Stop Deadlock In Medical Education

By Somapala Gunadheera –March 1, 2017

Somapala Gunadheera

The SAITM crisis has brought normal medical education in this country to a standstill. Students studying medicine in the medical faculties have absented themselves from lectures from the beginning of this year, as a protest against the decision to award medical degrees to SAITM products that they claim to be unqualified to receive such awards. The hiatus created in their studies by this standoff is bound to create an unbridgeable gap in their carrier that would accrue to their disadvantage for life, even after the dispute is resolved. In the meantime, the medical students at the SATIM who have been challenged by the strikers continue their studies unabated, thus gaining an advantage that would place them ahead of their protesters, when the dispute is resolved at last. As a sequel to this confrontation, hapless patients in government hospitals are being held to ransom over this issue admittedly, in their own interest.

In their protest campaign, the students of the medical faculties appear to be cutting their nose to spite the face of their counterparts at the SAITM. They are on a campaign to convince the general public that medical education given by the SAITM is not in the best interests of the people. Their time and energy is fully concentrated on an island-wide effort but it is doubtful whether the net-gain from their campaign would be worth the sacrifice devoted to the effort. The issues involved are far removed from the life interests of the people at a time when they are struggling to make both ends meet amidst a cacophony of pious promises by their leaders. So much so that cynicism is fast becoming the order of the day. The man in the street does not appear to see anything tangible happening to cater to his immediate burning problems. For him SAITM is a far cry.

The GMOA is fighting a relentless battle to put an end to the medical education given by the SAITM. They appear to have sprung into action only after the Court of Appeal endorsed the plea of the SAITM graduates for registration with the Medical Council. Of course, the GMOA’s arguments against registration deserve serious consideration. The question however, is why they slept over these issues for years allowing hundreds of students to devote the prime of their lives on the impugned course of studies and their parents to spend their hard earned money on a venture whose collapse would frustrate their costly investments. Both the GMOA and the investors at the SAITM should realize that they have worked themselves into a corner by not raising effective objections and finalizing matters in due time. It is a reflection on the Government to have allowed this dispute to get out of hand, without taking necessary steps at the proper time to avoid the present deadlock. Even at this moment the rulers appear to take a grandstand view of the situation, doing little to resolve it, except by word of mouth and applying the remedy for all seasons, calling for reports.

What all stake holders must realize is that with the SAITM issue, we are up against a problem from which we cannot run away without substantial confusion in our society. The need of the hour is to take a pragmatic view of the situation and make a positive approach to solve it. There is much substance in the objections of the GMOA to recognizing the medical degrees awarded by the SAITM as outlined below:

1. The SAITM private medical college has failed to comply with the standards stipulated by the SLMC and disregarded the SLMC public notices cum warnings.
2. They do not possess BOI, UGC or any other legally sound approval.
3. Medical council guidelines, such as a well-established hospital complex, fulfilling minimum standards, prior to recruitment of medical students have not been satisfied fully.

Strictly speaking, a medical degree cannot be awarded under these circumstances but if we keep arguing on these lines until the cows come home we will never be able to resolve this problem. It is too late in the day now to rectify the commissions and omissions of the past. An attempt to do so would ultimately result in putting hundreds of students who went through this course in good faith, in the lurch. The regulatory authorities who permitted this deviation without checking it under the powers available to them for whatever reason have to assume moral responsibility to resolve it with minimum damage to all interests involved. To my mind, the best way to do this is to get those passing out of SAITM to sit the final exam prescribed for government medical faculties. Students from SAITM who pass that exam will join the medical profession without discrimination. Those who fail of course will suffer the normal consequences of failure, similar to the insiders who fail their finals. This is normal procedure followed by foreign graduates who wish to enter the medical profession here. Of course SAITM is not a foreign University but the situation demands that we ignore niceties and cut corners to get over the mess we have created through negligence. The authorities should bear the responsibility for providing essential facilities missed by the students from the SAITM, if any.

It should be understood that this is a once and for all arrangement to accommodate those who are already caught up in the SAITM debacle, for no fault of their own. It involves a reliable test to ascertain suitability to join the medical profession, guaranteeing the safety of would-be patients. Besides it will not be the only instance where those who have passed their finals, sit a public exam to join a profession. Law students who pass out of law faculties of Universities have to pass the final examination of the Law College before they join the legal profession. However it is important to agree that this ad hoc arrangement would apply only to those who are already following a medical degree at the SAITM. No new recruitments should be made to that institution until it satisfies all the necessary conditions laid down by the applicable authorities.

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SAITM Sameera’s shooting : True story so far..! Sameera suspended from post of CEO, SAITM

(Lanka-e-News - 01.March.2017, 8.35PM) The shooting incident in which Sameera Senaratne the CEO of SAITM was fired at on 6 th February was a spurious drama enacted to make a show he was  facing death threats , police investigations have  revealed 

According to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division the spurious drama was orchestrated as follows … 

Sameera has told a close friend of his- UPFA  ex member of Kaduwala municipal council (now dissolved) Lakmal alias Sudu aiya that he has need to make it known that he is facing death threats .It was  Lakmal and his driver Susil who have orchestrated   this shooting .

 Sameera immediately following the shooting has discussed the incident via phone with Lakmal. Sameera has then attended a media briefing held on a subsequent day with  Lakmal . In other words Sameera and Lakmal are bosom friends. 

Though the police say two suspects have been arrested , these are suspects ‘created’ by Lakmal.

Sameera has made contradictory statements to the police from time to time. Sameera who initially said , he was inside the vehicle at the time the shooting took place , later said , he was not in the vehicle. The suspicions of the police had been triggered based on Sameera’s contradictions , and in the direction of Lakmal the UPFA  ex MMC with whom Sameera discussed immediately following the shooting.

Lakmal who realized the police are suspecting him had planned to divert the investigation in a different direction  by suppression of facts because  ,if all the suspects who truly engaged in the shooting are apprehended , it was  obvious Lakmal and Sameera too will  be trapped Therefore he is getting ready  to leave aside the actual culprits , and implicate others known to him – find a fall guy  to foist charges. It is Lakmal’s driver Susil who is aiding and abetting the former  in this maneuver.
 
Susil and Lakmal are residents of Welivita. ‘Tina’ is the nickname of a youth  who  came from Embilipitiya  to settle down in Welivita . He is a youth who carried out the illicit  contracts of bankrupt politicos of  Mulleriyawa . He had been in remand custody umpteen times on charges of heroin addiction and having  drugs in his custody. 

Tina is the fall guy chosen by Lakmal and driver Susil to accept the blame in connection with this crime. He has been promised a sum of Rs. 500,000.00 as well as ‘visits’ (required meals etc.)  to prison throughout his period in custody , in case .Lakmal has also promised to give him two firearms  which were  to be described as the weapons used for the firing , as well as  a motor cycle . Susil was to say , that was the vehicle used in the shooting incident. Since nobody will give credence to  the story that shooting was done alone , Lakmal has also promised Susil that he would get him  another individual – an army SF member by the name of ‘Dilu’ who is now in remand custody over another crime , to act as  his accomplice.
 
While driver Susil was  having discussions with Tina, Lakmal had been  planning a methodology to dupe the police, that is,  Lakmal himself who has provided information to the police about Tina. However at the time police took Tina into custody , because Tina was having the pistol on his waist , and he declared at once , that was the pistol used to  shoot Sameera , the suspicions of the police were aroused. 

When the police took Tina into custody ,  the latter had handed over the two firearms supplied by Lakmal and his driver Susil to the police. A 9 m.m. Browning pistol , two bullets , and a 3.8 revolver and two bullets had been handed over. The motor cycle supposedly used in the incident has also been entrusted to the custody of the police. The latter had also apprehended the individual who was  supposed to have given the motor cycle to Tina.  However, that individual told police that he did not give a bike , and he was forced to say so by the ex UPFA MMC Lakmal and his driver Susil .

Tina who is addicted severely to heroin , and as he was ‘sick’ without heroin while in custody , he had divulged the true picture to the police . He had by a confession finally declared that all the lies were told by him at the behest of Lakmal ‘s  driver. 

Tina the fall guy and the owner of the bike were produced before the Kaduwela magistrate and remanded until the 3 rd of March. 

Meanwhile ‘SF Dilu’ in remand custody  who was to initially accept the blame for aiding and abetting Tina , has refused to assist. In a message sent by him to his parents , he had instructed his parents not to open the doors  for Lakmal or his driver if they come to his home.

It is Lakmal who has weaved a story that relates how Tina the fall guy came to know SF Dilu.  Tina originally stated , it is while he was in remand custody earlier on that he came to know SF Dilu through Banda , a friend of Tina. The issue is , since  this Banda died in a shooting incident  at Athurugiriya some time ago , the veracity of Tina’s statement cannot be confirmed.  This story has been concocted by Lakmal as a face saving exercise.

Be that as it may , while the true story of Tina who was arrested and the motorcycle were  unfolding , Lakmal the key actor cum director of this spurious drama , and his driver Susil have gone missing  during the last 5 days. They are untraceable!

Meanwhile the police had interrogated CEO Sameera of SAITM for a long period. Sameera who perceived that the truth is known to the police had stated, Lakmal was a close friend , and  he discussed the threats posed to him (Sameera ) with Lakmal. However by evening when the statement was being recorded , Sameera has fastened the entire blame on Lakmal based on which  Sameera was today  allowed to go home after the statement was recorded.

Probably , after the arrest of Lakmal and the driver , the truth will surface regarding those actually involved. 

Lanka e news inquired from an investigator who is a friend of LeN , at the time Sameera was shot at , and after  noticing the damage to the vehicle. The investigator had a most intriguing story to relate …..

“According to these gunshot   ,if  this bloke who was inside had escaped , he cannot be a doctor. He must be a Batman”

Sameera suspended  from post of CEO, SAITM

Dr. Neville Fernando the president of SAITM’s   management,  this evening (28) announced that Sameera Senaratne the CEO of SAITM private medical College has been temporarily suspended from service. SAITM took this measure in order to assist in the police investigations and to ensure transparency, Dr.Fernando added.

---------------------------
by     (2017-03-01 19:32:38)

Price of surgical equipment slashed by USD 8 mn - Rajitha-Order placed by previous govt.

 

March 1, 2017, 12:00 pm 

Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has received an assurance from a major importer to slash the price of surgical equipment, a linear accelerator, the previous government had ordered, by USD 8 mn.

Minister Senaratne, issuing a media statement yesterday, alleged that the original order had been placed at the behest of the leaders of the previous government.

Minister Senaratne was responding to allegations against him levelled by the Joint Opposition (JO) earlier in the day. Having accused Dr Senaratne of irregularities and corruption, the JO lodged complaints with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

Dr. Senaratne said that as all imports had been subjected to approval by the National Drug Regulatory Authority, the ministry couldn't act unilaterally. The UNPer claimed that at the time he was appointed Health Minister there had been a major racket in the import of drugs.

The health minister claimed that the JO had been influenced by drug importers. The same lot had obstructed Maithripala Sirisena during his tenure as the health minister of the previous SLFP-led administration, he alleged.

Dr. Senaratne said the Rajapaksas, too, had been involved in the drugs racket.

According to him, both medicine and surgical equipment had been ordered without following instructions at the behest of the Rajapaksas.

Dr. Senarathe alleged that there had been a massive racket in the supply of a cancer treatment drug. Alleging a leading supplier had made available the drug at staggering Rs. 285,000 per unit, Dr. Senaratne said that immediately after the introduction of an alternative drug, the price had come down to Rs. 140,000. According to the minister, such practices had been widespread and those representing the JO lacked knowledge about such matters.

Dr. Senaratne challenged the JO to prove unsubstantiated allegations directed at him. (SF)

Jaffna public servants say armed gangs threatening them 



2017-03-02

Some public servants in Jaffna staged a demonstration opposite the Jaffna District Secretariat alleging that the presence of armed gangs is creating a fear psychosis making it difficult to carry out their duties. They demanded an assurance of safety from the government. 

The public servants said the recent disclosure by the Assistant Lands Commissioner of Batticaloa about a land grab had resulted in him being shot and injured. 

"Immediate action should be taken to arrest the perpetrators of this crime," one of them said. 

The protesters said when the public servants were discharging their lawful duties, the shooting by these armed groups had led to frustration among them and the failure to arrest them had made the other public servants also to fear for their lives. 

The protesters handed over a petition detailing their demands to Jaffna District Secretary Nagalingam Vedanayagam. He said he would inform the Ministry of Law and order and the Police about this situation. (Romesh Madushanka)

Demolish the manpower system-Fisher folk and Farmers’ Right Organizations

Mar 01, 2017

Members of Fisher folk and Farmers’ right organizations rushed to the Telwatta junction in Negombo and walked to the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) office and staged a protest yesterday under the banner,

solidarity Front of Telecom Manpower Struggle.”
They demand government to ensure the job of SLT manpower employees.
A street drama group also joint with participants and aware the public on demolish the manpower system and pathetic plight of SLT manpower employees.
NaFSO convener Herman Kumara said that over 2000 SLT manpower workers staged protest in front of SLT head office in Colombo to demand administration of SLT to absorb manpower workers to SLT.
“Today, SLT manpower workers completed 68 days for their strike. They do not have salaries and face number of problems.”
He added, “We have a responsibility to join with their struggle and pressure the government to abolish manpower system.”
According to convener of NaFSO their members stage protest same day in Jaffna and Bandarawela.

(Photos and reported by Lawrence Ferdinando)

Who funds Irish4Israel?

Barry Williams, Ireland’s most prominent pro-Israel activist, takes part in a Dublin demonstration. (Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland) 

David Cronin-1 March 2017

Each time Israel’s supporters in Ireland decide to smear the Palestine solidarity movement, there is a strong likelihood that a man called Barry Williams will be quoted in the media.

Williams and his group Irish4Israel have featured prominently in two recent stories.

Who funds Irish4Israel.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

UN accuses Syrian government of 'egregious' war crimes in Aleppo

Inquiry says Syrian air force bombed aid convoy, used chlorine gas and attacked hospitals, in report that also accuses rebels of war crimes

Syrian White Helmets rescuers drag a boy from rubble after an air attack in Aleppo (Reuters)

Graeme Baker-Wednesday 1 March 2017

The Syrian government has committed multiple war crimes, including the bombing of an aid convoy, killing hundreds of civilians, reducing hospitals to rubble and launching chlorine gas attacks in the battle for Aleppo, a hard-hitting UN report has said.

Rebels were also blamed for indiscriminate bombing of civilians in government-controlled western areas to intentionally terrorise, and using others as human shields.

But the report, by the UN's independent international commission of inquiry into Syria, laid out a roll call of war crimes it said it "strongly" suspected were committed by government forces as they sought to re-occupy the east of the city between July and December 2016.

The inquiry said it could not find conclusive evidence that Russia, the Syrian government's ally, was involved in violations of international law.

• Read more: Aleppo's largest hospital 'completely destroyed'

In its report summary, the inquiry said: "The battle for control over Aleppo city was a stage of unrelenting violence, with civilians on both sides falling victim to war crimes committed by all parties. 

"As part of a strategy to force surrender, pro-Government forces encircled eastern Aleppo city in late July and trapped civilians without adequate food or medical supplies. 

"Between July and December 2016, Syrian and Russian forces carried out daily air strikes, claiming hundreds of lives and reducing hospitals, schools and markets to rubble.

"Syrian forces also used chlorine bombs in residential areas, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties."

'Egregious attack'

The report blamed the Syrian air forces for the "egregious attack" on a UN-Red Crescent humanitarian convoy on 19 September in Orum al-Kubra - during a supposed ceasefire - which killed 14 aid workers and destroyed 17 trucks containing "food, medicine, children’s clothes and other supplies" destined for civilians in rebel-held areas.

"The convoy had been authorised by the government, which was aware of its location at the time of the attack," said the report. "The types of munitions used, the breadth of the area targeted and the duration of the attack strongly suggest that the attack was meticulously planned and ruthlessly carried out by the Syrian air force."

Syria's government and its Russian allies have denied all charges against them, blaming rebels for the attack on the convoy and saying all military action was against "terrorists" hiding behind people being used as human shields.

Russia released what it said was proof that rebels had bombed the convoy - including drone footage that Moscow claimed showed rebels with heavy weapons were riding with the convoy at the time it was attacked.

In none of the incidents investigated were military targets identified as being present in the vicinity of a hospital

The inquiry said Syrian forces deliberately targeted medical facilities in eastern Aleppo with "repeated bombardments". 

"In none of the incidents investigated by the commission were military targets identified as being present in or around the vicinity of a hospital, nor were warnings given prior to any given attack as required by international humanitarian law."

"The lack of warnings and the absence of military presence in the vicinity of the healthcare facilities strongly suggest the deliberate and systematic targeting of medical infrastructure as part of a strategy to compel surrender."

The report focused on the M10 hospital, in al-Sakhour district, which it said was hit four times between late September and mid-October, putting it completely out of service.

The Atlantic Council and researchers from Goldsmiths University are reconstructing the destruction of M10, after releasing a report and reconstruction about its sister hospital M2 which was "completely destroyed" in repeated air attacks.

The researchers used CCTV footage from inside M2 to piece together the effects of the attacks.

Cluster munitions were "pervasively used" in densely-populated areas, the report said said, amounting to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks.

The inquiry said that a deal struck to evacuate civilians from east Aleppo following the rebel defeat in December was a "crime of forced displacement". 

Those evacuations, which were observed by UN staff and the International Committee of the Red Cross, left civilians with "no option to remain", the inquiry said.

"Such agreements amount to the war crime of forced displacement of the civilian population... for strategic reasons – and not for the security of civilians".

Rebel war crimes

The UN report also said rebels had "persistently" shelled civilians in western Aleppo.

"Using improvised weapons, these groups often fired indiscriminately in attacks that killed and injured dozens, including women and children. 

"When launched without a clear military target, these attacks intentionally terrorised the civilian population," the report went on.

"Some armed groups also committed war crimes of withholding the distribution of humanitarian aid from the besieged population under their control, and actively denied civilian freedom of movement, used civilians as human shields, conducted arbitrary arrests and used civilian buildings for military purposes.

"As the situation deteriorated in eastern Aleppo and people tried desperately to flee, some armed groups violently prevented them and used them as human shields. 

When launched without a clear military target, these attacks intentionally terrorised the civilian population

The UN report also said Syrian government forces executed presumed rebel fighters and their supporters as they rolled through eastern Aleppo in December.

"Hundreds of men and boys were separated from their families and forcibly conscripted by the Syrian army. The fate of others remains unknown."

The commission called on all sides to comply with their obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law.

It said the Syrian government must carry out "investigations into the conduct of their forces and make their findings public," and that rebels must "repudiate extreme elements and apply effective leverage for compliance with international law".

The commission called on world powers to establish "an international, impartial and independent mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible" for the most serious crimes committed in Syria since the start of the 2011 revolution.

The report, released as Syrian peace talks continue in Geneva, covers the July-December period and is based on 291 interviews with victims and witnesses, as well as analysis of forensic evidence and satellite imagery.

Confidential U.N. Report Details North Korea’s Front Companies in China

A maze of shadowy businesses allows Kim Jong-un to evade sanctions and experts say there's no way Beijing doesn't know.

BY COLUM LYNCH-FEBRUARY 28, 2017

When China announced last week plans to cut off imports of coal from North Korea, a vital source of revenue for the cash-starved Hermit Kingdom, it fueled optimism that Beijing may be getting serious about reining in its erratic neighbor.

But an unpublished U.N. report obtained by Foreign Policy that documents sophisticated North Korean efforts to evade sanctions shows that China has proved a fickle partner at best in Washington’s effort to stymie Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

That poses a fresh challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump, whose prospects of containing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program — which has made great strides lately — rest largely with Beijing. But instead of low-key diplomatic spadework, Trump has sought to browbeat China into helping, blaming the Asian powerhouse with failing to use its influence to clip Pyongyang’s atomic aspirations.

North Korea “is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” according to the report compiled by an eight-member panel, which is chaired by a British national and includes experts from China, Russia, and the United States. The North Korean schemes are “combining to significantly negate the impact” of international sanctions.

China, despite its apparent cooperation of late with international efforts to sanction North Korea, has instead served as Pyongyang’s economic lifeline, purchasing the vast majority of its coal, gold, and iron ore and serving as the primary hub for illicit trade that undermines a raft of U.N. sanctions that China nominally supports, the report’s findings suggest.

As early as December 2016, China had blown past a U.N.-imposed ceiling of 1 million metric tons on coal imports, purchasing twice that amount. China then shrugged off a requirement to report its North Korean coal imports to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee. When U.S. and Japanese diplomats pressed their Chinese counterpart for an explanation in a closed-door meeting this month, the Chinese diplomat said nothing, according to a U.N.-based official.

North Korean banks and firms, meanwhile, have maintained access to international financial markets through a vast network of Chinese-based front companies, enabling Pyongyang to evade sanctions. That includes trades in cash and gold bullion and concealing financial transactions behind a network of foreign countries and individuals, allowing North Korea to gain ready access to the international financial system, as well as to banks in China and New York. North Korea’s business “networks are adapting by using greater ingenuity in accessing formal banking channels as well as bulk cash and gold transfers,” the report found.

There is no direct evidence that the Chinese government is actively supporting North Korea’s sanctions busters.

But William Newcomb, a former member of the U.N. sanctions panel on North Korea, said it is hard to believe China is unaware of the illicit trade.

“You have designated entities that have continued to operate in China,” he told FP. “It’s not an accident. China’s security services are good enough to know who is doing what” inside their country.

China has a pattern of showing goodwill in the U.N. Security Council by supporting a succession of sanctions resolutions aimed at curtailing Pyongyang’s nuclear trade, according to Newcomb. But it has shown less commitment to enforcing those measures.

And it has used its power in an obscure Security Council sanctions subcommittee — which makes its decisions by consensus and in secret — to “slow-roll” efforts to ensure that sanctions are respected, Newcomb said.

The Chinese mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. An official at the North Korean mission who declined to identify himself said: “I don’t think there is anyone available for this issue.”

The evasions raise fresh questions about China’s commitment and pose a major challenge to Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from achieving its goal of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear explosive to American cities.

Pyongyang has already conducted five nuclear tests since 2006, and it has made huge strides in missile technology, conducting a record 26 ballistic missile tests in 2016, including the firing in April of a submarine-launched ballistic missile using solid fuel. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears poised to test an ICBM with much greater reach.

“The unprecedented frequency and intensity of the nuclear and ballistic missile tests conducted during the reporting period helped the country to achieve technological milestones in weapons of mass destruction capability, and all indications are that this pace will continue,” according to the report’s findings.

The report — which is expected to be made public next week — “shows once again that the North Korean regime continues its methodical effort to develop a nuclear military program and the means to deliver the corresponding weapons,” said François Delattre, France’s U.N. ambassador. “It is a real challenge to the [nuclear] nonproliferation regime.”

The extent of Chinese companies’ role in enabling North Korea’s evasion of sanctions is detailed deep in the fine print of the still unpublished 105-page report. For instance, North Korea’s Daedong Credit Bank (DCB) and Korea Daesong Bank, both subject to U.S. and U.N. sanctions, continue to operate in the Chinese cities of Dalian, Dandong, and Shenyang in violation of U.N. resolutions. The panel suspects that one of the banks, Daedong, may in fact be majority-owned by Chinese shareholders, citing July 2011 documents indicating the sale of a controlling stake, 60 percent, to a Chinese firm.

Daedong “effectively accesses the international financial system through a network of offshore accounts and representative offices in China,” the panel report states. Its operations, according to the report, provide evidence that North Korean banks “manage to operate abroad through the establishment of front companies that are not registered as financial institutions but function as such.”

The United States sanctioned Daedong; its finance wing, DCB Finance; and their Dalian-based North Korean representative, Kim Chol Sam, in June 2013 for providing financial services to the Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., or KOMID, North Korea’s chief arms dealer.

Kim has established a series of front companies in China, including a Hong Kong firm he opened with a fake ID indicating he was a citizen of South Korea, according to the report. He has facilitated millions of dollars in “payments and loans between companies linked to DCB and exchanged large quantities of bulk cash transferred to China from the Democratic Republic of Korea.” The report says member states — an obvious reference to China — are obliged to expel Kim and “freeze all property, assets and other economic resources owned or controlled by him.”

The Chinese connection is at the center of an international web that stretches from Angola to Malaysia and the Caribbean and involves a large network of North Korean diplomats, entrepreneurs, smugglers, and foreign facilitators. The off-the-books trade includes the export of gold, coal, and rare-earth metals and the sale of rockets, Scud missile parts, government monuments, and high-tech battlefield communications equipment, among other things.

Last year, the panel’s investigations exposed trade in “encrypted military communications, man-portable air-defense systems, and satellite-guided missiles that may involve large teams of the country’s technicians deployed to assemble or service the banned items,” according to the report.

One example of a new niche market: North Korea buys cheap electronics in Hong Kong for a pittance and then turns them into military-grade radios it sells to developing countries for $8,000 a pop.

In July 2016, authorities from an unidentified nation seized an air shipment containing 45 boxes of battlefield radios, and assorted high-tech communications gear, from China to a technology company in Eritrea.

By the standards of North Korea’s multibillion-dollar black-market trade, the Eritrea haul was a drop in the bucket; North Korea earned $1.2 billion in coal sales to China last year. But the case provided insights into Pyongyang’s elaborate, and ever evolving, financial scheme to evade U.N. sanctions and stay two steps ahead of the United States and other key powers seeking to thwart North Korea’s illicit trade.
The equipment bore the trademark of Global Communications Co., or Glocom, a Malaysia-based front company for North Korean firm Pan Systems Pyongyang, which operates a network of front companies and agents in Malaysia and China. The company also has a branch in Singapore. Efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful.

But the head of Pan Systems in Singapore, Louis Low, told Reuters — which first reported on the scheme — that his company set up an office in Pyongyang in 1996 but that it severed relations with North Korea in 2010 and has had no dealings with Glocom. He suggested that North Koreans might still be using the company’s name without his agreement.

The mastermind behind the operation is North Korea’s premier intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which runs Pan Systems and other front companies.

“The global network consisted of individuals, companies and bank accounts in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East,” the report stated.

Photo credit: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images

Fact-checking President Trump’s address to Congress

 President Trump repeated some unfounded claims, and said a few new ones, during his joint address on Feb. 28. (Video: Gillian Brockell/Photo: Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee February 28 at 11:35 PM

An address to Congress is such an important speech that presidents generally are careful not to stretch the truth. The “16 words” in George W. Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address that falsely claimed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Africa led to significant turmoil in the administration, including the criminal conviction of a top aide.

Fact-checking President Trump’s address to Congress.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Trump envisions bill allowing many immigrants to stay in US

Trump may compromise on immigration bill 02:58

By Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and Tal Kopan, CNN-Wed March 1, 2017

(CNN)President Donald Trump wants to pass an immigration reform bill that could grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US.

"The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides," Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House.

Trump envisions bill allowing many immigrants to stay in US.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

CHECKS AND BALANCES TO ENSURE SOLDIERS’ SAFETY

Wednesday, 01 March 2017 | Ashok K Mehta

Counter-terrorism is a fine art which involves defeating the capacity of the terrorists. The Army must, therefore, re-think on the use of force, ensuring that lives of soldiers are treated as preciously as those of civilians

Last week, two counter-terrorism operations had to be called off in south Kashmir due to obstructions by civilians. This resulted in terrorists escaping. At the height of the post-Burhan Wani protest campaign in the valley, Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda called for a dialogue among stakeholders. That call went unheeded. Last month Gen Bipin Rawat made an unambiguous military statement warning civilians not to interfere in military operations. His comments were de-contextualised and needlessly politicised. He was speaking on behalf of his soldiers who have suffered more casualties in Jammu & Kashmir than they have in all the wars fought by them.

Henry Kissinger once famously said that when guerrillas do not lose, they win; when security forces do not win, they lose. What he did not say was that a political process must accompany the counter-insurgency campaign as the underlying reasons for the conflict are political. In the longest cross border insurgency/terrorism, also called a proxy war, the Army has been made to carry the can for successive Governments failing to resolve even the internal Kashmir problem.

Recently, Gen Pervez Musharraf not only congratulated himself for creating freedom fighters for Kashmir but also for re-starting a political dialogue that nearly clinched a solution. The Army has created an ambience conducive for dialogue, many times over, but the Government has never followed through.

Today, a war-like situation obtains in the valley where levels of alienation are high and the youth fearlessly bait the security forces showing Islamic State and Pakistani flags. It is difficult to quantify how much of the insurgency is Pakistan-motivated and created but it reflects adversely on the ability of the state and security forces in insulating J&K from external influences by sealing the border/Line of Control (LoC).

The Army has done a commendable job in reducing the terrorist population from a high of 3,000 militants in 2003 to less than 300 fighters today. The Army regards 2001 the worst year of the proxy war when the overall casualties exceeded 4,500; in 2012 the figure declined to 130. In 2016, casualty numbers more than doubled those in 2012 representing the worst year in the valley in the last decade. But figures do not reflect the total picture: How it has gone from bad to worse, catalysed by political inertia.

Militarily the environment is getting hostile. Years of winning hearts and minds by the Army  through Sadbhavana projects appear to be losing ground. With consistent poor governance and diffidence of security forces, respect for the authority of the Army essential to regaining  political, military and moral control of the valley is not at peak levels.

After six months of turbulence in the valley and Army operations scaled down, the operational and intelligence grids are dislocated. Military operations have been seriously obstructed in populated areas by civilians, including youth and women, to enable holed up terrorists to escape from the security cordon. 

The Army says that in 2016, 25 terrorists managed to escape due to civilian interference and in their avoiding civilian casualties resulting in Lashker-e-Tayyeeba leader Abu Dujana giving the slip seven times.

Not only are civilians aiding and abetting terrorists but they are also deifying them during their funerals. Henry Kissinger also did not say that counter-insurgency cannot be waged successfully without the support of the local population. Leave alone their support, the situation now is one of active obstruction and interference enabling terrorists to escape with casualties of soldiers multiplying. While receiving the coffins of slain soldiers at Palam airport it is these reasons that forced Gen Rawat to warn civilians to stop confronting the Army or else it would be forced to take recourse to weapons.

For too long our soldiers have conducted CIS operations with one hand tied at the back, employing minimum or proportionate force when majority of the terrorists are not ‘our own people’. Last year at Pampore, during operations at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute to flush out three terrorists, the Army took 48 hours losing five commandoes, including two officers.

Besides receiving extended oxygen of television, terrorists secured glorification. Lessons are not being imbibed. The security forces have to be prepared for the next round using modern skills and technology for crowd control instead of employing catapults and pellet guns when the market is not short of effective deterrents.

Counter-terrorism is a fine art, which involves defeating the capacity and motivation of the terrorists within the rule of law. The Army, therefore, requires to re-think the use of force ensuring that lives of soldiers are treated as preciously as those of civilians but certainly more valuable than the cost of physical collateral.

Helicopter/drone-borne precision guided munitions must be used to take out terrorists expeditiously from residential areas, a capability Israel has perfected. We need no longer seek certification or a Nobel prize for being the country using minimum of minimum force to combat terrorism, especially in Kashmir. It has got us nowhere.

The security forces have evolved a new four-step SOP to blunt the obstructionist methods of civilians in breaking the cordon at encounter sites. Let us see if it works. Since the Army’s deterrent surgical strike capacities are modest and finite, terrorists have to be denied success. This year’s frugal defence Budget has not helped making no allocation for sealing the border or fortifying defence installations as recommended by former Home secretary Madhukar Gupta and former Vice Chief  of Army Staff, Lt Gen Philip Campose following Pathankot and Gurdaspur attacks.

The 2003 vintage fencing on LoC has been compromised and a smarter version has to be put in place to limit infiltration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi loves acronyms. He should give the Army DRN — D for dominate the LoC, R for reconstruct the CT grid and N for neutralise the 300 terrorists left inside the valley. DRN will be facilitated if a political process is reignited between New Delhi and Srinagar and also in time between New Delhi and Islamabad.

But the Prime Minister, who is ever ready for Mann ki Baat, has not said a word on Kashmir after  last year’s avoidable violence and protest campaigns. Instead, he has waxed eloquent on surgical strikes, praised the Army for them and used the military action to win votes. It is unwise to leave the Army high and dry in a political vacuum in Kashmir  any further.

In 1962, the Himalayan debacle was triggered off politically; the war won in 1971 was lost politically; the Army was made the scapegoat for failure of coercive diplomacy in Sri Lanka. In Kashmir...

(The writer is a retired Major General of the Indian Army and  strategic affairs expert)

Angela Merkel urged to ban Erdoğan over jailed German journalist

Chancellor under pressure to stop Turkish president from entering country while reporter is held in Istanbul prison

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Angela Merkel in 2012. The Turkish president has increasingly cracked down on press freedom. Photograph: Michael Sohn/AP

Philip Oltermann in Berlin-Wednesday 1 March 2017 

Angela Merkel is facing calls to ban the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, from entering Germany while a German journalist continues to be held in an Istanbul prison.

Erdoğan, who campaigned in Germany in 2011 and 2014, was rumoured to be planning a political rally to secure the symbolically important diaspora vote before April’s referendum in Turkey on giving him greater powers.

But Merkel’s government is under increasing pressure from German coalition and opposition parties to stand up to the Turkish president after the Turkey correspondent of Die Welt newspaper, Deniz Yücel, last month became the first German citizen to be arrested as part of Erdogan’s crackdown on the press.

Ralf Jäger, the interior minister of North-Rhine Westphalia and a member of the Social Democratic party that forms a coalition with Merkel’s CDU, called on the government to “ensure that such rallies take place neither in North-Rhine Westphalia or elsewhere in Germany”. Stephan Mayer, of the Bavarian party CSU, said a Turkish president who imprisoned German journalists was “not welcome as a guest in Germany”.

Sevim Dağdelen, a Left party MP with Kurdish origins, said Merkel had “a political duty and the legal means to stop the Turkish head of state from campaigning on German soil for the abolition of democracy and the introduction of the death penalty”.

Austria has already told Erdogan he is not welcome to campaign for votes amongst the Turkish diaspora in the country, with foreign minister Sebastian Kurz saying in a statement that “we clearly reject bringing the Turkish campaign and polarisation to Austria”.

But on Wednesday Merkel’s spokesman said a ban would send the wrong signal.

Steffen Seibert said: “The German government deplores the fact that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are currently limited in Turkey to an unacceptable degree.

“If we deplore this in another country, then we should be even more alert to make sure that freedom of speech is respected, within the framework of the law, in our own country. We should demonstrate what we demand from others.”

Niels Annen, the Social Democrats’ foreign policy spokesman, praised the government’s decision to rule out a ban but said the current diplomatic crisis was a result of the German chancellor letting the refugee swap deal between Turkey and the EU influence her dealings with Erdoğan. “Merkel is no longer a believable advocate for democracy and the rule of law in Turkey,” he said.

In the referendum on 18 April, the Turkish public will vote on proposed changes that would boost the powers of the president, allowing Erdoğan to scrap the post of prime minister, control budgets, appoint more judges and stay in office for two more terms.

The support of the Turkish diaspora in Germany, a community of about 1.4 million people, holds an important symbolic significance to Erdoğan’s party. “Pictures of German stadiums filled with pro-Erdoğan supporters allow the AKP to project itself back to Turkey as the one party that protects Turks around the world,” said Alexander Clarkson, a researcher on the interaction between German politics and migrant communities at Kings College London.

In reality, he said, the impression of overwhelming support for Erdoğan among Turks living in Germany is a “statistical card trick”. Clarkson added: “Of those with Turkish roots entitled to vote at the last election, only 40% turned out to the polling booth, of which 60% voted for Erdoğan. Many diaspora Turks in Germany are indifferent to Turkish politics, if not actively hostile to the current president.”

TGD, an association that represents a large part of the Turkish community in Germany, has announced that it will campaign for a no vote in the referendum, stating in a resolution that it “rejects all attempts to turn the country into a one-man regime”.