Mr. President,
I take this opportunity to thank the President of the UN General Assembly for conveying this timely debate on “The Role of international criminal justice in reconciliation”. We hope that today’s discussion will facilitate a critical
examination of the many aspects of the international criminal justice system and its relevance to fostering reconciliation, especially in […]

“With or without anticipation, Israeli policies helped shaped the kinds of enemies that pledge to sacrifice their lives to fight the Jewish state…” Saul Landau (IPS – 29.2.2009)
The art of political marketing
The Rajapaksas are masters at the art of political marketing. They have developed an ‘all you need to know’ crash
course in building innocuous facades […]

HARSH REALITY OF ANTICIPATED NORTHERN ELECTIONS
The Public Relations push  
The passage of the second US-sponsored resolution at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
appears to have served as a wake-up call to the government. One aspect of the government’s response has been to hire a new public relations company in the […]

I detest that man, who hides one thing in the depth of his heart and speaks forth another – Homer Illiad (Deceit)
Sison and next steps
It was reported in recent media reports that US Ambassador Michele J. Sison in an address to the Foreign Correspondents Association in
Colombo spoke “about the next steps for US engagement with Sri […]

Unyielding
The Sri Lankan government continues to be unyielding in its approach to governance and reconciliation issues. Having fought against the United States for two successive years in the diplomatic arena at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and failed
to win against it, the government now appears to have changed its strategy. It has hired […]

“Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.” ~Arnold J. Toynbee
Base instincts
Fundamentalism, whether it’s Christianity, Islam or any other religion has been the order of the day in modern society. Its attraction to the elements that dwell on the fringes of any religion is beyond doubt. Its perverse focus on […]

“With or without anticipation, Israeli policies helped shaped the kinds of enemies that pledge to sacrifice their lives to fight the Jewish state…”
Saul Landau (IPS – 29.2.2009)
Political marketeers
The Rajapaksas are masters at the art of political marketing. They have developed an ‘all you need to know’ crash course in building innocuous facades to hide insalubrious […]

Taking on Sinhala racists
I wasn’t at the vigil because I don’t do vigils and if I were to make an exception it would be for an anti-BBS/SR demonstration spearheaded by
the Left (in our case that would be the JVP and FSP), as are most anti-racist demonstrations all over the world. That is in fact the […]

“This frenzy of stupidity….”
Ernst Toller (Wotan Unchained)
Are we, the Sinhala people, so addicted to war, that we cannot do without one? Or are the Rajapaksas trying to manufacture a new threat and a new conflict as camouflage for their dynastic project?
A well organised and financed anti-Muslim campaign has burst into destructive life over the last […]

“Dreadful symptoms of the coming dissolution….”Thomas Mann (Buddenbrooks)
In a classified cable written on 24th February 2010 (and revealed subsequently by Wikileaks),
the US Ambassador identified Supreme Court Justice Shirani Bandaranayake as a supposed ‘Rajapaksa-loyalist’.
The vicious and illegal impeachment of the same Shirani Bandaranayake, just two and half years later, demonstrates that the Rajapaksas do not tolerate […]