Karu, Eran hit out at Govt’s media policy

 June 6, 2013  |

• Eran says Government needs to get out of the media’s way
• KJ claims Govt. needs to set an example with the state media before preaching ethical reporting to the free press

Opposition lawmakers fired salvos at the Government’s media policy during a heated debate on the amendments to the Press Council Act tabled in Parliament yesterday, saying the revival of the draconian legislation had to be viewed with the utmost suspicion given the issues faced by Sri Lanka’s media today.

United National Party National List Parliamentarian Eran Wickremaratne told the house during the debate that a bitter struggle for the freedom of expression and the freedom of information is underway even today. “The judiciary and the media are cornerstones of this struggle. The immoral and illegal impeachment of the country’s chief justice is now a part of the dark and tainted history of our country," Wickremaratne said.

"Under the circumstances the reactivation of the Press Council laws and the Government code of ethics for journalists must be viewed with utmost suspicion. Even ministers are only instruments of the drift towards a guided democracy, which in the case of some countries in the past have meant totalitarianism,” he added.
The opposition legislator emphasised that the issue dominating the media debate in Sri Lanka at present was not the problem of too much freedom. “The country ranks near the bottom of most press freedom indices compiled world over. Under the circumstances on what moral basis is the government contemplating further state regulation when the true need is for the state to get out of the way of the free press, stop leaning on editors and publishers and stop  buying out newspapers and channels?” he charged.
The UNP Parliamentarian criticised the revival of oppressive laws he said would further hamper the freedom of the press. “A supplicant judiciary will now ensure state media is insulated from the danger of the laws while the independent media will report with the sword of Damocles over its head. A free press and independent judiciary are the enemies of totalitarianism. The attempts at subjugation of these two vital democratic organs offer the best clues about the direction the incumbent regime is taking,” he said.
According to Wickremaratne the media already had the necessary tools for self-regulation, in terms of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka and the Editors Guild that has enforced a code of ethics for journalists. He said the UNF Government of 2001-2004 under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had repealed criminal defamation laws and attempted to enact freedom of information laws, but added that “very little had happened since then.”
Wickremaratne said that Sri Lanka was the only country in South Asia that was yet to enact this legislation that he said were the founding stones of transparent and open government.
Citing Sri Lanka’s rankings in the major global press freedom and impunity rankings Wickremaratne said international media rights groups had noted that the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa had shown no interest in pursuing the perpetrators in nine journalist murders over the past decade. “All of the victims had reported on politically sensitive issues in ways that were critical of the Rajapaksa government,” Wickremaratne said quoting from a report by the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Also speaking during the debate, former UNP Deputy Leader and vociferous media freedom activist Karu Jayasuriya said 22 journalists have been killed since the current Government assumed power. “Lasantha Wickrematunge was murdered, Poddala Jayantha, Keith Noyahr, Upali Tennakoon and many other journalists were subject to brutal assaults. In none of these cases has the Government been able to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators. Therefore it is clear who the political masters behind these attacks are,” Jayasuriya charged in a hard-hitting speech.
He said the Government’s present handling of the state media; with its partisan, defamatory and unethical reporting did not inspire confidence in the regime’s ability to create a free and independent media environment.
“What we would tell the Government is to walk the talk, by firstly establishing a exemplary state media. It is then that wider society might have greater faith in the Government’s claims about wanting to establish reporting ethics. The UNF Government from 2001-2004 is a good example of how a Sri Lankan Government could improve the reporting environment. We committed ourselves towards media freedom. We held wide ranging consultations with the media fraternity, rights groups and civil society representatives,” he said.
Jayasuriya said the Sri Lanka Press Institute and the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka was established as a result of these discussions.
“Allowing the media to self-regulate is a feature of a mature democracy,” the senior UNP MP said.

A Teaching, The BBS Has To Realize

By Ayathuray Rajasingam -June 6, 2013 

Ayathuray Rajasingam

Significance of the hand & fingers bestowing grace and its impact for unity in a plural society

All religions have their accepted principles or beliefs. Yet they had led to rigidity and intolerance in the face of other’s beliefs. It is difficult to compromise whether the beliefs are the words of God, because interpretations of dogmas and scriptures have led to conflict as to whose interpretation is correct. It has been a futile exercise to compromise with the extremists (from all faiths) who engage in violence in order to achieve their aims. The behaviour of the divisive forces of religions had led them on their path towards the breakdown of human society in general and especially in Sri Lanka.

A Teaching, The BBS Has to Realize by nelvely

Death sentence passed on Mawanella local body chairman (UPFA) – murderer
(Lanka-e-News-05.June.2013, 11.45PM) Mawanella local body chairman , K P Piyatissa (UPFA) who was facing charges in respect of a murder allegedly committed by him in 2003, was sentenced to death by the Kegalle province High court judge Ms. Menaka Wijesundara today (5 ). The chairman who was charged with murdering an individual in Nadeniya division , Mawanella in 2003 by shooting was found guilty. At the time the crime was committed he was not the chairman of the local body , and when he was appointed as the chairman following elections , he was a suspect in this murder case.

While the UPFA local body politicians have become most notorious for their criminal involvements in murder and rapes , the most leading case is the brutal killing of a British tourist and the rape committed on his fiancée by the Tangalle local body chairman Sampath Chandrapushpa .Another UPFA criminal politico is Akuressa local body chairman Saruwa Sunil who was charged with committing rape on a 14 year old teenaged girl. 

Meanwhile , the chairman of Embilipitiya local body , M K. Amila who assaulted two police officers recently , had surrendered to court yesterday and he had been remanded until the 11th. Interestingly this criminal had been hiding in the Carlton house of Mahinda Rajapakse with protective security , and finally surrendered to court yesterday with his Lawyer Zarook. The police was obstructed from arresting him until he surrendered , because he was hiding in President’s Carlton house.

UPFA Bulathsinghala local body member , Theagaraja Jeyaraj who assaulted two police officers of the Bulathsinghla on the same day , (26 May) , that is the day the other two police officers were attacked, is still at large , and had not been arrested.

So , Sri Lanka is now blessed (cursed) with two groups of government politicians : one is the Raja

Friday Forum Wants Welikada And Vavuniya Prison Riots Reports Make Public

June 6, 2013 

The Friday Forum wants Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms to make public the findings of the two Committees appointed to investigate the events that took place in the Welikada prison and Vavuniya prison.

The Friday Forum today wrote to Chandrasiri Gajadeera, the Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms. On behalf of the Friday Forum former diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala  and Professor. Savitri Goonesekere request an appointment for representatives of the Friday Forum to meet the minister in this regard.

We publish below the letter in full;

5^th June 2013.

Hon. Chandrasiri Gajadeera,

Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms,

Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms,

35, N. M. Perera Mawatha,

Colombo 8.

Dear Minister,

An Appeal for the Early Publication of the Reports on the Welikada and Vavuniya Prison Riots

This intervention is made in a spirit of democratic engagement by the Friday Forum, a group of concerned citizens who have come together to consider current issues of public interest with a view to making a contribution to peace, democracy, good governance and social justice in Sri Lanka.

When persons in the custody of a state institution meet with violent death it is a matter of the widest public concern, well beyond the immediate one of the victims and their families.

The Friday Forum wishes to urge you to make public the findings of the Committee appointed to investigate the events that took place in the Welikada prison, Colombo, in November 2012 resulting, inter alia, in the death of some 27 inmates, with 43 inmates injured and 11 inmates reported escaped.

The Friday Forum likewise urges you to make public the findings of the Committee appointed to investigate the events that took place in the Vavuniya prison, in June 2012 resulting, inter alia in the death of 2 inmates out of the 30 inmates reported as injured.

We would be grateful if you would grant an appointment for representatives of the Friday Forum to meet you in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

Jayantha Dhanapala  and Professor. Savitri Goonesekere

on behalf of the Friday Forum- the Group of Concerned Citizens

cc. Secretary to the President.

US Govt. Funded $2.1 Million For DNA Crime Lab In Sri Lanka

June 6, 2013 

The U.S. Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Justice, entered into a $2.1 million (265 million rupee) U.S. Government-funded Forensic Assistance Program agreement with GAD in 2011 to establish a state-of-the-art DNA crime laboratory.

Deputy Govt. Analyst Mrs. Sakunthala Tennakoon, U.S. Ambassador Michele J. Sison, and Acting Government Analyst Mr. W.D.G.S. Gunatilake tour the new Government Analyst’s Department DNA laboratory.

U.S. Ambassador Michele J. Sison visited the new laboratory complex of the Sri Lanka Ministry of Justice Government Analyst’s Department (GAD) in Battaramulla on June 6.

During her visit, Ambassador Sison said, “This grant delivered a state-of-the-art DNA crime laboratory as well as equipment to support firearms examination and drug and toxicology analysis.  This project is a tangible demonstration for U.S. support to strengthen rule of law in Sri Lanka.”

“The program will provide Sri Lankan citizens with greater access to justice by enhancing legitimate prosecutions of criminals.  The DNA laboratory will develop Sri Lanka’s DNA analysis capability and make a significant contribution to the technical enhancement of the country’s criminal justice system. The grant also included an $80,000 (10 million rupee) bullet recovery tank for the firearms laboratory to discharge weapons safely and easily recover the bullets and casings for forensic comparisons, and a $225,000 (28 million rupee) toxicology lab with analytical tools to assist in drug, toxicology and trace evidence analysis. The program also facilitated training in the U.S. for 6 Sri Lankan GAD scientists at Oklahoma State University, which has an internationally renowned forensics research and training program.

The laboratory will be functional for tests required for court cases by mid-August 2013 and GAD scientists will continue to receive on the job technical training from U.S. experts until December 2013.” says the US Embassy Colombo.

Law student dies of dengue

By Dilanthi Jayamanne-June 5, 2013

A student of the Colombo Law Faculty who was receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital for dengue died of the disease yesterday morning. S.J. Nisansala Samarasinghe (21) was a second year law student.

 NHSL sources said that she was being treated at the National Hospital ICU. Nisansala was admitted to the hospital on May 30 and had received treatment at the ICU for the last three days.

She was a resident of Debathgama, Kegalle.

Meanwhile, the Colombo Municipal Council yesterday said it would hold discussions with the Ministries of Defence and Health to expedite the city cleaning up programme to fight the growing menace of dengue.

Chief of the Public Health Department, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said that they would have to combine efforts and get all concerned parties involved in controlling the situation.

Dr. Kariyawasam said that the number of dengue deaths in the city had risen to four with the death of the law faculty student being treated at the National Hospital yesterday morning.

He said that the CMC had inspected 147 schools, 82 government and semi-government institutions in the city and 37 of them had been issued with notices. 
Legal action had been instituted against three of those institutions, he said.

The total number of dengue cases in the city from January to date has been 1,251. About 15 cases were reported within the first five days of this month.

However, there had been a 20 percent drop in the number of cases reported in May (202) when compared to numbers recorded during the same month last year which was 220, Dr. Kariyawasam said.

Sri Lankan Navy arrests 49 Indian fishermen

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Colombo: The Sri Lankan Navy arrested 49 Indian fishermen on Thursday when they entered the country's waters illegally.

Navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya told Xinhua that 24 fishermen were arrested off the northern seas of Mannar while another 25 were arrested off Jaffna, also in the north.

At least 10 boats had also been seized, the Navy spokesman said. Police spokesman Budhika Siriwardena said that the first Indians had been brought ashore and handed over to the police.

Fishermen from both countries often stray into each other's territory as both countries are divided by a small strip of sea.

Indian fishermen say India's gifting of the Katchatheevu Island in the north to Sri Lanka in the 1970s has reduced fishing space available for Indian fishermen. 

India and Sri Lanka have an agreement on dealing with fishermen when they are arrested and most often the fishermen are freed and handed over to the respective countries. 

IANS 

Rajapaksa-sponsored BJP visit, delegates pretending ignorance, anger Tamils in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2013, 05:10 GMT]
Do not call us anymore to meet foreign delegates coming as Colombo’s guests, New Delhi’s Consul General in Jaffna Mr Mahalingam was told by leading civil society activists, who were angered by the threatening presence of SL military intelligence at a meeting arranged by him at his residence, between the visiting BJP-led delegation and civil society on Wednesday evening. Tamil national parties and many in the civil society avoided attending the meeting. Invitations to them and involvement of the consulate came in the last minute after criticism. Even amidst the intimidating eyes of the civil-clad Sinhala military and a foreign ministry official of Colombo, when the civil representatives managed briefing on the on-going structural genocide, a member of the BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena delegation defending genocidal Sri Lanka retorted that Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims live together in Colombo. 



Meanwhile, media efforts are made to project the BJP visit as one that was witnessing Tamil support for the 13-Amendment-based-solution under a unitary constitution, informed sources said.



Earlier on Wednesday the BJP-led delegation received a formal welcome by SL minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, at Tilko Jaffna City Hotel where a so-called civil society simulated by the occupying SL military was present together with the EPDP paramilitary leader. 

SL minister and paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda awaiting BJP-led delegation at Tilko hotel in Jaffna

Although Mr Devananda showcased to media as if he was organizing the meeting, in reality, the event had been organized by the occupying SL military’s civil coordination office in Jaffna. Journalists were not allowed to witness the meeting that took place inside the Tilko hotel. After the journalists started to protest, they were only allowed to take photos for 2 minutes. 

Since media operating on the ground had exposed on the previous day that the visiting BJP, RSS and Shiv Sena members were scheduled to meet a counter ‘civil society’ in Jaffna on Wednesday, invitations were extended at the last minute to the functioning civil society members for a meeting at the residence of the Indian Consul General V. Mahalingam. Invitations were also given to representatives of Tamil political parties for the meeting at the residence of Mr Mahalingam. 

Sensing the nature of the hastily scheduled event, many of the invitees boycotted the meeting to avoid giving a chance for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visitors to whitewash their trip. 

There were only three from the genuine civil society movement, including an emeritus professor and a former civil servant, who attended the meeting to address the Indian delegation. 

The few who attended were shocked to see the presence of the Sri Lankan intelligence officers and the accompanying Sinhala official from the South, at such a ‘residential’ meeting arranged by Mr Mahalingam.

The attendees had to limit the criticism due to the presence of the SL military personnel. They only managed to broadly touch on the structural genocide, taking place in the country of Eezham Tamils, in the forms of land grab, Sinhala colonization etc. But, they were taken aback by the response from a member of the visiting BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena delegation, who defended genocidal Sri Lanka saying that Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims are living together in Colombo. 

The situation was not conducive to express the real situation to the visiting Indian delegation, those who attended the event categorically told the Indian Consular General at the end of the event. 

Talking to media, those who attended the evening event told journalists in Jaffna that there was no point in meeting SL State-invited and guided guests anymore and added that the brief meeting only demonstrated to them that the visitors had no knowledge of the real conflict. 



Apart from the meetings, the Indian delegation visited Kurunakar and inspected a fishing net industry, which had been renovated with Indian assistance. Likewise, they were also taken to the housing scheme constructed with Indian assistance in the guided tour arranged and managed by Colombo and its occupying military establishment. 

District Secretary of Nalloor Mr Senthilnathan shows Indian housing scheme to senior BJP leader Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad

A Sri Lankan foreign ministry official [in saree] and intelligence officers [standing behind] accompanied the visiting BJP-delegation

Business Leaders, Drop Your Myopic Eye View In Reviewing The Code Of Media Ethics

By Chandra Jayaratne -June 6, 2013 

Chandra Jayaratne

Business Leaders, it is essential that you urgently review, the recently circulated “Code of Media Ethics” of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information. This review must be undertaken discarding a shortsighted perspective. It is sincerely urged that you enter the public debate of the draft ‘Code’ with open eyes, without fear or prejudice, but with the past history etched clearly in memory and articulate the ‘voice of business’ clearly and loudly in effective advocacy.

Your review should address the under noted questions;

Business Leaders, Drop Your Myopic Eye View in Reviewing the Code of Media Ethics by nelvely

DIG grilled over abduction and killing of a businessman

By Binoy Suriyaarachchi-2013-06-06

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), questioned Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Colombo North Police Division, Vass Gunawardene, over the alleged abduction and killing of a businessman in Bambalapitiya on 23 May, police sources said.

Gunawardene was questioned after a Sub-Inspector and two Police Constables were taken into custody by the CID, in connection with the murder, sources added.

The police initially apprehended two individuals on suspicion of being involved in the incident. The suspects are alleged to have kidnapped and then murdered the businessman, over a business dispute.

The three cops were arrested following statements made by the two suspects, who were interrogated by the police.

The body of the businessman, with gunshot injuries, was found in Dompe, on 23 May. Later, the police had identified the deceased as 35-year-old, Mohammed Shyam, a resident of Sagara Road, Bambalapitiya.

An inquiry into the murder was initiated when family members of the businessman lodged a complaint with the Bambalapitiya Police. The complaint stated the deceased had not returned after he left his home with his business partner on 22 May.

Sajin wants Criminal Defamation Law revived

By Gagani Weerakoon-2013-06-06

Government parliamentarians yesterday highlighted the need for the reintroduction of the draconian Criminal Defamation Law, which was repealed by the United National Party (UNP) Government in June 2002. Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, argued in Parliament the government should reintroduce the law to prevent heads of media organizations from acting like 'underworld thugs.'

Speaking during the debate on regulations introduced under the Sri Lanka Press Council Act, to increase registration or renewal fees, Gunawardena said he has personal experience where editors and owners of certain publications demanded money, threatening to publish derogatory matter in their respective publications.

He also said he was subjected to malicious and baseless attacks by media ever since Mihin Lanka was started, but could not do anything as there is no law to tackle such derogatory matters.

"Though the opposition members always say the government has hampered press freedom, the truth is, it is hampered or restricted by the owners of respective media organizations as they are politically or otherwise motivated to start those media houses. For instance, if you take most of the leading newspapers in the country, they are owned by individuals in the opposition or by their families. That is why 95% of the stories published in Sunday newspapers are anti-government," he said.

He insisted the Press Council is not strong enough to handle media issues; thus it needs to be given more teeth.

TNA Parliamentarian, M.A. Sumanthiran, who joined the debate after Gunawardena spoke, said he was astonished to hear the revelation made by the latter that 95% of Sunday articles that appear in newspapers are anti-government.

"Are you sure you are talking about Sri Lanka and did not get yourself confused with some other country as you travel all over the world as the monitoring MP for the External Affairs Ministry? How can one say the government does not exert violence against media when so many journalists and media institutions come under attack? For instance, Uthayan newspaper alone came under attack more than 30 times," he said.

Sumanthiran also noted the government has so far failed to resolve any of the issues with regard to attacks against media personnel and institutions.

"It is not that our police are not efficient to solve those matters. If anything remains unsolved, those are definitely crimes committed by the government. Who else can escape without being caught after enlarging armed attacks in high security zones in Jaffna and Kilinochchi, if they are not connected to the government?" he questioned.

SRI LANKA: A reputed Interior Decorator is severely tortured by officers of Matugama Police at the instigation of a lawyer and her husband

June 6, 2013

Mr. MMD Aruna Nilupul Indika (39) of Welipenna, Kalutara District, was illegally arrested and severely tortured. Chili was applied onto his eyes and genitals. On 27 May 2013, he was arrested and tortured on the instruction of the lawyer Anoma Siriweera and her husband. The lawyer’s family had lost some items and suspected Nilupul Indika, who had done some interior decoration work at their house sometime earlier. Raveendra Pushapakumara and another officer from the Matugama Police arrived at Nilupul Indika’s residence at 3:30 pm on 27th May. They asked Nilupul to accompany them to the police station without giving any reason. He was kept at the police station until the following day and, at around 1pm, he was taken to the officers’ quarters behind the station, where he was forced down onto the floor. At that time there were three officers present, including Raveendra Pushapakumara. The officers then shouted at him, saying that he, Nilupal, should admit selling a stolen electrical grinder, or that otherwise the police would beat him so badly that he could never work again. Nilupul Indika refused, stating that he has not committed any crime. Then one of the officers put kocchi chillies (very potent) in a sock, crushed the chillies, added water and then poured the dripping chili into Nilupul’s eyes. While he was struggling in pain, the officers held him down. Later, the officers also used the chilies on his genitals and anus. He was tortured for several hours.

Matugama Police at the Instigation of a Lawyer and Her Husband by nelvely

North proposes & South accepts

THURSDAY, 06 JUNE 2013 

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday proposed holding direct talks with the Republic of Korea(ROK) on issues including the normalization of the operation in the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) and the resumption of tour of Mt. Kumgang, the official KCNA news agency reported.

The four-point proposal was made by the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) in a special statement issued by its spokesman.

The proposal was accepted by ROK's Ministry of Unification, ROK's Yonhap news agency reported.

"Seoul is considering the proposal in a positive light and hopes talks will erect trust between the two sides," the ministry's spokesman said in a statement.

The venue and time for such talks will be announced later, said Yonhap.

In its statement, the CPRK said that firstly, it proposed "talks between authorities of the north and the south for the normalization of the operation in the KIZ and the resumption of tour of Mt Kumgang on the occasion of the anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration."

"Such humanitarian issues as the reunion of separated families and their relatives can be discussed at the talks," said the statement, quoting an unnamed CPRK spokesman as saying.

It added that the venue and the date of the talks can be set to the convenience of the south.

Video: Demo urges release of five  Cubans THURSDAY, 06 JUNE 2013  Video by Sanath Desmond and Indika Sri Aravinda Video: The National Freedom Front (NFF) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) held demonstrations near the American Embassy in Kollupitiya today demanding that five Cubans imprisoned in the United States be freed. The NFF said the Cubans were imprisoned for no reason at all and alleged that the US was violating human rights. It said American Embassies were interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. JVP MP Vijitha Herath said the five Cubans were patriots and urged that they be released and the US sanctions imposed on Cuba and its people be lifted. In support of Cuba The image shows the National Freedom Alliance carrying out a protest in front of the American Embassy requesting the US Government to release 5 prisoners and to stop interfering with the Cuban Government. Pix by Manjula Dayawansa 2013-06-06

Obama and Xi Jinping meet: economics to the fore

 
June 5, 2013, 8:08 pm

In this Feb. 14, 2012, file photo President Barack Obama and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, left, engage media during their Oval Office meeting at the White House in Washington. When Obama and Jinping meet again at week’s end for an unusual two-day summit at a Southern California estate, Obama will be looking for signs of seriousness in China’s recent private pledges to address cyberhacking, which he has said is a rapidly growing threat to national security. This while keeping present that it is China, whose help will be needed to stem nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, to curtail the violence in Syria, and to build on the U.S. economic recovery. (AP)

Lenin’s historic project of the communist state, helped in no small measure at the time, to impress on the world, that there is a strong viable alternative to capitalism and its political and social institutions. If not for the strength of character of the political figures just mentioned, Ahimsa and communism would not have explosively eme-rged upon the stage of human history, to the degree to which they did. 

The following poser by a Western journalist, raised against the backdrop of the upcoming meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the US, should, ideally, provoke a robust debate internationally on the issues at the heart of it. It was as follows: ‘Can great leaders really shape the world we live in? Or are they mere figureheads carried along by the unstoppable economic and demographic flood-tides of human history?’

A thought-provoking poser indeed in the face of growing evidence that ‘economics drive politics’, particularly in these times of market-led growth. There is also the almost universal, overwhelming acceptance of neo-liberal ism, and its socio-economic and political fallout, that one needs to take into account, for, ideologically, the world seems to have drifted unmistakably in a Right-ward direction. So, political personalities, however charismatic they may prove to be, have very little to do with how the world is taking shape, apparently.

Yet, major political figures, have, to a degree, left the imprint of their thinking and personalities on the happenings of history. Just two such personalities are Mahatma Gandhi and V.I. Lenin. While hardly anything need be said further by way of elaboration on the profound contribution made by Gandhi to political thought and the nourishing of humanism worldwide, it may not be sufficiently realized in this the heyday of market economics, that Lenin helped usher in a socio- political order in Russia, which from the perspective of his day and age, was of unheard of revolutionary proportions.

Lenin’s historic project of the communist state, helped in no small measure at the time, to impress on the world, that there is a strong viable alternative to capitalism and its political and social institutions. If not for the strength of character of the political figures just mentioned, Ahimsa and communism would not have explosively emerged upon the stage of human history, to the degree to which they did.

That said, the question could be raised whether we have had in the latter decades of the 20th century and after, any ‘History Makers’ of stature, who have helped in ‘changing the course of political and social history’, so to speak. To be sure, there have been revolutionary changes in science and technology, in the times in focus, but such changes do not come within the scope of this commentary, which is confined to political and social change of a revolutionary nature.

These issues gain their relevance from the question posed earlier whether contemporary ‘leaders’ can, indeed, shape the contours of the world we live in. What adds to the urgency of the question is the upcoming Obama-Xi Jinping meet. A relevant historical backdrop to these concerns, some Western commentators tend to believe, is the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting of 1985, which is seen as having ushered revolutionary changes in international politics, and paved the way for the eventual crumbling of the Cold War and connected developments of great historical import.

But what does an unprecedented warming of Sino-US ties, if such a development does come to pass, hold for the rest of the world? To begin with, if there is a "dynamic" of the old Cold War kind which exists in Sino-US ties today, it is purely of an economic kind. If at all there would be a ‘positive’ outcome from the Obama-Xi meet, it would be in the ongoing economic squabbles or ‘trade and currency wars’ between the US and China, where some mutual accommodation to meet their concerns could be expected between the powers. Any major and primary benefits from these adjustments would be for only the powers concerned and not for the rest of the world.

However, since over 60 percent of China’s GDP is derived from trade the world over, a further improvement in China’s economic prospects could benefit those countries with which China engages in trade, and these include a considerable number of developing countries. Accordingly, there could be some ‘spin-off’ benefits from the Obama – Xi meet for the rest of the world, but these are not positives one could gloat over.

A better understanding between the Chinese and US Presidents could also improve the security climate in the Asia-Pacific region, where the powers concerned are competing for influence and control. Recently, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was quoted telling Asian countries that despite budget reductions, the ‘Pentagon will continue to shift troops, ships and aircraft to the Pacific region.’ Meanwhile, China is giving indications of expanding its security and military ties in particularly the Indian Ocean region.

Accordingly, a rapid warming of Sino-US relations could help in improving the security climate in the Asia-Pacific region, but this is hardly the stuff revolutionary changes in world politics are made of. At most, one could expect a de-escalation of sorts in the competition between the US and China for spheres of influence in the Asiatic region.

Moreover, it is the drastic tilt in the global economic power balance in favour of East and South East Asia which is setting the stage for a stepped-up US and Chinese military presence in the regions concerned. With the increasing economic disempowerment of the West, it is the East which is gaining in significance for the major economic powers. Accordingly, our current predominant world political leaders are being ‘shaped’ by the world they live in, to a considerable degree, and are of little influence in determining its contours.