Chinese Takeaway: Regime Change

The exit of Rajapaksa, the architect of Sri Lanka’s tilt towards China, is a diplomatic problem in the near term for Beijing. 

Written by C Raja Mohan | Posted: January 16, 2015

is premature to conclude that the defeat of incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Sri Lankan presidential election last week is a strategic setback for Beijing, which has invested so much in building a special relationship with the island republic. But the exit of Rajapaksa, the architect of Sri Lanka’s tilt towards China, is a diplomatic problem in the near term for Beijing. How China adapts to the new circumstances in Lanka, which has become so central to China’s maritime strategy in the Indian Ocean, is a story worth following.

China’s current quandary in Sri Lanka does bring into sharp relief the problem that major powers face in dealing with significant internal political change in countries of interest. Big powers can get into trouble by identifying themselves too closely with the regime in power. Some of the gains made by investing in an unpopular regime are likely to be lost when its opponents wrest control of the government. There are both risks and rewards, then, in being drawn into the domestic politics of other countries.

A little over three years ago, when Myanmar launched political reforms at home, President Thein Sein suspended work on a controversial Chinese project to build a dam on the Irrawaddy river. The Myanmar military, which welcomed China’s tight embrace during a quarter century of Western sanctions, found the relationship with Beijing too suffocating and has significantly diversified the country’s international relations in the last few years.

Naypyidaw, however, is acutely conscious of the need to maintain a reasonable relationship with China, its giant neighbour to the north. Beijing, in turn, has ordered its companies working in Myanmar to show greater sensitivities to public concerns and reach out to the non-governmental organisations in the country. China is not the only one that faces these problems. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprising political mandate in last year’s general elections saw Washington scrambling to engage a political leader it had denied a visa for nearly a decade. Modi, for his part, has looked beyond the personal to boost India’s relationship with America. Put simply, diplomatic wrinkles of the sort that China faces in Sri Lanka today can indeed be ironed out. PRAGMATIC BEIJING It has been widely assumed that China had overcome the problem of dealing with regime change in other countries. There was a time when Mao’s China took strong political positions in favour of or against governments in other countries, as it viewed international relations through the ideological prism. Deng Xiaoping, in contrast, affirmed the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. Put simply, this meant Beijing would deal with whoever is in power. Discarding communist internationalism and ending support for revolutions abroad helped Beijing rapidly expand its influence in world politics over the last four decades. But as China’s worldwide interests grow and Beijing pursues them vigorously, the formula of non-intervention has come under stress. While aggressive economic engagement quickly delivers spectacular infrastructure projects, it also generates deep discontent among multiple constituencies, ranging from NGOs to local trade unions and capitalists. When Beijing injects a military dimension to the bilateral ties, it stirs the domestic political opponents of the regime and wakes up other powers with a strategic interest in the nation. When it closely aligned with the ruling regime, as Beijing did with Rajapaksa in Lanka, China’s claims of non-intervention were of no political consequence. Unsurprisingly, the leaders of the new government had promised, before the election, that they would review some of the Chinese projects that Rajapaksa had approved and restore Sri Lanka’s traditional policy of maintaining balanced relations with all the major powers, including India, China and the West. INDIAN CHALLENGE It is widely presumed that India, much like China, upholds the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. New Delhi’s observance of this principle in the subcontinent has always had exceptions. This was inevitable, given the deep interconnections between the domestic politics of India and those of its neighbours. Both push and pull factors made Delhi look like a meddlesome big brother in the past. After the military intervention in Sri Lanka during 1987-90, Delhi has certainly learnt some political lessons. It now recognises the importance of engaging all political forces, encouraging them to resolve their domestic quarrels, and resisting the temptation to impose its will on them. Delhi, however, has failed to build on the natural economic geography that binds India and its neighbours. Its reluctance to open its markets and improve trade facilitation on the borders is matched by its inability to implement projects in the neighbourhood and promote Indian investments. If Beijing has overplayed its economic hand in Sri Lanka, Delhi’s commercial strategy has been underwhelming. Without a more purposeful regional economic policy, Delhi is in no position to contest China’s growing influence in the subcontinent, or take advantage of its temporary diplomatic setbacks. The writer is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and a contributing editor for ‘The Indian Express’ - See more at: 

India set for bigger role in Sri Lanka

The government of Rajapaksa had disregarded Indian concerns

Harsh V. Pant-Jan 16 2015

Last week, in a stunning blow to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan voters opted for his former colleague Maithripala Sirisena to end a decade-long regime that has been increasingly marked by allegations of nepotism, corruption and authoritarianism. Rajapaksa, after having defeated the LTTE, won an overwhelming mandate for himself and his party in the 2010 elections. When the war ended in 2009, there was an opportunity for the ethnic communities to reconcile and the government was expected to implement measures to address the problems faced by the country’s minorities, particularly by Tamils. That did not happen.

It was Rajapaksa who had called for elections in January, a full 16 months ahead of schedule. His confidence stemmed from the fact that it was under his leadership, the civil war ended in 2009, the term limits for the presidency were removed in 2010, a wave of infrastructure investment poured in and the country's economy has experienced a still rising peace dividend. The Sri Lankan economy has seen robust annual growth at 6.4 per cent from 2003 to 2012, well above its regional peers.  Following the end of the civil conflict in May 2009, growth rose initially to 8 per cent, largely reflecting a 'peace dividend', and underpinned by strong private consumption and investment. While growth was mostly private sector driven, public investment in infrastructure, including post-war reconstruction efforts in the northern and eastern provinces, also contributed. Growth was around 7 per cent in 2013, driven by a rebound in the service sector which accounts for 60 per cent of GDP. 

Economic prosperity has been broadly shared with Sri Lanka experiencing a big decline in poverty between 2002 and 2009 — from 23 per cent to 9 per cent of the population. There is anticipation that the Sri Lanka per capita income will increase sufficiently in the next two to three years and it may be defined by the World Bank as a middle-income country. 

And yet despite an end to the violent conflict with the LTTE in 2009, social tensions have persisted in Sri Lanka. A predominantly militarised development process imposes a top-down strategy at the expense of incorporating local voices and ideas. Though more discrete than was previously the case, forces are involved at all levels of civilian administration in the North, and development projects must be military-approved. The International Crisis Group has argued that 'instead of giving way to a process of inclusive, accountable development, the military is increasing its economic role, controlling land and seemingly establishing itself as a permanent, occupying presence.'   Sri Lanka has also been witnessing religious tensions between the Sinhala Buddhists and the Muslims. The anti-Muslim campaign has been triggered by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) over the abolition of the Halaal certification process and banning of the niqab. The Bodu Bala Sena, meaning 'Buddhist Power Force’, was formed in July 2012. It has taken up various anti- Muslim activities, for example, asking people not to shop from Muslim shops.  Not surprising, therefore, that the minority Tamils and Muslims appeared to have voted heavily against Rajapaksa. 

As a new era begins in Sri Lanka, both China and India will be looking closely at how the new regime will change its priorities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promptly reached out to Sirisena to congratulate him on his victory and assured him of India's continued solidarity and support to the country’s peace and development. President Sirisena will travel to New Delhi next month on his first State visit abroad. It is being speculated in New Delhi that the ouster of Rajapaksa would mean a greater role for India in the island. The government of Rajapaksa had become ever more confident of disregarding Indian concerns. India has been emphasising the need for urgent steps to resettle the internally displaced persons and has urged the Sri Lankan authorities to expedite the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. India has underlined the need for a meaningful devolution package, building on the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution that would create the necessary conditions for a lasting political settlement. However, the Rajapaksa government was largely non-committal on most of India's demands.

At the same time, Chinese footprint had been expanding in Sri Lanka. Chinese military supplies to Sri Lanka are estimated at US $100 million a year, with China supporting the Sri Lankan defence forces in boosting its capabilities for high-technology aerial warfare, and restructuring and reorienting the military. China emerged as the largest foreign finance partner of Sri Lanka in 2010, overtaking India and Japan, and its third largest trading partner in 2012. Sri Lanka is also committed to join the Maritime Silk Road initiative of Beijing which is a vital strategic project for China in the Indian Ocean. For China, Sri Lanka is a gateway port up the western coast of India and further west to Iran, an important oil exporter to China. 

China's support was crucial for Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war against the LTTE. Chinese support has also been invaluable for Sri Lanka to confront the US-backed resolutions at the UNHRC. As a result, the two nations now have a declared 'strategic co-operation partnership'. For China, its ties with Sri Lanka give it a foothold near crucial sea-lanes in the Indian Ocean, as well as entry into what India considers its sphere of influence. China is financing more than 85 per cent of the Hambantota Development Zone, to be completed over the next decade. This will include an international container port, a bunkering system, an oil refinery and an international airport. 

Indian policymakers will be mistaken if they think that a change of regime in Colombo will lead to a dampening of Sino-Sri Lanka ties. China's role is now firmly embedded in Sri Lanka - economically as well as geopolitically. India will have to up its game if it wants to retain its leverage in Colombo. Rajapaksa or Sirisena, China's role is only going to grow in the island nation. After all, the stakes are just too high in the great game that is being played in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka’s change of government was a miracle – now it needs another one

PETER POPHAM-Thursday 15 January 2015

The new president will have to work hard to reunite a divided country

A wonderful thing has happened in Sri Lanka. Relegated to the inside pages by the Paris massacres, a kind of miracle took place last week: a sudden redemption. The superstitious, noting the proximity of this event to the arrival there of Pope Francis, who canonised the first-ever Lankan saint this Wednesday, might be tempted to credit the Holy Ghost.

A presidential election was held, local and international monitors followed the events closely, no serious outbreaks of violence were reported, the votes were properly counted, the incumbent lost by a substantial margin, and vacated the presidential palace, power was peacefully transferred. Everyone did what they were supposed to do, the loser as well as the winner. What’s miraculous about that?
The miracle is that the bullying power of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had already rewritten the constitution to permit himself a third term in office, who had corrupted the judiciary, intimidated most of the media and who was gradually turning the country into his family’s fiefdom, was halted in his tracks – not by a popular uprising, a Sri Lankan so-called spring, but by the ballot box.
Practically since independence from Britain in 1948, Ceylon as it then was has been consumed in a crucial, disastrous debate: whose country is it anyway?

The Tamil minority, today some 15 per cent of the population, concentrated in the north and east but with a large presence in Colombo, too, had done well out of the colonial period, providing European rulers with reliable and well-educated functionaries. Independence meant payback time as the majority Buddhist Sinhalese steadily tilted the playing field in their own direction, in particular marginalising the Tamil language in favour of their own.
As a result, fear gripped both communities: Sinhala fear of a takeover by Tamils, backed by their far more numerous cousins and Hindu co-religionists in southern India, Tamil fear of being turned into a permanent underclass. Democracy, which was supposed to guarantee equality, perversely encouraged politicians in both communities to adopt truculently sectarian policies. Less than a quarter century into independence, the result was civil war.
This disastrous trajectory can be found in plenty of other post-colonial states. The usual result is some kind of dictatorship. Somehow or other Sri Lanka held onto the democratic forms throughout, despite the weeping sore of a civil war that dragged on for nearly 30 years. But behind the democratic façade the evils of civil conflict flourished: emasculation of public criticism, pervasive fear and suspicion, and the polarisation of the population into armed and hostile camps.

The war became a chronic condition. No leader seemed able to end it. The air was thick with rumours of the profits politicians were making from arms sales, encouraging them to let the conflict run and run. The outside world made matters worse by insisting that the only way ahead was peace talks between the elected Colombo government and the Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, despite the fact that the latter was directly responsible for the deaths of the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, as well as the attempted assassination of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Chandrika Kumaratunga. Perhaps it’s true that in the end talks with terrorists are unavoidable, but Prabhakaran’s attempts to re-invent himself, post-9/11, as a man of peace with whom the world could do business convinced very few. At his one and only press conference, in a clearing in the jungle in 2002, which I reported for i’s sister paper The Independent, he was obviously an unreformable killer.
The Rajapaksa offensive that ended the war in 2010 was brutal and merciless. But they were up against a brutal and merciless enemy: enemies always end up resembling each other. And all Sri Lanka’s communities were crying out for peace, however it might be achieved. Ending the war cut Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers a lot of slack.
A wiser man would have made very different use of the peace dividend. Instead of ramming home the fact that the Sinhala ascendancy was here to stay, and his family’s predominance with it, he would have used his popularity to start Sri Lanka’s democratic story afresh: inviting full Tamil participation instead of trading on the festering fears and suspicions of both communities. Thanks to the cunning of his former lieutenant, Maithripala Sirisena, who deserted him in November to stand against him in the presidential election, he will now have plenty of leisure to contemplate his mistakes.
Already the mood in the country has changed for the better. Journalists are once again writing what they actually think, rather than what they think prudent. Rajapaksa has denied the “coup” rumour – the charge that he tried to get the army to enable him to stay in power despite his imminent defeat. The new Foreign Minister says the transition of power was “anything but” peaceful.
Mr Sirisena’s task now is to start Sri Lanka’s democratic history all over again from scratch, persuading the island’s feuding and estranged communities that they are all in the same boat,and that the playing of zero-sum games will take the nation straight back on the path to war. If he can match the cleverness he has demonstrated in the past two months with the sort of wisdom Mr Rajapaksa so sorely lacked, perhaps he will achieve another miracle. 

Mahinda Rajapksa’s Defeat – A Lessons To Politician

By C P Thiagarajah -January 16, 2015 

Dr C P Thiagarajah

Mahinda Rajapksa’s defeat in the 8 Jan 2015 polls came as a surprise to Rajapkse family. It simultaneously alerted political circles the need to be democratic and humble in politics. Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) gave a manipulated form of democracy to SriLanka that encouraged Sinhala hegemony in all walks of live be it political, administrative or judicial. MR and his coterie were caught unawares with their pants down during their electioneering campaigns. Though they sensed that the fight would be tough after the challenger Maitripala Sirisena(MS) was snatched out of MR cabinet by Madame Chandrika Bandaranaike (CB) to contest him. MR hoped to emerge as victor in the election using his Buddhist Sinhala stance and his image as Dutugemunu the II after the war of May 2009 in which nearly 150000 Tamil civilians were alleged to have been killed ignoring human rights considerations. With this game plan he never gave any political concession or made any agreements with even the Muslim community that backed him in his last government. For the same reason he kept the TNA too away totally rejecting the implementation of 13th Amendment that is in the Sri-Lankan statute book. His supporters were over confident that the communal trump card would work.

In fact his neo Nazism campaign worked in the coastal areas of Sri-Lanka and in the deep western provinces as revealed in the final election count below. One of MR campaign moments of xenophobia was circulated in many Youtube videos. This was a challenge to the Tamil Nation to gulp it and wait what would happen to them in the election. Probably a doom like Mullivaikal and the end of democracy or the vanishing of his archaic rule and a dawn of democracy and a new age of ethnic harmony.Read More

Meeting Our Demons Head-On

By Jude Ratnam -January 16, 2015 

Jude Ratnam

9^th January 2015 – End of an era

On January 9^th 2015, the day the presidential election results were announced in Sri Lanka I went out for a walk around 7 p.m. It was not a declared public holiday; nevertheless the streets were completely deserted to the level of it being virtually void of any single person on the road. I was strolling about 2 Km practically alone.

As I was walking a thought occurred to me. Probably ever since the brutal war ended in the most gory manner sacrificing thousands of lives in 2009, probably this was the first day that I felt a sense of relief. I’m not too sure what to call this feeling; maybe it was relief, maybe it was delight or maybe it was even end of paranoia.

Yes probably that was what it was! A sense of relief came about because of the end of paranoia one had experienced for a very long time. Probably it was this paranoia that still made people stay inside their homes this day. Probably because people could hardly believe that it could all end so quietly. The paranoia was to such a level, that people thought that the previous regime would never let go of and that they would do anything to stay in power. The people were probably drawn too much into the myth of the ‘invincibility of theRajapaksa’ propaganda, that this day seemed too ‘shocking’ to accept that reality.Read More

“President fell for trap set by boss” – pistol mayor!

 Friday, 16 January 2015 

“The president fell for the trap set by our boss. This is not the time to attack. Kiss the hand first and then stab. We will return to Maithri what he had given our president. After the meeting, the boss spoke to me. He told me to be patient. He will handle the game beautifully,” so said Hambantota mayor Eraj Ravindra Fernando alias pistol mayor publicly at a leading casino in Colombo on the night of January 14. He was describing to his friends the meeting between president Maithripala Sirisena and his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa at the speaker’s official residence at Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte earlier in the day.

The servant of the Rajapaksa went on to say very confidently about the future plans of his master, “Our boss tried mostly to save Namal and other babies. The boss will not care about persons like Gamini Senarath. Basil boss left because he knows our boss. By playing whatever game, boss will gain power again. Then, no Muslim will be spared. They and the Tamils ruined the boss.”

List of keepers of baby jumbos illegally!

 Friday, 16 January 2015 

The Lanka News Web has received the list of baby elephants that had been caught illegally and the persons who are keeping such baby elephants illegally.

We are publicising the list for the attention of the enforcers of the laws.

Six Ukrainian soldiers killed, fighting rages at airport - Kiev officials

WochitGeneralNews

KIEV Fri Jan 16, 2015 

(Reuters) - Six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in attacks by separatists in the past 24 hours, the Kiev military said on Friday as fighting raged at the international airport in the big eastern city of Donetsk.

"Six of our servicemen have been killed as a result of combat activity and another 18 have been wounded in the past 24 hours," military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists.

A presidential adviser, Yuri Biryukov, said separatists had launched a full-scale attack on the airport at Donetsk to try to dislodge government forces who have tenuous control on the complex.

"They (the separatists) launched a full storm from this morning. We have wounded on our side. There is hot combat going on there and the tension and the situation there is the worst I have seen," Biryukov wrote on his Facebook page.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Islamist group 'planning police station attack' in Belgium

FRIDAY 16 JANUARY 2015

An Islamist group may have been planning an attack on police stations, Belgian police say, after finding police uniforms, guns and explosives during a major counter-terrorism operation.

Above: police carry out forensics at a bakery in Vervier.

With police forces across Europe conducting counter-terrorist operations, Belgian police said they are holding 13 suspects detained during raids acorss Belgium on Thursday.
Islamist Group 'Planning Police Station Attack' in Belgium by Thavam Ratna

Police arrest two dozen as they fan across Europe to prevent fresh violence

Belgian authorities say at least 13 people have been detained in Belgium and two arrested in France in an anti-terror sweep following a firefight in which two suspected terrorists were killed. (AP)

By Michael Birnbaum and Daniela Deane January 16 at 10:41 AM

BRUSSELS —European authorities widened crackdowns against suspected Islamist militant networks Friday, arresting at least two dozen people on suspicion of aiding last week’s terrorist bloodshed in Paris or plotting separate attacks possibly disguised as police.
Police Arrest Two Dozen as They Fan Across Europe to Prevent Fresh Violence by Thavam Ratna

As a Muslim, I'm Fed Up With the Hypocrisy of the Free Speech Fundamentalists

Mehdi Hasan -Posted: 13/01/2015

Dear liberal pundit,

You and I didn't like George W Bush. Remember his puerile declaration after 9/11 that "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"? Yet now, in the wake of another horrific terrorist attack, you appear to have updated Dubya's slogan: either you are with free speech... or you are against it. Either vous êtes Charlie Hebdo... or you're a freedom-hating fanatic.

I'm writing to you to make a simple request: please stop.

As a Muslim, I'm Fed Up With the Hypocrisy of the Free Speech Fundamentalists by Thavam Ratna

‘Suicide Terrorism’ and Freedom of Expression, yet to be fully analyzed 

January 14, 2015

Christophe Boisseau (R), brother of Frederic Boisseau, a Sodexo employee who was killed during the attack on the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7, embraces Jeremy Ganz (L), who was with Frederic Boisseau on the day of the shooting, during a press conference in Boulogne-Billancourt, west of Paris, on January 13, 2015. Frederic Boisseau, a 42-year-old father of two was in the lobby of the newspaper to perform building maintenance work when he was killed by the attackers on January 7.AFP

‘Suicide Terrorism’ and Freedom of Expression, Yet to Be Fully Analyzed by Thavam Ratna

Secret US cybersecurity report: encryption vital to protect private data

Official UK government security advice still recommends encryption to protect online data and networks. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian

James Ball-Friday 16 January 2015

A secret US cybersecurity report warned that government and private computers were being left vulnerable to online attacks from Russia, China and criminal gangs because encryption technologies were not being implemented fast enough.
Secret US cybersecurity report encryption vital to protect private data.odt by Thavam Ratna

8 Foods That Could Help Unclog Your Arteries

By admin On Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Cardiovascular disease is actually a buildup of plaque which leads to gradual clogging of the arteries. Statistically, it is the number one killer-disease in the world, and an average of 2,000 Americans die of this disease each day!

Taking into consideration high rates like these, the cardiovascular health is one of the most important body system you should maintain and repair. Progressive clogging of the arteries is usually caused by diet, genetics and a sedentary lifestyle. It is not impossible to treat this condition, and we have listed 8 delicious foods that will help you prevent and repair the damage.

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1. Garlic

It may does not have the best taste, but nutritionists prefer to call it a super-food! Garlic will not only protect your cardiovascular health, but it can also help in the treatment of viruses, infections and even cancer!

Scientists confirm that by consuming 4,000 mcg of allicin (contained in 1-4 garlic cloves a day) you can lower your cholesterol, decrease both diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and prevent blood cloths from forming. This creamy zinger garlic spread or pumpkin seed and garlic pasta will give you the required daily dose of cloves.

2. Pomegranate

The latest studies have shown that this delicious fruit can clean the arteries from the plaque buildup, and also stimulate the production of nitric oxide in the blood, which will open the arteries and reduce the blood pressure.

This amazing cashew citrus cream cake with pomegranates is an excellent way to add more pomegranates to your menu!

3. Turmeric

Curcumin, the primary polyphenol found in turmeric, has proven to be efficient in the reduction of the fatty deposits in the arteries by 26%! We hope that this is enough to add this brightly colored and tasty Indian spice to your diet.

4. Chia Seeds

Ancient cultures have long used chia seeds, mostly because it is a solid source of hydration and energy. The fiber and alpha-linoleic acid found in chia seeds regulate the blood pressure, lower the triglycerides, and regulate the cholesterol by increasing the good, and decreasing the bad cholesterol levels. Chia seeds are not only heart-healthy, but also versatile and delicious!

5. Cinnamon

The cinnamon challenge is probably responsible for the negative attention to the spice, but when consumed wisely, it is amazingly efficient in treating many health conditions. Take a tablespoon of cinnamon a day and you will reduce the cholesterol levels, and receive a healthy dose of antioxidants. The delicious vegan cinnamon rolls will warm your heart, making it healthier and happieer.

6. Apples

Apples are rich in pectin which can lower the cholesterol and slow the progression of artery clogging. A group of researchers from the Ohio State University found that just an apple a day can help you reduce the hardening of the arteries by 40%.

It seems like the old “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is actually true! Have some grilled apple pie with vanilla coconut whipped cream and get the necessary daily dose of pectin.

7. Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain carotenoid lycopene, an antioxidant that gives their rich red color. This antioxidant is also found in its lighter or greener varieties. Increase the lycopene intake and reduce the oxidation of bad cholesterol which causes atherosclerosis. And that is not all! Tomatoes are also important for the bone health! This warming eggplant and tomato stew will give you the required dose of lycopene.

8. Greens

Leafy greens are rich in anti-oxidizing vitamins. These can prevent the oxidization of cholesterol, which leads to the formation of plaque in the arteries. Greens also contain fiber, potassium, and folate, efficient in the treatment of high blood pressure.

A single serving of folate-rich leafy greens a day can lower the homocysteine levels. This decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, so try to consume more spinach or chard. Green smoothies are the perfect way to consume more greens. Try this delicious green smoothie cheat sheet and adjust the ingredients untill you find your favorite!

Source:
www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com
Resources:
www.onegreenplanet.org
www.complete-health-and-happiness.com