who carried out the attack was also killed.

   Prosecutors say that he was dressed in a traditional lawyers’ gown which enabled him to enter a lawyers’ office office in Gazipur – just north of Dhaka – without creating suspicion. He then detonated his explosives.

   Special public prosecutor Rafiqul Islam told the AFP news agency that the condemned men assisted the bomber in making the bomb, providing him with information and planning.

   Judge Motaher Hossain, sitting in a fast-track court set up by the government, ordered the sentences to be carried out by hanging.

   The attack was one of several of blasts carried out by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) in 2005, prompting concern that the moderate Muslim-majority nation was being subjected to an insurgency similar to that being waged by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

   On 17 August 2005 – three months before the Gazipur attack – more than 300 explosions took place simultaneously in 50 cities and towns across the country in one day, including the capital Dhaka.

   JMB head Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam, known as Bangla Bhai, were among six JMB militants hanged in 2007 for orchestrating the attacks.

   During their trial, the two men said they had targeted the judiciary because it was run by secular rather than Sharia law.

5. Lorenzo Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 7:44 pm

   Aloy,

   “To my mind this will never happen. Sinhalas will have to fight it alone.”

   I’m not asking for outsiders to come and FIGHT for us. Only a Chinese deterrence (which is ALREADY present in the region) is needed and that is NOT going to get involved at all.

   The battles will be fought by REAL locals.

   However, SL army CANNOT fight the Endian military and win. This is a FACT. No point denying it. The MOST SL army can do is to engage the Endians so that the world will realize Endia is warring against SL (and SL army losing BIG TIME).

   That is NOT the MAIN strategy.

   I agree with and thank you for the Switzerland example but the REAL reason why (S)Hitler didn’t attack Switzerland was NOT the volunteer force.

   German army could have EXTREMELY EASILY cut through the Switzerland army and volunteer force like a hot knife through butter!!

   What was the REAL reason?

   The REAL reason was Switzerland has a German minority. ANY invasion of Switzerland to UPLIFT the German race would have turned “SOME OR MOST” of the Switzerland’s volunteer force (more clandestinely than officially) UPON Switzerland’s own Germans!! That would have been a DISASTER for (S)Hitler ideologically and domestically.

   Chopping SL and murdering SL are FAR WORSE and more disgusting crimes and sins than any other chop or murder.

6. Ananda-USA Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 7:47 pm

   My Comment on the Following Article, albeit one year late:

   Sinhala regime has committed genocides? When has protecting one’s own people against Separatist Tamil terrorism initiated, funded, praised and orchestrated by India, killing 150,000 innocent citizens over 30 years become genocide?

   India is culpable for all the murder and mayhem their surrogates, the LTTE inflicted on our people. Our closest cousins became our worst enemies. Even today, we are still struggling against the Eelamist Diaspora, and the Poison Pill embedded in our Constitution at gunpoint by India (aka 13th Amendment) designed to Balkanize our Motherland into a Patchwork of Racist, Apartheid Bantustans.

   India, mired in a multitude of separatist wars and Naxalite terrorism, should mind its own business; it has no valid advice, or moral authority, to offer us when it cannot keep its own house in order.

   We will rebuild our country as ONE Indivisible Nation, of ONE Inseparable People, sharing One Indomitable destiny, free of ALL discrimination. India MUST BUTT OUT of Sri Lanka!

   …………..
   China gains edge in Sri Lanka

   By Jayadeva Ranade
   NewIndianExpress.com

   July 2, 2012

   Traditionally close Indo-Sri Lankan ties forged by shared culture and ethnicity and reinforced by history and legend, are showing signs of coming under strain. Partially caused by New Delhi’s failure to provide more forthcoming policy responses to Colombo’s requests, India’s diplomatic influence is now getting eroded. China stepped in to occupy the space and has, of late, begun expanding its presence in Sri Lanka. It is acquiring a meaningful presence in the political, commercial and cultural sectors. It is already influential in Sri Lanka’s defence establishment.

   The development assumes significance in the backdrop of China’s uncompromising efforts to secure global acceptance of its pre-eminence in the region, which coincides with India’s shrinking influence in its immediate neighbourhood. The latter could get accentuated following establishment of full diplomatic relations between China and Bhutan and imminent resolution of their boundary issue.

   In keeping with the practice followed by it in many countries, Beijing has sought to first exploit the economic and trade route. China’s investments in Sri Lanka, which till 2004, were estimated at under $250 million, increased sharply in the aftermath of the tsunami when Beijing extended assistance of $300 million. There was a noticeable spurt in Chinese lending after the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, with almost $6.5 billion being invested primarily in infrastructural projects. Bilateral trade similarly registered an increase and in the first six months of 2011, totalled $1.28 billion, or an increase of nearly 40 per cent over the previous year.

   Already burdened by domestic and external debt in excess of Sri Lankan Rupees 5.5 trillion, Sri Lanka is eager for loans for its projects. China’s loans to Sri Lanka, though, are neither at preferential rates and nor as grants-in-aid, but they do offer a grace period of 4-5 years for repayment. China is learnt to have been pressurising Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to increase government spending on infrastructure to at least 6.3 per cent of the GDP to enable Sri Lanka become a middle income nation. Sri Lanka recently announced that it would spend $21 billion in the period 2012-2015, or 6.5 per cent of the GDP each year. China is expected to contribute more than half this amount. Additionally, in 2011, the China Development Bank Corporation agreed to provide $1.5 billion over a three year period for roads, power plants and irrigation schemes.

   Chinese companies have so far bagged at least 14 major infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, making China a major player in Sri Lanka’s development efforts. Chinese companies seem to have an edge and often bypass the tender process emerging suddenly as single bidders. The procedural opacity allows for high cost over-runs.

   For example, the project for construction of a 350-metre high transmission and communications tower, on seven and a half acres of prime property along the picturesque Beira waterfront in central Colombo, was awarded to a Chinese company without competition. Construction of the $108 million-tower is being funded by China’s Exim Bank. Apparently prompted by compulsions of ensuring occupancy of the tower and revenues for its owners, the Sri Lankan government has asked the three main telecommunications service providers — Airtel, Etilsat and Dialog — to move into the tower once it is completed. This will additionally facilitate security monitoring of all communications, including by the Chinese company. Interesting, albeit unrelated, is the scandal brewing in Pakistan of a Chinese telecommunications company also emerging suddenly as the sole candidate for supply of a telecommunications trunk system with integrated security-related software.

   The Hambantota Port Development project which, according to reliable inputs, was awarded to China while India was still in talks with Sri Lanka, is a prime example including of cost over-runs in projects. China lent $400 million for the first phase of the new port in Hambantota and China’s Exim bank lent $77 million for an oil bunkering facility. The cost of the first phase, originally estimated at $360 million, escalated by $40 million. The total cost of the port’s development, including the oil bunkering facility, is estimated at $600-750 million. It is assessed, however, that the cost would finally exceed $2 billion. High costs have made Hambantota port commercially unviable. To salvage the situation, the Sri Lankan authorities have directed, for a start, that all automobiles be imported only through Hambantota port, resulting in the addition of SL Rupees 40,000 to the cost price of each vehicle.

   Lanka IOC’s market share will be affected if China, which has strongly indicated a willingness to invest $2 billion in the Sapugaskanda Refinery Expansion and Modernisation (SOREM) project, is awarded the contract.

   Of long term significance are the inroads being made by China’s ‘soft power’. As a first step, China Radio International recently obtained a licence to operate a 24-hour FM Radio channel in Sri Lanka. It is presently broadcasting an hour-long programme in Sinhala each day directly from China via Sri Lanka’s ‘Youth FM’. China Central Television (CCTV) has also decided to telecast Chinese soaps and programmes with subtitles in Sinhalese in addition to the popular Chinese programmes telecast for the past three months by Sri Lanka’s state-owned ITN. An unbearably high rate of tax was simultaneously imposed on Sirisa TV, which used to show popular Indian tele-serials. China’s official news agency Xinhua has plans to expand its operations in the island. Beijing has also increased the number of scholarships for Sri Lankan students and an agreement was signed in October 2011, to establish Confucius Centres across Sri Lanka. The China Institute for Contemporary International Relations, affiliated with China’s intelligence establishment, has proposed a long-term partnership with the Bandaranayake Centre of International Studies.

   China’s extensive ties with the Sri Lankan armed forces are expanding. The Sri Lankan government recently signed an agreement with China for the purchase of six MA-60 aircraft at a cost of $105.4 million. China has also indicated interest in a $100 million project for construction of family accommodation for Sri Lanka’s military personnel in the north and east and separately announced a grant of $1.5 million for modernisation of the Defence Services College in Colombo.

   India needs to evolve steps to ensure that its influence in the region does not shrink, its foreign policy objectives and national aspirations are not compromised, and its interests are protected. It must, among other measures, capitalise on its inherent advantages and increase its lead as the largest source of tourism, direct foreign investment and export market for Sri Lanka.

   Jayadeva Ranade is a former additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India

7. Ananda-USA Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 8:46 pm

   Lorenzo,

   Aloy was mostly right, and you were mostly wrong on why Hitler decided too go around Switzerland, instead of going through it to attack the Allies in France.

   Hitler demanded (in secret) access to the French frontier through Switzerland. Switzerland, which has traditionally stayed out of big-power wars in Europe, except to provide mercenary soldiers for hire to whoever could pay, refused. When Britain and France declared War on the Axis Powers because of treaty obligations to Poland invaded by Germany (and the Soviet Union), Switzerland was the First European Country to mobilize its 2 million man citizen Army. They had prepared their “peoples strategy” of national defence soon after Switzerland became a nation; it is adopted today by many small nations confronting much more populous enemies, such as Israel and Taiwan. The Swiss had NO HOPE of winning a sustained conflict, but they could make the PRICE of such an invasion TOO HIGH for the INVADER. That is called DETERRENCE!

   Hitler threatened to invade Switzerland and crush its forces; the Swiss retorted that each of their soldiers would fire one shot killing a German soldier, before succumbing to the superior mechanized forces of the Wehrmacht. Hitler backed down, not wanting the cream of his force to be bloodied on a secondary front, giving the Allies warning and sufficient time to reposition their forces to counter his invasion strategy, designed to avoid a repeat of the static trench warfare of WW I, in which he fought as a corporal. Instead, Hitler assaulted the weakly defended part of the Maginot line in the Ardenne forest which the French, who had assumed a mechanized thrust through this heavily forested region to be impossible, had not manned in depth. German paratroopers dropped behind the lines surrounded and cutoff the strong points along the Maginot line, while the bulk of the German forces circumvented the strong points and thrusting through the Ardenne forests moved in behind the French and British forces. They then turned right to move into the rear of the Allied Armies concentrated along the lowlands of Belgian Frontier on which another Geman Army had made a fake assault to tie down the forces there. Hitler wanted very much to avoid a repeat of the trench warfare of WW I, knowing that his material resources were much more limited than those of the Allies. The rest is HISTORY.

   My BASIC POINT is: Just like the Swiss, the reconstituted Sri Lanka Armed Forces of today, with a National Militia comprising EVERY ABLE BODIED man and woman able to serve in a National Guard, can bloody ANY INVADING Army to inflict unacceptable costs. After that initial resistene from prepared positions, the strategy must be NOT TO CONFRONT a SUPERIOR ENEMY in CONVENTIONAL BATTLE, but to resort to extended guerilla warfare, just as the LTTE did against the Indian Army, the Taliban is doing in Afghanistan right now, and our ancestors did against European Colonial Powers many hundreds of years ago, to make continued occupation IMPOSSIBLE.

   Like the French and US in Vietnam, the British, the Soviets and the US in Afghanistan, the FOREIGNERS MUST ULTIMATELY GO HOME to ESCAPE UNACCEPTABLE loss of blood and treasure to themselves. The WILL & DETERMINATION of the indigenous PATRIOTIC FORCES of a country, fighting for their hearth and home, suitably organized and marshalled as an entire nation resisting occupation, CANNOT BE DEFEATED by foreigners! They can be defeated ONLY by themselves IF the FOREIGNERS succeed in dividing the Patriotic Forces and make them fight each other.

   It is this COMBINED strategy that our ANCESTORS used for 400 years to hold at bay the Portuguese, the Dutch and initially the British forces. The British finally triumphed to hold Sri Lanka in bondage for 150 years, only because the Sinhala chiefs turned on their Tamil King. The Patriots lost because of division among themselves!

   There is NO COMPARABLE RECORD of SUSTAINED RESISTANCE by Indigenous Forces to Western Colonialists in the Historical Record …. anywhere in the world.

   In fact, there exists an Official Document written by the Governor of the Portuguese Colonies in Asia to the King of Portugal in National Archives in Lisbon, Portugal. It recommends, and requests permission to ABANDON Sri Lanka, and evacuate all Portuguese personnel from Sri Lanka, because WARFARE against the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka was costing the Portuguese more in treasure and soldiers lives than all of the rest of the Portuguese Colonial Possessions in Asia. That is the TRUE MEASURE of How Successfully Our Ancestors Fought to Preserve their Liberty and their Heritage.

   Can we DO ANY LESS?

8. aloy Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 9:06 pm

   Lorenzo/Ananda,
   We should not depend on China too much. As far as I can see, they are not here as our saviors. They extract maximum from all contracts as the western countries do not want to come here as their goods and services are too expensive and also their governments are not in good terms with us. So far what is the project that has benefitted us economically?. Their products are very inferior. Chinese themselves have no faith on them. For example they do not buy their own milk powder to feed their children; smuggling milk powder is a big business in that country. Look at Norochchali, their power plants break down when ever we need them most(during droughts). Since it is government to government they should have made sure that what they deliver is reliable. They are here as they see the remittances from foreign workers is a guarantee of repayments.
   They will backdown anytime. That happened in the sixteenth century when they were confined to their borders by the west. It is going to happen again. This time with the help of US and India.

9. Ananda-USA Says:
   June 20th, 2013 at 11:32 pm

   Aloy,

   Every country crafts its foreign policy to serve its own National Interest. We Sri Lankans, as the citizens of a very small country, must understand the National Interests of each country we deal with, and not rely on any ONE of them to the extent that we are IRRETRIEVABLY WEDDED to them. By understanding their National Interests, we can avoid demanding of them MORE SUPPORT THAN they can deliver to us. We should make sure that the NET BENEFIT to them of supporting Sri Lanka is NOT NEGATIVE!

   For example, China’s economy primarily depends on its exports to Western countries (EU and US). Therefore, while China is politically opposed to them, and is rapidly arming to defend itself against a repeat of their past interactions with Colonial Western Powers, they are not keen to destroy their export markets. Given the current technological edge that Western countries have, it will take several decades before China can be technologically independent of the West. China will not abandon its National Interest to help Sri Lanka, and it is up to Sri Lanka to understand how far the Chinese can, and are willing to, go in helping us.

   As you point out, the development loans we are getting from China, are not free and are quite expensive. The Chinese workers who work in Sri Lanka take many jobs that Sri Lankans could do, but the development projects are tied to giving them those jobs. So, these projects are very profitable for the Chinese. But, no other country is willing to risk giving Sri Lanka such loans, and the technical assistance we need at any price. Historically, China has always been very supportive of Sri Lanka, going back to the time of the Rubber-Rice Pact in the wwake of the Nationalization of the Oil Companies in Sri Lanka. As the world’s richest banker, China is a very good friend to have on our side.

   On the other hand, Western countries are NOT INTERESTED in TRANSFERRING TECHNOLOGY to Sri Lanka so Sri Lanka can COMPETE WITH THEM in the future. For example, when Britain had a Colonial Empire, they discouraged various indigenous industries and only promoted those things that could serve as raw materials for their factories in Britain. They discouraged rice production in Sri Lanka, letting the ancient irrigation systems go to rack and ruin, but encouraged rice production in Burma which they shipped to Sri Lanka and sold at a high price. They encouraged cotton and jute production in Egypt and India which they shipped to British weaving mills and sold them at very high prices back to the populations of those countries. Perhaps the worst thing they did was to grow opium in ndia and Burma and sell it to the Chinese, militarily threatening and extracting the right to do so from Imperial China.

   Furthermore, if we get a billion dollar loan from the US, we will have to agree to selling our mother, our first born, and our sovereignty over to the US, giving the US full authority over our security, our economy, our religion, our politics, and our form of government. Unending streams of Evangelical Missionaries will pile into Sri Lanka to harvest sous for religions that their own Americans will not buy at any price! Do you see any US Aid Grants for big infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka? Do you see a major Hospital, Freeway, Bridge, University, Computer Technology Center, Power Plant, Harbor, Airport, Steel or Aluminum Production mill, granted by this immensely rich only Super Power. No, you will not see that. What we get is a measly $25 million dollars per year for “human rights” and “democracy development” given directly to their favorite NGOs who assist them to undermine and destabilize Sri Lanka. On the basis of this pittance in “underground aid” to Sri Lanka, the US deems itself qualified and entitled to speak AUTHORITATIVELY and PUNITIVELY on all Sri Lankan issues: It is ALL STICK and NO CARROT! All that we really get from the US is a market for our products and scholarships directly from American Universities for some of our best and brightest students, who are increasingly returning to serve the Motherland.
   I love the USA, and have done all I can to foster friendship between Sri Lanka and the US, and still do; but I have to realistically say that this is how things have turned out in US-Sri Lanka relations. Sad, but TRUE!

   Finally, I must DISAGREE with your assessment of the quality of Chinese goods. In my own alternative energy and military robotics engineering R&D business, I primarily use Chinese equipment and products, which are of good quality at an affordable price. It is up to the buyer to examine and assess the quality of the product before buying more than one. Even if I were to buy from an American company, it would be manufactured in China. 95% of products Americans buy are now manufactured in China. The only significant exception is food and agricultural products, which is in high demand in China. The situation is quite similar to the Japanese goods we bought after the end of WW II. Initially the quality was quite bad; then they improved. Today “Made in Japan” is a much sought after symbol of the HIGHEST QUALITY. China has completed its passage through that first stage of junk production, and is now producing goods of quite good quality. Even copies of the latest Apple products, the originals of which are also made in China, are amazingly good. I just bought a high-end digital oscilloscope from a Chinese manufacturer at a small fraction of one from a US manufacturer… and I am amazed at its high quality and features! 95% of the world’s Photovoltaic Panels are made in China. Most of them are of excellent quality and reliability. As always, the watchword is …. Caveat Emptor!

10. Lorenzo Says:
    June 20th, 2013 at 11:56 pm

    Ananda,

    “The Swiss had NO HOPE of winning a sustained conflict, but they could make the PRICE of such an invasion TOO HIGH for the INVADER. That is called DETERRENCE!”

    Two things.

    1. That was the STATED STRATEGY. But the REAL intent was what I wrote. Obviously BOTH played into German fears.

    2. But we CANNOT inflict a heavy price on the invader!

    Endia can use their weapons of choice against us and we stand ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE.

    Our air force is PRIMITIVE. Endia has a WORLD CALSS air force.
    Our navy is PRIMITIVE. Endia has a WORLD CLASS navy.
    Our missiles are PRIMITIVE and do NOT reach Endia!!!! Endian missiles can reach ANY part of SL.

    Endia will not deploy a large enough army on ground after IPKF disaster.

    So your theory does NOT work.

    My strategy is about “making the PRICE of such an invasion TOO HIGH for the INVADER’S ITNERESTS” Not so much to Endians but to the SEPARATISTS Endia tries to protect.

    Please understand Endia operates in SL through PROXIES. We GET ALL of them.

    It comes to a stage where SEPARATISTS IN SL and their families will BEG Endia to stop attacking SL or they will go EXTINCT with claymore mines, bombs, gunfire targeting them left, right and centre.

    This is my strategy that will work come what may. As a byproduct we may have resolved the ethnic problem too in the process. :))

    This way there will not be war crimes either because it will not be done by formal command.

11. Lorenzo Says:
    June 20th, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    Aloy,

    I agree we cannot rely on China, Russia or anyone else.

    But we need certain amount of COVER. China has invested $6.5 billion in SL and China will not back down leaving them behind. The Chinese involvement will be to DETER Endia only. It will only work to SOME extent. But in war that counts.

12. aloy Says:
    June 21st, 2013 at 5:34 am

    There appear to be ten new investments in steel plants, vehicle assembly and IT parks etc.to come from China. This is the correct think to do as they will put up the best that can compete in international markets. We do not know whether these are things actually going to materialize or propaganda just to make Indians more jealous.
    As for transfer of technology, nobody will do that. We need to acquire it ourselves. First by copying others like what Japan, Korea and Taiwan did, and then building on it. Aren’t we having our own specialists in IT. World’s fastest stock market control system is by our Millenium and I read in news papers that many European countries now buying that system. However no company will want to transfer their technology to others as they will want to dominate that field. GOSL need to devise ways to get their help to make headway in new IT parks.

13. Ananda-USA Says:
    June 21st, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Lorenzo said,

    “Endia can use their weapons of choice against us and we stand ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE.

    Our air force is PRIMITIVE. Endia has a WORLD CALSS air force.
    Our navy is PRIMITIVE. Endia has a WORLD CLASS navy.
    Our missiles are PRIMITIVE and do NOT reach Endia!!!! Endian missiles can reach ANY part of SL.”

    I DISAGREE. These are SIMILAR to the arguments of the past that the LTTE was INVINCIBLE, and we should GIVE UP!

    India has a WORLD CLASS air force and navy; so did the US in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but the US was forced to abandon the fight in the end.

    Indian missiles can reach any part of Sri Lanka which does not have missiles that can return the favor; so did the US in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but the US was forced to abandon the fight in the end.

    Even today the US uses drones to kill Taliban leaders (and scores of innocents as “collateral damage”, but it is UNABLE to change the situation on the ground. The Taliban survives and the US is bending over backwards to get a peace agreement with the Taliban, while Karzai angrily protests at being left out of the process, and wants the US to BUTT OUT! No, in the end …. the Taliban will resume control over Afghanistan, just as North Vietnam and the VietCong reunified Vietnam despite a HUGE EXPENDITURE of blood and treasure by the USA.

    I DISAGREE that these very substantial but costly advantages enjoyed by India will yield them a victory over Sri Lanka practicing ASSYMMETRIC WARFARE. These weapons systems are very costly to purchase and maintain; profligate defence expenditures on such advanced weapons were an important factor that brought the US economy to its knees in the Bush Administration. The US is STILL trying to recover.

    Surrounded by Powerful ENEMIES along ALL of their LAND BORDERS, India cannot afford to engage in a SUSTAINED ASYMMETRIC war on Sri Lanka that will drain its military hardware and its national budgets. They HAVE TO SAVE their most advanced weapons for use against their PRINCIPAL ENEMIES: China and Pakistan. Even now there is an ongoing anxious debate in India about the severe deficiencies of India’s military vis-a-vis China, and their INABILITY to cope with the RAPID GROWTH of China’s military capabilities. No, India is not going to waste their resources on fighting Sri Lanka if Sri Lanka DEPLOYS and DEMONSTRATES sufficient DETERRENCE.

    The POINT is: The division of Sri Lanka into Communal Fiefdoms under the 13th Amendment will setup autonomous sub-national fifth columns within Sri Lanka that will ultimately DESTROY Sri Lanka. We cannot allow this to CONTINUE; Sri Lanka’s LONG TERM SURVIVAL is at stake. Better to bite the bullet and fight for Sri Lanka’s National Future NOW, rather permit and Eelam to GROW and then let the Nation die without a whimper later.

    BTW, I am APPALLED by your strategy: “We should also have a plan to DISTRIBUTE millions of guns, claymore mines, grenades, landmines to willing patriots to “take care of” “existing Endian invaders” in SL. The army cannot do these things officially.” That is not only MORALLY REPUGNANT, but it will DESTROY sovereign Sri Lanka and create an Eelam QUICKER than anything else. It will bring the whole world down upon Sri Lanka’s head, as they did upon Serbia during the Bosnian war.

14. Lorenzo Says:
    June 21st, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    Ananda,

    No. That was the land strategy of Vietnam.

    Vietnam relied on WIDESPREAD weapons distribution to win the LAND war.

    Of course Vietnam was CRITICISED by the international community! So what?

    SL was SEVERELY criticized by the international community after 2009 victory and LOST 2 UNHRC resolutions with a large margin!! So what?

    But does that cost equal the BENEFIT of winning the war?

    US-Vietnam difference was SMALL compared to Endia-SL difference. Vietnam forces had hundreds of fighter jets that shot down hundreds of US jets!! We don’t have that kind of weapons!

    Russians and Chinese fought alongside Vietnam communists. We DON’T HAVE that facility.

    Russia and China gave FREE weapons to Vietnam. We don’t get ANY such help!!

    This is why the two are NOT comparable (apples and oranges).

    Re: Serbian strategy. It was implemented by the president THROUGH its regular army !!

    This is where SL will end up if we fight Endia directly. War crimes. Not to mention LOSING the war and dividing the country to satisfy the winner – Endia.

    Then TNA will RULE SL with Endian blessings. My strategy WIPES OUT TNA leaving no room for separatism no matter what the outcome of the war is.

15. Lorenzo Says:
    June 21st, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    “Small wonder that the TNA members are still at large doing every conceivable inimical thing to our country in the guise of representing the Tamil people, without being incarcerated or at least questioned on charges of HIGH TREASON.”

    AT LEAST.

    Separatists must be physically eliminated either through imprisonment or otherwise.

    The most FOOLISH thing to do is to argue the morality of wiping out TNA and other separatists. If we had kept arguing the morality of war in 2006, now we would be no more.

    SL patriots will be the FIRST TARGET of an Endian invasion. They MUST be provided with a large cache of weapons to defend themselves from Endians and more importantly Endian proxies. Army should be freed up to do bigger things.

    An Endian invasion will be by its AIR FORCE and we CANNOT think of matching them in ANYWAY. Our interceptors could not bring down even Tiger airways! We have to get real not like unicorns.

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