President Sirisena pledges war crimes inquiry

Sri Lanka hopes to set up a domestic inquiry within a month into atrocities from the civil war, President Maithripala Sirisena has told the BBC.

March 12, 2015 

He said UN investigators would not take part in the inquiry, but their views would be taken into account.

Sirisena’s predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa consistently refused any co-operation with the UN.

The army and Tamil Tiger rebels were both accused of atrocities in the 26-year war, which ended in 2009.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict.

In the final months, many thousands of Tamil civilians are thought to have been killed in government shelling.

Mr Sirisena told BBC Sinhala’s Saroj Pathirana that an investigative committee would work “efficiently, in a balanced, legal and impartial manner”.

When asked if UN investigators would be involved, the president said: “We are ready to get advice and their opinions for the inquiry, but I don’t think we need any outsiders because we have all the sources for this.”
 
Measured in his style, Maithripala Sirisena cuts a very different figure from his controversial predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa.

On issues where Mr Rajapaksa always seemed implacable, President Sirisena appears to have opened the door just a little wider.

So Sri Lanka will still not allow UN war crimes investigators to visit. But, said the president, “we can take account of their opinion in doing our work, to make it more fruitful”. That is worlds away from the old government’s position.

His National Security Council will, he said, examine details of people, mostly Tamils, who have been in detention without charge, some for years, and will report back suggesting charging them or freeing them.
He insisted there was now space for open dialogue and dissent on issues including war crimes.

But he said he “doesn’t believe” war crimes allegations contained, for instance, in the documentary “No Fire Zone”, which was shown on the UK’s Channel 4.
 
The UN agreed last month to delay its long-awaited report into alleged war crimes, saying the new government was more willing to co-operate than the previous administration.

Mr Sirisena came to power in January, inflicting a surprise defeat on former ally Mr Rajapaksa.

Both men were in government during the bloody finale of the war, but fell out when Mr Sirisena defected.
Parliamentary elections take place later this year, and Mr Rajapaksa could return as prime minister.

Analysts say Mr Sirisena’s refusal to allow UN investigators to be involved may be designed to appeal to Sinhalese voters, who are largely opposed to any international inquiry.

Sri Lanka’s ‘Stolen wealth’ uncovered in Ukraine, UAE and Switzerland 

Roll of money taken on February 5, 2013. (stockmonkeys.com/flickr) Photo License: (CC BY 2.0) 

March 12, 2015, Thursday

Seychelles News Agency) - The Sri Lankan government has named Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates andSwitzerland as three countries where it has reportedly ‘uncovered overseas accounts’ belonging to members of the former Sri Lankan regime led by the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to a Sri Lankan news website the Lanka Herald, the country’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayakehas told the media that “billions of rupees enough to bridge 75 per cent of the Budget deficit have been illegally deposited in these accounts.”

This, according to another Sri Lankan news website the ColomboPage amounts to about 521 billion Sri Lankan rupees for 2015.

The investigation is said to be ongoing and the Sri Lankan government has signalled that the names of the persons who are holding the accounts will be revealed.

According to the ColomboPage Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Policy Planning, Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva has said that “recovering the stolen wealth of the country may take years but the government is determined to expose those responsible and recover the monies.”

It should be noted that Seychelles, an Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands with a population of around 90,000 people was also accused of harbouring assets stolen by the former Sri Lankan regime.

The Sri Lankan media reported in January that the country’s newly-inaugurated President Maithripala Sirisena’s government would be pursuing an investigation against former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in connection with allegations of stolen assets hidden in the Seychelles.

According to a Sri Lankan news website called the Asian Mirror, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Harsha de Silva, accused the Seychelles of being a “safe haven” for stolen assets as well as a “money laundering hub”.

Then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Paul Adam, who is now the Minister of Finance, Trade and Blue economy refuted the allegations adding that “the government of Seychelles will assist with all formal requests for an investigation into the assets of Sri Lanka’s former president.”

Contacted by SNA on Tuesday, the Seychelles Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) said “we can say that we have not as yet received any requests for help from the Sri Lankan Government to investigate claims that stolen assets are hidden here.”

Lifetime cabinet powers for Fonseka!

The good governance regime has decided to promote Gen. Sarath Fonseka, leader of the Democratic Party, to the ranking of a Field Marshal and grant him privileges and powers of a cabinet minister, according to reports reaching Sri Lanka Mirror.
War Crimes in Sri Lanka-genocide

11 March 2015

President Maithripala Sirisena has given his grand approval for the reinstatement of retired Gen. Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka in active service and his promotion to the Field Marshal ranking on March 22.
The Defence Ministry says he will be given the ranking in recognition of his service to negate all possibilities of a division of the Sri Lankan nation, his leadership to protect the motherland as a unitary country, while subjecting himself to the bullets of the enemy on three occasions, placing the country before his life and committing everything he has for the motherland and courageously and bravely facing all the severe challenges in the face of his obligation to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country, and protecting the motherland.

Five-star General ranking

The Field Marshal ranking is equal to a five-star General, and a person holding that ranking is considered to be in active service for the lifetime.

It is an honorary position, and it does not involve any operational or administrative responsibilities.

A Field Marshal will not be an officer governed by the Army Act.

Freedom to engage in politics

A Field Marshal also has the freedom to engage in democratic politics, a right enjoyed by all independent citizens of the country.

Also, that ranking will be equal to a cabinet minister.

Powers and privileges

As a Field Marshal, Mr. Fonseka will be entitled to the following powers and privileges.
1.    To receive a guard of honour from four officers and 150 other ranks
2.    To receive an all inclusive lifetime salary
3.    To maintain an office and staff for the lifetime
4.    The funeral of a Field Marshal will take place with full military honours, including a 21 gun salute
5.    Will receive the following facilities enjoyed by a serving General
a)    An official residence
b)    Security with an adequate number of officers
c)    Army-provided transport facilities equal to those given to military chiefs
6.    The widow of a Field Marshal will receive the same salary and
         allowance and will be allowed to live in the official residence for her
         lifetime

Sri Lanka Navy hurls petrol bombs at Tamil Nadu fishing boat

 Why is Ranil attacking India?

Is Gotabhaya Ranil’s foreign affairs adviser?

March 12, 2015

Picture for representational purpose. PTISri Lankan naval personnel on Thursday allegedly hurled petrol bombs at a fishing boat from Thangachimadam in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram district causing damage to the boat, police said. The five occupants of the boat escaped unhurt and managed to douse the fire and bring the boat to the shore.

Police said the Lankan naval men allegedly hurled bottles and wood to chase the fishermen fishing near Katchatheevu. The ‘Q’ branch wing of the police said they were investigating the incident.

The Sri Lankan President’s office had on Wednesday announced the release of 86 Indian fishermen, arrested for allegedly poaching in Lankan waters, as a goodwill gesture to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, the first by an Indian premier to the island nation in over 25 years.

That gesture, however, came only a week after Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramesinghe sparked a controversy by saying that Indian fishermen will be shot if they cross the international borders. He even refused to consider the decision a violation of the fishermen’s human rights.

Modi is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on March 13 and 14 and hold important bilateral meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and other senior leaders across the political spectrum.

 

Opposision Leader Nimal Siripala kicks out President Maithri’s victory mandate: sabotages abolition of executive presidency

(Lanka-e-News- 12.March.2015, 3.15PMM) The SLFP and opposition leader Nimal Siripala De Silva is making every desperate and diabolic attempt to sabotage the mandate given by the people to President Maithripala Sirisena on the 8 th of January 2015 to abolish the executive presidency, by imposing unnecessary conditions against  the abolition  despite the fact that Maithripala Sirisena is the president of Nimal Siripala’s  own party , the SLFP.

Nimal Siripala addressing a media briefing today said , if the proposed amendment to the constitution  is going to be tabled as an emergency bill , it will not be supported , while adding that if the UNP has an urgency to abolish the executive presidency , this proposal shall be discussed at a public forum. Nimal Siripala recalling    the no confidence motion that was attempted against minister John Amaratunge to prove the majority power ,which motion  in fact was later put aside , said , this  minister is effecting transfers of police officers without the knowledge of the IGP, and hence he should be removed from his portfolio.

It is not that Nimala Siripala does not know that  the manifesto of the newly installed government clearly indicates that it shall  implement the amendment to the constitution within its 100 days program , and that   , discussions in public pertaining to the relevant proposed draft bill have also  been concluded. Yet Nimal Siripala the notorious renegade who had all along  demonstrated his mental instability and hanky panky  in keeping with the obvious inverse relationship that exists between his brawn and brain power, is again seeking dubious hole and  corner methods to give vent to his cut throat policies and treacherous political conspiracies  to the detriment of national interests.

 Needless to mention ,it is individuals like empty dumpty  Nimal Siripala who earlier on made the biggest contributions to ex president Mahinda’s debacle  too ,who finally had to suffer a fall worse than that of Humpty Dumpty . Obviously Nimal Siripala’s charges leveled against John Amaratunge  today  are untenable in the backdrop  of the huge public outcry demanding that the police officers who committed wrongs under the previous Rajapaakse regime shall be punished.

Nimal Siripala who attended the constitutional committee meeting of party leaders at the parliament today , said the abolition of the executive presidency powers shall be done simultaneously with the constitutional reforms , and that in any event they will not support the UNP.  Naturally , Vijitha Herath M.P. representing the JVP , and Sumanthiran M.P. of the TNA  vehemently opposed his  stance.

It is very unfortunate that this country is at present having an opposition leader whose stupidity is so acute that he does not know,  the obnoxious executive presidency that is deleterious to the country and the nation is not a product of the election system. 

When the prime minister held a discussion yesterday after inviting the party  leaders and the elections commissioner , the latter ,Mahinda Deshapriya explained at length , if the  new amendments to the election system are to reviewed , it will take at least 3 months ,working full time for ten hours a day for a commission if it is  appointed. From this it can be deduced what are the dastardly aims and objectives hidden in the conditions imposed  by Nimal Siripala.

It is manifest therefore Nimal Siripala like how he was trying to obstruct John  Amaratunge , this empty Dumpy is seeking to undermine  the minority government’s programs  with a view to delay the elections by three months, because he knows very well  that if elections are decided  as scheduled on 23 rd April based on the people’s mandate , his SLFP party will face a most humiliating defeat .

It is only the most obtuse  will believe  that the leader of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena is also not behind these maneuvers of Nimal Siripala , for , if after the former having become the  SLFP leader , the party loses at the elections and the seats are reduced , it will be an insult to Maithripala  - the latter perhaps is  thinking on those lines.

It is also perplexing why the president who was over enthusiastic prior to January  8 th, and loudly announced that until the executive presidency is abolished within the 100 days he will not sight the presidential palace , is unable to open his mouth now as the leader of the SLFP against the enunciations of Nimal Siripala that he will not allow the abolition of executive presidency.

All know , Maithripala gave a solemn promise that after Mahinda Rajapakse met his waterloo,  he would act neutrally and be politically white without favoring any party  , and that the leadership of the SLFP will be granted  to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge , has by now  repudiated  those solemn assurances.

In the circumstances, It is best before it is too late,  if Maithripala who is in a deep quandary entangled and enmeshed in a ‘puppet on a string’ drama , realizes doom and gloom is looming over him ominously when he is acting the way he is doing now, having forgotten  who  were responsible to steer him to his victory at the presidential elections. The descent is always easier than the ascent , and it is an universally acknowledged fact that there are many to help in one’s  descent but only a few can help in one’s  ascent.

Meanwhile , it was decided at the UNP working committee meeting that the people’s mandate was  received to abolish the executive presidency within 100 days , and to go for parliamentary elections after dissolving parliament on 23 rd April. Of course ,it is best if the electoral reforms can be implemented , the executive presidency is also  abolished within the 100 days program, and elections held thereafter.

However , since    the elections commissioner says  3 months are needed to change the electoral system , it is the decision of the UNP working committee that the constitutional amendment to abolish executive presidency be given effect to , and elections held   after dissolving parliament on 23 rd April. Accordingly ,the draft of the proposed 19 th constitutional amendment is to be presented to the Cabinet on 12th . 

---------------------------
by     (2015-03-12 09:51:33)

Does the “Cabinet Decisions” not related to the media and parliamentary affairs ministry?

Thursday, 12 March 2015 

Already when there is a cabinet decision taken that anybody above 60 would not be kept in the public service unless a special reason, still the 63 year old Wasanthapriya Ramanayake continue to remain in his post in the Media and Parliamentary affairs ministry.

Mr. Ramanayake who is in charge for many responsible positions was given a political appointment on a political rapport that has not fulfilled the proper enrolment procedures to work for any posts in the Government Information Department.

When there was degree requirement essential to be the editor for the biweekly magazine in 1993 the latter was made the editor for the magazine for the desire of then media minister W.J.M. Lokubandara.

According to the enrolling procedure to become a “Grade One” officer in the public administration service needs a post graduate degree to be the director of the Government Information Department. But in 2010 he was politically appointed as the director for the post for the necessity of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Wasanthapriya Ramanayake completed his 60 years in 2012. Although the public services commission showed their resentment for his extension the former president Manhinda Rajapaksa extended it.

Despite his appointment in higher positions in the public service there are reports from media ministry there is no at least a G.C.E Ordinary Level Certificate found in his personal file.

The service rendered by Mr. Ramanayake who has appointed to higher government positions by blatantly violating all regulations is to white wash the government abuse of power and successfully fulfill the government’s agenda of mudslinging the opposition political parties.

Although according to the institutional code a government staff officer cannot give political statements to the media during the former regime the latter washed Mahinda Rajapaksa’s dirty linen in public by writing two political letters to the Dinamina and Lankadeepa newspapers.

However when the new government came to power on the 9th of January 2015 the latter somersault his political opinions and trying hard to write in favour of the new government to sustain his position. He has got the help of his old friend minister Rajitha Senarathna to fulfill this task.

It is reported that his unlawful position in power is not published in other media is believed to his providing vital government information’s to those medias.

Prejudice, Discrimination & Violence In Education

By Jude Fernando -March 12, 2015

Jude Fernando

Sri Lanka Needs a Ministry of Inclusion and Diversity (Part V/VI)

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”  ― Paulo Freire,

“Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people–they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are they liberated: they oppress.” ― Paulo Freire

Education and Learning (MID’s Objective # 3)

The multicultural approach to education advocated here seeks produce an educated citizenry that is able freely think and identify ingrained lifestyles that propagate racism, sexism, ageism, and other biases and prejudices by fostering critical thinking, empathy for inclusion, and diversity. At the moment such freedom is limited to a few, and their knowledge does not trickle down to the majority of learners. I do not know of any instance of sustained attempts to address racism, sexism, and homophobia in textbooks and pedagogical practices, or to create an environment for students and teachers to come to terms with how they shape their identities and relationships and the insecurities and vulnerabilities they personally experience and create for others.

Third, the Ministry of Diversity and Inclusion (MID), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, should address inclusiveness and diversity issues in textbooks and pedagogical practices. It should introduce mandatory education to prepare the learners to live in a multicultural society regardless of the subjects they pursue (and at every level of education). Why? Building a meaningful multicultural society begins with education. Education in such a society is viewed as moral and political practice aimed towards developing empathy for public good and civic responsibility. This approach to education is known as critical pedagogy advocated by thinkers such as Paulo Freire, John Dewey, bell hooks, Judith Butler, Ivan Illich, and Henry Giroux.

Read More

CIABOC to seek Interpol assistance

By Niranjala Ariyawansha-2015-03-12

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) is preparing to obtain assistance from Interpol to scrutinize bank accounts of individuals, when investigating complaints involving large-scale financial frauds.
Director General of CIABOC, Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe, told Ceylon Today, in addition, she expects to obtain the assistance of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU),... . which is under the administration of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, when inspecting bank accounts of such persons.

Internal sources of the Commission said the reason was because it had received complaints that, persons accused of being involved in illegal large-scale transactions have deposited massive amounts of money in foreign banks.

FIU is an institution maintained under World Bank assistance and supervision. The Director General of the Bribery Commission further said, according to the international charters signed by Sri Lanka, international assistance can also be obtained. Explaining this further, Wickremasinghe said, "We will make arrangements to obtain the assistance of Interpol, through the Ministry of External Affairs, in order to inspect the bank accounts of individuals, against whom complaints have been received regarding large-scale financial frauds. We will also inform the Inspector General of Police and obtain his permission. We expect to get the assistance of the FIU regarding the bank accounts of these persons against whom there are various accusations in connection with money laundering especially within Sri Lanka."

Wickremasinghe also said approximately 1,000 complaints have been received by the Commission during the past two months only. She said further, that from among the 2,500 complaints which had been collected over the past few years, more than 1,800 complaints containing evidence have also been subject to reviews and investigations completed.

Arrest “Hekitta Kudu Kumara” who smuggle drugs inside vehicle spare parts 

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Arrest “Hekitta Kudu Kumara” who smuggle drugs inside vehicle spare parts. We can remember how Maithri Governance yammered about combating drugs and ethanol in election platforms. We would like provide valuable information about another drug mafia. If the Maithri governance has a true intention to eradicate drugs and ethanol we would like to challenge can the Maithri governance raid this?

A famous drug kingpin from Wattala Hendala Hekitta imports drugs and distribute throughout the country for a long time. He is “Hekiththa Kudu Kumara” who surreptitiously indulge in drug business covering under importing and distributing vehicle spare parts.

This Kudu Kumara at least once in few months imports one container load of vehicle spare parts to his warehouse in Hekitta Wattala. Inside this he imports motor bicycles, water crafts and all terrain vehicles (used in the beach). Only few people know that he bring drugs hidden inside these spare parts. The tip was given to us by a person who was involved in assembling and dispatching these parts. He hides
the drugs inside and takes it out by the form of selling new vehicles.

Kudu Kumara is a close associate of Nimal Lansa who is a western provincial councilor. Kudu Kumara who promote all his business with the blessings of Nimal Lansa spent lavishly for the victory of Nimal Lansa during the last provincial elections. As a result following the renovation of the Hamilton Brook the boat riding and the cafeteria tenders were given to Kudu Kumara.

Meantime it is this Kudu Kumara who has supplied the water crafts and the terrain vehicles to Nimal Lansa who has deployed his family members to carry out the tourist business in the Negombo beach. We urge the good governance to influence the law enforcements to be vigilant to take these drugs into custody which is imported inside spare parts.

SRI LANKA: Release a mother and daughter detained illegally

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-014-2015
March 12, 2015

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about Ms. JeyaGanesh Pakeerathy, a legal resident of France and her 14 year old daughter JeyaGanesh Pakalvia, a French citizen. Both had been illegally arrested by police officers attached to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of Sri Lanka on 2^ndMarch, 2015 at Katunayake International Airport. They were questioned and produced before a Magistrate in Colombo. The police obtained a detention order and they were detained in the TID Office. 

SRI LANKA Release a Mother and Daughter Detained Illegally by Thavam Ratna

Tamils Yet To Experience Change?

By Aahithyan Ratnam -March 12, 2015 

Devananda in Manipay: Denying Space for the New Government

In an article datelined 2105-03-10 by one Mirudhula Thambiah, Douglas Devananda, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) General Secretary and Parliamentarian, is reported to have told people he met in Manipay that the Tamil people are yet to experience the [sic.] actual change in politics as the Tamil representatives in the National Executive Council (NEC) have failed to solve their issues so far.” Hah!

He added further that “[The] TNA has betrayed the Tamil people; they have failed to fulfil the demands of the Tamil people in the 100-day programme.” Hah! again.

Any astute reader will know that we are only just after the fiftieth day of our new government with a 100-day programme. Many of the solutions to our Tamil problems have been ordered – the return of lands misappropriated by the army, the freeing of Jeyakumari Balendran and her being reunited with her daughter (in the custody of social services from a year ago until today). The release of 257 political prisoners is actively in the works. And this sunshine in our lives we owe to our judges now being free to decide without orders from the stooge chief justice. The dark era of Tamils being locked up without charge on the whim and fancy of the police and armed forces looking for a bribe is over.

Mohan de Silva, FRCS: Tamils Must Feel Ownership

We have got more positive changes. A new UGC is in place under Prof. Mohan de Silva, FRCS, who has a high reputation at Kalubowila hospital and is known as a cricketer and a good human being. The UGC has already begun looking at Colombo University’s misgiovernance and, if FUTA’s informally expressed expectations of him are anything to go by, will look swiftly into the problems plaguing our three universities in the North-East. To Tamils who value education more than business, solutions to our universities’ problems are critical.

Academics are saying the sickness in our universities is beyond Devananda’s corrupt councils. They say that the entire upper university administration including the VC and Deans is infected. These administrators collude to appoint anyone they want and award any tender by arranging for fictitious higher bids say Council members appointed by Devananda and resentful that all the blame is too conveniently put on them. These academic administrators have got used to financial and administrative corruption and most academics are fearful of crossing them.

For example when a Jaffna Arts Dean altered his expense bills and charged more, the Bursar caught it and reported it. But the VC ignored it because he wanted the Dean’s support for all his crooked activities. Others did not fight because the Dean was only “stealing from the Sinhalese State.” President Rajapaksa found this convenient when he appointed Vasanthi Arasaratnam as VC despite strictures against her from the Auditor General for purchase transgressions in the millions. The whole university talked about these things but no one did anything. Tamils need to feel and have ownership in our universities. To make Tamils feel that these are our universities, will be Professor de Silva’s challenge as he attempts reform.

A lot more needs to be done that cannot be done in 50 days. We need to give time and exercise patience. Delays beyond 100 days there will be. But so long as there is movement we should give our new rulers space.Read More

Russia-China ties and their influence on the worldpolitical order

March 11, 2015, 7:45 pm 

China and Russia had occasion to act in accord on the world stage, to a degree, after the emergence of China as a foremost communist power in the late forties of the last century, but this tie turned frosty in the Cold War decades over mainly ideological issues. The rift was of such proportions that the US found it possible, in the early seventies, to ‘break the ice’ with China and to mend its relations with the latter on the basis of the perception that the then USSR’s influence and power had to be contained. This was a strategic tie-up of sorts that lasted over the rest of the Cold War years.

The fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have met on at least 10 occasions over the last two years speaks volumes for the vibrant and growing nature of Russia-China relations. Currently, these major powers seem to be needing each other as never before.

The strengthening of these ties comes at a time when Russia’s relations with the West are notably strained and global political divisions have deepened to a degree over developments in the Ukraine. The increasing coming together of Russia and China over global political and economic issues signifies that Russia and China would comprise a strong pole in the present multipolar world political system. Another dominant actor in the current international political order is, of course, the US, with the EU constituting a power bloc of considerable weight which, more or less, makes common cause with the US on global political issues. Together, the US and the EU, form a considerable section of the ‘West’.

‘The practical cooperation between China and Russia is based on mutual need, it seeks win-win results and has enormous internal impetus and room for expansion’, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying recently. He had also stated that the countries would ‘continue to carry out strategic coordination and cooperation to maintain international peace and security.’

China and Russia had occasion to act in accord on the world stage, to a degree, after the emergence of China as a foremost communist power in the late forties of the last century, but this tie turned frosty in the Cold War decades over mainly ideological issues. The rift was of such proportions that the US found it possible, in the early seventies, to ‘break the ice’ with China and to mend its relations with the latter on the basis of the perception that the then USSR’s influence and power had to be contained. This was a strategic tie-up of sorts that lasted over the rest of the Cold War years.

Principal Cold War considerations no longer exist, but the factors which are contributing towards keeping the US and China engaged currently are mainly economic in nature. The need to invest in each other’s countries and the considerable and growing markets in both countries for goods and services, basically, sustain US-China relations at present. There is a degree of economic interdependence that dictates the need for continued interaction between the states. But it was Chinese leader Deng Xiaou Ping who made the pioneering moves, way back in the late seventies, to broadbase China's relations with the West and put in motion the process of economic interaction with that hemisphere which was seen as essential for China’s wellbeing.

The foregoing, among other things, should remind the observer of the changing nature of countries’ foreign policy parameters or directions. A state’s foreign policy is based on what is seen as its national interest and the latter cannot be expected to be static. It changes periodically, and what was perceived as its most vital needs in the latter forties were not identical with China’s foremost national requirements in the late seventies. Economic need came to take precedence over ideology, in what was seen as the national interest in the latter years, and China needed to refashion its foreign policy accordingly.

However, the economic accent in China's national interest is contnuing to drive its foreign policy trajectory and since both, the US and Russia, are important for it, from this viewpoint, it would need to conduct unruffled ties with both countries in the days ahead. China is dependent to a degree on Russia for requirements,such as, oil, gas and other raw material and this factor will be a shaping influence on China's ties with Russia.

But international political considerations are no less important. China's pledge to sustain 'strategic coordination' with Russia would stand the latter in good stead in the current Ukrainian crisis. The pressure is on Russia to refrain from intervening in the Ukraine and China's diplomatic and moral support for it, would be most welcome for Russia. Together, Russia and China would be an effective counterweight to the West in the UN Security Council in particular on issues relating to the Ukraine.

The degree to which such a coming together is important in global forums could be seen in the deliberations on Syria in the UNSC. On Syria, Russia and China have voted against Western initiatives which have been seen by them as inappropriate and such voting conduct establishes the international political clout commanded by the two powers. Chinese economic cooperation would also prove vital for Russia in the face of mounting Western economic sanctions on the Ukrainian issue.

The increasing economic strength of China should oblige countries, big and small, to work in cooperation with it. China is a foremost initiator of infrastructure development globally and it would be shortsighted on the part of countries of the developing world in particular to allow extraneous considerations to negatively impact their ties with China. Besides, China's booming consumer markets should be seen by countries as an incentive to proliferate their exports to China. Thus, relations with China need to be based by states on mutual need and support. From this viewpoint, Sri Lanka is doing right by contnuing to conduct cordial ties with China. For the developing world, a policy of Non-alignment would best serve their interests.

However, national sovereignty would continue to be a vital consideration for powers such as Russia and China. With the need for increasing power and energy resources gripping the world's South in particular, the protection of national borders and the maintenance of control over territorial holdings that are seen as containing strategic material, such as oil and gas, would be important for the major powers of the South. This is one of the reasons why tensions erupt now and then in the South and East China Seas and adjacent regions. These factors also account, partly, for Russia's concern over what is happening on its eastern borders. However, confrontational attitudes over these questions on the part of international actors would only lead to global insecurity. International dialogue needs to be increasingly resorted to in oder to resolve these questions.

Exclusive - Secret meetings in Pakistan expose obstacles to Afghan peace talks

A member of Afghan security forces arrives at the site of a Taliban attack on a foreign aid workers' guest house in the Afghan capital of Kabul November 29, 2014.

BY JIBRAN AHMAD AND MEHREEN ZAHRA-MALIK-Thu Mar 12, 2015 

(Reuters) - Days after word leaked that the Afghan Taliban had signalled willingness to enter talks to end Afghanistan's long war, senior representatives of the militant group visited Islamabad for secret discussions on the next step forward.

   Exclusive - Secret Meetings in Pakistan Expose Obstacles to Afghan Peace Talks by Thavam Ratna

Muhammad Ali urges Iran to free jailed Post reporter Jason Rezaian

Muhammad Ali at the 2006 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Andreas Meier/Reuters file)

By J. Freedom du Lac-March 12 at 6:01 AM
American boxing legend Muhammad Ali has called on Iranian officials to release Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post correspondent who has been imprisoned since July.
Muhammad Ali Urges Iran to Free Jailed Post Reporter Jason Rezaian by Thavam Ratna