Stimulus gamble: How Ottawa saved the economy – and wasted billions

BILL CURRY AND BARRIE MCKENNA-Saturday, Feb. 08 2014

Jim Flaherty had heard enough. It was December, 2008, and the minister was on the road, working his way through a heavy schedule of meetings with business executives, local and provincial politicians, and other groups.

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Stimulus gamble How Ottawa saved the economy – and wasted billions by nelvely

Amid Reports of Sri Lanka Cover Up & 

Executions, UN Tells ICP, Probe

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 6 -- In the wake of a detailed report that Sri Lanka forces concealed mass graves and executed surrenderees as in the White Flag cases, Inner City Press on February 6 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if the Secretariat was aware of the new report, and when should happen next.

   Haq replied, video here and embedded below, that there should be investigation to find all the facts of what happened in the final stages of the conflict.

  Inner City Press asked, International investigation? In Geneva? 

   Haq said that would be up to "different member states."

 Ironically, while the new report is from experts in Australia, now the Australia government which calls loudly at the UN for investigations into Syria has indicated it would not support a resolution for investigation at the UN Human Rights Council in March. We'll have more on this.

  As to the United States, from which Sri Lanka has blocked a diplomat's visa, the Rajapaksa government's lobbying lunch in Washington on January 28, reported on by Inner City Press, has so far been unsuccessful. 

  On February 1 in Colombo, Nisha Biswal the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, criticized the lack of accountability, religious intolerance and even corruption of the Rajapaksas' Sri Lanka. But how strong will the resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in March be?

  Back on January 28 lobbyists for Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa government made a pitch on Capitol Hill. Registered foreign agents Thompson Advisory Group invited members of Congress and staffers to hear President Mahinda Rajapaska's chief of staff or Permanent Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal (pitcher of bank mergers such as between NDB and the DFCC) at an hour and a half lunch in the Members' Dining Room.

  Former Congressman from Oklahoma Ernest Istook, the invitation said, would be helping them make the (impunity) pitch, along with anothergovernment video, "Sri Lanka: Rebuilding and Reconciling," narrated by a former CNN anchor, Gene Randall. Inner City Press obtained (or intercepted) the pitch and put it online here.

  At the US State Department's briefing on January 27, spokesperson Jen Psaki asked about the visit, and said she'd venture to send something around after the briefing:

MS. PSAKI: You had one on Sri Lanka?

QUESTION: I do, yeah. Apparently, there’s a delegation in town today, and they’re – one of the things I believe they’re talking about is a potential U.S. plan to sponsor a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council this March. I believe it has something to do with concerns about calls for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes during their civil war. And so I’m wondering if the U.S. is planning some kind of resolution, and if the U.S. does support an inquiry for war crimes.

MS. PSAKI: I believe – I know I’ve seen that report. Let me see if I have anything on that in particular. And if not, I’m happy to get you all something on where we stand after the briefing....Unfortunately, I don’t have anything new on that here, but let us venture to send something all around to all of you.

  Inner City Press asked; a polite interim response was received. But as of February 1, no real answer, now to other questions submitted as well, including concerned the withdrawal of the nomination as US Ambassador to the UN on Management and Reform of Leslie Berger Kiernan. 

  At the UN, now-gone US Ambassador for reform and management Joe Torsella worked behind the scenes on the outrage of Sri Lankan military figure Shavendra Silva being accept by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous as an advisory on peacekeeping operations. Torsella is gone, now his nominated replacementhas been withdrawn.

  Inner City Press has submitted to the State Department a Freedom of Information Act request about the Administration's Atrocities Prevention Board -- expedited processing was denied, but responses and disclosures should be coming, surely, some day. Watch this site.

Making Provincial Administration Work in the North

Photo courtesy Sri Lanka Guardian

• by Austin Fernando 
• - on 02/07/2014 

These days media often speak of conflicts between the center and provincial administration, especially between the Northern Provincial Council’s (NPC’s) Chief Minister (CM) / Members and the Governor of the Province. The CM had been known to me for some time as a gentle neighbor, Judge and the Governor as my subordinate and an “officer and gentleman.” Irrespective of their gentleness, now we hear of ‘official conflicts’ between them, much to the detriment of the NPC administration.

Making Provincial Administration Work in the North by nelvely

Subjugation Of Tamils Is Followed By Attacks On Muslims And Christians

By G K Nathan -February 7, 2014

Dr. G. K. Nathan

Subjugation of Tamils is followed by Attacks on Muslims and Christians, What are the available Options to International Community?

Current Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) will be under intense scrutiny at the 25^th session of the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at Geneva in March 2014 for alleged violations of International Humanitarian and Human Right Laws during the last stages of military conflict which ended on 18 May 2009.  Battle line has been drawn between GSL supported by their friendly countries on one side, most of them have dubious human right records in their own country, against others in the forefront  calling for  human rights in Sri Lanka and they are: International community led by the USA, former colonial power the UK, EU etc; a number of International Non-Government Organizations (INGO) which are on record challenging the human rights record of President Rajapaksa and about a million Tamil Diaspora in democratic countries of which a sizable number unwillingly abandoned their former home land caused by repeated pogroms and sought refuge. From the first GSL at the time of independence in 1948, to date we have had 15 Prime Ministers and Presidents, became the head of government after becoming a Republic, all are Sinhala Buddhists and all them have failed to find unity in diversity in a country with multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious population, instead the gap between the two major communities Sinhala and Tamil has continued to widen, even after the end of military conflict.  During that period the constitution of Sri Lanka was revised twice, both times the rights of minorities were further eroded and the power was consolidated in the hands of Sinhala Buddhist majority; only Sinhala Buddhists either born or converted from Christianity have been the head of government, contrary to practices in other countries, current head of government of India is a Sikh, many others have been head of Indian government in the past. In Sri Lanka the three major ethnic groups are: Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims (Arab descendents); speak two different languages: Sinhala and Tamil. Sri Lankan follow all four major religions: Buddhism (69.3%) mostly Sinhalese, Hinduism (15.5%) mostly Tamils, Islam (9.7%) – the Arab descendents most of them are fluent in Tamil language and the last group Christians (7.4%) is made up from both Sinhala and Tamil ethnic groups.  Military subjugation of Tamils followed by euphoria of military victory and ensuing celebrations led by the GSL, as Tamils silently watched,  turned the attention of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists, who were responsible for the genesis of Sinhala – Tamil conflict in the post Independence era, to other religious groups. In addition, failure of GSL to address the resolutions passed at the UNHRC and the soft approach pursued by the International community made the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists who propagate that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country to act against other religious minorities with impunity.  Failure of GSL to stop the attack on places of worships aggravated the religious harmony in the country. This dark truth was documented in ‘Restrictions on Religion 2012,’ in the January 2014 report by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre which records a 40% global increase in religious hostilities. While the countries with ‘very high religious hostilities’ rose from 14 to 20%, six countries including Sri Lanka recorded very high social hostilities in 2012. The other countries that shared this dubious honour with Sri Lanka were Syria, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Thailand and Myanmar, countries that cannot boast of political stability or civil liberties. The International community while pursuing the recent human rights record in the country must also take into consideration what has happened in the past and the constitutional structure promulgated by the UK at the time of independence, both need to be examined closely to avoid the recurrence of six decades long human rights violations, Sri Lanka is a signatory in June 11, 1980 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Current Situation in Sri Lanka                           Read More

How the Foreign Office makes decisions

06/02/2014

Britain's Foreign Office has had a puzzling policy towards Sri Lanka in recent years. At times it has been downright terrible:selling arms to Sri Lanka and denying the clear evidence of torture by Sri Lankan security forces. At other times it has been a deal better, most notably in the recent welcome announcement from David Cameron that they would pursue an Independent International Investigation in Sri Lanka. Overall the impression has been of a lack of coherence, with different sections of the civil service pursuing different policies and the politicians, for the most part, only taking an interest when the public demand that they do.

How the Foreign Office Makes Decisions by nelvely

Families of missing persons subjected to threats, intimidation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 February 2014, 20:24 GMT]
The intelligence wing of the occupying Sri Lankan military and the ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Department (TID) operatives in the North intimidate and threaten the families of the missing persons as many of the victims were not prepared to give up their complaints. The latest harassment comes in the wake of the so-called ‘independent’ Presidential Commission on Investigating Missing Persons had its first sitting in Ki’linochchi district last month. The current drive of genocidal Colombo, intimidating the kin of the missing to receive Rs 100,000 and withdraw the complaint or to face the fate of those who were ‘missing,’ raises question on what was actually meant by the US Asst Secretary of State reiterating ‘reconciliation’ last week. 

Whether in war or post war, every visit of officials from Washington, New Delhi and London generating new and invigorated forms of genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils, needs thorough investigation on the policies practised in reality by the powers in complicity, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island, citing a catalogue of evidences.

More than 440 people came to the venue of the sitting by the 3-member commission in Ki’linochchi. However, the commission only managed to register 162 cases, according to the commission’s spokesman. 

While the commission was conducting open hearings, the SL military had set up a ‘similar’ investigation office near the District Secretariat. The SL military intelligence operatives coerced the family members with offers of 100,000 rupees to each family, dry rations, job and education opportunities if they were prepared to annul or avoid their complaints and receive death certificates for the missing people. 

SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa was leading the project of deception. Many families chose to decline the offer from the SL military. 

In the meantime, the Sri Lankan military has ‘somehow’ managed to receive the details from the ‘independent’ commission and those who have lodged complaints are now being harassed through mobile phones day and night. 

“One day they call saying they are from the TID. Another day the callers say they are from the Intelligence. They try to woo us to accept death certificate for our missing father,” a daughter of a missing father told TamilNet Thursday. “Do you want to meet the same fate as your father, the caller asked me when I refused to accept the offer,” she said. 

Even though the people had no faith in the local commissions, they were registering the details as they felt their pleas would not be heard otherwise. The visiting international players have no other solution than just calling for a ‘Sri Lankan process’, a rights activist said, adding that everyone was ‘advising’ the families to meet up, register details with the Commission and present their case at the open hearing. “Now the families are identified and harassed one by one by the occupying military.” 

At an event in Ki’linochchi on 20 January, Namal Rajapakse ‘donated’ 100,000 rupees to each of the seven families that had agreed to receive death certificate for their missing family member. 426 families were given 10 kg dry rations each. At least 6 ministries from Colombo had dispatched officials on a campaign to woo the victims away from registering the complaints in January. 

Now, the SL military and TID officials who are visiting the families on day time proposing the same benefits to the families. Those who decline are subjected to intimidation, anonymous phone calls and threats. 

SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed the so-called ‘independent’ Presidential Commission on Investigating Missing Persons a few days ahead of the visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in August 2013. 

The three-member Commission started its sittings just ahead of the UNHRC session in Geneva this year. 

When the commission was appointed, it was announced that the Commission was to address the issue of missing people in the North and East. However, the Commission later registered Sri Lankan military soldiers Missing-in-Action also in their registry, making a balance sheet of 9,300 civilians and 4,300 Sri Lankan soldiers reported missing. 

Through coercive and through threats, the SL military attempts to reduce the statistics of the civilians reported missing to a figure equivalent to Sinhala military personnel missing in action.

Sobitha Thero Willing To Stand For Presidential Election; Says Sri Lanka Should Face international Inquiry If It Has Nothing To Hide

 February 7, 2014 

Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero, Chief Incumbent of the Kotte Nagavihara and a vocal monk in the movement calling for an abolishing of the Executive Presidency has expressed his willingness to stand as a presidential candidate.

Madluwawe Sobita Nayaka Threo

‘Yes I am ready to stand as a Single-Issue (SI) presidential candidate, but if a former Chief Justice or a former President is interested, no problem, I am happy to step aside. I will serve for six months only within which time I will abolish the Executive Presidency and institute a parliamentary system by constitutional methods. The roots of bribery, corruption, nepotism and bad governance lie in Executive Presidency,” Sobitha Thero told the Sunday Thinakural newspaper in a wide ranging interview.

Sobitha Thero has headed the movement that gathered a group of experts to draft a new constitutional framework that replaces the presidential system and sets up certain safeguards to prevent the abuse of power by the political leadership including the limiting of the cabinet of ministers and anti-graft measures. The monk is seen to be leading a broad opposition alliance of political parties, civil society groups, trade unions and professional organisations against the undemocratic, corrupt and authoritarian policies of the Rajapaksa Administration.

He told the Tamil language newspaper that there was no need to speak of overthrowing the Government. “Today the Government is confused. These kinds of internal conflicts will naturally lead to collapse. Today, the Prime Minister is against the President. We believe the minds of the people are changing,” Sobitha Thero said.

Dropping another bombshell about the ongoing international challenges against Sri Lanka with momentum building for another resolution in Geneva, Sobitha Thero inserted a major sanity check into the national discourse about human rights and a war crimes inquiry.

“Sri Lanka is a part of the international community, we have to abide by international norms, and if there is a call for an international investigation, I have no problem in agreeing. If we have done nothing wrong we can go before an international investigation and vindicate ourselves” he acknowledged.

International Pressure As Part Of 

Democratization: Possibilities And 

Limitations

| by Laksiri Fernando

( February 7, 2014, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) ‘International pressure’ is something much talked about these days particularly in the context of the impending 3rd resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC next month.

International Pressure as Part of Democratization Possibilities and Limitations by nelvely

New Wisdom: But Alas, Too Brief And Fleeting

By Rajan Hoole -February 7, 2014

Rajan Hoole

The Year 1988: The Red Moon Over Sri Lanka And The Dawn Of New Wisdom – Part 8

The last 6 months of 1988 represented a time in the South when the world was turned upside down. Once the Army turned to

killing Sinhalese youth, in sharp contrast to earlier years, it was regarded as a virtual leper. The Sun which had been the most pro-UNP and stridently chauvinist saw hope in the Government’s release of JVP leader Shantha Bandara on 15th September. Its editorial of 19.9.88 said:

“Errant over enthusiastic law enforcers, military and para-military agents have been responsible for the present fiasco amidst the fraternity of youth. Young men and women have been driven to dissidence and militancy due to various faults and failings of law enforcers. What is happening in the South today took place a few years ago in the North and East … New thinking is imperative.”

There was a new reluctance to use the catch- all word terrorists and an acknowledgement by the Southern Right that the Tamils had real problems with the State. This mood is also reflected in Herman Gunaratne’s For a Sovereign State, which appeared in October 1988. In the earlier sections of the book, there are copious references to Tamils as invaders, Eelamists and terrorists. On p.223 he quotes Rev. Dimbulagala, no doubt with approval:                                            Read More

To be continued..

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here

Colombo deploys Indian assistance to commit structural genocide on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 February 2014, 16:37 GMT]
The housing assistance provided to war-affected uprooted families in the North and East is being used to colonise the Tamil homeland with Sinhala settlers from South in Mullaiththeevu district, says Tamil Councillor of the Northern Provincial Council Mr Thurairasa Raviharan. While the resettled Tamil families are deprived of housing at Chaa'lampaik-ku'lam in Mullaiththeevu district, Sinhalese settlers are being provided brand new houses constructed with Indian assistance, he said. This is not only a betrayal by India, but also a recognition of the structural genocide being committed by the Sri Lankan State, Mr Raviharan told media. 

Chaa'lampaik-ku'lam is situated in Ma'nalaa'ru division, closer to Thennaimaravadi in Trincomalee district. The entire division renamed into Sinhala as Weli-oya is being schemed as a Sinhala Only division in the district. 

Also, a village close to Chaa'lampaik-ku'lam is being prepared for another Sinhala colony. 

85 uprooted Tamil families were brought to their village Chaa'lampaik-ku'lam in December 2012 for resettlement. They were provided temporary huts and were promised housing and dry rations till they were able to sustain their livelihoods. But, everything stopped there. 

The Tamil families still languish in the temporary huts, which were initially meant for 6 months. 

Now, 150 Tamil families are living there without proper assistance. Only a few of them have received 25,000 rupees per family as promised by the Sri Lankan authorities. 100 more families are scheduled to join them. 

In 2010, India announced that it would construct 50,000 houses for the uprooted people in the North and East. The project has failed to deliver, uprooted peoples representatives in North and East complain. 

The announcement of the housing scheme was made in parallel to the announcement of major ‘development’ assistance programmes by India to rebuild the Northern railroad, KKS Harbour, KKS Cement Factory and the Palaali airport. 

The target area where the airport, harbour and the cement factory are situated is now being encapsulated with a major Sinhala military settlement and has become the hub of the continued structural genocide in the Jaffna peninsula. The Valikaamam North area situated between these military installations has been transformed into a Sinhala Military Zone (SMZ). 

As the roads constructed with Chinese assistance are serving Colombo's structural genocide of Eezham Tamils, the reconstructed railway line will be serving as a crucial transport infrastructure to the Sinhalicisation of North. Already, there is a move to rename Elephant Pass Railway station into Sinhala. 

India cannot bring rehabilitation or reconstruction without bringing political justice to the Eelam Tamils as a nation in the island, commented political observers in Jaffna.

Gota’s Latest Charge Against US: Rapp Met Ex-Tigers At IOM Kilinochchi Office

February 7, 2014 

The Government has accused a high level US delegation of having “forced its way” into the Boosa Detention Facility down south and used the good offices of the IOM to meet with ex-LTTE combatants, the right wing Island newspaper reported today, quoting ‘senior government sources.’

Gotabaya

The report claims that the US Delegation led by Ambassador at Large for War Crimes, Stephen J Rapp had met with ex Tigers in the IOM office at Kilinochchi.

The Island’s Shamindra Ferdinando, who regularly headlines reports in the Island newspaper quoting Secretary to the Ministry of Defnce Gotabaya Rajapaksa or a senior official in the defence establishment said the Defence Secretary had demanded that action be taken against IOM, the UN agency for migration issues for its ‘high-handed’ actions.

The Island, quoted Government sources as saying that soon after the secret meeting had come to light, the Defence Ministry took up the issue with the IOM mission which accused its Kilinochchi office of arranging the meeting without informing Colombo. “Sources emphasised that the local office wouldn’t have facilitated such a meeting without the blessings of higher authorities,” the report said.

According to the newspaper, the Rajapaksa Government was alleging that Ambassador Rapp’s delegation had forced its way into the Boosa detention facility down south.

“Government sources alleged that the US delegation led by Ambassador Rapp had also forced its way into an army detachment adjoining the Boossa detention facility. The visiting US official had wanted to know whether the detachment was responsible for security at the detention centre, sources said, adding that the GoSL couldn’t comprehend the US attitude. The army detachment had been there for many years, they said,” the report in the newspaper claimed.

The Defence establishment has taken a hard line against the US as pressure mounts over war crimes allegations and international demands led by the US that Sri Lanka undertakes an investigation into the alleged abuses. Last week Gotabaya Rajapaksa was quoted in the Island calling US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, who recently concluded a visit to Colombo as “ignorant.”

Govt. Commissioning Former LTTE Commander To Restart Tigers Outfit Subservient To The Regime: iWigneswaran

WHO IS LTTE? 


(1)Gota –LTTE secret arms deal detected by 

International intelligence organisations

(2)Former LTTE leader got down by Gota to form an LTTE puppet regime disappears..!

Why Sri Lankan children in north drop out

COLOMBO, 7 February 2014 (IRIN) - Sri Lankan authorities have expressed concern over an increasing number of reports that children are dropping out of school in the conflict-affected north, where economic pressure and poor prospects are creating conditions that could have negative consequences for the future development of the region. 

Why Sri Lankan Children in North Drop Out by nelvely

The post war winners: urban rich or rural poor?

The post war winners: urban rich or rural poor?

Friday, February 7, 2014

For some time now it has been quite clear to economists that assessments of economic performance cannot be solely focused on overall income growth, but must also take into account income distribution.This is because a growing body of research has established that where the income inequalities are large and widening it’s often the case that both economic prosperity and social stability soon suffer.

The Post War Winners Urban Rich or Rural Poor by nelvely

Economic Nationalism And Its Impact On Business

By Chandra Jayaratne -February 7, 2014

Chandra Jayaratne

Nationalism and Economic Nationalism  

Nationalism is defined as “patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts-an early consciousness of nationalism and pride”. This is further elaborated as, “devotion to the interests or culture of one’s nation”, “the belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals” and “aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination”.

Wikipedia quotes that “Roosevelt made the case for what he called the ‘New Nationalism’ in a speech delivered on August 31, 1910. The central issue he argued was for government protection of human welfare and property rights. He also argued that human welfare was more important than property rights. He insisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee social justice and that a President can only succeed in making his economic agenda successful if he makes the protection of human welfare his highest priority. Roosevelt believed that the concentration in industry was a natural part of the economy. He wanted executive agencies (not the courts) to regulate business. The federal government should be used to protect the laboring men, women and children from exploitation. In terms of policy, Roosevelt’s platform included a broad range of social and political reforms advocated by progressives”.

Investor Dictionary describes “economic nationalism” as “policies which are guided by the idea of protecting domestic consumption, labour and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labour, goods, technology and capital. It is in opposition to Globalization in many cases, or at least on questions the unrestricted good of free trade. It would include such doctrines as protectionism, import substitution, mercantilism and planned economies.

                              Read More