KAMALIKA PIERIS After Eelam war IV ended, Tamil Separatist Movement returned to the topic of the Sinhalisation of North and East. They were concerned about three matters, Sinhala settlements, Buddhist temples and archaeological sites. Sinhala colonies, Buddhist temples, and Buddha statues were being aggressively constructed with military sponsorship, said Tamil Separatist Movement. The purpose was […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Part 18 of this series contains short updates on matters discussed earlier. This essay provides an update on   celebrations of the Eelam War.  In July 2020, a group of Jaffna undergraduates celebrated Black Tiger Day on a Sunday night. Leading activists of several student bodies organized the event. Student participants were asked to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA was determined to capture Sri Lanka, politically and militarily in the Yahapalana period 2015-2019. US made it clear that it   needed the support of Sri Lanka for its control of Bay of Bengal. US said in 2016 that given Sri Lanka’s strategic location, it is in America’s interest to increase military collaboration […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS On February 25, 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected the United Kingdom’s claim of sovereignty over the Indian Ocean, Chagos Islands, and determined that Britain must return the islands to its former colony, Mauritius, ‘as rapidly as possible’. The Chagos islands house the Diego Garcia military base of the USA. It […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS During Yahapalana rule, there was much emphasis on the Sri Lanka navy. The Sri Lankan Navy is a well-trained and professional force with the potential to contribute to multi-lateral maritime interoperability in the Indian Ocean, said US Indo-Pacific Command Chief Admiral Philip Davidson in 2019.The US Indo-Pacific command would focus in 2019 on […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS USA  made its future military plans clear to those listening in Sri Lanka. At the Galle Dialogue 2017, Admiral Scott Swift,  Pacific Fleet Commander  said they look forward to the expansion of our military to military relations. It was necessary to build trust and cooperation to address multilateral challenges. With  [certain] realities creeping […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka’s strategic military location in the Indian Ocean    and the value of Trincomalee to the USA was well understood by the Sri Lanka intelligentsia in the 1950s.  The intelligentsia knew that Trincomalee harbor could comfortably hold the 7th Fleet of the US Navy. This was mentioned regularly in drawing rooms in the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS For seven decades from the end of the World War II in 1945, the US Seventh fleet dominated the Pacific area and provided much of its security said TIME.     US was  supported in this task, by the ‘Five Eyes’ a highly secretive  intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand,  United Kingdom and the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Today, the world is not interested in India’s politics or India’s economy. The world is interested primarily in India’s relations with other countries. It is interested in the possibility of war in the Bay of Bengal with India helping. That is because India has linked militarily with the war mongering USA. India’s initial […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Economists agree that China has made a spectacular rise from a very poor nation in 1949 to very rich one in 2019. Chinese banks are among the largest cross border lenders in Asia, said Economist in 2019. Seven of the top 20 equity underwriters in Asia In 2018 were Chinese. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS China has   stepped up its diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka after Pohottu government came in.  A very experienced Chinese diplomat Qi Zhenhong   arrived in November 2020 as ambassador to Sri Lanka. Qi Zhenhong was head of China Institute of International Studies, a premier international relations think tank in China. He has an excellent […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Central Intelligence Agency of the USA, the CIA has several front organizations, said critics. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was one of them. NED is a grant-making foundation, distributing funds to private non-governmental organizations for promoting democracy abroad in around 90 countries, said Wikipedia.  NED played a role in supporting the Arab […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  Here are some activities of the US before and after the Yahapalana puppet government came to power. American Bar Association American Bar Association (ABA) made repeated attempts to register a Branch Association of the ABA in Sri Lanka. The first request was in January 2018.  The Bar Association of Sri Lanka strongly objected. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS EASTER SUNDAY BOMB BLASTS There is speculation that Western intelligence agencies had a hand in the well-coordinated, precision-timed Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka, said Lasanda Kurukulasuriya.  How otherwise could a little-known group, ‘National Thawheed Jamaath’    have orchestrated such a feat. The Easter bomb attacks in Sri Lanka  are a part of  a […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS After the 2015 election, the US got into several critical sectors, the Sri Lanka‘s economy, Sri Lanka‘s Parliament and Sri Lanka‘s armed forces. ‘We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and reconciled country in the future,’ US said. . The House Democracy Partnership of the US House of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 21.11.10 US intervened in the two Presidential elections of in January 2010 and January 2015. US wished to somehow defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa and put a US puppet on the throne. It is well known that the US meddled in the Presidential elections of 2010 and 2015, said the media. US ambassador Michelle […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS When J.R. Jayewardene (Yankee Dickie”) became President, 1977- 1978 and 1978 – 1989, there was an open tilt towards the USA. JR paid a state visit to USA in June 1984, during his second term in office. This was the first state visit to USA by a Sri Lanka Head of state. It […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS US replaced Britain as the dominant power in the world when World War II ended.  The baton was transferred from UK to USA.  For USA too, Sri Lanka was a highly desirable country. It had two military advantages, its location in the Indian Ocean and the harbor at Trincomalee.  However, Sri Lanka in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay, which is the final essay of this set, summarizes the   reactions to the three agreements discussed, namely, ACSA, SOFA and MCC. All three agreements are with the United States of America  and all three were prepared by USA, In USA to benefit the USA. Of the three agreements, ACSA is already […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Those supporting USA defended the Agreements. The Colombo-Trincomalee railway link   which the public associate with the MCC, would not be dividing the country, it would be linking it more strongly, they said.  In Japan, there is a high-speed railway line between Tokyo and Nigata. The bullet train takes less than two hours to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay lists four set of objections raised against the three US treaties, by four separate organizations in Sri Lanka. They are objecting from different perspectives and they all show opposition to US rule in Sri Lanka. In July 2019, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna held a news conference to protest against the two […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS TREATY OBLIGATIONS The Sri Lankan intelligentsia wanted clarification about these US Agreements. This was the first time that the Sri Lanka public had even thought about such matters.  Until now the intelligentsia had shown no interest in any Agreements that the government was signing.   They trusted the government .This time it was different.  […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Those opposing American rule in Sri Lanka have now woken up to the need to internationalize the matter.  In August 2019, a group of Opposition MPs handed over a letter to the High Commissioner of South Africa in Colombo, to be handed over to the Secretary-General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Ambassador Dr. Nomvuyo […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT (SOFA) US and Sri Lanka had  an agreement  in 1995, by exchange of diplomatic notes, regarding the status of US military personnel and civilian employees of the Department of Defence  who may be present in Sri Lanka for exercises or official duties. The SOFA currently under negotiation seeks to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ACQUISITION AND CROSS SERVICING AGREEMENT (ACSA) The United States made an abortive bid, in 2002, to finalize an Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA), formerly known as ‘NATO Mutual Support Act’, with Sri Lanka. The attempt was made after the Ceasefire Agreement was signed on Feb. 21. 2002. Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements are […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS LAND DEEDS To accommodate the acquisition of land for this proposed economic corridor, two new laws, namely the State Land Bank bill and Land Special Provision Bill, were to be enacted. The State Land (Special Provisions) Bill was gazetted on 27.03.19.” This is a Bill to grant absolute title to state lands held […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Prime Minister office made a statement on the MCC project in June 2019. The statement was made public.     The statement said: The Government of Sri Lanka, with the help of the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University, conducted constraints analysis to identify constrains which hampered the economic growth in the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS TheMillennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a  foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004. The MCC Board is chaired by the Secretary of State. The Board members consist of the Secretary of the Treasury, US trade representative, four private sector representatives and a representative of USAID. MCC is  therefore not the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The most significant fault line in USA, however, is not any of these. It is the racism shown to the African American.  When the African slaves were released from their cotton plantations in 1865, instead of freedom, the former slaves, found themselves less safe. Slavery was replaced by organized terror. Negroes were killed […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS There is violence in the USA. This is well known. There are about 50,000 gun deaths per year. There were at least   18 school shootings by February 2018. School children are now equipped with bullet proof backpacks, bullet proof hoodies. Classrooms have bullet proof windows and curved walls, said TIME in 2019. There […]