GL sent to Africa to prevent GL-Mahinda clash

The President has sent External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris to Africa on an urgent visit in order to prevent the clash between Peiris and Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in Geneva where they traveled to attend the UN Human Rights Council sessions, sources from the External Affairs Ministry said.

Peiris is disgruntled that the President had appointed Samarasinghe as his special envoy for the sessions and the special acceptance received by him in Geneva as the special envoy. We previously reported that the Sri Lankan delegation and the staff at the Sri Lankan embassy in Geneva were split due to this reason.

Peiris had called the President last Wednesday evening and complained that Samarasinghe had sidelined him and that he was issuing statements without his consultation. Peiris has also said that Samarasinghe had not given him a copy of his speech to be delivered at the sessions.

Angered after hearing the Minister’s complaint, the President has said, “Mr. Minister, if you are unable to handle our people, how can you get the other countries to vote for us. Please stop troubling me and start working together.”

“I told you not to take Kshenuka. Now she and Thamra are at loggerheads. You also create unwanted problems,” the President has said before disconnecting the line.

Ministers Maithripala Sirisena, Dullas Alahapperuma and Wimal Weerawansa and former External Affairs Minster Rohitha Bogollagama have also been near the President when this telephone conversation had taken place.

The President had then turned to them and said, “That fellow is mad. I think he really has a mental problem. He has become a problem to me.”

The President had said that Peiris during a visit to the US last March before the LLRC report was released had promised the US government that the recommendations would be implemented without consulting the government.

Peiris had afterwards met with the head of the UN Human Rights Council, Navi Pillai with Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva without Samarasinghe.

Peiris had again called the President last Friday and complained about Samarasinghe and Sri Lankan ambassador to Geneva, Thamara Kunanayagam.

An angry President has then shouted at Peiris and asked him to return to Sri Lanka allowing Samarasinghe to carry out his work in Geneva.

Peiris had then called Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge and said that he could not return to Sri Lanka straight from Geneva as it would have a negative impact on his office and image. He had asked Weeratunge to get Presidential approval for him to travel to Africa before returning to the country.

Geneva: Possible Outcomes And The Tasks Of The People

Colombo Telegraph

IN JOURNALISM TRUTH IS A PROCESS

By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe -

Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe

As you know, the Geneva sessions started on the 27th February. A possible, and most probable outcome would be a resolution calling for an independent international mechanism to investigate war crimes. (Appointing a Court of Inquiry under the Army Commander will provide more ammunition for the foreign powers to denounce the credibility of the Regime. It is a joke anyway! It will not hold!). While I have steadfastly stood for accountability, I have also resisted foreign predator powers from exploiting this issue to advance their strategic agendas. Some may feel that in the absence of any other means of seeking truth and justice, such a resolution should be supported. On the grounds of truth and justice, this position has validity. Whatever the case, we would do well to consider the possible outcomes of the emerging scenario and decide upon our responsibilities and tasks as the people of Lanka.

Such a resolution will plunge this country into the most profound crisis ever, as society gets irrevocably polarized. The Regime may use the opportunity to raise the banner of ‘anti-imperialism and patriotism’ and enforce it under an even more straight-jacketed militarist-chauvinist dictatorship. This may have   with the blessings of the powers that are supporting the Regime- ala China, Russia, Iran, Myanmar  and others. In such a scenario, inter-imperialist rivalry  will intensify and drag the country into a veritable chess board of global contention. The emerging conjuncture is bound to polarize society, where the extreme militarist-chauvinist , mafia-fascist forces may gain an iron hegemony over society. This is a most serious possibility that will be so consequential for the future of freedom and democracy for decades to come.

It is for these very reasons that I argue that the Regime may have no other option in overcoming both the political and economic-financial crisis, but to resort to intensifying dictatorship and terror.

Along with the looming political crisis, whatever the antiseptically suave, economically  illiterate and deliberately manipulative  Ajith Nivard Cabral has to say, there is a financial crisis of massive proportions intensifying. As any schoolboy would know,  spending colossal sums of money on the most unproductive mega-projects and the equally colossal losses incurred in trillions of the tax payers money, such as with Mihin Air, Sports Stadiums, Hambantota Port, Uma Oya etc, combined with trillions wasted on foreign tamashas and victory parades-  all designed not on criteria of economic feasibility but on glorifying and perpetuating the emperor and the ruling dynasty – have now accumulated into a state of bankruptcy of the State. The Government cannot even deliver the farmers pension funds nor maintain Samurdhi benefits, nor meet the demands for wage and salary increases of the workers and university lecturers. This is in the context of jacking up the price of fuel and thereby escalating the cost of living to even more unbearable heights, including electricity tariffs. This when social infrastructure such as public health and education is left to rot.

So, we may face a scenario where a political crisis combines with an economic-financial crisis that will strain the Regime and the system to the outer limit. Once again, battle lines will be drawn and the masses made to decide on which side of the barricade they stand. However, unlike in the past, the battle lines will be contested. Already, the vapor of the Dutugamunu cult is evaporating as the masses are no longer prepared to undergo intolerable burdens for the sake of a Regime reeking with abuse and corruption. The mood of the masses is clearly shifting. The Sinhala chauvinist base that the Regime relied on, including broad Sinhala masses, the armed forces, the Sinhala mudalali compradors, the middle classes will be confronted with an engulfing economic crisis, and they may seek an alternative. Whether the UNP can ride this wave of discontent is yet to be seen, but it can pose a formidable threat to the Regime, if it gets its house in order- and this is not beyond the pale of possibility. It is a question of whether Ranil has the spine, but he may discover his spine in conjunction with the injection of foreign powers who have an agenda for regime change. Sensing the pulse, the JVP, the DNF and the TNA are gravitating towards the  Platform of the UNP. The demand for the release of Sarath Fonseka will be a powerful rallying point for these forces that may serve to draw dividing lines among broad sections of the population, including within the armed forces. In this option, the UPFA will be strained, but may hold, since they cannot afford to lose State power, loose the perks, privileges and fat commissions, nor can they afford to face the wrath of the masses.

It is for these very reasons that I argue that the Regime may have no other option in overcoming both the political and economic-financial crisis, but to resort to intensifying dictatorship and terror. This regime of naked fascist terror could be unleashed through a massive wave of repression directed against all opposition, particularly targeting the People’s Struggle Movement and the Inter University Student Federation and the LEFT forces who have joined together to from a Center of Mass Resistance, whom the Regime has already demonized as ‘Terrorists’,  to be in cahoots with the Tamil Diaspora and the Western Imperialist powers. This repression will pave the way for advancing the neo-liberal agenda without any formidable opposition, particularly on the education front. This scenario will also provide the ground to do away with a political solution and the LLRC Report, which are troublesome guardian knots for the Regime. The 13^th Amendment, let alone plus or minus, will be thrown into the dust bin, along with the LLRC report.

Massive and bloody  repression is an inherent  characteristic of the modern Feudal-Colonial/ Comprador-Capitalist  State rigged up by the British and handed over to their local counterparts. It has drowned  two Sinhala youth insurrections in the South in rivers of blood, accounting for some 100,000 lives and as alleged,  some 70,000 Tamil civilians in the North in suppressing the separatist insurgency. These blood baths have been accompanied with unspeakable brutality and barbarism. This time around the stakes are even higher and far more decisive as a Regime rotting at its  core strangulates itself from within its own insuperable violent contradictions.

This is a most momentous historic conjuncture that will decide our future for many decades to come. The way forwards towards an era of democracy, freedom and prosperity is the path of mass resistance, the path where the workers, peasants, students, youth, university lecturers and all  oppressed classes, nationalities and communities forge their unity behind a minimum transitional program that would sweep away the era of dictatorship and tyranny and convene a People’s Constituent Assembly to form a new form of a People’s Democratic State, designed, owned and governed by the people, based on sharing the Earth and this Land as members of an integral and  indivisible human community.

Rally behind the Movement for Freedom and Democracy and the Center for Mass Resistance in the making;

Abductors threaten the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) is gravely concern about the abduction of Ramasamay Prabhakaran, 42, who was bundled into a white van by seven men armed with assault rifles and hand guns.

This was two days before a fundamental rights case filed by him was to be taken up at the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. In a written statement to the thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council in February 20101, we already mentioned this phenomenon of abductions perpetrated by armed men in 'white vans'.

The ALRC has documented two other cases concerning persons who were also assassinated for pursuing redress before courts for violations of their fundamental rights, allegedly by the persons against whom they were pursuing their complaints, namely Gerald Perera and Sugath Nishantha Fernando.

The violation of the rights of torture victim Perera was recognized by the Supreme Court; however, he was killed a few days before he was to give evidence before the Negambo High Court in a case filed against several police officers who were attached to the Wattala police station, under the Convention against Torture (CAT) Act No. 22 of 1993.

In another case, torture victim Sugath Nishantha Fernando, who was pursuing a fundamental rights application relating to the torture of himself and his family by 11 police officers working in the Negambo area, was also assassinated, and even up to date no credible inquiry has been carried out into this murder. Recently, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) had expressed their views on the torture and assassination of Sugath Nishantha Fernando, and categorically stated that Sri Lanka has failed to provide redress for the violations of his rights. (Ref. Communication No: 1862/2009. Decided on the 17 October 2011-Ref. CCPR/3/103/D1862/2009).

The ALRC is of the opinion that the abduction of Prabhakaran is a direct affront to the Supreme Court. So were the murders of Gerald Perera and Sugath Nishantha Fernando, who were victims who resorted to the courts for protection and in the search for justice. This abduction threatens all persons who wish to come before the Supreme Court and other courts to place their grievances about the violations of their rights, to seek the intervention of the judiciary for their protection and for redress. Such killings have a chilling effect on the administration of justice in Sri Lanka.

It is the duty of the judiciary itself to protect those who come before them seeking protection and justice. If victims of violations desist from seeking justice due to the reprisals for doing so, the entire administration of justice relating to human rights will hardly be of any use. In the circumstances, it is not surprising that the number of applications filed before the Supreme Court on fundamental rights have declined.

The defeat of judicial intervention is always an objective of the executive that fails to protect the rights of the citizens. The objective of the executive is to defeat judicial interventions and attempt to reduce the judiciary to administrative functions. The attack on the juridical function has taken many forms, including far reaching constitutional changes, and the intimidation of witnesses is part of this strategy. The foundation of law is the recognition of the juridical. If the recognition of the juridical is displaced by the administrative, then the very foundation of the law is undermined.

The above statement may be explained by going into the meaning of "juridical" as compared to the administrative. Juridical is defined as follows: Black’s Law Dictionary, which means relating to administration of justice, or office of a judge. Regular; done in conformity to the laws of the country and the practice which is there observed; on the other hand, Merriam-Webster defines it: of or relating to the administration of justice or the office of a judge: of or relating to law or jurisprudence: legal

By way of illustration, the meaning of juridical can be explained by comparing it to the term "medical". Doctors engage as medical professionals under their obligation to think and to make decisions relating to their work on the basis of medical science, theories, and practices. They will analyze a complaint of a patient by way of gathering information, and come to findings on the basis of medical knowledge.

In the same way, those who act within the judicial system are expected to gather information, analyze it and come to findings on the basis of legal notions, and the way the law is practiced.

As compared to this, what administrative means is the way of action of the executive. The considerations on which the executive makes their decisions and proceeds to action are based on considerations pertaining to the administrative field.

Thus, the way those who have obligations under the juridical and those who have obligations under the administrative think and act distinctly and separately. When those who are in the field of the juridical are compelled by circumstances or by other compulsions to think and act in a similar manner those who are dealing with the administrative, which means those who have obligations under the executive, then the judicial is replaced with the administrative.

Let us look into a few examples to illustrate this matter. The executive, dealing with the problem of crime, may find it more efficient to arrest and detain persons whom they perceive as creating obstacles to the manner in which the executive is trying to resolve problems. However, to those who have to act within the juridical, for example, judges, the mere considerations of what may be perceived as efficient is not the basic consideration in dealing with arrest and detention. The judges have to make their decisions on the arrest on the basis of juridical notions which involve the rights of the individuals and personal freedom. In terms of such judicial notions, arrest is permitted only in the process of investigations into a crime so as to bring the person before court, or by way of punishment after conviction. What the law understands as a crime would itself be defined and interpreted only in terms of juridical notions of what a crime is. The executive may want to define crime in terms of whatever it considers an obstacle to its actions. For example, the executive may consider a person leading demonstrations as a threat and may want to arrest and detain him. However, those who are to act within the parameters of the juridical recognize the juridical notions of the freedom to protest and the limits of that freedom is also defined in terms of juridical notions.

The executive may wish to modify the law so as to take away juridical notions and to replace them with administrative policies and considerations. If they succeed, that amounts to the displacement of the juridical and replacement with the administrative.

The independence of the judiciary can only be exercised where the sphere of the judicial is clearly understood, recognized and respected. If the juridical is displaced by the administrative, the very foundation of the independence of the judiciary is undermined to the extent of the undermining of the judicial. If the judges make decisions purely on the basis of administrative considerations, and not basing themselves on considerations based on the juridical, then their decisions too are of administrative nature, and not of juridical substance.

The transformation that has been happening in many countries, particularly in countries where the juridical notions have not been developed or where, after such development, has been displaced by the administrative, has external appearances of the judicial (such as having courts, and judges wearing the costumes of judicial officers, and even making "judgments" and orders), the functions that are being exercised are the functions of the executive, not those belonging to the juridical.

As a human rights organization committed to defending the independence of the judiciary and the rights of all citizens to find judicial redress for violations of human rights, we call upon the UN Human Rights Council to use its authority to protect the sphere of the juridical in Sri Lanka and not allow it to be submerged into the administrative.

WikiLeaks:Rajapaksa Managed To Influenced MTV Owner Maharaja

Colombo TelegraphFEBRUARY 28, 2012

IN JOURNALISM TRUTH IS A PROCESS

By Colombo Telegraph -

“During a cordial chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any more programs on such sensitive topics.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

A leaked “CONFIDENTIAL” US diplomatic cable, dated March 22, 2007, updated the Secretary of State on  Sri Lanka’s media suppression situation shows that President Mahinda Rajapaksa managed to influence the owner of the Majaraja Broadcasting Company. The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was written by the Ambassador Robert O. Blake.

Ambassador Blake wrote “ Television stations have also been feeling the heat. This matters, because about 60% of the population gets its news for TV. Television journalists tell us, however, that the Majaraja Broadcasting Company, owned by a prominent Tamil, had been the only broadcaster covering press conferences criticial of the gvernment by former Foreign Minister Samaraweera, as well as stories on human rights violations and abductions. However, a senior executive of the Maharaja channel (protect) told us that President Rajapaksa had summoned the owner of the station to Temple Trees (equivalent to the White House). During a cordial chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any more programs on such sensitive topics.”

Below we give the relevant part of the leaked cable;Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). 

¶1.  (C) Summary: Since the inauguration of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa in November 2005, Sri Lanka's vibrant media has
been slowly smothered by attacks on journalists, publishers
and broadcasters by the LTTE and armed paramilitary groups
with alleged links to the government security forces.  The
decline of human rights generally and the resulting "culture
of impunity" have stoked the surge in intimidation,
kidnapping and murder of journalists.  The Government of Sri
Lanka (GSL), invoking strengthened emergency regulations, has
put pressure on editorial content and arrested journalists
without charges.  More recently, editors and broadcasters
have received veiled threats by telephone allegedly from the
top levels of the Rajapaksa government.  As a result of
direct and indirect harassment, four independent newspapers
are likely to close in the next 90 days.   End Summary.
¶7.  (C) Television stations have also been feeling the heat.
This matters, because about 60% of the population gets its
news for TV.  Television journalists tell us, however, that
the Majaraja Broadcasting Company, owned by a prominent
Tamil, had been the only broadcaster covering press
conferences criticial of the gvernment by former Foreign
Minister Samaraweera, as well as stories on human rights
violations and abductions.  However, a senior executive of
the Maharaja channel (protect) told us that President
Rajapaksa had summoned the owner of the station to Temple
Trees (equivalent to the White House).  During a cordial
chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any
more programs on such sensitive topics.
BLAKE

Marie Colvin remembered in Jaffna

Senior journalist K. Kathiravelu paying tribute to the late Ms. Marie Colvin

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 21:06 GMT]
Tamil journalists from various media organizations came together on Monday in Jaffna with civil society members and student representatives of various faculties of the Jaffna University, to pay tribute to the slain war correspondent in Syria, Marie Colvin, who had been in the island covering the conflict earlier. Paying floral tribute, the event, organized by Nimalarajan Memorial Foundation, remembered the late Marie Colvin as a Journalist Friend of Tamils. Meanwhile, remembering Marie Colvin in the diaspora, the London-based International Association of Tamil Journalists came out with a tribute last Thursday, saluting her courage, discipline and commitment to her work and to humanity.

A section of participants at the memorial event in Jaffna
In the memorial event held in Jaffna, Editor of Yaazh Thinakkural Mr. A. Rajeevan, President of the student union of the Vavuniyaa campus of the Jaffna University Mr. Sakthi, the Director of Media Resource and Training Centre of the Jaffna University V. Thevananth and the Jaffna reporter of Lankadeepa and Dailymirror, Mr. Parameswaran, delivered speeches. The event took place at Yaazhpaadi hotel from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Professor R. Sivachanthiran of the Jaffna University and Ms. S. Rachel, a doctoral research fellow from UK, currently engaged in a field research on the political developments in the island between 2005 and 2010, also took part at the event.

Rachel who spoke at the memorial event said that the journalists from remote cities get together to honour Marie Colvin because she was a peoples' journalist and said that it was an honour for her to attend the memorial event of Marie Colvin in Jaffna.

Thinakkural Editor Rajeevan in his address said Marie Colvin, who risked her life in covering the conflict in the island, remained attached to the Eezham Tamils throughout, and it was that attachment that made her to become a key witness to the final hours in Vanni. Her contribution was significant in raising the global awareness, he said.

Marie Colvin will always remain an inspiration to the Tamil journalists, who continue their work under severe threat to press freedom, said Mr. Thevananth in his speech.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on behalf of the London-based International Association of Tamil Jouranlists, former BBC Tamil service journalist Ms. Aanandhi Suryapirakasam said that Marie would always be fondly remembered by the Tamil community all over the world.

• Press statement by IATAJ

Editor of Yaazh Thinakkural, A. Rajeevan

S. Rachel, a doctoral research fellow from UK

Director of Media Resource and Training Centre in Jaffna University, V. Thevananth

Catholic Church oppose UNHRC resolution-"We need to come out of the fear that the minority is always a threat to the majority"-Cardinal Ranjith.

Sri Lanka court frees baby charge nun

The Missionaries of Charity have been cleared of any wrongdoing

Cardinal warns of 'isolation'

"We need to come out of the fear that the minority is always a threat to the majority"

The government reject the allegations.

Tamil rights

The Cardinal also calls for the implementation of political rights of Tamils and the Muslims in the island nation.

Although the war with weapons is over, a war against "national selfishness" need to be launched, said Cardinal Ranjith.

Wednesday 05 May 2010

Channel 4 News reports from a camp in the northern Sri Lankan city of Vavuniya, where Tamil refugees have been taken.

Catholic Church oppose UNHRC resolution

The Catholic Church of Sri Lanka say that the efforts by western countries to bring a resolution at the UNHRC asking for an investigation into human rights abuses in Sri Lanka is an intrusion on the sovereignty of the country.

	Statement issued by Archdiocese of Colombo

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of the Catholic church in Colombo, issued a statement on Monday that the United States of America is to table a resolution 'against Sri Lanka with the support of some western countries'.

Insult on the intelligence

"Such efforts by western powers is an insult on the intelligence of the people of Sri Lanka", says the Cardinal.

In the statement issued by Archdiocese of Colombo, the cardinal also calls for a prompt internal investigation based on the recommendations of the Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Human sheilds

Meanwhile the main opposition, the United National Party (UNP) accused the government of using the people as human shields.

"The government is using force to bring people out to take part in demonstrations", says Gayantha Karunathilaka MP, the spokesman of the UNP, "Unemployed graduates, public servants and were transported in government buses by force to take part in the demonstration", said the MP.

Thadcha'naamaruthamadu Claymore attack

NESoHR Report: Claymore attack on School bus

Bishop's House appeals to Vatican to urge Colombo to renovate Vanni churches

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:49 GMT]

Jaffna Bishop House sent an appeal to the Holy See in Vatican to urge Sri Lanka government to renovate and restore the churches in Vanni destroyed or badly damaged during the war on Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one except Jaffna Bishop had been permitted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vanni to see the churches in Vanni after the war and Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, had been greatly shocked and distressed to find the churches destroyed and plundered, Bishop House circles said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has announced financial aid for renovating the churches in Vanni where people have been allowed to resettle.

Jaffna Bishop inspecting the desecrated statue at one of the churches in Mullaiththeevu, occupied by the Sri Lanka Army

Jaffna Bishop has emphasized in his appeal to the Holy Pope tihe need for the clergy to be allowed to go the churches in Vanni and to at least start the preliminary renovation work of the churches immediately.

Jaffna Bishop, shocked on seeing the churches severely damaged or totally destroyed in war, was further shaken to find them plundered with most of the holy statues in the churches reduced to pieces or removed.

The Bishop has appealed to the Holy See to conduct talks with the Sri Lanka government to expedite the renovation of destructed churches in Vanni.

Historically famous Mullaiththeevu St. Joseph Church has been completely destroyed with the holy statue, thrown out of its enclosed pedestal, lying abandoned on the floor, Bishop House sources said.

Besides, the tiles and other similar properties of the church had been pilfered, they added.

At Geneva HRC, Code Words on Syria Range from Ruthless to Regime Change, Saleh and Sri Lanka Not Shown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The debate on Syria at the Human Rights Council in Geneva Tuesday morning proceeded mostly as expected. China and Cuba both used the term "regime change," at least in translation.

  Portugal for the European Union and later EU member Austria both called the Assad "regime... ruthless," though Portugal's Foreign Minister pronounced it "roose-less." (When he referred to humanitarian actors, one wag wondered: George Clooney?)

  India's speech, telling the Arab League that its role is to bring about dialogue in Syria, seemed to some to vary from its recent votes at the UN General Assembly and Security Council in New York.

  More clearly inconsistent was Thailand, which called for "strong action" on Syria. The day before, on Sri Lanka where more civilians were killed, Thailand urged a "homegrown" Sri Lankan solution.

  Similarly, Maldives even in the midst of what many call a coup d'etat trashed Assad for killing civilians, while in New York it appears to defend Sri Lanka including its appointment, through the Asia Group, of General Shavendra Silva, whose 58th Division is depicted in Ban Ki-moon's Panel of Experts report as engaged in war crimes, as a member of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

  Speaking for the US was not Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Donahoe, but Esther Brimmer, in from Washington. One wondered, when will Brimmer and the US State Department belatedly send their replacement for UN Department of Political Affairs cheif Lynn Pascoe, left swinging like a lame duck in the breeze for months now?

  There was much talk that "there can be no impunity," including from countries which accepted or supported theimpunity deal for Ali Saleh in Yemen.

(c) UN Photo
HRC: does cash-strapped Spain want to take its $25M ceiling home?

  Mauritania for the Arab Group called for humanitarian corridors. Syria said the head of the International Commission of Inquiry has said such corridors are impossible, that one must talk with the Syrian government as the Red Cross is doing. 

  Syria also said that it is the Free Syrian Army which blocked the extraction of foreign journalists from Homs. "No Shalgam or Dabbashi, he," one wag commented, referring to the Gaddafi era Libyan diplomats who defected during that conflict.

  At the UN in New York, the head of protocol is leaving as scheduled on February 29. Will a move be made against the credentials of Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari? Watch this site.