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October 29th, 2017 at 11:48 am
USS Nimitz, arguably the world’s most powerful Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier, leading an immensely strong battle-group with a strong contingent of US Marines, attack and troop-carrying helicopters on board, is STANDING OFFSHORE Colombo Port, Sri Lanka …. even as I write this comment …. and WILL BE HERE during the DEBATE and VOTE in Parliament on the NEW TRAITORS CONSTITUTION!
The last time a Western Carrier group visited Sri Lanka was DECADES ago!
Why NOW, and Why when a Bill crafted by and Supported by the USA is being DEBATED in Parliament?? This DOES NOT SEEM like a COINCIDENCE!
I ask, to WHAT PURPOSE is this task force here? Is it to QUELL ANY POPULAR UPRISING AGAINST the NEW TRAITORS CONSTITUTION?
Is this a PLANNED PLOT by the Yamapalanaya TRAITORS in COLLUSION with a Foreign Country to FORCE the NEW TRAITORS CONSTITUTION down Sri Lanka’s THROAT?? Is this ANOTHER CHILLING ASPECT of the Yamapalana TREACHERY to DEPRIVE the Sinhala Buddhists of Sri Lanka the RIGHT TO DEMONSTRATE & PROTEST to the MAXIMUM on the eve of HIGH TREASON?
Be WARNED Patriots of Sri Lanka!
October 29th, 2017 at 12:27 pm
Should Sinhala Buddhists stage MASS DEMONSTRATIONS against the NEW TRAITORS CONSTITUTION, BEFORE it is DEBATED, or AFTER if it is APPROVED by a 2/3 VOTE in Parliament, the Yamapalanaya MAY NOT BE CONFIDENT of the support of the Police Force and the Armed Forces, largely manned by Sinhala Buddhists to ACT AGAINST Sinhala Buddhists!
In such an event, they would APPEAL to foreign countries for EMERGENCY MILITARY ASSISTANCE to QUELL public protests by Sinhaala Buddhists.
Is that why the US Naval Task Force is NOW offshore Colombo, and the Indian Navy has just concluded a joint Military Exercise with the Sri Lankan Navy, Maithripala Sirisena recently promoted and set-aside the Tamil head of the Navy, and appointed another Navy chief and MR went abroad to India to escape the potential violence?
Is it to PREPARE for the use Foreign Forces to PROTECT the Yamapalanaya against Sinhala Buddhist PROTESTERS? FOOD for THOUGHT! The next FEW DAYS will REVEAL the TRUTH!
October 29th, 2017 at 12:33 pm
U.S. Nimitz Carrier Strike Group with aircraft carrier USS Nimitz arrives in Sri Lanka
Sat, Oct 28, 2017, 07:15 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 28, Colombo: The United States Navy Nimitz Carrier Strike Group including the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz arrived in Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port today on a goodwill mission.
The Sri Lankan Navy welcomed the Carrier Strike Group ships which include the USS Nimitz, the cruiser USS Princeton, and destroyers USS Howard, USS Shoup, USS Pinckney, and USS Kidd according to naval traditions.
Reflecting the growing relationship between the U.S. and Sri Lankan navies, this is the first time an aircraft carrier has visited Sri Lanka since 1985, and follows the recent completion of the inaugural bilateral Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) naval exercise.
An invited group including State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe, U. S. Ambassador Atul Keshap and a state television crew visited the aircraft carrier yesterday while it was 150 nm off Colombo.
“Building our maritime partnership in step with Sri Lanka�s own progress on reconciliation and human rights advances our shared national goals of fostering security and stability,” U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Atul Keshap said.
It is estimated that the carrier strike group will add approximately 1.54 billion rupees ($10 million USD) to the Sri Lankan economy as the ships purchase supplies and thousands of U.S. sailors come ashore and support local businesses. During the visit, sailors will have opportunities to explore the local community and meet with their counterparts in the Sri Lankan Navy. While in port, sailors will also work with local non-profit organizations to support community service events at a local hospital, an orphanage, and other sites.
The ships are scheduled to depart Colombo on October 31, 2017.
October 29th, 2017 at 12:39 pm
Kurdish leader Barzani resigns after independence vote backfires
By Raya Jalabi and Maher Chmaytelli
Reuters•October 29, 2017
ERBIL/BAGHDAD Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said he would give up his position as president on Nov. 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.
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There was high drama at the Kurdish parliament, which was stormed by armed protesters as it met to approve the veteran leader’s resignation as Kurdish president. Some MPs were barricaded in their offices on Sunday evening.
In a televised address, his first since Iraqi forces launched a surprise offensive to recapture Kurdish-held territory on Oct. 16, Barzani confirmed that he would not extend his presidential term after Nov. 1 “under any conditions”.
“I am the same Masoud Barzani, I am a Peshmerga (Kurdish fighter) and will continue to help my people in their struggle for independence,” said Barzani, who has campaigned for Kurdish self-determination for nearly four decades.
The address followed a letter he sent to parliament in which he asked members to take measures to fill the resulting power vacuum.
The region’s parliament met in the Kurdish capital Erbil on Sunday to discuss the letter. A majority of 70 Kurdish MPs voted to accept Barzani’s request and 23 opposed it, Kurdish TV channels Rudaw and Kurdistan 24 said.
Demonstrators, some carrying clubs and guns, stormed the parliament building as the session was in progress.
Gunshots were heard. Some protesters outside the building said they wanted to “punish” MPs who they said had “insulted” Barzani. Some attacked journalists at the scene.
A Kurdish official had told Reuters on Saturday that Barzani had decided to hand over the presidency without waiting for elections that had been set for Nov. 1 but which have now been delayed by eight months.
The region, which had enjoyed unprecedented autonomy for years, has been in turmoil since the independence referendum a month ago prompted military and economic retaliation from Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.
In his address, Barzani vigorously defended his decision to hold the Sept. 25 referendum, the results of which “can never be erased”, he said. The vote was overwhelmingly for independence and triggered the military action by the Baghdad government and threats from neighboring Turkey and Iran.
He added that the Iraqi attack on Kirkuk and other Kurdish held territory vindicated his position that Baghdad no longer believed in federalism and instead wanted to curtail Kurdish rights.
U.S. CONDEMNED
Barzani condemned the United States for failing to back the Kurds. “We tried to stop bloodshed but the Iraqi forces and Popular Mobilization Front (Shi’ite militias) kept advancing, using U.S. weapons,” he said.
“Our people should now question, whether the U.S. was aware of Iraq’s attack and why they did not prevent it.”
Barzani has been criticized by Kurdish opponents for the loss of the city of Kirkuk, oil-rich and considered by many Kurds to be their spiritual home.
His resignation could help facilitate a reconciliation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s central government, whose retaliatory measures since the referendum have transformed the balance of power in the north.
Barzani has led the KRG since it was established in 2005. His second term expired in 2013 but was extended without elections being held as Islamic State militants swept across vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed paramilitaries and Kurdish fighters fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State but the alliance has faltered since the militants were largely defeated in the country.
After the Kurdish vote, Iraqi troops were ordered by the country’s prime minister Haider al-Abadi to take control of areas claimed by both Baghdad and the KRG.
Abadi also wants to take control of the border crossings between the Kurdish region and Turkey, Iran and Syria, including one through which an oil export pipeline crosses into Turkey, carrying Iraqi and Kurdish crude oil.
The fall of Kirkuk – a multi-ethnic city which lies outside the KRG’s official boundaries – to Iraqi forces on Oct. 16 was a major symbolic and financial blow to the Kurds’ independence drive because it halved the region’s oil export revenue.
Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga started a second round of talks on Sunday to resolve a conflict over control of the Kurdistan region’s border crossings, Iraqi state TV said.
A first round was held on Friday and Saturday, with Abadi ordering a 24-hour suspension on Friday of military operations against Kurdish forces.
He demanded on Thursday that the Kurds declare their referendum void, rejecting the KRG offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks, saying in a statement: “We won’t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the constitution.”
(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Raya Jalabi; Editing by Andrew Roche)
October 29th, 2017 at 3:09 pm
First round of debate on interim constitution reform report tomorrow
Sun, Oct 29, 2017, 10:30 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 29, Colombo: The first round of debates on the Interim Report of the Steering Committee on constitutional reforms in the Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka is due to commence tomorrow at 10.30 a.m. in the chamber of Parliament.
The debate will take place for three consecutive days on the 30th and 31st of October and 1st of November 2017.
The draft Interim Report of the Steering Committee was tabled in the Constitutional Assembly on the 21st of September 2017 by the Prime Minister as Chairman of the Steering Committee.
The proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly are open to the public.
The Interim Report of the Steering Committee and other information on the constitutional reforms process can be accessed/ downloaded at Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka.