Palestine and Israel neither existed then– so why is one and not the other?

Now there will be both before too long!

The ongoing conflict has flared up yet again, and there is NO end in sight. It will NOT end unless there is a great degree of willingness to forgive and forget. That is asking a lot, but I believe it is now possible as it can be shown that at each war the resolve of each side becomes greater, and so the chance of an even bloodier outcome that affects both sides is even greater. There can be NO winners.

The savagery of the conflict is worse than the similar flair up a few years ago. It will therefore get even worse the next time. The accuracy of the missiles have shocked the Israelis this time, and whilst they have ‘iron dom’ and bomb shelters to minimize the effect the psychological damage is worse than Netanyahu cares to admit. In fact this time it is Israel that has clearly lost, as the Hamas faction do not want a ceasefire, and after the Isrealis agreed to the 12 hour cessation, Hamas carried on regardless with their barrage as they feel that they have NOTHING to lose in this conflict. Once you devastate a neighborhood to nothing, it really does not matter if you do the same to a few more, as you know you will breed an even more determined fighter to take the place of those who have died.

You cannot subdue the people of Palestine, until you have killed them all. If the Israelis are sure they want to do that, they will then have the 2M Israeli Arabs in Israel to worry about, and they are now a force to reckon with, as never before. They have realized the capability and the brutality of the state of Israel and their position within it. Israel is now precariously positioned like a caged rabid dog.

If you take Israelis, when you include the Hitlerist fascists within the country, some worse than Nazis in their hatred of the Palestinians, we are seeing atrocities worse than the Holocaust that make the latter seem like a party in comparison. The Israelis try as they might, have lost ALL sympathy in the world, if they had a little left. Even the US has begun to view their arrogance as contemptuous of sense.  

Lets face it, it is a cause and effect situation. At each step of the way, the next rebellion gets worse not better. There was NO excuse for Israel to go into sanctions lockdown Gaza, as the killing of the Isreali kids were in Jerusalem or West Bank. So the tunnel issue which was real, could have been tackled by a bloodless lifting of the blockade for UN sponsored destruction of missiles and tunnels. A thousand lives would have been saved. Now it is worse for the Israelis as they are in the back foot in the negotiations, and the Palestinians with the upper hand. Netanyahu definitely lost the plot and most of his countrymen have yet to understand that, including himself. In time he will be forced to capitulate!!

The Greater Shame is the Arab world’s position in this whole sordid episode. They seem to be completely out of touch. There has been hardly a word from the various Governments and it is only time that they will have to pay dearly for their silence.

Lets face it Egypt, is under a military rule. The Arab sultanates, of Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, including Oman only have a short life ahead of them, as the increasingly educated populations will see the anomaly of their Government’s silence at the massacre of Palestinians as reflective of their short life span. They will be next in line, and are increasingly concerned. These are anachronisms, that survive only because of the chaos in Syria and Iraq, to which they will fall if they do not make drastic reforms immediately.

The huge population of unemployed youth in the Arab world will in time identify with the oppression of the Palestinians and the Arab spring would sound like a walk in the park compared to what is in store for them. The Arab world is a powder keg waiting to explode, and frankly the US will like that situation, as they are NO longer dependent on the Middle East for oil and they want the Arab World to destroy itself and Israel with it as that would only be inevitable.

In geopolitics, the USA will emerge triumphant in the ensuing new world order, where all the wealth of the Arabs invested in the West will allow them dominance of that too, when there is NO Arab world worth saving. Whilst this scenario is difficult to imagine it is only a matter of time when it will. The odds are heavily stacked in favor of that eventuality.

All this can be prevented if the Arab world decide to share power, give up their privileges, and retreat with their harem to their Chateaus in the South of France. Israel on the other hand will have to agree to a fully independent Palestine and to the pre 1967 borders, and they will have to pay that price for backing the hawkish Netanyahu who through his arrogance has basically given away what so many have fought so many wars for due to the inability to have a vision of the future.

Actually it will be Palestine, Syria, Iraq and perhaps Iran that will be the best off, as by that time they would have split into manageable factions and begun their rebuilding based on natural boundaries and not ones imposed on them. Jordan in the meantime will remain quiet not wishing to draw any more attention to it, with its majority Palestinian population and which will survive due to its primacy in assisting the new Palestine to grow from the ground up, as a free state with all the privileges that go with it. Israel’s capitulation will be imposed on them due to the isolation they will be forced to accept due to their earlier intransigence.                  

Hamas Won – 1000 lives are not too high a price to pay for that, and even the Gazans agree.

Dont you get it - that is why the SL Govt. is still fighting because they lost the PR battle - that is why it is called a David / Goliath conflict

You may ask how can Hamas have won, in light of the Israeli onslaught? Well it is simple, because the Hamas objective and Israeli objectives were different. Hamas appear to have achieved their objective.

What was Hamas game plan? Simply to open Gaza for business and free movement of goods and people. Remember that the Israelis moved out of Gaza (the West Bank is still occupied by the Israelis – imagine living with an occupying force!) for whatever strategic reason of theirs but they continued the blockade of Gaza.

Hamas had to resort to tunnels not just to get arms into Gaza, but even much needed food and medicine that the Israelis were loath to permit access to! It is this blockade that they wanted the world to realize that they could no longer live under. It was stifling the lives of people there caged like animals unable to get out. So they were willing to be killed in masses as the Israelis, whatever protestations they make about targeted strikes, it is innocents who are targeted in any targeted strike in a heavily built up area.

Raining rockets into Israel is the only the thing Hamas has learned that the Israelis will pay attention to. If enough rockets rain in on them, however harmless they are, it still destabilizes the mind and people are frightened that their strategic defense Iron Dome may let one or two pass! So Hamas scored a massive victory when the US FAA made a decision to stop all flights into or out of the Ben Gurion International Airport, except for El Al the Israeli National Carrier that continues to run at their own risk, despite the warnings.

It was a victory so much so that Netanyahu called Obama to lift the advisory, which he really is not in a situation to do, and further, it provoked, Bloomburg the billionaire Zionist who was the Mayor of New York to fly to Israel in solidarity to tell the world that is was not necessary. To Israelis, the fact that the International Airlines have refused to fly into Tel Aviv is a huge psychological blow, handing Hamas a direct hit or victory in a battle at least.

Hamas ceasefire terms are simple, LIFT THE BLOCKADE OF GAZA and NO ONE can argue with that as a goal for not sending rockets into Gaza. It is time the Israelis realize that their bullying tactics will earn no friends and their heavy handed approach has outlived human disgust. Hamas have won the PR war, as no one can justify the mighty crushing the weak, however provocative the weak are. 

I trust we in Sri Lanka can learn from this and stop playing politics with people's lives as it is everyone's right to live in dignity and the more we behave like Israel we are only  our worst enemy. Unlike them we don't have the US to turn to, we have NO ONE! 

A wake up call to the world: “Arm terrorists at your peril!”

It is now quite clear that Putin supplied three sets of BUK missile launchers and the Russian Crew to man them and one missile hit a bulls eye and the MH17 story is now history.

The world in now engaged in making Putin look an almighty fool in the eyes of the Russians and as that is the only lesson he understands, so he stops aiding the separatist rebels in Eastern Ukraine.

In the LTTE wars the amount they managed to raise from donations, trafficking in drugs and a whole host of illegal actiivty meant they were able to purchase lethal weapons on the open market through arms brokers and suppliers.

Until the SLA were able to purchase them from friendly govts. They were actually at a disadvantage, and only superiority in arms and ammunition, allowed the final win.

It is therefore now a very important issue, as with Iraq in turmoil and the new ISIS rebels taking over US supplied missiles, if they are used to down planes who is to blame? Well because they gave it to their ally Iraq, who were not able to protect them, and failed to prevent the rebels taking them over, or in the same veign with regard to sophisticated weapons given to the Afghan govt.

The moral of this story is that the proliferation of sophisticated weapons is going to jeapordize world safety, and it is in the long term INTEREST of the powers to immediately ascertain who has sophisticated weaponry, and determine the sanity of the Govt holding onto them, and demand they be destroyed!

If Sri Lanka has such, if the Govt. is assumed to be lead by a mental deviant, then it is fair game that they too are destroyed, then the question arises who is the mental deviants, what are sophisticated weapons, who enforces the destruction, and supervisers it, and most of all police this enforcement?

It is time the world gets to grip with answering this question, as in a Global world we are all at risk due to a crazy action of a few people, and we cannot stop crazy people, so all we can do is to remove lethal weapons from all who possess them, and even countries that are deemed democracies like Israel, who MUST destroy their nuclear arsenal, as that is a direct threat to Global peace, as they will NOT hesitate to use it if they are finally cornered to give up their rights to a State! The only reason the State of Israel exists is because it has the power to exist, not because it has the right to exist in its present form.  

A missile manufactured in Russia, fired by Russian speaking Ukranian separatists – sound familiar!

Which hit (bulls eye) a Malaysian Airliner built in the US, carrying majority Dutch passengers, going to a conference in Australia, and bodies and debris scattered all over the fields of the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine.

What are the parallels with the SL conflict of years gone by? Would the LTTE have built up their courage were they not receiving assistance from South India? Whatever India’s stance is today, it was their support that directly lead to 30 years of suffering in SL. If we did not have this war we would be nearing US$25K GNP per capita and not a regime of petty Banana Republic dictators, but a well regarded democracy where the freedom of the Individual to act within the law is paramount.

It is time the world condemns that megalomaniacal dictator called Putin, put him in his place, as his supplying lethal weapons to half baked terrorists is NOT conducive to world stability. Regime change should remove Putin, that is where it is required most if we value world stability.

I am not implying that all problems will be solved as a result, but we can clearly see the Russian intention of causing problems all over the world that put the US to shame in their degree of brazenness and ease.

Can you believe Putin to be so idiotic to supply such a sophisticated weapon to the Ukrainians as in the end it is his plane that will be blown out of the sky by a weapon he is complicit in supplying. That simply is the way the world works and is your fate when you act so irresponsibly.

The Security Council unanimously (including Russia) approved a full investigation into the tragedy of the Plane that was blown out of the sky at 33,000 ft by this Buk missile supplied with Putin’s approval and knowledge.

However as of today, the Russian backed Ukrainian rebels have refused access to the investigation team to the site, afraid of what they might find. Remember if you have NO guilt, you will not be so foolish as to refuse an internationally sanctioned investigation.

So what next? Simply make Putin the pariah of the 2014 world and see how his level of insanity will get the better of him! I know it is fraught with danger, as there is no knowing what he will do, but it is worth taking the chance and have a back up in case he loses his mind.

It is time the world takes a common stand as there was unanimity in the UNSC and ensure these are NOT repeated.                   

The Verdict!

20 Years RI for killing and raping the deceased fiancé. That was the least we could expect.

A politician kills, all the evidence is in and it is clear what happened and who did it. The actual court proceedings were extensively covered, both here and available for anyone who wants it overseas.

Sadly there had to be foreign intervention at the highest levels, and even Prince Charles intervening to speed the course of justice, and have the trial scheduled and commenced in Colombo. Why can’t we manage our own affairs? Is our justice system so corrupt, that even our citizens are not able to obtain justice?

It is unbelievable that the murderer has supporters ready to file into court bussed in from Tangalle courtecy of the patrons who are obviously footing the bill. Why is this so? To help a friend! Is this what loyalty is? I am lost.

The murderer happens to be the Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha who acted with impunity and lead his band of brigands on a drunken orgy of rape and murder at the hotel these trourists were staying at in the Tangalle area, where the home of the President of Sri Lanka is also situated.

The latter fact is what makes for an even more problematic case, as the accused is a close confidant of most of the members of the ruling family, who must have made some kind of promise on what would be forthcoming in their friend’s case.

Taking these facts into account and the international repurcussions of a not guilty verdict, when it is an open and shut case, which was not held under closed doors, we expect the judge to give a fair verdict, which in this instance is not going to be in favor of the accused.

The morning’s newspapers report that the both the British High Commissioner and the Russian Ambassador will attend, underlining the importance this verdict will have internationally. The girl friend of the decesased who herself had to give a harrowing account of the incident where she was gang raped will also be present along with the brother of the deceseased.  

Can we expect the sentence to be carried out as directed by the judge or by someone who is above the judge? Let us hope that justice is not just done, but deemed to be executed in a fair manner, as the sentence was the least he could expect for manslaughter as it was not premeditated.               

Silencing who? We all live in moribound fear of the local and national politician after all!

AND NO AMOUNT OF MEDIA FREEDOM IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT UNTIL WE ARE ABLE TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE TO REALIZE HOW THEY ARE BEING MANIPULATED AND BY WHOM

There was a hilariously entertaining event at the Royal College yesterday, where Sanjana Hattotuwa (SH) was pitted against Malinda Seneviratne (MS) moderated over by Eran Wickremaratne titled – “Silencing Sri Lanka – The future of Social Media and Online Citizen Journalism in a Stifled Democracy.”

I believe neither of whom are qualified to speak on this subject, though they are both engaged in writing in English to the English speaking mass who don’t amount to a hill of beans in Sri Lanka. So they are BOTH irrelevant to the debate, though SJ tried to imply that due to his monitoring 35 radical Sinhala websites & FB sites, for racist drivel, he is entitled to comment on the Sinhala Blogosphere! MS was on about his paper’s case against Multinationals, which was completely at a tangent to the topic, and ironically he was the person who complained that many people were talking at each other rather than on the topic in question.

Be that as it may, there was SH who I term an NGO wallah who survives for his breakfast on the backs of Western INGOs and classically represents their interests and speaks their language and appears to be their darling! On the other hand MS is a rabidly anti-American US educated arrogant and pompous person, propounding piety who had the gall to call us Lankans immensely arrogant and self righteous who was promptly called to task on that comment by SH, who is just as much in the same mould! Both therefore peas of the same pod!

Either way the whole discussion was mired in semantics, and more in line with the intellectual dining room gossip of Colombo drawing rooms, and NOT at all related to the suffering of the masses of Sri Lankans trying to survive in an era of impunity, where the Govt. is stealing money from their mouths to fund their extravagance and NO AMOUNT of silenced or not media is going to help them until they grow up to understand what is exactly happening to them.

It is the education stupid, and with all the uneducated Journalists faffing around, unable to write a story in a real investigative and in depth manner, even if there was COMPLETE MEDIA FREEDOM, they will NOT address the real issues of the day, as that profession is dead in the water. Needs new blood – all of it.

It will not change until we are able to educate our youth to realize that they can become world class journalists, able to dissect a story so the reader is ABLE TO DECIPHER the right and wrong of it for him or herself. NOT currently possible.

SO much for silencing media, freedom only comes with education, and we must educate the people on the podium before we get down to the people!              

Government Thugs or Employees who get paid but don’t work! AT SAPUGASKANDA now!

Ten UNP MP’s are currently at the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, part of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, on their fact finding mission of the unit. They are entitled BY LAW to obtain access and meet with senior staff and question them on the workings of the institution, and report their findings to Parliament, and hold a press conference if necessary.

A group of employees having got wind of this visit, have gathered outside and made it known that they WILL NOT permit these MPs to enter the institution. Are they working on the orders of the Govt. or on their own as it is now clear that since the shutdown of the Refinery owing to a whole host of reasons, they are now being paid handsomely for sitting at home and twiddling their thumbs. Further there is another set of Political Stooges beyond the control of management who are on the payroll, but who perform NO useful service at the refinery.  

It is important that the people of Sri Lanka understand that the Government of Sri Lanka is complicit in a huge racket where the people are paying a very high price for the inefficiencies and using people with personal agendas to prevent lawfully elected members of parliament from attempting to investigate violations of trust of the electors is reprehensible to say the least.

It is time WE TELL THE THUGS INCLUDING THOSE WHO ARE INSTIGATING THIS THUGGERY – THE GOVT. MINISTERS INVOLVED IN THIS MASSIVE FRAUD to be held accountable to the people who elect them and answer to them, why they have made unconscionable decisions on behalf of their Country.

The racket includes the import of refined petrol, when we could use the Refinery to do the work because, there is money in commissions in this import payable by the companies sending these refined petroleum products, direct to the offshore bank accounts of the officials doing the ordering and their masters who are members of parliament in Govt. and includes ministers and perhaps even a percentage to their patrons the Leaders themselves.

The local Magistrate has ordered that if the demonstrators prevent the MPs from entering that the POLICE ARREST THE DEMONSTRATORS.

The police in the vicinity have DONE NOTHING TO PREVENT THE DEMONSTRATORS STOPPING THE MPs GOING IN!! Is this the Rule of Law?