Letter to Nonis the Chris

Dearest  Mr. Nonis, who is doctor also,

• by The Silva 
• - on 10/14/2014

It is with the greatest sadness that we are hearing about the assault upon your person by the person who is supposed to be monitoring persons in the ministry of the foreign affairs. It is coming to me like the shock deep in the night. While I am in coma-like sleep I am hearing the massive smack and waking up in cold sweat to be finding my wife also up and fully and completely awake. I am asking, my dear, what is that thundering noise? Has the most venerable and completely untouchable Gnanasara smacked another Islamic with the ipad? Or is some traitor driving another nail into Our Majesty’s holy coffin. My wife is saying, no nothing like that because the noise is not local and coming from far away, almost over the hills and seas also. In the morning we will know if we use the proxy – site and access banned website. And when in the morning we are finding what is happening, (through the website I cannot be naming because it is banned and blocked also), that you are getting assaulted by the monitoring person my wife is going into shock. She is big fan of your face and your accent and is always wanting to be speaking like you. I am also big fan – of your accent only, and not only because it is sounding posh and extremely polished also but also because my wife is liking it very much and is always trying to be speaking like you. When she is dong that she is getting cramp in the lips and not able to be moving lips for many days which is like having the world peace right in the middle of your own home.

I am hoping the slap is not causing too much of the pain. But more than the pain, I am worrying about the accent. Are you still having it or are you losing it also with the dignity? I am knowing that some peoples who are speaking like the Englishman are suddenly speaking like the Vedda fellow after getting beaten. I am hoping you are not like that because if you are losing the accent you are also going to be losing my wife as your number one fan and I am going to be losing the few days of world peace I am having in the home.

Some peoples are saying that you are getting the slap because you are giving the monitoring person the dirty look and like the very common man in the Wariyapola side who is getting the slap from the common girl for giving the dirty looks and asking the dirty question you are also getting the slap from the Monitoring person for that. Firstly and foremostly, it is none of my business why you are getting the slap because what uncommon peoples in the government are doing is no business of us the common people. But I must also be saying that I am not believing the story about the dirty looks. Everybody is knowing that you are giving the dirty looks only to the imperialists who are threatening Our Majesty’s sovereignty. You are never asking dirty question, only answering them. But for the monitoring person to be giving you the slap there must be some reason and as I am saying above and before this, it is none of my business.

Personally and privately thinking, I am feeling that there is no need to be worrying too much about the slap – unless you are losing the accent. When I am small and in the school we are also having the monitor in the class. He is writing names of the naughty boys on the board and the teacher is looking at the names and then calling the boys and giving them the slap. Nowadays because our country is far more advanced and wondering in the Asia the monitor himself is allowed to be giving the slap to naughty people. Even if you are not being naughty what is mattering is that the monitoring person is thinking like that. In the school also the children who are getting the name on the board are not all naughty. When the monitor is angry with boy he is writing name and teacher is calling and slapping. What is important is not to be making the monitoring person angry.

There is also absolutely no point in resigning. You are knowing very well that you cannot be doing anything else with that accent other than defending our Majesty’s sovereignty. You will only get other posting and then also there is good chance that you will get the slap one day because Our Majesty’s Government nowadays is full of slappers. It is not very long time ago that Our Majesty’s own son is giving the rugby referee the slap and getting away to be playing more and more rugby. I am thinking it is better to be getting used to it and turning the other cheek also.  This is what the common peoples in the country have been doing for very long time. The common peoples in the country have been getting the slap for a long time now, by the minister, the minister’s thug and sometimes by the minister’s thug’s thug also. Each time they are getting the slap they are turning the other cheek and dong it so often and frequently that sometimes they are looking like spinning. Sometimes common peoples are also slapping each other. Like the Wariyapola girl. You may be wondering with all your education and posh accent why you are also having to be doing what the common peoples are doing. But I am thinking this is the real democracy. Under Our Majesty’s glorious rule not only the common man but also uncommon man like you can be getting the slap because we are all the same and equal. This is another thing you can be saying to the imperialists the next time they are asking you the dirty question. And if the slaps are hurting you can always be treating yourself. You are not just the pretty face and pretty accent. You are doctor also.

Some jealous and unpatriotic peoples are saying damn good for the bastard because he is using his posh accent to be defending Our Majesty’s sovereignty and not the rights of the people, saying to the outer world that the people are dancing for the joy when they are actually spinning and reeling from the slaps. I am saying please do not be thinking about these comments. Please remember the story of king Kekille, an ancestor of Our Majesty. When the goldsmith is about to be put to the death he is saying this is great shame, using royal tusker to be killing puny thing like me and not the fat merchant down the street. Likewise, it is a shame to be using the posh accent to be defending the common people when there are more important peoples to be serving. And in any case one thundering slap is never going to be enough for that sort of thing.

The Silva

மஹிந்தவைத் தோற்கடிப்போம்! ஆவேசத்துடன் அத்துரலியே ரத்ன தேரர் சூளுரை

[ செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை, 14 ஒக்ரோபர் 2014, 01:49.00 PM GMT ]

எதிர்வரும் ஜனாதிபதித் தேர்தலில் ஜனாதிபதி மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷவைத் தோற்கடிக்கப் போவதாக ஜாதிக ஹெல உறுமயவின் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினரான அத்துரலியே ரத்ன தேரர் சூளுரைத்துள்ளார்.

அத்துரலிய ரத்ன தேரரின் “தூய்மையான நாளை” அமைப்பின் மூலம் தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட உத்தேச அரசியல் யாப்பு தொடர்பான வரைபை அறிமுகப்படுத்தும் முக்கிய கூட்டம் ஒன்று தற்போது நடைபெற்று வருகின்றது.

கொழும்பு பண்டாரநாயக்க சர்வதேச மாநாட்டு மண்டபத்தில் நடைபெறும் இந்த கூட்டத்தில் தற்போது கடும் ஆவேசத்துடன் அத்துரலியே ரத்ன தேரர் உரையாற்றிக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றார்.

இரண்டு தடவைகள் வரை மட்டுப்படுத்தப்பட்டிருந்த ஜனாதிபதி பதவியை தொடர்ந்தும் வகிப்பதற்கு வசதியாக மஹிந்த 18வது திருத்தச் சட்டத்தை கொண்டுவந்தார்.

இதனை எனது கட்சியான ஜாதிக ஹெல உறுமயவும் ஆதரித்து வாக்களித்து வரலாற்றுத் தவறைச் செய்துள்ளது.

இந்த சட்ட திருத்தத்தின் மூலம் அதுவரை செயல்பாட்டில் இருந்த சுயாதீன ஆணைக்குழுக்கள் தொடர்பான 17 வது திருத்தச் சட்டம் ரத்துச் செய்யப்பட்டு, சுயாதீன ஆணைக்குழுக்கள் இல்லாதொழிக்கப்பட்டன. நாட்டில் ஜனநாயகம் குழிதோண்டிப் புதைக்கப்பட்டுவிட்டது.

ஜனாதிபதி மஹிந்த மீண்டும் தேர்தலில் போட்டியிடுவது தொடர்பில் நாங்கள் ஆட்சேபிக்கவில்லை. ஆனால் நாட்டில் மீண்டும் ஜனநாயகத்தை வலுப்படுத்திய பின்பே அவர் தேர்தலில் போட்டியிட வேண்டும்.

அதற்காக 19வது திருத்தச் சட்டத்தை கொண்டு வந்து மீண்டும் சுயாதீன ஆணைக்குழுக்களை நடைமுறைப்படுத்த வேண்டும்.

அவ்வாறு அவர் அரசியலமைப்புத் திருத்தச் சட்டத்தை நிறைவேற்றாமல் மீண்டும் தேர்தலில் போட்டியிட்டால் அவரைத் தோற்கடிப்பதற்கு தயங்க மாட்டோம்.

அவருக்கு எதிராக வீதியில் இறங்கி போராடவும் தயாராக இருக்கின்றோம். இதற்காக அரசாங்கத்தை விட்டு வெளியேறவும் நாங்கள் தயார் என்றும் ஆவேசமாக அவர் தனது உரையைத் தொடர்ந்து கொண்டிருக்கின்றார்.

இந்தக் கூட்டத்தில் மாதுளுவாவே சோபித தேரர், எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க, அமைச்சர் பசில் ராஜபக்ஷ, முன்னாள் சட்டமா அதிபர் சரத் என் சில்வா, உள்பட ஆளும், எதிர்த்தரப்பு அரசியல்வாதிகள் ஏராளமானோர் கலந்து கொண்டுள்ளனர்.

Hong Kong and the Arab Spring

October 14, 2014 

Joshua Wong is a charismatic, small-made, teenage schoolboy, going on 18 years, who wears rectangular glasses and sports a soup-bowl haircut. The other night he stood before an ocean of protesters who had taken over downtown Hong Kong, holding two microphones and addressing the massive crowd. His deep voice was drowned out by cheers. The crowd did not mind, they knew him and his message well.
Hong Kong and the Arab Spring by Thavam

British MPs Vote An Overwhelming ‘Yes’ To Palestine

274 support motion urging ‘the government to recognize the State of Palestine,’ while only 12 oppose, in vote laden with symbolism

( October 14, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) British lawmakers voted resoundingly Monday in favor of a Palestinian state, in a debate unlikely to change government policy but laden with political symbolism.

The ayes carried the vote with 274 votes, against only 12 nays. Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, who is Jewish, voted in support of the motion.

The initial motion that was debated declared: “This House urges the government to recognize the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.” It was subsequently amended to add the phrase “as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”

The House of Commons debate was watched around the world after Sweden drew anger from Israel this month for saying it would recognize Palestine.

The motion was initiated by backbencher Grahame Morris from the main opposition Labour party, who said Britain had a “moral responsibility” to act because of its history as colonial power in the region.

The vote was especially symbolic given that Britain was the mandatory power in Palestine from 1920-1948, when the State of Israel was founded, and that Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 was a significant milestone en route to the revival of Jewish statehood.

“It’s absolutely clear that Israel-Palestine relations are stuck at an impasse, as is our foreign policy,” Morris said, opening the debate.

“Both of these impasses must be broken. We hear a great deal of talk about the two-state solution but today, through validating both states, members will have the opportunity to translate all of that principled talk into action.”

Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames — grandson of World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill — said that “to recognize Palestine is both morally right and is in our national interest.”

In what the Guardian described as “possibly the single most important contribution in an emotional debate,” Sir Richard Ottaway, the Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said the Netanyahu government’s recent annexation of land in the Etzion Bloc area of the West Bank had cost Israel his support. He said he had long been a supporter of Israel — “I was a friend of Israel long before I became a Tory. My wife’s family were instrumental in the creation of the Jewish state.” But, he went on, “I realize now Israel has slowly been drifting away from world public opinion. The annexation of the 950 acres of the West Bank just a few months ago has outraged me more than anything else in my political life. It has made me look a fool and that is something I deeply resent.”

Ordinarily he would have opposed the motion, he said, adding that he was not convinced Palestine was fit to be a state due to its refusal to recognize Israel. But “such is my anger with the behavior of Israel in recent months that I will not be opposing this motion. I have to say to the government of Israel: if it is losing people like me, it is going to be losing a lot of people,” Ottaway said.

The vote is non-binding as it was initiated by a backbencher.

Members of the government, which backs a two-state solution, abstained from the vote.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokesman said: “We think that… you should do everything you can that’s supportive of a successful and sustainable outcome based on a two-state solution.”

During the debate, the government’s Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said that a Palestinian state would only be recognized at the appropriate moment. “The aspirations of the Palestinian people cannot be fully realised until there is an end to the occupation… and we believe this will only come through negotiations,” Ellwood said. “Only an end to the occupation will ensure that Palestinian statehood becomes a reality on the ground. The UK will bilaterally recognise a Palestinian state when we judge that it can best help bring about the peace.”

The leaders of Morris’s party, Labour, said that MPs who were in the Commons when the vote took place had to back it.

However, a number of high-profile figures were reportedly uncomfortable with the motion and did not show up.

Neither Cameron nor Labour leader Miliband was in the Commons chamber for the start of the debate, but Miliband arrived later and voted for the motion.

An online petition paving the way for the debate attracted more than 111,000 signatures, Morris said.

Before the debate, a handful of protesters gathered in pouring rain outside the Houses of Parliament, where they had erected a giant banner saying: “Yes Vote for a Palestinian State.”

“If there is a state, the aggression would stop and the healing could begin,” said one of them, Eddie Clarke.

“We feel this parliament has a duty to vote for it.”

The Palestinian Authority estimates that 134 countries have recognized Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed since several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date to the Soviet era.

Britain abstained in 2012 from a vote in the United Nations on giving the Palestinians the rank of observer state, which was granted over the objections of the United States and Israel.

Morris sought to persuade lawmakers that statehood for Palestine through negotiation was not the best way forward.

“To make our recognition of Palestine dependent on Israel’s agreement would be to grant Israel a veto over Palestinian self-determination,” he said.

But Malcolm Rifkind, Conservative foreign secretary between 1995 and 1997, argued that the Palestinians lacked the basic structures needed for a state due in part to political splits between Hamas and Fatah.

“Recognizing a state should only happen when the territory in question has got the basic requirements of a state and through no fault of the Palestinians, that is not true at the moment,” he said.

Rifkind warned that voting for the motion could “make ourselves feel important” while exacerbating existing problems.

கனடா சமவுரிமை இயக்க கூட்டம் (படங்கள்)

Category: 2014

Created: 13 October 2014

Hits: 153

கடந்த சனியன்று கனடா ஒன்ராரியோ நகரில் சமவுரிமை இயக்க அங்குராப்பண கூட்டம் மற்றும் அரசியல் கலந்துரையாடல் இடம்பெற்றது.

இந்நிகழ்விற்கு தோழர் எல்லாளனின் வழிநடத்துகையில் கனடா சமவுரிமை இயக்க தொடர்பாளர் தோழர் நேசன். தோழர்கள் குமார் குணரட்ணம், நியுட்டன், ஜெகத் பண்டார, சமிந்த தேவசுரேந்திரா ஆகியோர் உரையாற்றினார்கள். சமவுரிமை இயக்கத்தின் அரசியல் மற்றும் வேலைத்திட்டமும் இந்நிகழ்வில் வெளியிட்டு வைக்கப்பட்டது.

சமவுரிமை இயக்கத்தின் அவசியம் மற்றும் அதன் நிகழ்கால செயற்பாடுகள் குறித்து கலந்துரையாடல் இடம்பெற்றது.
கனடா சமவுரிமை இயக்க கூட்டம் (படங்கள்) by Thavam

THE UNBROKEN PALMYRA: REMEMBERING RAJANI THIRANAGAMA – PART 01

කටු සටහන්

PHOTO – BUDDHIKA BANDARA

ඔක්තෝබර් 14, 2014 · by sethuka-Prabha Manuratne

The palmyra trees have grown. The sad broken tips of these majestic trees that had haunted visitors in 2004, when I last visited Jaffna, have given way to a fresh growth. The bullet-riddled buildings, which never for a minute allowed the war tourists of the Peace Accord to forget the gruesome realities of the violence, have disappeared. Only the white-washed, painted new looks of old houses were visible. The others that were resistant to this new kitsch touristy image, presumably, have been flattened out. The new look was a reminder to be grateful that now, only bird-drops fall from the sky. And gratitude is a dangerous thing, especially when our rulers demand it from us.

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The Unbroken Palmyra Remembering Rajani Thiranagama – Part 01 by Thavam

Here's The Moment When Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai Left Jon Stewart Speechless

• DINA SPECTOR
  -OCT. 10, 2014-

Yousafzai left Jon Stewart speechless during an appearance on the Daily Show last year.

Malala Yousafzai, 17, won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday along with the Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, 60, for "their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

Yousafzai first caught the media's attention at age 14, after she was shot in the head by a Taliban fighter for criticizing the organization's tactics.

The young campaigner for women's rights, who was favored to win the peace prize last year, memorably left Jon Stewart speechless during an interview on the Daily Show, a few days before the 2013 awards were announced. 

At the time, former Business Insider reporter Brian Jones noted that Yousafzai gave a remarkable answer when asked by Stewart how she reacted to learning that the Taliban wanted her dead. 

Here's the response:

I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, 'If he comes, what would you do Malala?' then I would reply to myself, 'Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.'  But then I said, 'If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.' Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that 'I even want education for your children as well.' And I will tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'

Watch the full segment below, her answer starts around the 4:20 mark:

Report: Turkish Jets Hit Kurdish Rebel Targets

ANKARA, Turkey — Oct 14, 2014, 10:50 AM ET

By SUZAN FRASER and DESMOND BUTLER Associated Press

Mourners chant slogans during the funeral of four female Kurdish fighters, killed in the fighting with the militants of the Islamic State group in Kobani, Syria, at a cemetery in Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. Kobani, also... View Full CaptionThe Associated Press

Turkish warplanes have struck suspected Kurdish rebel positions in southeastern Turkey, media reports said Tuesday, the first major airstrikes against the rebel group since peace talks began two years ago to end a 30-year insurgency.

The attack comes amid heightened tensions in Turkey over Islamic State militants' advance on the Syrian town of Kobani. Kurds in Turkey accuse the government of standing idly by while Syrian Kurds are being slaughtered in the besieged town across the border.

The return to violence between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, illustrates the complicated position Turkey faces as it negotiates its role with the U.S. and NATO allies fighting the Islamic State extremists.

The PKK and affiliated groups, including fighters defending Kobani, are an important force on the ground in both Iraq and Syria fighting the Islamic State group. But Turkey still views the PKK as a dangerous terrorist adversary.

Turkey has said it won't join the fight against the Islamic State militants unless the U.S.-led coalition also targets Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Turkish media had varying accounts of the strikes by Turkey's air force on Monday, but the private Dogan news agency said Turkish F-16 jets hit PKK targets in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.

Asked about the report, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkish forces took the "necessary measure" following intense "harassing fire" by the rebels on a military outpost.

"It is impossible for us to tolerate or to placate these (attacks)," Davutoglu.

A military statement said Tuesday that the rebels had attacked the outpost in Hakkari with long barreled weapons on Monday, prompting the military to retaliate using armored vehicles. The statement made no mention of any airstrikes. An earlier statement said the armed forces had responded "in the strongest way" to a rebel attack.

Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK, confirmed the airstrikes, saying at least five locations around Hakkari were targeted. The agency had a different version of events, however, saying the military had attacked rebel fighters in the region with artillery for three days, forcing the PKK to retaliate by firing at a military unit.

Kurdish leaders, including jailed PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, have warned that the fall of Kobani would end the peace process, while PKK commander Cemal Bayik has been quoted in Turkish media as saying that some rebel fighters who had withdrawn from Turkish territory as part of the peace efforts have now returned to Turkey.

In a statement carried by Firat news, the PKK said Monday's airstrikes amounted to an infringement of a cease fire that they unilaterally declared in March 2013, with the tacit support of the Turkish government.

Peace talks began in late 2012.

Earlier, Davutoglu accused Kurds of using the peace process as a means to "blackmail" Turkey into taking action to defend Kobani, but said his government is determined to press ahead with efforts to bring about peace.

More than 30 people were killed last week as Kurds, angered at what they said was a Turkish impediment to efforts to defend Kobani, clashed with police and supporters of an Islamist group in cities across Turkey. The dead included at least two police officers, according to Turkish authorities.

"We said to them there are tens of thousands of (Kurdish) youths wanting to fight (the Islamic State group). Open the door, and we would drown them in our spit. But they would not allow it," Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish party said Tuesday.

The PKK has fought Turkey for autonomy for Kurds in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

Kurds, who make up an estimated 20 percent of Turkey's 75 million people, have faced decades of discrimination, including restrictions on the use of their language.

The Obama Administration Has a Kiss-and-Tell Problem

In its excitement to trumpet the coalition against the Islamic State, the U.S. is outing partners before they're ready to go steady.

• BY GOPAL RATNAM , JOHN HUDSON-OCTOBER 13, 2014

The  Obama administration insists that it has a large and growing coalition of nations arrayed to fight the Islamic State. If a new diplomatic blowup with Turkey is any example, though, the alliance may be far less robust than Washington says.
The Obama Administration Has a Kiss-And-Tell Problem by Thavam

Iran expects progress, if no breakthrough, in nuclear talks with EU, US

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif walks down an aisle at the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 24, 2014.

BY PARISA HAFEZI AND FREDRIK DAHL-Tue Oct 14, 2014

(Reuters) - Iran does not expect a breakthrough in high-level nuclear talks with the United States and the European Union this week but hopes they will help pave the way for a final deal, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency, was speaking after arriving in Vienna, where he was due to meet European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will join them on Wednesday.

Zarif's cautious optimism came a day after President Hassan Rouhani told Iranian television that a nuclear agreement was "certain" and that only "fine details" remained to be negotiated.

Talks between Iran and six powers - the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain - are due to conclude by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline with, diplomats hope, a deal to end a standoff that has lasted more than a decade.

Ashton, who heads the team negotiating with Iran will "work as hard as she can" to try and get a good agreement by the deadline, her spokesman, Michael Mann, said. "That is extremely important in every way."

With only six weeks to go, Western officials say significant differences remain, especially over the future scope of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, activity that can have both civilian and military uses.

One of Iran's chief negotiators, deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, last week raised the possibility that the talks could be extended.. But a U.S. State Department official said Washington believed there was still time to reach a comprehensive solution by the target date.

Iran rejects Western allegations that it is seeking nuclear weapons capability. It has refused to halt uranium enrichment, and has been hit with U.S., EU and U.N. Security Council sanctions as a result.

"BREATHING SPACE"

After years of escalating tension, the election last year of Rouhani, seen as a pragmatist, on a platform to ease Tehran's international isolation raised hopes of a diplomatic settlement.

"Although we do not expect a breakthrough in the trilateral negotiations (between Zarif, Ashton and Kerry) ... still this round could pave the way for a final agreement," Fars quoted Zarif as saying. "On the agenda is the volume of uranium enrichment and the timetable for lifting the sanctions."

Israel has threatened to use military force against Iranian atomic sites if diplomacy fails to ensure Iran is deprived of the means of developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says Israel's presumed atomic arsenal is the main threat to peace.

Iran and the six powers last November reached an interim deal under which Tehran suspended its most sensitive nuclear activity in exchange for some easing of the sanctions.

A former Obama administration official said it would make sense to extend the temporary accord if there was no long-term deal by late next month.

"The continuation of an interim agreement would provide the breathing space needed for all sides to take an extended break from negotiations over a permanent deal," Jofi Joseph, a former director for non-proliferation on the White House National Security Council staff, wrote.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Hong Kong: barricades fall but expectations raised

Tuesday 14 Oct 2014

They’ve tried to force them out with tear gas. They tried to scare them out with talk of ‘firm deadlines’ and ‘dire consequences’.

Today however, Hong Kong’s police moved in quietly and carefully, stripping away a series of elaborate Les Miserables-style barricades on the edge of the central protest site.

Photo credit: Raul Gallego Abellan

The police, who came prepared with riot shields, grinders and box cutters, met no resistance. Instead a small group of protestors, who have campaigning for free elections in the territory, looked on from the roadside with tears in their eyes.

Both they – and those who lead them  – know that time is running out on ‘occupied Hong Kong’.

“The police know when we are weakest,” said one organiser called Gary Leung. “Most people go to school or work during the day and we haven’t got the numbers to stop them.”

Photo credit: Raul Gallego Abellan

Nonetheless, Mr Leung said they’d just pop up somewhere else if the police clear out the central business district.

His last comment gets to the heart of things here. In many ways the protestors have got nothing out of more than two weeks of civil disobedience. The government won’t talk to them and the territory’s leader, CY Leung says there is ‘zero’ chance of China sanctioning open elections for Hong Kong’s next leader.

However, to borrow the words of Hong Kong University’s erudite vice-chancellor Peter Mathieson, this city of seven million souls has ‘irrevocably changed’.

Photo credit: Raul Gallego Abellan

The people who represent it’s future don’t like where this place is going – both in terms of governance – and economics. Hong Kong is one of the most unequal places on earth – a city where the prospect of owning a flat is the stuff of fantasy for most citizens.

One day the territory’s government will have to meet the concerns of those who live here. Eventually, the Hong Kong government will have to do a better job representing their views to the ‘central government’ in Beijing.

The expectations of the people of Hong Kong have been raised and you can’t put that sort of thing back in the bottle.

Photo credit: Raul Gallego Abellan

Follow @c4sparks on Twitter.

The Scottish Referendum In A Nutshell

Ralph E Stone Salem-News.com-Oct-14-2014

"Should Scotland be an independent country?" The "No" side won, with 55.3% voting against independence.

Image courtesy: whotv.com

(SAN FRANCISCO) - My wife and I just returned from a week's stay in Edinburgh, which was shortly after the Scottish independence vote. The Scots voted to stay with England 55 to 45 percent. There was no rioting in the street over the vote results.

The "no" campaign always led in the polls but the "yes" campaign was gaining ground. Then Prime Minister David Cameron, Ed Millbrand, and Nick Clegg, the leaders of the three major British parties, signed a pledge to devolve more powers to Scotland, if the Scots rejected independence. It is not clear how much this "pledge" effected the vote, but it might have stopped the growing support for the "yes" campaign.

What does devolution mean? Scotland is not independent although it has control over some of its affairs through its elected parliament. In the Scotland Act of 2001, Scotland has control or devolved powers over health, education and training, local government, law, social work, housing, tourism and economic development, some aspects of transport, planning and environment, agriculture, forestry and fishing, and sport and the arts.

The United Kingdom's Parliament retains control or reserved powers over constitutional matters, UK defense and national security, UK foreign policy, immigration and nationality, UK economic and monetary policy, energy, employment legislation, social security, some aspects of transport, and regulation of certain professions such as medicine and dentistry.

Lord Smith was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron to head the commission on devolution. The Smith Commission hopes to get agreement between the Scottish National Party, Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Greens on the way forward by 30 November.

Everyone involved agrees that it will not be easy to get agreement by 30 November. A "command paper," setting out the issues, is also due to be published by October 31, with draft legislation unveiled by 25 January.

What problems face the commission on devolution? The Scottish parliament wants more authority over tax revenue and housing funds. However most of the funds for these items are determined by a budget set in London. Scotland has a limited ability to raise extra tax revenue, but lacks any kind of borrowing authority.

One problem cited is that there is no English Parliament. Rather there is a UK Parliament, which includes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland Members of Parliament, makes policy. This gives rise to the so-called West Lothian question, which refers to whether MPs from Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales should be able to vote on matters that affect only England in the House of Commons of the UK, while English MPs could not vote on Scottish devolution matters.

If nothing else, the Smith Commission's progress will be watched and debated until October 31 and beyond...

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Salem-News.com writer Ralph E. Stone was born in Massachusetts. He is a graduate of both Middlebury College and Suffolk Law School. We are very fortunate to have this writer's talents in this troubling world; Ralph has an eye for detail that others miss. As is the case with many Salem-News.com writers, Ralph is an American Veteran who served in war. Ralph served his nation after college as a U.S. Army officer during the Vietnam war. After Vietnam, he went on to have a career with the Federal Trade Commission as an Attorney specializing in Consumer and Antitrust Law.

Over the years, Ralph has traveled extensively with his wife Judi, taking in data from all over the world, which today adds to his collective knowledge about extremely important subjects like the economy and taxation.

You can send Ralph an email at this address: stonere@earthlink.net