Early this month (August, 2021), a farmer in Vilavotei, Kilinochchi, whilst preparing his paddy field, detected a part of a uniform worn by Sri Lankan soldiers with skeletal remains. He promptly informed the Police.
The investigators found besides the aforementioned also evidenced that strongly suggested a site used by the LTTE as an execution ground. Surprisingly, or not, this news had not generated any interest in the Media, civil societies or amongst the nosy western diplomatic corps. Even the various groups that have sprung up in support of our war heroes are keeping mum.
On taxpayers’ money the high maintenance Office for Missing Persons (OMP) functions. In the year 2018 national budget, Rs 1.4 billion was allocated for the functioning of the OMP. In the 2019 April budget, another Rs 500 million was included to honour an interim report submitted by the OMP.
This additional sum was to provide the affected families with missing persons a monthly allowance of Rs 6,000/ until a suitable compensation package can be finalised through the Reparations Commissions. The necessity for this allowance was established on the basis that the surviving families could not proceed with their legal rights without a death certificate. Therefore, recognising a person as missing until his/her fate can be determined is important for the surviving family.
Responsibility of the OMP
It is the prime responsibility of the OMP to thus determine the identity of the victims in this mass grave. Since DNA testing is available locally this is not an impossible task. The work involved may be tedious but the Government has made a generous allocation to the OMP, so that they may execute their responsibilities without constraints.
Therefore, it is of great importance that the OMP submits to Parliament a progress report on the identity of the skeletal remains. The Parliamentarians too, especially those who won their seats by speaking on behalf of our war heroes, should push for such a report from the OMP.
Kilinochchi Mass Grave vs Mannar Mass Grave
When the Mannar mass grave was discovered in 2018 in the northwestern town of the then German ambassador himself visited the site with a Media crew on tow. The immediate presumption was that this was a crime committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces. The western diplomats and civil societies dependent on these western agencies were licking and smacking their chops with anticipation of finally finding evidence to prove their wild allegations against our war heroes. They did not even for a moment entertained the possibility that this mass grave could have been the works of the LTTE – even though the disrepute of LTTE included the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians who they perceived as against them.
However, carbon data from the world’s most advanced labs proved that the mass grave was created by neither the Sri Lankan armed forces nor the LTTE. This was a crime committed during the forced European occupation and was few centuries old. Immediately, all interest on it vapourised. When the Mannar mass grave was still a hot topic, it was discussed even in Geneva.
On 20 March 2019, The United Nations Human Rights Commission’s High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet met a high profile Government delegation that comprised the then Foreign Minister Thilak Marapana, Parliamentarian Dr Sarath Amunugama, Governor of the Northern Province Dr Suren Raghavan, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ravinatha Aryasinha and the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva Ambassador ALA Azeez.
It was reported that the High Commissioner greeted the Yahapalana Government delegation warmly and expressed satisfaction on the progress made by Sri Lanka in some of the key human rights commitments arising from HRC resolution 30/1. In what was described as frank and candid discussion between the two parties, the High Commissioner had also referred to certain information contained in the Office of the High Commissioner’s Report such as the ‘mass graves’ in Mannar.”
One-sided story reaching Geneva
Whether High Commissioner Bachelet would express similar interest on the mass grave with remains of Sri Lankan soldiers in the upcoming UNHRC September session is to be seen. It is unfair to predict a reaction before its time. However, it is not unreasonable to be doubtful as the news that reach the UNHRC only caters to a narrative that is supportive of the LTTE propaganda. There is a reason for the UNHRC to fail in forming a comprehensive picture vis a vis Sri Lanka. The highly politicised UNHRC picks on certain developments concerning Sri Lanka and not all news.
Despite the UN maintaining an office in Sri Lanka, the UNHRC tends to give more of a hearing to the Human rights groups, civil rights activists and other Non Governmental Organisations funded by the West that continuously carry tales against Sri Lanka to the UNHRC.
The UNHRC Resolution 30/1 brought against Sri Lanka in 2015 is a case in point. That Resolution hinges on the outrages allegation that 40,000 perished during the last phase of the war against terrorism. Yet, the UN Colombo office’s estimate of this figure is around 7,000.
This figure of 40,000 was first published in the illegal Darusman’s Report. When Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera challenged Yasmin Sooka, who made up the three-member panel that produced the Darusman’s Report, as to how the 40,000 figure was arrived at, all she could do was stare back dumbfounded. The Foreign Ministry is too entangled in negating these exaggerated or even false reporting and appeasing our accusers in the belief that will stop the hate campaign against the country.
Hence, as a State arm we are not as persistent in presenting a positive image of the country as those who are engaged in discrediting our country. For instance, 15 ex-LTTE combatants were recently given cash emoluments of Rs 100,000 each to initiate a means of self-employment. This is certainly not a one time event or something that took place for the first time since the annihilation of the LTTE.
No longer credible
Since the conclusion of the war against terrorism, the Sri Lankan Governments under Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa have concentrated on aiding the former LTTE cadres to return to the civil society. From the rehabilitation programmes and thereafter, these two Governments have initiated many programmes that have helped former terrorists to rebuild their lives through various vocational programmes. In April 2017, hundreds of ex-LTTE gathered in protest against the move to hand over the farms and pre-schools managed under the Sri Lankan Army to the TNA-dominated Northern Provincial Council.
They insisted that their livelihoods would be adversely affected if these were given to be managed by the NPC. Therefore, they wish to work under the military in which they have more confidence. It is noteworthy the TNA once was the political stooge of the LTTE. Therefore, it is clear from these protests that the TNA is no longer a credible or accepted political entity amongst the very people who fought for a separatist movement.
These protests, unlike the howls generated over the disappeared persons, are not funded by any NGOs. This makes the protests by the ex-LTTE cadres a genuine cry and denotes the true state of affairs in the country. During the current recruitment drive, more than 1,600 from the Tamil community had joined the Army,” observed Army Commander Shavendra Silva when he toured the Northern peninsula in April, 2021.
The Tamil youth seeing career prospective in the Sri Lankan military is the best evidence we have of the harmony between the military and the civilians in the North and East. It is most unfortunate that the Sri Lankan Government and especially the Foreign Ministry fails to latch on to such developments. These developments are thus seen as isolated incidents and get dismissed even before the end of the day.
Treacherous Agenda in Discrediting Sri Lanka
Earlier this month, Canada announced funding to nine NGOs to the tune of CAD 300,000 under a programme labelled 2021-2022 Canada Fund for Local Initiatives. These nine Organisations include Centre of Human Rights and Development, Colombo Friends in Need Society, Comdu.it, Chrysalis, Media Law Forum, Save the Beach Maldives, Transparency International Sri Lanka, Verite Research and Women & Democracy.
According to the press statement released by the Canadian High Commission on 04.08.2021, this initiative is to support and empower Organisations addressing local issues while strengthening ties with civil society and local communities. This year, the statement further read, this initiative will contribute to promoting and advancing inclusive governance, women’s empowerment, environment and climate action and growth that works for everyone in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The statement admits that this is a highly competitive and sought out programme.
Here lies the problem, which the Defence Ministry should take serious note. This substantial funding and support is only given to those that meets the Canadian criteria. In simpler terms, this award is given to those with the most brown noses. This is an absolutely unacceptable situation. The role of an embassy is to establish and strengthen bilateral relations between its Government and the administration of the host country. As such, an embassy cannot be seen to be intervening in internal matters of its host country.
This includes all attempts at moulding societies, groups and organisations to carry an external agenda. However, these local societies that are funded by these embassies and Western Governments do not work towards strengthening the positioning of their own country but rather to discredit it. The persistent demand to release Easter Attack suspects as Hejaaz Hisbulla and former CID Director Shani Abeysekera who fabricated false evidence against Yahapalana Government’s political opponents is made by such civil societies.
The fact that they did not make a hum when the military intelligence officers were similarly incarcerated on flimsy charges that had no evidence highlights their hypocrisy. The West for centuries operated on a divide and rule principle. In this context, they always created confusion and chaos in non-white supremacist countries. They do not wish to see our countries progress. Thus far, US ambassador Alaina Teplitz has been exposed twice over misleading comments made on the Colombo Port City, the key project that will strengthen our economy.
First she claimed that the Port City would be a haven for money laundering. Recently she falsely implicated that the US has one of the companies working on the Port City Development on our sanctions list,” and further commented that doing business with that company may not be something that’s advisable.” She made these comments to a select group of journalists.
This in itself proves that the US embassy is not as big on Media freedom as they claim. CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd was quick in correcting this falsehood. The response noted that neither this company nor its parent company China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) have been listed in the US sanctions announced in August 2020, nor are these two companies engaged in any business with companies in the US sanction list.
In fact, the CCCC is a Fortune 500 company currently ranked in the 78th position. The silence maintained by the Foreign Ministry over these developments is a matter of grave concern. The damage done by these civil societies is immense. The recent trade union actions instigated by the JVP have put the whole country in jeopardy.
If not for the teachers’ protests, Sri Lanka would have resolved the pandemic to a great extent by September. Instead, today the country is in danger of another lockdown of at least three weeks. This will affect the daily wage earners as well as the overall economy of the country sinking under the weight of debt taken by the Yahapalana Government.
Therefore, the Defence Ministry must take stern action against these nefarious elements behind these protests. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry must put the embassies and ambassadors in their due place. Otherwise, these so-called civil societies will continue to strain in the most uncivilised manner to release a big dump on our heads. ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com
The magnitude of the United States’ failure in Afghanistan is breathtaking. It is not a failure of Democrats or Republicans, but an abiding failure of American political culture, reflected in US policymakers’ lack of interest in understanding different societies. And it is all too typical. Almost every modern US military intervention in the developing world has come to rot.
It’s hard to think of an exception since the Korean War. In the 1960s and first half of the 1970s, the US fought in Indochina – Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia – eventually withdrawing in defeat after a decade of grotesque carnage. President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, and his successor, the Republican Richard Nixon, share the blame.
In roughly the same years, the US installed dictators throughout Latin America and parts of Africa, with disastrous consequences that lasted decades. Think of the Mobutu dictatorship in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the CIAbacked assassination of Patrice Lumumba in early 1961, or of General Augusto Pinochet’s murderous military junta in Chile after the US-backed overthrow of Salvador Allende in 1973.
In the 1980s, the US under Ronald Reagan ravaged Central America in proxy wars to forestall or topple leftist Governments. The region still has not healed. Since 1979, the Middle East and Western Asia have felt the brunt of US foreign policy’s foolishness and cruelty. The Afghanistan war started 42 years ago, in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter’s administration covertly supported Islamic jihadists to fight a Soviet-backed regime.
Soon, the CIA-backed Mujahedeen helped to provoke a Soviet invasion, trapping the Soviet Union in a debilitating conflict, while pushing Afghanistan into what became a forty-year-long downward spiral of violence and bloodshed. Across the region, US Foreign Policy produced growing mayhem.
In response to the 1979 toppling of the Shah of Iran (another US-installed dictator), the Reagan administration armed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran’s fledgling Islamic Republic. Mass bloodshed and US-backed chemical warfare ensued. This bloody episode was followed by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, and then two US-led Gulf Wars, in 1990 and 2003. The latest round of the Afghan tragedy began in 2001.
Barely a month after the terror attacks of 11 September, President George W. Bush ordered a US-led invasion to overthrow the Islamic jihadists that the US had backed previously. His Democratic successor, President Barack Obama, not only continued the war and added more troops, but also ordered the CIA to work with Saudi Arabia to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, leading to a vicious Syrian civil war that continues to this day.
As if that was not enough, Obama ordered NATO to oust Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, inciting a decade of instability in that country and its neighbours (including Mali, which has been destabilised by inflows of fighters and weapons from Libya). What these cases have in common is not just policy failure.
Underlying all of them is the US Foreign Policy establishment’s belief that the solution to every political challenge is military intervention or CIA-backed destabilisation. That belief speaks to the US Foreign Policy elite’s utter disregard of other countries’ desire to escape grinding poverty. Most US military and CIA interventions have occurred in countries that are struggling to overcome severe economic deprivation. Yet, instead of alleviating suffering and winning public support, the US typically blows up the small amount of infrastructure the country possesses, while causing the educated professionals to flee for their lives. Even a cursory look at America’s spending in Afghanistan reveals the stupidity of its policy there.
According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the US invested roughly $946 billion between 2001 and 2021. Yet, almost $1 trillion in outlays won the US few hearts and minds. Here’s why. Of that $946 billion, fully $816 billion, or 86%, went to military outlays for US troops. And the Afghan people saw little of the remaining $130 billion, with $83 billion going to the Afghan Security Forces. Another $10 billion or so was spent on drug interdiction operations, while $15 billion was for US agencies operating in Afghanistan.
That left a meager $21 billion in ‘economic support’ funding. Yet, even much of this spending left little if any development on the ground, because the programmes actually support counterterrorism; bolster national economies; and assist in the development of effective, accessible, and independent legal systems.” In short, less than two per cent of the US spending on Afghanistan, and probably far less than two per cent, reached the Afghan people in the form of basic infrastructure or povertyreducing services.
The US could have invested in clean water and sanitation, school buildings, clinics, digital connectivity, agricultural equipment and extension, nutrition programmes, and many other programmes to lift the country from economic deprivation. Instead, it leaves behind a country with a life expectancy of 63 years, a maternal mortality rate of 638 per 100,000 births, and a child stunting rate of 38%. The US should never have intervened militarily in Afghanistan – not in 1979, nor in 2001, and not for the 20 years since. But once there, the US could and should have fostered a more stable and prosperous Afghanistan by investing in maternal health, schools, safe water, nutrition, and the like.
Such humane investments – especially financed together with other countries through institutions such as the Asian Development Bank – would have helped to end the bloodshed in Afghanistan, and in other impoverished regions, forestalling future wars. Yet, American leaders go out of their way to emphasise to the American public that ‘we won’t waste money on such trivialities.’ The sad truth is that the American political class and mass media hold the people of poorer nations in contempt, even as they intervene relentlessly and recklessly in those countries.
Of course, much of America’s elite holds America’s own poor in similar contempt. In the aftermath of the fall of Kabul, the US mass Media is, predictably, blaming the US failure on Afghanistan’s incorrigible corruption. The lack of American self-awareness is startling. It’s no surprise that after trillions of dollars spent on wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and beyond, the US has nothing to show for its efforts, but blood in the sand.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as adviser to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under SecretaryGeneral António Guterres. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and, most recently, The Ages of Globalisation. (Courtesy-www.projectsyndicate.org)
There has been a mini Cabinet reshuffle. One is at a loss to understand the rationale, if any, behind it. People would have been happy if at least one half of the Cabinet had been sacked. What made President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reshuffle only a few members of his ministerial team?
Pavithra Wanniarachchi, who held the health portfolio, has been appointed the Transport Minister. The Health Ministry drew heavy flak, on her watch, for its poor response to the pandemic. Wanniarchchi also blotted her copybook by promoting a shaman’s herbal concoction, which was touted as a cure for Covid-19, and failing to take timely action to contain the pandemic. But the question is whether she was given the freedom to do what needed to be done to manage the health emergency. If she is blamed for the failings of the Health Ministry, shouldn’t she be given a part of the credit for the country’s successful vaccination drive? Will the ills of the Health Ministry go away with her exit? What made the government think Keheliya Rambukwella, as the new Health Minister, would succeed where Wanniarchchi did not? Did he succeed as the Media Minister?
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa has got another ministerial portfolio—Development Coordination and Supervision, whatever that means. Why has he been entrusted with an additional responsibility? Has he performed exceptionally well in his present capacity? What has been his outstanding contribution to sports?
Prof. G. L. Peiris, who held the education portfolio, has been appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dinesh Gunawardena, who was the Foreign Minister, is now the Minister of Education. The Education Ministry has had to solve a teachers’ salary issue that has remained unsolved for decades. Not even Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has been able to sort it out in spite of having had talks with teachers’ trade unions. An attempt to rectify teachers’ salary anomalies will open a Pandora’s box with those in other services taking to the streets. So, how is Dinesh going to solve this seemingly intractable problem, and reopen schools and universities?
Prof. Peiris served as the External Affairs Minister under the previous Rajapaksa government. But the challenges that the incumbent government faces on the diplomatic front are too difficult for him to overcome. The Western bloc is all out to have a war crimes tribunal set up here, and will do everything in its power to tame or even destabilise the government, which is considered pro-Chinese.
Gamini Lokuge, who was the Minister of Transport, has been made the Minister of Power. We thought he would be appointed the Health Minister because he seems to know better than doctors; a few months ago, he had a lockdown in Piliyandala lifted, claiming that the spread of the pandemic could be curbed without the area being closed. His knowledge of public health being superior to that of doctors, doesn’t he deserve the Health portfolio?
As for electricity, Lokuge may know a power cable from a telephone line but that does not qualify him to be the minister in charge of the power sector, which is a highly specialised field. This does not mean the Minister of Power should necessarily be an engineer, but he or she should be knowledgeable enough to understand what is going on in this vital sector, and what needs to be done to improve it.
The Ministry of Power was functioning reasonably well, on Dullas Alahapperuma’s watch, compared to most other ministries. Why was Dullas removed from there and made the Media Minister? Are the Rajapaksas undermining senior politicians from Matara so that a member of their clan in Parliament, representing the same district, could emerge stronger there?
Dullas, a former journalist, is sure to gel well with journalists. But the government’s hostility towards the independent media may have a corrosive effect on his relations with the media personnel. Moreover, the task of controlling the state media institutions, which are political minefields, is as dangerous as shaving with a cut-throat razor in darkness. Dullas had better find a gorget to protect his throat.
The mini Cabinet reshuffle exemplifies a local saying; it is ‘like changing pillows as a cure for a headache’.
The US had its Saigon moment over the weekend in Kabul. The Americans have left behind another unfinished war. The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan two decades ago, promising to wipe out the Taliban, which harboured al-Qaeda, and bring order out of chaos. But today that country is back to square one. The Taliban are now in power, and their return to their old ways is only a matter of time. Although they have pledged, as part of the peace deal with the US, that they will respect human rights, it is not possible for them to honour this pledge because what drives them is religious extremism. Capturing territory is one thing, but running a country is quite another. The Taliban are desperate for some international legitimacy and claim to have no links to terrorist organisations. Ironically, what they have been doing all these years—executing dissenters, torture, violent suppression of people’s rights, especially those of women, etc— is terrorism in itself!
The US, which declared, after the 9/11 attacks, that it would never talk to terrorists, started making overtures to the Taliban. Washington would never have done so if it had not been convinced that it was fighting a never-ending war and had to get out of the Afghan imbroglio.
It has been reported that a whopping sum of USD 88 billion was spent on building the Afghan military to fight the Taliban, but its members surrendered en masse without a fight. All the money, mostly from the US taxpayers, has gone down the gurgler! This reminds us of the fate that befell the Tamil National Army (TNA) here after the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF); the TNA cadres ran away just like the Afghan soldiers, unable to face the LTTE. Ironically, both the LTTE and the TNA were created by India, which, too, lost more than 1,400 of its military personnel at the hands of the LTTE.
The US wanted to give the Russians their Vietnam in Afghanistan, and succeeded in its endeavour in the late 1980s, when the Russian troops had to withdraw, unable to defeat the US-backed Afghan guerrillas. The US owes an apology to the people of Afghanistan fleeing the Taliban, formed by a group of hardcore Mujahideen guerrillas, who, backed by the CIA, fought the Russians in the 1980s. If Washington had continued to help Afghanistan and developed the vital sectors there, especially education, after Russia’s pullout, the Taliban would not have emerged. If it had done so, bin Laden, created by the CIA during America’s proxy war against the Russians, would not have been able to use Afghanistan as a base later to launch his terror attacks, and perhaps the World Trade Centre complex would have been safe.
The US has been hoist with its own petard. It was able to have the Russians humiliated and driven out of Afghanistan, but a little over three decades on, had the same degrading experience; it had to swallow its pride, negotiate with the Taliban and make a tail-between-the-legs exit. Worse, the US had not assessed the Taliban properly even after fighting them for 20 years; it had made the same mistake in Vietnam about six decades back. Last month, President Joe Biden declared: There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States in Afghanistan … The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.” He was left with egg on his face when the Taliban captured Kabul with ease.
While a red-faced Biden administration is trying to have the world believe that the humiliating US retreat from Kabul was not its Saigon moment, the success of the Taliban is sure to inspire other extremist outfits all over the world. The US and its allies have demonstrated that they are not equal to the task of fighting terror in spite of their military might.
One only hopes the Taliban have learnt their lessons and will mend their ways without turning Afghanistan into a hellhole again.
Chaturanga Samarawickrama Courtesy The Daily Mirror
The government has approved the purchase of nine million doses of Sinopharm and 14 million doses of Pfizer at the unit price and it has been decided to vaccinate all people over 18 years of age by September 30 in order to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was taken by the negotiating committee appointed by the Cabinet ministers for the vaccine requirements.
The COVID-19 vaccination program was planned to be administered to a population of 14 million initially with a view to protecting the population from the pandemic, and as at August 9, the country had received 19.49 million doses of vaccines. 11.26 million doses were used as the first dose and 3.25 million doses were used as the second dose out of that consignment.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stated that the country cannot enter a lockdown. He emphasised that steps are being taken to tighten the travel restrictions imposed in the country.
The President stated this at a Cabinet meeting held last night (17).
The President has pointed out that if the country enters a lockdown, the country’s economy will collapse and those who depend on daily wages will face difficulties.
It said the vaccination process should be accelerated to control the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet to purchase 164 vehicles including ambulances, water bowsers and double cabs required for essential field activities.
It is reported that this new proposal has been submitted to replace the program of purchasing jeeps which was cancelled after the letters of credit were opened subject to the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers.
New health guidelines issued with immediate effect until August 31. Gym’s, Spa’s, Children’s parks, Indoor Sports halls and swimming pools must be closed with immediate effect until August 31.
Musical events, beach parties & carnivals also cannot be held until August 31.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 1,232 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 3,660.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 369,359.
As many as 316,528 recoveries and 6,604 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 46,397 active cases are currently under medical care.
The government targets to complete vaccination of all Sri Lankans above the age of 18 years by the end of September, the Department of Government Information stated.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved purchasing 23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for this purpose.
Accordingly, 09 million doses of the China-manufactured Sinopharm vaccine and 14 million doses of the US-origin Pfizer vaccine will be purchased by the government.
The government had reportedly planned to implement the vaccination program for a population of 14 million.
By August 09, Sri Lanka had received 19.49 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the Government Information Department stated.
Out of that stock, 11.26 million doses have been used as the first dose and 3.25 million doses as the second dose.
Are America’s wars, on behalf of US citizens or to fatten the bank
accounts of American corporations & defense contractors (who sponsor
Members of Congress) as well as to ensure there is no alternate economic model
to the ‘capitalist’ model US & West promotes? The list of US interventions
since 1945 and the state of these countries thereafter should provide answers
to countries lining up to be America’s ‘partner’ in South Asia or any other
part of the world. India & Sri Lanka must
redraw its foreign policy taking stock of the situation.US citizens
have to pocket $2trillion for 20 year US presence in Afghanistan but it was the
US Corporates & Defense contractors that walked away with the bounty
(opium/gas/oil/minerals). Is this the model being followed elsewhere too! The
victims of all US interventions are the US citizen, the US soldiers, the
citizens of the nation’s US ‘delivers democracy’ to.
The clue to what was to unfold
in Afghanistan was given when private military contractors in Afghanistan began
withdrawing. DoD documents for Congress reveal out of the total 17,000 all
types of contractors as of April 2021 to 7800 in July 2021. Less than 2700 US
contractors still in Afghanistan. Another clue was the US release of Taliban
leader from a Pakistani prison – today Afghan-Taliban leader is Abdul Ghani
Baradar. Taliban virtually ‘leased’ Afghanistan to US for 20 years to loot
(2001-2020) and now taken Afghanistan back for Taliban to loot.
The excuse the Biden
administration gave for the sudden transition is that Afghanistan has to look
after its own internal affairs. A realization that took 20 years and almost
50,000 lives! Or is this exit to trap China just as US did with Soviet Union?
US has no parallel competitor
to match its interventions. How many of these ‘interventions’ are of national
interest as against corporate interest is a question that remains
unanswered. US foreign wars has placed the American
citizen in $23trillion debt and 99% of the Americans don’t even know the
locations of the countries US intervenes in.Most don’t even know
why. Have Americans thought of why US declares ‘war’ on countries that have not
declared ‘war’ on America? Afghanistan is a good example.
US citizens have to pocket $2
trillion for 20 years of US invasion & occupation of Afghanistan.
What did the US citizen get?
2400 US soldiers dead (38,000
Afghan civilians dead)
More than $350b for veteran
medical & disability care
60% of the $2trillion was spent
on training US/Afghan army, fuel, armored vehicles & facilities
8% of the $2trillion ($3 to
$4billion annually) spent on transport
14,000 troop presence & NATO
presence could not stop a bunch of dirty clothed men holding guns supplied by
US
More than ¼ of Afghans are
unemployed
When US citizens are living off
food-stamps, living in cardboard boxes, without healthcare – US Govt has spent
$15.5b in Afghanistan & charging US citizens!
Which US & international
companies plundered Afghanistan’s rich mineral resources and how much have they
made in 20 years?
Why is the US Govt paying a
Swiss-based company since 2005 (Supreme Foodservice) $5b to feed US troops in
Afghanistan with allegation of overbilling by $757m?
Why have no-bid contracts
(granting monopoly) also gone to controversial DynCorp International, KBR,
Fluor Corporation $5b per year each.
To understand – the interview
with Gen. Wesley Clark showcases the intent of the US Government and also
raises the controversy behind 9/11 Twin Tower attack” as a ruse to justify the
memo that came down from the US Secretary of Defense’s Office detailing how US
proposed to ‘take out seven countries in five years starting with Iraq and then
Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & finishing off with Iran”. Surprise,
surprise – all of these countries have been ‘taken out’ and Iran remains the
only obstacle! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ityb0Ips4
William Blum’s list gives a
clearer picture though it leaves out US invasion & takeover of Hawaii and covert
role in Rwanda’s genocide in 1994.
If 9/11 was staged, it meant
that those responsible did not care to sacrifice lives of US citizens. This
same logic is now applicable to the covid as the largest number of lives lost
are US citizens. We came to know the truth about the 1918 Spanish flu only in
2005. We may not be alive to know the truth about who ‘created’ covid & why.
Nothing can be put past a country that has ‘manufactured’ reasons to
‘invade/intervene’ in nations. The list of lies invented are many – bogus WMDs,
incubator baby deaths, ’40,000’ dead in Srebrenica, ‘liberate Libya from
Gaddafi’, ‘save Syria from Assad’.
Are these
interventions/invasions that the US citizens end up paying for, really for the
benefit of the US or the corporates that greedily await to ‘descend’ and
plunder these countries in the guise of ‘developing’ them.
Is US foreign policy covering
citizen interest or US corporate interest? All of the interventions have only
served to secure prospects for US corporates & their international partners
while stamping any nationalist attempts of targeted nations to come out of
debt-deadlock that Western monetary entities force nations to comply with.
Nationalist policies meant the
fate of Iran’s Mossadegh who was overthrown by US & UK to install the Shah
of Iran and ensure US & UK were given 40% shares each of Iranian oil. US
overthrew the democratically elected leader in Guatemala (Arbenz) had nothing to
do with American citizens simply because President Arbenz nationalized a US
firm (United Fruit Company) which was closely linked to US elite.
All US Presidents are guilty of
giving nod of approval for every US intervention/invasion
Video
Player
None of the countries US has
intervened/invaded are any better, after US intervention/invasion. In fact,
these countries are worse off than before US intervened.
US-Afghan intervention timeline
1970s – Did US trap the Soviet
Union in Afghanistan via its operatives working in Pakistan? The mujahideens
that the US created are today’s Taliban/Al Qaeda & ISIS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlV3y-NE1w
The 9 year conflict killed an
estimated one million civilians, 90,000 Mujahideen fighters, 18,000 Afghan
troops, and 14,500 Soviet soldiers
2001 – Why did US attack & invade
Afghanistan without even investigating links to 9/11. Why did US help create
NATO (EU bloc nations military alliance) US NATO and UN are operating together
in Afghanistan?
Has the ‘occupation’ been just
a game for the ‘brains’ that planned to send boots to Afghanistan? Are these
‘brains’ bothered about the US-NATO soldiers who have died or got crippled for
life? Do these soldiers know why they are even in Afghanistan? Let’s not forget
that even the lives of diplomats have been sacrificed! (US envoys killed in Pakistan
& Libya)
How linked are these Western
‘brains’ with the ‘brains’ of the Al Qaeda/Taliban/ISIS or any other Islamic
fundamentalist groups that operate all to Western advantage. Are the
brainwashed Islamic recruits also just toys and pawns in a larger game.
If Bin Laden was a family
friend of the Bush family and the same Bin Laden became the head of the
Mujahideen and later Al Qaeda – was this ‘shift’ with ‘understanding’ of both
parties? Is this why we were shown a Hollywood version of US Navy Seals ‘killing’
Osama sans a ‘dead body’ as proof. Maybe he’s enjoying a tequila somewhere in
the Caribbean! Is this the same fate of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi too!
The deliverers of democracy
project themselves as advocators of Women’s & Childrens rights but no
sooner they install their ‘insurgents’ for their ‘agendas’ the first casualties
are the women & children. Afghan women, like Iranian women were enjoying
freedoms until US sponsored Mujahdeens, Taliban, Al Qaeda & ISIS –
thereafter women went from wearing mini-skirts to be covered from head to toe,
women who excelled in studies/education soon became simply sex toys for men and
increasing numbers of children given as child brides. How proud US & EU
nations must be!
The US cares not what the world
thinks about its track record. Its diplomats are proud of what they have
achieved. The question is are policy advisors of other countries ready to be a
pawn in US corporate agenda advocated via both political parties in US which
has nothing to do with what the US citizen wants or needs.
We do not wish to have Sri
Lanka become another pawn of US corporate agenda, where looting gets shared
with the US /international partners & the local pawns!
Life was never any better under
the Mujahideens, the Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the ISIS or even with US & NATO
boots for the people of Afghanistan.
The second
wave of Corvid-19 pandemic is spreading fast throughout the world including Sri
Lanka. Unlike the rest of the world, all most all opposition parties in Sri
Lanka appear to be critical on almost every measure taken by the government in
the control of the pandemic including the vaccination role undertaken by the
Army to control it. Even some of the
government servants and officials appear to be politically motivated and making
media statements, almost every day, promoting their political objectives disregarding
the government instructions.
Meanwhile we can see that social media is spreading
more and more anti government, mudslinging postings. We see posters and criticisms against lockdown
and see posters and criticisms from the same groups against not making lockdown,
when lookdown is not introduced. We experience the same reactions from these
groups against vaccinations whether vaccination is available or not available. The expectations of these opportunistic groups
appear to be nothing else, but worsening of the pandemic control and further deterioration
of the country’s economy. It is learnt that there are well organised groups in
social media, as a part of the antigovernment propaganda, to provide even
employment schemes providing payments for sharing their posters. The
growing demonstrations for more than a month, supported by the opposition
parties, disregarding health guidelines are another example. The question is who are behind these moves and
who are financing these moves.
We
remember how the antigovernment elements used the media, especially the social
media, to bring down the government in 2015 and the involvement of foreign
hands behind the regime change. We also remember how, former US
Secretary of State John Kerry blatantly boasted in public that US funded to
execute Sri Lanka’s regime change in 2015. Evidence of India’s involvement in
regime change in 2015 in Sri Lanka is also well-known (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-election-india-insight-idUSKBN0KR03020150118). Thus one cannot expect those foreign forces
to remain silent after their global expectation have been reversed and they
will continue to do anything, once again, to reinstall their puppet regime. Thus it is time for the authorities to be
vigilant and to strengthen the country’s security and economy while continuing
to control the pandemic to suit.
Colombo, August 17 (newsin.asia): Through sheer grit and a fierce commitment to their tribal and Islamic values, the Afghans have frustrated a series of imperialistic attempts to dominate them. Between 1842 and 2021, the British, Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia and the US had tried occupying Afghanistan to derive benefits from its strategic location in South and Central Asia. But their attempts had failed miserably.
British Blunder
The first major foreign debacle was in the first half of the 19th.Century. In 1839, the British, afraid of Tsarist Russia’s bid to take over Afghanistan, invaded the latter, deposed the pro-Russian King, Dost Mohamad, and put their proxy, Shuja Shah Durrani, in power. Thereafter, the majority of troops returned to India leaving about 16,000 to mop up resistance by Afghan tribesmen. By 1841, the British felt that they could not afford the campaign and stopped payments to local warlords, their henchmen. The cheated warlords promptly joined the insurgency led by Dost Mohammad’s son, Mohamad Akbar Khan.
In November 1841, the British political agent, Sir Alexander Burns, and his staff were killed by a mob in Kabul. Another senior diplomat, Sir William Hay Macnaghten, and three aides were killed while trying to negotiate safe passage for British imperial forces to India. The commander of the Kabul garrison, the elderly Maj.Gen. Lord Elphinstone eventually negotiated an agreement on January 1, 1842 with Akbar Khan. Khan guaranteed safe passage for the British-Indian force. Elphinstone agreed to leave most of his gunpowder reserves, the majority of his canons and a large number of muskets behind.
On January 6, 1842, a force comprising 3,800 Indian soldiers, 690 European cavalries and infantry, and 12,000 camp followers set out on a 140 km retreat through the snow-covered mountains of eastern Afghanistan to the town of Jalalabad, which had British troops. On setting out the troops and civilians came under sniper fire. Many of those who weren’t killed, wounded or captured by the Afghans froze to death. Furthermore, an entire Indian regiment defected to Akbar Khan.
Elphinstone again tried to renegotiate safe passage with Akbar Khan and had two officers turned over as hostages. But again to no avail. The mountain pass, jammed with troops and camp followers, became an abattoir,” writes Franz-Stefan Gady in The Diplomat on January 2020. The enemy not only poured in a murderous fire from every rock and cave in the heights on each side, descended but also into the Pass and slew man, woman, and child,” he adds.
Elphinstone then decided to hand over all the British women to Akbar Khan, who again pledged to protect them and also children and wounded officers. Two men, eight women and nine children were turned over to the Afghan leader. An almost all British force entered the Tezin Pass but only to be subjected to another ambush by a barbarous and bloodthirsty foe” in Elphinstone’s words. Only 200 hundred men remained. At night, Akbar Khan invited Elphinstone and the other remaining high-ranking officer, Brigadier Shelton, for talks. But they were arrested on arrival.
On the night of January 12, the remaining 200 continued their march but were stopped by a barrier and fired upon. Only eighty men managed to make it across alive—20 officers and 45 soldiers of the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot, British artillerymen and a handful of Indian troops. Their last ditch stand on the Gandamak hill was futile. The Afghans took only nine prisoners, and only one, Assistant Surgeon William Brydon, was allowed to go. He arrived in Jalalabad on January 13 on a wounded horse. The British defeat was total. Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, and the architect of the invasion, suffered a stroke on hearing the news.
However, in 1842, the British sent an Army of Retribution” to Afghanistan, and recaptured key towns including Kabul. The army returned to India with 90 odd hostages. But given the bitter experience the British vowed not to intervene in Afghanistan’s internal politics again.
Soviet Misadventure
The British blunder was followed by the misadventure of Soviet Russia in December 1979. The USSR intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in the latter’s conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas. In April 1978, Afghanistan’s government headed by President Mohammad Daud Khan, was overthrown by left-wing military officers led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. Power was thereafter shared by two Marxist parties, the Khalq Party and the Parcham Party. But the leftist and pro-Soviet government had little popular support in Islamic Afghanistan. The leftists were also ruthless.
Tribal insurgencies, so typical of Afghanistan, arose which the regime tried to crush ruthlessly. As the regime promoted non-Islamic tendencies, the opposition styled themselves as Mujahideen (Jehadis).
The Soviets propped up the Parcham party leader Babrak Karmal, but Karmal was unable to attain popular support. Backed by the United States, the Mujahideen rebellion only grew in strength. To counter this, in December 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan with 100,000 troops. These controlled the cities but the countryside was with the Mujahideen. The constant fighting led to 2.8 million Afghans seeking asylum in Pakistan, and another 1.5 million in Iran.
However, by 1988, the Mujahideen had neutralized Soviet airpower with shoulder-fired missiles supplied by the US. 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in ceaseless fighting. In 1988 the Soviets decided to withdraw and did so by February 15, 1989. Thus, another bid to impose alien rule and an alien set of values on Afghanistan failed miserably.
Rise of Taliban
The Mujahideen filled the vacuum. But the Islamic groups failed to stick together. From the melee emerged the Pushtun-dominated Taliban as the strongest group. Founded in 1994, it was wedded to strict Islamism and it had Pakistan’s firm and active support. In 1995, the Taliban took control of 12 Afghan provinces. On September 27, 1996, it entered Kabul and announced the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. By 1998, it controlled 90% of Afghanistan the rest being with the Northern Alliance led by tribal warlords and supported by the US.
US Invasion
What particularly angered the US was theTaliban’s giving shelter to the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Weeks after the September 11, 2001 attack on New York by Osama bin Laden’s men, a powerful US-led coalition force invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban retreated from Kabul on October 13, 2001 and its leaders fled from the country.
But the Taliban regrouped and started guerrilla warfare. Through ambushes and guerilla attacks in the rural areas, and suicide attacks in cities, the Taliban gained control over parts of the country from 2006 onwards. The US-led coalition had to deploy 140,000 troops, 100,000 of them from the US.
However, the going proved to be too tough for the Americans. The US tried to talk to the Taliban in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 but failed. In 2018, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was ready for unconditional talks with the Taliban. He also promised to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political party and release its prisoners. But the Taliban said that it would talk only to the US. The US initially rejected the proposal but later agreed to talks in Doha. After several rounds of talks, a peace deal was signed on February 29, 2020. But it was not worth the paper it was written on, as fighting continued. America’s last ditch but half-hearted effort to put together a coalition of its proxies and the Taliban failed because the Taliban was hell-bent on acquiring monopoly over power.
Back in Washington, a decision had been taken to withdraw from Afghanistan by August 31, 2021. The 20-year war had cost the US 2.6 trillion dollars without giving any returns, except ignominy. And in the third clash with the titans in recent history, the small and ill-equipped but doughty Afghans had prevailed.
Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi who was appointed as the Minister of Transport in a cabinet reshuffle that took place earlier today (16) bid farewell to her former staff at the Health Ministry this afternoon.
A special meeting was held at the Ministry of Health to bid farewell to Wanniarachchi and welcome newly appointed Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
Minister Wanniarachchi admitted that she too was shocked when she was offered a new portfolio, like many others in the Ministry.
“When I was called, I told a group of doctors who was at a meeting with me that it might be a ministerial change. Doctors said that my portfolio will not be changed. But I was unaware of all these new developments until the last minute,” she said.
She related a renowned folktale during her farewell speech that left many wonder whether she was trying to convey a hidden message.
She said;
“Once, when a King and his chief advisor (Purohitha) were on a journey together and the King’s finger was accidentally cut off by his own sword. Why did this happen? he asked Purohitha, to which latter replied ‘must have happened for good’.
The King, angry at his response, pushed Purohitha into a pit and continued his journey, but in the opposite direction.
Subsequently, the King was surrounded by a group of celebrants, looking for an individual to sacrifice to complete their ritual. Upon inspection, however, they deemed the King unsatisfactory for the sacrifice, claiming that he was not a ‘whole’ person, as he had damaged fingers.
The King was then free to go. He later realized that Purohitha had in fact been right, the celebrants had let him go because he was missing a finger.
He went back looking for Purohitha. Pulling Purohitha out of the pit, the King asked him for forgiveness, to which Purohitha replied ‘I am grateful to you, for if you had not thrown me into this pit, I would have accompanied you. And once the celebrants deemed you unfit for the sacrifice, they would have taken me instead, as I am a ‘whole’ person’.
Similarly, we too shall think that everything happens for a reason , the Minister concluded.
The Government of Sri Lanka and the China Development Bank have entered into an agreement of RMB 2 billion – approximately Rs. 61.5 billion – Term Facility today (August 17), the Chinese Embassy in Colombo announced.
In a tweet, the embassy stated that the agreement was signed upon the request from Sri Lanka to support its COVID19 response, economic revival, financial stability and livelihood betterment.
The total number people who fell victim to COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka soared yet again as a record high of 171 new fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Monday (August 16).
This marks the ninth consecutive day that the daily count of COVID-19 deaths surpassed 100.
The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 6,434.
According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims include 102 males and 69 females.
As many as 134 deaths were reported among the elderly people who are aged above 60 years. In addition, 35 individuals aged between 30-59 years and two males below 30 years have also succumbed to the virus infection.
A total of 946 more people tested positive for COVID-19 today (August 17), increasing the daily count of positive cases to 3,609.
According to the Government Information Department, 3,555 of the latest cases reported today were associated with the New Year cluster. The remaining 54 are arrivals from foreign countries.
Following the new development, the country’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally now stands at 365,683, the Epidemiology Unit said.
Official data showed that as many as 314,340 patients who were infected with the virus have returned to health so far.
Meanwhile, the death toll reached 6,434 after a record high of 171 victims were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services.
More than 45,000 active cases are currently under medical care at hospitals and treatment centres across the country.
The views expressed by the Maha Sangha and opposition politicians regarding the Covid situation in the country and the cabinet reshuffle that took place yesterday is given below;
Over-confidence and reliance on out of date information, lack of
familiarity with recent rapidly changing medical and scientific advances, and
‘close-mind set’ is likely to lead to inadvertently making false comments and
unfair criticisms.
There are over 350 published, recent peer-reviewed clinical
scientific papers on being significant benefits of vitamin D and ivermectin: new peer-reviewed
publications coming up every other day: these strongly support both prevention
and treatment of early stages of COVID-19. In contrast, awaiting head-to-head clinical studies, in the
longer term and eliminating SARS_CoV-2 from the world (through milder infection
leading to herd immunity), the combination is expected to be
superior to vaccines in preventing complications and deaths from delta and
potential even more infectious variants. Using these agents at the
proper doses would significantly reduce complications and deaths and healthcare
burden, and costs.
Emerging data suggest that the efficacy of vaccines continues to
fade due to viral mutations with an increase virulence, immune evasion, and the
inability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2. However, no such exists with the
natural immunity enhanced by micronutrients. When a person infected with
SARS-CoV-2 has robust immunity, it will eliminate the viruses and recover
rapidly, irrespective of the vital mutation(s).
Those who do
not have an open mind and most recent scientific literature will continue to
criticise their unknowns blindly. Two links of
“Who disseminates most of the disinformation:” . Two links
of “Who disseminates most of the disinformation:”
Those industries and administrations and social media companies, with conflicts
of interest.
Vitamin D acceptance delayed by Big Pharma following the Disinformation
Playbook: Orthomolecular Medicine News Service William B. Grant
(2018-10-01):
