Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Friday, November 20, 2015

BUDGET 2016 FULL SPEECH & 


Untitled-4
Untitled-5
Untitled-7

Saturday, 21 November 2015
logoPREAMBLE 
Honourable Speaker, as the 20th Finance Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka it is not only a pleasure but also a privilege to present the 70th Budget of the country for the year 2016. The effervescent leadership and guidance of His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister Honourable Ranil Wickremesinghe have provided the ideal formula to generate a budget seeking excellence in all fronts. The 2016 Budget will go into the annals of history as the most significant budget ever to be presented as I represent a national Government of consensus united to create a new economic and social order for the benefit of all Sri Lankans, akin to the first Government of independent Sri Lanka which was truly a national government

No Arrest On Gota’s Torture Camp; Navy Silent


Colombo TelegraphNovember 20, 2015
A highly placed Navy official said today that the secret torture camp the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) is referring to could be the one commander Sampath Munasinghe, the personal bodyguard of the former Navy commander retired Admiral Wasantha Karannagodahad kept Tamil youth who were abducted in Colombo.
Navy Commander Wasantha KarannagodaThe officer who prefers not to be named said that the location where Munasinghe had kept prisoners too had been earlier used to store firearms.
The official said that he had no-knowledge of three Navy officers being arrested in connection with the recent revelations made by the UN working group, as claimed by some media. However he said that there was confusion within the Navy regarding the recent accusations.
The Navy officer pointed out that the UN groups claims during a media briefing in Colombo and the subsequent media reporting, especially by the foreign media drew a picture in the public mind that the said camp was a new finding, unearthed by the UN team.
Contrary to this notion the officer said that such torture chambers which existed during previous regimes time were discovered much earlier and was revealed in the media itself.
Trincomalee Naval Dockyard Secret Torture SiteHe said that the UN team was given wide access within the Navy base to visit any location they wished.
“The way the team presented facts before the media indicates that either they were highly excited about what they thought was a new finding or it demonstrates their lack of foresight and experience about local ground realities” he added.
The Navy official said that these torture chambers did not exist after 2011.
On October 21 the CID informed courts that 11 persons, mainly Tamil youth abducted by unidentified groups in Colombo and suburbs in 2008 – 2009, had been detained at the Trincomalee Navy camp.
       Read More

‘Tiger’s missing family reappears after more than five years’


By Mohamed Haniff- 


Members of a family who surrendered to the armed forces in 2009, had been dropped at their residence in Varani, Jaffna last week by some unknown persons, Leader of the Democratic People’s Liberation Front (DPLF) Dharmalingam Siddharthan said yesterday

"They are the wife and three children of prominent LTTE cadre Vinayagam," Siddharthan said, pointing-out that "Vinayagam’s wife had surrendered to the armed forces with her children at the end of the war in May 2009, and gone missing ever since and her whereabouts were not known to her relatives for the last six years."

Police spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, contacted for comment, said the Kodikamam Police OIC who had confirmed to him that the Police Station there had not got any such information about Vinayagar’s wife and children.

The Tamil politician from northern Sri Lanka said that the fate of those who had disappeared must be revealed.

"The number of missing persons has been give as 5,000 in the report on the Dead and Missing Persons Parents Form (DMPPF) handed over to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) and it was reasonably accurate, Siddharthan said.

"There are many who have not reported disappearances of their loved for fear of reprisal and, therefore, the figure could be higher than this,"he added.

The sudden reappearance of Vinayagam’s family after more than five years had given hope to the relatives of other missing persons, Siddharthan said.

Vinayagam is said to be living in France.

3 Navy men arrested over secret camp

3 Navy men arrested over secret camp

Lankanewsweb.netNov 20, 2015
Two officers and a rating have been arrested for questioning in connection with the UN-exposed secret camp within the Trincomalee naval base, ‘radiogagana.com’ reports.

A senior official said on condition of anonymity that the Navy was assisting the CID investigation.
He declined to identify the arrested persons.
The ITJP said in June 2015 that Lt. Commander K.C. Welagedara was the head of the the torture site known as ‘Gota’s camp’ until 2010, after which Lt. Commander Ranasinghe took over.
No longer exists
Meanwhile, the government says there no longer exists a secret camp as claimed by the UN working group on enforced and involuntary disappearance.
Foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Mahishani Kolonne told the media yesterday (19) that the government has informed the UNWGEID of is preparedness to investigate intimidation and harassment of any form.

Maithri ‘s good governance lorry with ‘Buddhu saranai’ board transports stolen cattle : Shame, Shame !


LEN logo(Lanka-e-News -20.Nov.2015, 5.00PM) It is a matter for deep regret that president Maithripala Sirisena who claims and proclaims to the world that he is  a president in favor  of good governance , is in fact with the rogues and rascals , and standing stripped nude shamelessly.
On the 15 th , Lanka e news published a report under the sub heading  ‘To rescue corrupt brother , UNPers who worked with commitment being  chased out’. Now , exactly as reported , so it has happened.
Krishantha Cooray and Thusitha Haloluwa, the  two honest individuals who worked hard with tremendous commitment to oust the Rajapakse regime since 2011 tail end ,  and Farook Feroz who most loyally dedicated himself on behalf of the UNP have now been expelled from the SLT Mobitel board of Directors , and a most corrupt notorious  scoundrel Wegapitiya has been  appointed.
Believe it or not , the same  unscrupulous  Wegapitiya who was expelled from the Mobitel Director board some months ago has been re appointed.
Haloluwa on the other hand was one who devoted all his time and efforts towards  defeating the Rajapakse regime. Because of threats to his life , he even had to  be out of the country on two occasions. Lanka e news has evidence in support of this . Krishantha Cooray was a UNP media Director . He was an individual who was best known for his rectitude having even sacrificed his UNP national list M.P. post .
Ordinarily , a Director is removed from his post  only if he is corrupt , a rogue, inefficient or he has caused loss to the Institution , whereas the three individuals mentioned above were dismissed because they opposed the  stealthy  corrupt activities of Maithri’s younger brother , and were antagonistic to them. It is this same group of clean individuals who opposed Ranjith Roobasinghe and Wegapitiya , the corrupt and crooked rascals  under the Rajapakse era .
The most rudely shocking and reprehensible part is the appointment of Wegapitiya  again to the SLT board of Directors.    
May we remind , Wegapitiya was the one who jointly with the Rajapakses committed frauds in the share market .A case in point  is : Wegapitiya , the owner of Laugfs gas , arranged and sold its worthless shares of Rs. 16.00 each at a higher price of Rs. 45.00 to  Central Bank itself, and  pocketed the large sum of money collected thereby. Owing to this manipulated  fraud ,a steep price drop resulted -the price falling to Rs. 15.00 per share.Through this organized fraud , Wegapitiya and Rajapakses  got together and swindled the bank and the country.
Wegapitiya was also ousted from Mobitel Co. on another fraud .  The Malaysian Co . which is a share holder of Mobitel was made to consent  to this fraud. Wegapitiya while he was the Director of the Mobitel he threatened the financial controller of the Malaysian Co. to accept the tender bid of a company belonging to Wegapitiya in order  to secure the tender  for the supply of generators  . Wegapitiya while being a Director of the Mobitel Co. securing a tender order of Mobitel  to  his own private  Co. for the supply of generators is an absolute fraud . 
It is a crucial question tehrefore , why Maithripala has need tp appoint  Wegapitiya the notorious fraudster again to the Telecom Co. against whom there  are cases  even now at the FCID pertaining to the share market , and other frauds?
Is it because Maithri and his younger brother are unable to be without Wegapitiya  ? Why have they turned  so shameless and unscrupulous as to perform acts  even worse than stripping  nude in public ……?
Hereunder is one reason for that ….
Every vehicle that travels along   the roads in Sri Lanka must obtaiin a smoke certificate .In other countries this has to be obtained once in two years , but in SL it has to be obtained annually. There is a fee of Rs. 1200.00 levied on  motorcycles. In SL there are only 2 Companies that issue the smoke certificates. Of them , one company belongs to Wegapitiya. There are about 4.5 million vehicles in SL. If the least charge of Rs. 1200.00 per vehicle  is applied  ,the total amount is Rs.5400 million. During the Rajapakse era the 5 % commission of this  went to line the pockets of the ‘babies’ of Rajapakse. However now this commission has shot up to 10 % ( to keep abreast of the rising prices of commodities?), which in rupees works out to Rs. 540 million . This illicit commission  is now coolly collected by the two ‘Baby Siras’
So , this being the fact sheet , it is apparent , no matter how egregiously corrupt Wegapitiya is , Sirisenas cannot be without Wegapitiya ,his massive frauds notwithstanding . Birds of a feather can  only flock together , but only  rogues together  who can rob and also  rock and roll together. 
Though Harin Fernando is the  minister he is stranded . Being not of the same ilk as the Sirisenas , he cannot join in with the rogues to rob together or rock and roll together . Moreover , Harin ‘s place is taken over by Maithripala’s younger brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena despite the fact the latter is only the chairman of Mobitel.
While saying the government must be rescued  Harin has been made  a puppet . But , surely the people who committed themselves and made sacrifices on behalf of good governance have no need to become puppets nor should they allow that to happen. The people must by now know, in the future in  the lorries of Maithripala’s good governance journey  , stolen cattle will only be transported, though the board displayed on the lorry is ‘Buddhu saranai ‘ 


---------------------------
by     (2015-11-20 12:47:59)
Making Sri Lanka a knowledge and services hub

logoFriday, 20 November 2015
Education attainment in Sri Lanka, which in the early ’50s and ’60s, maybe up to the mid-70s, was better than that of countries like Malaysia, Singapore or South Korea, has now fallen behind, undermining the country’s growth prospects. 
Human capital needs to be a strategic driver for inclusive economic growth to help Sri Lanka to become competitive. Sri Lanka certainly has the potential to become a knowledge hub in South Asia if we address our skills issues, before countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh get their act together. dfjh
A knowledge hub is generally a location where you can source skills and capabilities for the creation of products, services, and knowledge and also for the creation of wealth. Some countries have targeted industries so that the country and the economy will be known for a particularly industry. For example:
Ireland and China – Manufacturing
Dubai – Tourism 
India – Knowledge processing
Singapore – Financial services 
Switzerland – Pharmaceutical
Therefore, the above examples reveal that when a country targets an industry, investments may flow into the country to nurture and grow that industry.


Creating a knowledge hub  
Becoming a knowledge hub would require the following building blocks:
A) A focus on that knowledge – e.g., R&D in a particular industry sector.
B) A pool of experts and thought leaders. Especially, experts in a particular area (e.g., management or leadership for a region). For an example, Singapore’s vision is to become a human capital knowledge hub building a centre (Human Capital Institute) and also publishing books to create and sell knowledge. Singapore is striving to be recognised as the knowledge hub for South East Asia. The Government and the private sector would however need to provide financial support; provide the cases and experiences, and academia (and/or consulting) provides ideas. This combination of players would enable new ideas to be generated and distributed. 
Sri Lanka could work towards becoming the centre for transaction processing’ considering the large pool of world-class accountants the country has and is turning out annually. Other services can be structured around that industry creating new opportunities for Sri Lankan workers. Another potential opportunity could be high-end garment manufacturing.


Sri Lanka strategy
However, to create a strong knowledge hub the country needs to build its strategy and investments around:
nSkills and capabilities that the markets/investors require. Therefore our higher education needs to be more effective and focused on targeted industries. Higher education success is often tied to investments in both physical facilities (campus, technology, infrastructure) and faculty resources. In many ways physical education investments are easier, requiring money and space. Acquiring faculty resources becomes more difficult, but better qualified faculty is key to better-qualified students. Increasing faculty quality may come from alliances with top universities in other countries and/or from sponsoring faculty to gain credibility and reputation through world-class research. 
nInfrastructure (universities, the VTCs, facilities, networks, research labs, housing, social infrastructure, etc.)
nCreating the right policy framework to attract knowledge hunters, creators, manufacturers and developers.
Generally, investment dollars flow to economies where there is growth so that the country will grow and the investment will have a return. This means that emerging economies would get foreign investment to put together the infrastructure. Moreover, most of the investment goes to infrastructure since these are the pathways for economic growth.


Key challenge
Finally, the biggest challenge would be to get all agencies and the private sector to work towards a common goal i.e. to create the skills and capabilities that the hubs demand. 
Today many young people coming out of secondary education: only 25% attend higher education, where access is very low and inequitable. Of which too large a share of students are in humanities and arts relative to sciences/engineering (50% vs. 17%); great variation in quality and abysmal quality of External Degree Programs (40% of total enrolment) another 30% enrol in TVET with low quality and relevance to market needs the remaining 45% will have limited opportunity to acquire further job-specific skills (except on the job market).
On the other hand employers see skills shortage as a major constraint; and question the quality and relevance of general education, TVET and higher education. Therefore, the national education strategy needs to take into account that skill building is a continuous process starting from early childhood: “Skills beget skills” along the life-cycle. Focusing only on the end of the education cycle may be too late and not address the core issues. 
To address these issues we would need to have one powerful body/person with a clear mind to take control of education from primary to higher education and then ensure the entire system works together. Singapore did this very well in the ’80s and continues reinvent their policies to attract over 40,000 skilled people in to their country annually. 
In summary, Sri Lanka does not have enough of the right skills, and not enough skilled people; we need to address this challenge without delay if are to realise our vision. 

(The writer is a thought leader in HR.)
- See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/498825/Making-Sri-Lanka-a-knowledge-and-services-hub#sthash.PDuqcrfn.dpuf

Achieving Full Employment


By Hema Senanayake –November 20, 2015
Hema Senanayake
Hema Senanayake
Colombo Telegraph
Full employment is an economic situation in which virtually all who are able and willing to work are employed. Some economists consider that having less than 3% of unemployment rate as full employment. At least due to two important reasons any meaningful economic reform should target to achieve full employment, not one million jobs, as has been promised by the new government.
I concluded last week’s column as follows: “Near zero unemployment rate has nothing to do with the growth level of an economy. Yet, it has something to do with human imagination.” This intimates that the full employment is a possibility now.
Unemployment is an issue in many economies around the world. But it is not an issue for all the countries. Most importantly, during the Great Recession of 2008 and in subsequent years, Austria resolved the issue of growing unemployment successfully by using a novel approach. In other words Austria achieved full employment in a difficult period of time while many other European countries posted severe unemployment rates.
For example Spain reported over 20% unemployment when Austria has been reporting almost full employment. The approach is simple; Austria devised a policy mechanism to share the employments available in the country. They deviated from the rule of eight-hour workday and sometimes they deviated from the five-day workweek. We all agree that the country’s economic output is produced with a certain number of work hours of all kind. Now, can we devise a methodology to share the working hours among all prospective employees? Yes, we can. The result is that we will have full employment. This is a resolved question now at least by one country. Let us discuss what is not resolved. Hence, in this column I want to focus on something else assuming that we can achieve full employment.
At least two important economic objectives can be achieved only if we can have full employment. One is that we can prevent in indulging extreme consumerism. Second is that we can have the best possible economic efficiency only if we can have full employment. In this article, I will focus on the issue of extreme consumerism. Perhaps in next week’s column we will address the issue of economic efficiency.Read More

Stories of Senadhipathi, Doctor, Double Doctor and others

Editorial: The Shadow Rulers!

excl_image_avant_garde_SLG
(November 20, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr. Rajitha Senaratne, a doctor cum politician played a remarkable role when President Maithripala Sirisena, then the Minister of Health, walked out of the ruling party to be the common candidate in last Presidential Election. Subsequently he has jumped into the role of the spokesman of the political movement for “good governance”, then he was “appointed” as the cabinet spokesman of the government. However, does that mean the government should crouch at him to do whatever he wishes and say whichever he believes?
As the cabinet “spokesman”, he lied to the public. Everybody knows that. His statements not only contain untruths but also express prejudices.
By the time, Rajitha accumulated power, his son, who dreamed to defeat the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, later stood behind him put his tale on the right tracks so that he could at least to win a seat in the parliament, too turn a forefront “roller” of the government.
While Rajitha, was showing his Trojan heroism, his son was being a jockey on the Trojan horse. None of their role plays are important to this nation and none of them will have benefits to the ordinary citizen. However, there will be benefits for those who are conspiring for other ‘businesses’.
The actions and reactions by this parental and filial politics are creating different and possibly danger to the government. It is not only the nepotism, but exact opposite to the good governance principles. Rajitha and his son are enjoying the impunity to hoodwink the public.
We do not believe that Rajitha has the capacity to be an authentic spokesman to the government. There is enough material prevailing on his track record and his carelessness on serious issues. If the government needs to have a windbag as the spokesman then one could realise there nothing serious going on in this government too.
Let’s talk about the Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd (AGMS) controversy. It is not only those who are guardians of the Avant Garde that lied to the people but those who are supposed to be exposing unlawful activities on behalf of the government also distorted the facts.
The Sri Lanka Navy did not take over the business but rather halted the transactions on weapons after directed by the President as they found unlawful activities of AGMS.
However, it is better to understand the role played by the Navy in the case of Avant Garde as there are many distorted facts are being circulated.
As the only organisation in Sri Lanka entrusted with Maritime Security, or part of our National Security; the Sri Lanka Navy is concerned with one main thing. That is the Sri Lanka Navy cannot allow any weapon (whether it’s a AK47 or long range sniper weapon) coming to our country by sea to be kept by a Private Security Company. So, as per Presidential Directive, Sri Lanka Navy will handle all weapon transactions in the country and in our territorial waters. Sri Lanka Navy is not interested on other affairs. All other affairs are handled by Shipping Companies; the government owned Ratna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd (RALL).
At the moment the Sri Lanka Navy has taken over the weapons only in MV Mahanuwara which are all foreign owned weapons under AGMS. They are all legal weapons. The Sri Lanka Navy cannot take over weapons in the MV Avant Grade as it is detained by the CID for carrying illegal weapons (which AGMS say belong to RALL) due to the fact that the registration numbers of these weapons were changed, altered or defaced intentionally. The Government Analyst report is awaited to frame charges on gunrunning and other criminal charges against AGMS. The Sri Lanka Navy have a separate armory of RALL in the Galle Dakshina Naval Base with legal RALL weapons. The Sri Lanka Navy is using them; but not the weapons on board MV Avent Grade as the ship is sealed by CID until investigations are over.
However, later it was exposed that the cabinet spokesman too was bribed by the head of the AGMS, Mr. Nissanaka Senadhipathi, a former security officer, turned billionaire. Nonetheless, being a fox in politics, the spokesman quickly countered the allegation by producing yet another audio tape. This saga will continue with producing nothing but making events in political vulgarism. This is not the good governance people were expected. We are not going to write about the double doctor as we have previously written.
We suggests it is time for the President and the Prime Minister to have kindergarten type class where the all the members of the government are ask to join. In the class the Prime Minister or President could ask that anyone who has not taken a bribe from Nissanaka Senadhipathi, should raise his hand. It seems like almost everyone was bribed, one way or another the AGMS.
Despite paying 580 Million to the Sri Lanka Navy, AGMS head gave millions of Rupees in bribes to maintain the monopoly. Crying over the loss of over 12,000 jobs, is yet another outrageously distorted static to seek sympathy over the public.
The bottom line is that, not only the formation of the AGMS but all the way to its downfall has shown the foetid culture of the business and politics in Sri Lanka. In other words, this is yet another company created to make certain people rich at the cost of the country.
How can the good governance be possible when the subjects within are being bribed and playing the significant roles to bamboozle the public?
Are the ordinary citizen in this country innocent bystanders in a land of thieves?
Isn’t it a tragic comedy, Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister?

At least 20 hostages dead in siege of hotel in Mali, official says



Gunmen stormed into the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, early in the morning on Nov. 20. Authorities say at least 20 died in the attack. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)


By Kodji SibyKevin Sieff and Brian Murphy-November 20


BAMAKO, Mali — Security forces swept through a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital on Friday, freeing hostages and surrounding militants who killed at least 20 people in the latest bloodshed apparently linked to the country’s battles against Islamist insurgents.

Israeli revenge demolitions leave 2 dead, dozens homeless

Mourners carry the bodies of Ahmad Abu al-Aish and Laith Manasrah during their funeral in Qalandiya refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah on 16 November.
Abu Shahin family home after it was razed by Israeli forces in Qalandiya refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah on 16 November.

Ali Abunimah-20 November 2015
Israeli occupation forces wrought death, injury and destruction this week as they carried out revenge demolitions of Palestinian homes and fired on protesters.
Saudi court sentences poet to death for apostasy

Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh was first arrested after a reader complained his work could encourage atheism 
Ashraf Fayadh (R) was initially arrested in 2013 but released after a day due to lack of evidence (Twitter) 

Friday 20 November 2015
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for renouncing his religious faith, according to documents seen by Human Rights Watch.
Ashraf Fayadh was handed the sentence on Tuesday on charges of “doubting the existence of God,” according to court documents seen by the group’s Saudi Arabia researcher, Adam Coogle.
Fayadh, who was born to Palestinian parents but grew up in the Gulf kingdom, was arrested by religious police in late 2013 after a reader complained that one of his books, his 2008 poetry collection Inner Teachings, could encourage people to renounce Islam.
Fayadh, now 50, was released after a day due to lack of evidence, but was rearrested in January 2014 in the southwestern city of Abha.
The poet was arrested in a coffee shop after watching a game of football, and was threatened with being deported to Gaza, his father told France24 at the time.
Fayadh was initially sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes, but an appeal judge this week increased the sentence, handing down the death penalty.
The exact charges under which Fayadh was initially held were not made clear, although some have suggested that his arrest was linked to his publication of a video showing religious police in Abha beating a young man in public.
The arrest of Fayadh, also an expressionist artist who has shown his work in government-sponsored exhibitions, sparked anger last year, with hundreds of artists and writers signing a petition calling for his release.
Following news of the death sentence against Fayadh, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information put out an urgent call for charges against him to be dropped.
Saudi Arabia has put to death nearly 150 people so far this year, the highest figure in two decades.
Most people are executed by beheading with a sword, a method Saudi authorities say is more humane than other alternatives.
Public executions remain common – filming such events is illegal, but activists recently circulated rare footage that captured a triple beheading.
The vast majority of death penalties handed down in the kingdom are for either non-violent drugs offences or murder, although there are exceptions.
The case of Ali al-Nimr, sentenced to death aged 17 after taking part in peaceful protests, has sparked an international outcry, with David Cameron, the British prime minister, stepping in to urge Saudi authorities not to carry out the execution.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-court-sentences-poet-death-apostasy-1131443482#sthash.sogI4o2U.dpuf
It’s Not a War on Terror, it’s a War on Intelligence...
syria kid massare1
By Anthony Evans
November 18, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - When listening to Obama’s UN address recently I couldn’t help but get annoyed at listening to lie after lie wrapped up in new speak. I was frustrated at thinking, how could a world leader of his calibre address an international audience of other world leaders with a distorted rhetoric that any slightly informed person could very quickly see through. After examining my annoyance I realised he wasn’t addressing the world leaders present, but in fact was addressing the US corporate media for the purpose of reinforcing the US government’s cover story with the American people, and what a cover story it is i.e. we’re the good guys bringing world peace through extreme violence, creating terrorists and failed states in our wake, dividing cultures on religious and ethnic grounds, and any one that doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism and our right to police the world (regardless of international law), are our enemies.
If one accepts the cover story it makes sense to send thousands of armed young men and women to a country with no history of being a threat to America, wiping out its infrastructure, turning it into a failed state and ultimately being responsible for millions of deaths and refugees, as in the case of Libya, Iraq, and now Syria.
However, acceptance of the cover story becomes a lot more difficult when one chooses to undertake basic research into the global chess game presently being played out. When the evidence from reliable sources is analysed Obama’s cover story starts to look more like a piece of fiction equivalent to a Harry Potter story, albeit, a lot more scary.
Acceptance of a political cover story can be seen as a by-product of excessive trust, and belief in the politicians delivering it, and an almost devotional attitude to the political parties they represent. This same devotional commitment can also be seen amongst football supporters and committed followers of a particular religions. If I commit myself to becoming a Manchester United supporter then in my mind no other football team will exist, except as the enemy, and I will follow my team without question through the good and bad times; as with religion.
The publics’ inability to examine the political lies being presented to them on a daily basis, stems from this unhealthy belief and devotion they have towards political parties, and it’s this, ‘I believe’ mentality that has always been our greatest barrier to constructive public political debate. The dangers associated with this type of devotion and belief in politicians can be best summed up in the saying, “belief is the enemy of intelligence”, and how well that statement rings true.
We seem to have a compulsion to surrender to a collective social experience, governed by some form of hereditary leadership, or supposedly elected governments’, which when examined amounts to nothing more than consented slavery and it is here where the social manipulation of the masses begins.
The US Government’s interpretation of present international affairs, that is; were good guys fighting for justice and democracy in every corner of the world, forms the foundation of the cover story distributed to the masses through the government’s propaganda machine.
What the cover story is to the political and nationalistic devotee, is pretty much the same as to what the bible is to a devoted Christian. This bibliolatry like worship of a false historical narrative, and a distorted view of current affairs plays a crucial role in developing the framework for devotees to hang their programmed beliefs on e.g. the American Dream. But the government rhetoric, as with the bible, never seems to hold up well under close scrutiny or academic enquiry.
The ongoing escalation of events in the Middle East presented by Obama during his address to the UN is reinforced and distributed in various edited forms almost on a daily basis; like an ever changing bizarre script of a morning TV soapy.
Peoples’ unquestioning blind faith towards important domestic and global issues facing countries like America continues to keep populations ignorant to the real global drama currently being played out, and is bringing us ever closer to WW3. All of this is achieved through successful propagandizing and the creation of a number of false enemies as a way of exercising greater control over the population.
It has been shown time and time again that the corporate sponsored politicians are not responsible for developing the policies that govern us. The cover stories are created to support oligarchic rhetoric that is then echoed through the corporate media. All of this is only made possible through the blind faith and obedience of the followers, and the football supporter mentality they adopt.
I get surprised at respected commentators showing bewilderment at the general publics’ complete apathy towards examining glaring issues and government policies, and their acceptance of cover stories riddled with holes. However, if one understands that our human ability to surrender and become obedient to a particular god, guru, football club or political party; is the one human quality used the most to manipulate and subdue the masses, then this epidemic of apathy prevailing society becomes easier to understand.

Additionally, when we realise the long term strategy of our present global oligarchy regarding the dumbing down of populations and allowing only limited exposure to non-bias government reporting of domestic and global issues, it becomes even more evident as to why there’s such a widespread acceptance of a distorted view of reality. I think Hitler hit the nail on the head when he said; “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”. Well the lies are certainly being toted regularly, and the magnitude of these lies would certainly be on par with, if not surpass, anything Hitler had previously delivered.

If we compare the Nuremberg rallies promoting Nazi exceptionalism with that of a Republican or Democratic Party conventions preaching a similar theme, it gets very hard to make the distinction between the two events. This lack of distinction reminds me of the end of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm where the worker animals are looking through the window at the pigs and humans arguing, and the animals looking on start to have trouble distinguishing between the two species. This inability to distinguish the good guys and the bad guys also applies very aptly when comparing a succession of US governments with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Another comparison with the Nuremberg rallies is that our present generation seems to have the same religious like devotion to their leaders as the Germans had with Hitler, and that same unquestioning acceptance of the distorted rhetoric delivered to them.

To get a rational person to understand issues through sensible debate and presenting credible evidence is relatively easy compared to debating with someone formulating their argument based entirely on a belief system. This has been seen many times with televised debates between academics and religious believers on the topic of God, where the outcome is always a stalemate on the part of the participants.

We live in a world where truth has become the elephant in the room, and nobody wants to talk about it. There’s also our present War-On-Terror, which should be renamed to reflect its true nature to the War-On-Intelligence. If this situation is to change it will require a mass awakening and a suspension of political beliefs, as well as some active self and social enquiry.

Whether it’s possible for a Manchester United supporter to drop their team in favour of just enjoying the game at its best, or whether a political devotee could drop their party in favour of just looking the policies and issues being presented to them, it’s hard to say, but I try and stay optimistic.
Click for SpanishGermanDutchDanishFrench, translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
Hollander and Putin turned Kurdish City of Raqqa into a slaughter house


Hollander and Putin turned Kurdish City of Raqqa into a slaughter house
Innocent children killed by French and Russian aerial bombardment
It is time for French society to realize its own shortcomings. If it chooses to remain at war in the Middle East, if keeps treating its Muslim population as second-class citizens, it cannot shed crocodile tears when innocent civilians are suffering the consequences of its disastrous politics. "Nuking" them all, directly with air strikes or figuratively with more social alienation, will not work this time around.

Professor Victoria Fontan , Director of the Centre for Peace and Human Security at The American University of 
Kurdistan and a Doctoral Candidate in War Studies at King’s College London
logoBy Latheef Farook : 
Within 24 hours after  Paris attacks on 13 Friday 2015, French President Francis Hollander launched a full scale aerial bombardment of Kurdish Muslim city of Raqqa  under the guise of fighting ISIS.