Give May Day back to the ‘Saadukin Pelenawun’
2017-04-28

With the social revolution in 1956, the then Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike—activating the ‘Pancha Maha Balawegaya’ comprising the Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi, Kamkaru—declared May Day as a holiday and provided many benefits for millions of workers and their families. There were short term and long term benefits, the most important being the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)  which unfortunately during the past decade or so has been plundered and abused by some political leaders and their business lackeys.  

After the assassination of Mr. Bandaranaike on September 26, 1959, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party played an active role for the workers and their trade unions and memorable rallies were held with party leaders and workers marching to the inspiring words of “Sadukin Pelenawun Den Ithin Negetiyawu, Antheema Satanta Sarasiyawu...” While the LSSP and the CP gave leadership to the workers mainly in the public sector the veteran trade union hero Bala Tampoe through the Ceylon Mercantile Union obtained a multitude of benefits for the workers in the private sector.  

 
However with the emergence of the J.R. Jayawardena era in 1977 when Sri Lanka swallowed wholesale the globalised crony capitalists market economic system, trade unions were gradually marginalised. The most devastating blow came in July 1980 when thousands of strikers were sacked. Years later some settlement was reached to give them compensation but the prophetic Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe, a social justice activist, described that deal as a compromise where justice ended and charity began. During the past few decades we have seen a backstage political coup where May Day had been hijacked from the working class and taken over by party political leaders for a big circus or a show of force.   

This year the situation appears to be worse. With the Sri Lanka Freedom Party split down the middle, the ruling party and its rival fractions, the Joint Opposition, are claiming they would hire busses and bring lakhs of people to Gatambe in Kandy and to the Galle Face Green in Colombo. The ruling United National Party (UNP) which now gives a prominent role to its trade union wing the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya is also planning a massive rally to be held at Campbell Park in Borella. How wonderful it would have been if the National Unity government announced something like a Rs. 10,000 bonus for all workers to mark May Day.   

It is tragic that even on May Day the vital role played by workers—ranging from the plantation community to the young hi-tech executives in the private sector—is undermined and damaged with liquor flowing freely and drunken participants blocking roads or causing other inconveniences to the people. 

We urge some deep reflection for a change of attitude or approach where the workers’ vital role is recognised by both public and private sector institutions. Happy and well-paid workers will work with sincerity and commitment helping the public and private institutions to be more productive and profitable. Trade union leaders also need to change their attitude. As we have often said, rights are linked to responsibilities. To the extent we fail to carry out our responsibilities, to that extent we forfeit our rights. This needs to be stressed because since January 8, 2015, we have seen far too many instances of the abuse of freedom. In recent months specially an extreme left wing students’ union appears to be provoking thousands of university students to hold demonstrations on the SAITM issue, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of people at peak times on highways.   
Even last Monday’s short lived strike by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation workers was not a fight for their rights but a challenge to economic policy issues which are the responsibility of an elected government. As for the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), the less said about it the better.

We hope political and trade union leaders in consultation with workers, will be able to revive the spirit of May Day and the workers will get many more short or long term benefits such as the EPF.

No permission obtained for Basil’s ‘Malwana palace’!

Apr 27, 2017

No permission whatsoever had been obtained from Dompe Pradeshiya Sabha for the construction of the ‘Malwana Palance’ in a 16 acre area on the banks of Kelani owned by former economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa, say sources in the PS. Therefore, the construction and the land should in fact belong to the Dompe PS, say the sources. This legal situation was the reason for the cabinet’s decision to halt the sale in public auction of this property without an owner.

The person in charge of the construction work was architect Muditha Jayakody, who claims himself to be the modern Jeffrey Bawa. He had the power to construct any building without any permission during that regime.

 

He had even paid taxes to the inland revenue commissioner by claiming the ownership, but later requested a reimbursement, saying it was a mistake. This clearly is a ridiculing of the law. Worse still is that on the FCID’s instructions, Jayakody was made a state witness against Basil and Tiru Nadesan.

 

Legal experts say Basil and Tiru are getting the state’s support to win the case easily. In the end, what will happen is that Basil will become, from zero, to hero. This will also pave the way for Basil’s black money to be made whiter than white. 

 

The suspects in the case will be indicted at the Colombo high court on May 03.

Lonely Planet erases Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan

The Lonely Planet website highlights sites in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights as “Top experiences in Israel.”

Al-Marsad-26 April 2017

Why has Lonely Planet – publisher of the popular travel guidebooks – erased Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights?

Following the 1967 War, 66 percent of the Syrian Golan – a land mass slightly smaller than Greater London – has been militarily occupied by Israel.

Its mountainous terrain, forests and rivers means that it is an area of stunning natural beauty, home to a variety of wildlife, including a species of wolf found only in the region. As such, it is no surprise that the Golan has attracted vast numbers of Israeli tourists since its occupation.

Indeed, the Golan has long been promoted by the Israeli government and tourism industry that market it as “Northern Israel,” even referring to it as the “Israeli Texas” due to its size. In 1968, just one year after the occupation, the region received 150,000 visitors. By 2005 this figure had reached approximately 1.5 million people.

Consequently, tourism represents a major part of the Israeli settlement economy in the Golan. Promoted activities include hiking, camping, biking, horse riding, wine tasting and fruit picking, among many others. Visitors can choose from a range of accommodation on travel websites that includes “rural guesthouses,” boutique hotels, log cabins, bed and breakfasts and camping sites. Such activities and accommodation are almost all found in settlements or are owned by settlers.

Promoting tourism in settlements

International law makes it clear that the Golan is not part of Israel and that Israeli settlements are illegal. However, given their continued expansion and Israel’s efforts to cement its hold on the Golan, it is not surprising that the government and tourism industry market the Golan as “Northern Israel” and promote tourism activities in Israeli settlements.

International travel companies such as Lonely Planet, Booking.com and Airbnb – among others – also misleadingly describe the Golan as part of Israel and promote accommodation and tourism in illegal Israeli settlements.

When Al-Marsad, a human rights group in the occupied Golan, came across the Lonely Planet website last year, it was shocked to discover that Majdal Shams, the largest of the five remaining Syrian villages in the territory, was categorized as being in Israel.

Al-Marsad obtained a copy of the guidebook – Israel & the Palestinian Territories – and found that the misrepresentation of the Golan was even worse. The Golan features in a shared chapter with the Upper Galilee region of Israel – “Upper Galilee & Golan” – that provides just two paragraphs on its history and no contemporary information about its occupation by Israel.

It does not explain that the United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s unilateral annexation of the Golan in 1981 as an illegal act under international law, a position reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly each year. Further, there is no mention of the human rights violations suffered by the remaining native Syrian population, and that there are at least 23,000 Israeli settlers living in 34 illegal settlements.

On the contrary, many of the recommended activities and places to eat and stay provided in the chapter and on the website are located in these illegal Israeli settlements, or as Lonely Planet describes them: “small, middle-class communities.”

One such suggested activity is skiing on Mount Hermon – “Israel’s only ski station” – following which visitors could stay in Neve Ativ, described as the “closest thing Israel has to a Swiss Alpine village.”

Although potential visitors are kindly warned by Lonely Planet that in Neve Ativ “[bed and breakfast] prices rise in winter because of heating costs,” there is no mention that Neve Ativ is an illegal Israeli settlement built on the ruins of the Syrian village of Jubata al-Zeit.

Jubata al-Zeit fell victim to the development of Mount Hermon, an early project in the Golan after the Israeli occupation began. Following advice from Israel’s Nature Reserves Authority in January 1968 – just six months after the 1967 War – that the mountain’s snow makes it “a unique site for the citizens of Israel,” a new government body, the Hermon Authority, was established under military jurisdiction and plans initiated for the development of a ski resort.

This involved the destruction of Jubata al-Zeit, the main Syrian village on the mountain’s slopes, whose at least 1,500 residents were forcibly transferred and forbidden from returning after the village was designated a closed military zone.

340 villages and farms destroyed

Ultimately, Jubata al-Zeit would number among the 340 Syrian villages and farms in the Golan destroyed by Israel following the 1967 occupation. These would be replaced by Israeli settlements, often using the same stones from the destroyed villages and farms. But this is not mentioned by Lonely Planet.

Al-Marsad wrote to Lonely Planet to express its concern and was very disappointed by the company’s response. Lonely Planet’s explanation for its coverage of the Golan is inconsistent and it would not commit to making simple changes to address these issues.

Regarding its omission of basic facts about the Israeli occupation of the Golan, Lonely Planet said that it that had provided “relevant information in the introduction to the Golan Heights section to inform travelers’ decisions, but to give further detailed political or historical analysis wouldn’t be appropriate for a travel guidebook.” However, this information is provided for the section of the guidebook on the West Bank – explicitly stating that it is under military occupation – which calls into question why Lonely Planet treats the Golan differently.

Lonely Planet attempts to justify on its website categorizing the Golan as being in Israel by stating that “since the Golan is annexed by Israel and travelers can pass freely within this region, while they cannot pass from Syria to the Golan, it makes more sense from a traveler’s perspective to categorize the destination with Israel on our website.”

This is not a credible explanation, when the Golan could have an independent section and website address on the Lonely Planet website, as is the case for the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations Security Council recently reminded states to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.” Despite this clear message that the Golan is not part of Israel, many international travel companies such as Lonely Planet fail to make this distinction.

Given the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Golan under international human rights and humanitarian law, international travel companies that promote accommodation and tourism in illegal Israeli settlements for their own profit are – as a corollary – either involved in or indirectly facilitating activities that result in the violation of fundamental human rights.

Until Lonely Planet recognizes its responsibilities, many travelers to the region will continue to be misinformed about the Golan and the reality of its occupation by Israel.

Al-Marsad is a human rights organization based in Majdal Shams, occupied Syrian Golan Heights. It is the only human rights organization operating in the region.

‘The Planes Have Destroyed Us’

America says its airstrikes are helping liberate Iraqis from the Islamic State. Residents of Mosul give a very different account.

BY SAM KIMBALL-APRIL 27, 2017

MOSUL, Iraq — Our pickup was inching along, weaving past craters in a road that brief eruptions of rain had turned into mud and streams of residents trying to escape the fighting, into the city’s western neighborhoods. Two local men then hopped in the truck, guiding us away from snipers ahead and to the neighborhood of al-Jadida. We descended from the truck into a street that was chillingly calm, and largely intact, but for the bullet marks pocking the walls.

The thud of explosives and the crack of rifles sounded only blocks away, as Iraqi Security Forces traded machine gun and artillery fire with Islamic State militants. One resident of the town, Samir Saleh, guided us deeper into his neighborhood. After a hasty walk past piles of rubble and burned-out cars, we reached a street where almost every house had been smashed. It was as though a wrecking ball had rolled down the street. Shattered concrete spilled out from the row of structures on either side and collapsed roofs sloped down to the ground, crushing vehicles parked on the street under them. The homes had been destroyed, Saleh said, by airstrikes.

Air power has been instrumental in the fight against the Islamic State since the war began in the summer of 2014. A U.S.-led coalition of 13 countries, along with Iraqi military forces, has tried to cripple the Islamic State’s operations and fighting abilities from the sky. The intensity of the air campaign has grown dramatically since military operations to oust Islamic State fighters from Mosul began in October.

These airstrikes have been a key reason that the Islamic State has lost over 50,000 square kilometers of territory in Syria and Iraq over the past three years, leaving the jihadi group holding on to less than 7 percent of Iraqi territory, according to the U.S. Central Command’s Operation Inherent Resolve media office. But these strikes are emerging as a double-edged sword, threatening to embitter Iraqi civilians and undermine the very gains they have enabled.

“If they stopped the airstrikes, that would be better,” said Ghania Hassan, a resident of the al-Jadida neighborhood. “The coalition has destroyed us.”

Hassan has good reason to hate the coalition airstrikes. On March 2, Islamic State militants barged into her home at 5 a.m. and took her and others to another home, where she was packed in with what she believes were well over 100 others in the basement. This may have been an attempt to use the civilians as human shields.

In the basement, Hassan and the group listened to Islamic State fighters firing machine guns nearby. She said that the owner of the house, a man named Abu Imad Ayad, knew his home might be struck by airplanes because of the Islamic State fighters firing all around it, and that he and his son climbed to the roof and tried to signal to the air force not to fire on them.

But at 11 a.m., a missile screeched in and the house crumbled on top of her.

She said God is the only reason she survived.

She said God is the only reason she survived.

“They went up to the roof and were saying, ‘Don’t shoot.’ Then the house fell, and both died,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Hassan said neighbors pulled her out — and would eventually excavate 56 bodies from the rubble. She maintains that it wasn’t just one missile, but several, that fell on the homes of al-Jadida. “House upon house fell,” she said.

Airwars, an organization that tracks the air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, has cataloged between 1,308 and 2,435 claims of civilians killed by coalition airstrikes in Mosul in March alone, with between 156 and 355 of those killed being noncombatants. The most prominent of these is an alleged U.S. airstrike on March 17 that may have killed more than 200 people, which would be the highest civilian death toll from a single strike since the air war against the Islamic State began. But the real scope of the destruction and death wrought by coalition airstrikes remains unclear — and may be larger than the West yet understands.

The testimonies of Hassan and other neighbors about the March 17 airstrike in al-Jadida don’t always line up with the details of the incident frequently reported in Western media and are sometimes inconsistent with one another. There are regular disagreements on when airstrikes occurred, the extent of the bombardments, and whether Islamic State fighters were present at the scene of the attacks. But residents of al-Jadida agree on one basic point: that a series of airstrikes struck their town over several days — not one single strike, as official reports state — claiming hundreds of civilian lives.

Those testimonies are difficult to corroborate because it’s still dangerous to conduct any firsthand investigation. Though the frontline has since moved farther into the city, the neighborhood is not completely secure. Islamic State militants and Iraqi soldiers were still exchanging fire around the strike site when Foreign Policy visited, and unexploded ordnance lay under the twisted rebar and concrete.

Residents of the town, however, are still adamant that official reports are not telling the full truth about their ordeal.

“For 12 days, the [military ground] operations were not moving forward and the planes struck for 12 days on these homes,” said Bashar Abu Ammar, an al-Jadida resident sitting beside Hassan, referring to the street full of homes that had been destroyed.

Abu Ammar said the strikes occurred before and after the oft-cited strike on March 17.

He also claimed that the strikes became more intense, less accurate, and much more deadly when the Iraqi forces entered the neighborhood, and residents found themselves on the frontline.

“Before, it was good,” he said. “They used to strike precisely. That was before the army came. The army arrives in a neighborhood, stays for three or four days, and everyone around them suffers.”

The confusion about the number, and identities, of people killed in the strike, or series of strikes, in al-Jadida was only compounded when Iraqi military authorities banned journalists from entering western Mosul after news of the deaths became a scandal. Since March 23, when news began to emerge of massive civilian deaths due to airstrikes, foreign reporters have been halted at checkpoints outside the city’s west and prohibited from embedding with Iraqi forces on the frontlines, while only days earlier they had easily traveled with Iraqi forces.

And while the massive loss of civilian lives in al-Jadida has drawn international media attention, the issue of innocent deaths caused by airstrikes in the anti-Islamic State war may go far beyond one neighborhood.

Chris Woods, the director of Airwars, said there have been so many coalition airstrikes since the Islamic State’s takeover of large swathes of Iraq in 2014 that few have ever been appropriately inspected.

“Two-thirds of all incidents [of alleged civilian deaths] have not been assessed yet,” Woods said.

“Two-thirds of all incidents [of alleged civilian deaths] have not been assessed yet,” Woods said. “No matter how many resources the coalition puts into [investigating claims of civilian deaths], they don’t seem to be able to keep up.”

The United States and its 12 coalition allies have also paid very little money to the families of civilians killed in their air war against the Islamic State.

“Last I checked, the U.S. has not paid out any compensation,” Woods said. “When they do pay, in the form of solatia [condolence payments to civilian fatalities in military operations], it’s not an acceptance of guilt,” he said, referring to past payments the U.S. military has made to innocent victims of American force, like in Afghanistan. But even with such solatia payments, the United States admits no wrongdoing. “The U.S. would argue that all civilians whom they have killed were done so lawfully.”

However, Woods said that because of the international stir caused by the mass fatalities in the March airstrikes in al-Jadida, payments and admission of guilt by the U.S. military may be forthcoming. But the beneficiaries may have to be patient.

“My guess is that compensation will be paid out,” he said. “The problem is that many of those killed have families still in ISIS territory. It’s difficult to pay because ISIS can steal the money or victimize the family” who receives the payment.

U.S. Central Command’s Operation Inherent Resolve media office told Foreign Policy in an email that one solatia payment has been made in Iraq.

Solatia payments, the media office wrote, “are not intended to serve as compensation for the loss or injury” of civilians. The statement added that the coalition publishes a monthly press brief with civilian casualty assessments, which it says is an admission that the coalition is responsible for the unintentional civilian deaths.

However, “it is not admission of wrong-doing,” the email said.

Some human rights activists have raised concerns that changes in December to how the United States conducts airstrikes have increased the danger to civilians. At that time, a directive issued by Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of the anti-Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, delegated responsibility for calling in airstrikes, as well as artillery, to American battlefield-level advisors close to the frontlines. This has removed the circuitous route of airstrike approval requests that go through a “strike cell” in Baghdad and made them easier to call in.

But Michael Knights, an Iraq military specialist at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, made the case that restrictive rules of engagement cost more lives than they have saved.

“In adopting these rules, Iraq and the coalition [have] ended up not liberating areas where ISIS kills military-age males,” Knights said. “Do you count those deaths? Are we really focused on saving lives here, or are we more focused on avoiding liability?”

Iraqi officers declined to address civilian casualties caused by airstrikes. Lt. Gen. Faris Hassan Al Zireg Falah said that he and his colleagues cannot comment until the results of a joint Iraqi-coalition investigation on the al-Jadida strikes are released.

But al-Jadida residents are not so reticent. They describe an air war that is increasingly leaving them with few options for survival.

“The army treated those escaping the neighborhood well,” said Rayed Najem Abdullah, a neighbor sitting with Hassan. “But you know what? The planes have destroyed us.”

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

ANALYSIS: Yazidis fear fresh war as Turkey hits Kurdish militants in Sinjar

Turkey this week began hitting PKK affiliates in Sinjar. For the Yazidis who survived IS genocide, there is now a new threat in their homeland

A displaced Iraqi man from the Yazidi community on the outskirts of Sinjar (AFP)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg-Thursday 27 April 2017

ERBIL, Iraq – After surviving a brutal Islamic State assault, surviving Yazidis on Mount Sinjar must contend with Turkey's latest aerial campaign – which now adds Iraq to the list.

Earlier this week, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish militants in Iraq's Sinjar region for the first time, following a deadly assault against US-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

ANALYSIS Yazidis fear fresh war as Turkey hits Kurdish militants in Sinjar.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

War with North Korea: No Joke

by John Stanton-Apr 27, 2017

( April 27, 2016, Virginia, Sri Lanka Guardian) The 20th Century Korean War from 1950-1953 pitting US-led United Nations coalition forces against the North Korean and Chinese militaries has been in pause mode for 64 years. The Korean Armistice was signed on July 27, 1953 by the United States, China and North Korea. It called for a cessation of hostilities until a lasting peace agreement between the warring parties could be negotiated and signed.

That, of course, has not happened due as much to North Korea’s rationally maniacal behavior and ruthless treatment of its citizens, as to its role as a useful pawn of the Chinese and American governments. The Chinese feel compelled to let the incendiary North Korean government in Pyongyang irritate and provoke the United States and much of the world community, and the Americans don’t mind having a large military presence to deter North Korea but also to keep an eye on the China and the Southeast Asian region.

China has apparently reinforced its military forces on its border with North Korea.

Russia has a short land and maritime border with North Korea. In 2015 officials from the two countries signed an agreement to construct a road connection between the two neighbors during their “Year of Friendship.”

According to NK.News.org, North Korea and Russia envisioned “closer collaboration between the two states in political, economic and humanitarian spheres.” As tensions ratchet up in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, Russia has apparently shored up its military forces near the bustling Russian port city of Vladivostok, home to Russia’s Pacific Fleet and within range of North Korean missiles.

US-Led Coalition
These military moves by China and Russia make sense if war breaks out between a US-led coalition including South Korea, Japan, Canada, and Australia (for starters) and North Korean forces. The extra forces would likely be used to stanch the tide of North Koreans expected to stream out of North Korea. In the unfortunate circumstance that sees North Korea’s first use of a nuclear weapon, a US retaliatory strike would ensure that the radiologically damaged would seek care in China and Russia, care that China and Russia can ill-afford to provide on a large scale.

During a protracted conventional conflict, it seems likely that enterprising organizations in China and Russia would attempt to funnel weapons and aid to the North Koreans to keep the US-led coalition occupied while they ponder their strategic and tactical options. With the US bogged down in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, there are many moves that the Chinese and Russians could make contrary to US interests.

The political and pundit classes in New York City and Washington, DC believe that the Trump Administration will just kick the Kim Jong-Un tin can down the road for another US president. The same elites told us all that Hillary Clinton would, with great certainty, win the 2016 presidential election. After 100 days of the Trump presidency, they still shake their heads in disbelief. Yet, they seemed to believe fully in President Trump’s punitive April cruise missile strikes in Syria undertaken after a Bashar Al Assad use of a nerve agent on his own citizens.

But Trump’s people say that the time for “strategic patience” with North Korea is over. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the Perry Como of the US State Department, declared as much during a recent visit to South Korea. Has America’s new Ken and Barbie, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, been advising President Trump on the matter?

As for China’s influence, it has warned North Korea not to test Trump even as it recently resumed flights to North Korea from Beijing. Time will tell if China is serious in assisting the US or not.

Intellectuals?
Beyond the political and pundit classes who grace the world with their intellectual acumen are those across the spectrum who think that North Korea is the way it is because of the policies and practices of the US government. Those outlandish claims should not be seriously entertained. Kim Jong-Un is seen in this video smoking a cigarette and, at one point, sitting at a desk not far from an aircraft runway watching his air force and army in action. It looks a lot like a Monty Python skit until you realize that the North Koreans really believe they are a competent military power. And then there is the North Korean Army’s recent live fire exercise. What kind of commanders and political leaders think that the alignment of this artillery on a beach? The commanders are essentially giving their troops a death sentence as US standoff weapons systems would mostly obliterate such massed artillery. North Korean military doctrine is as obsolete as much of its weaponry is.

Still, war is horrible and North Korea would, initially, likely cause a lot of pain to the northern portions of Seoul, South Korea. US, South and North Korean civilian casualties would certainly follow. Pain reduction, not elimination, depends on the lethality of US preemptive missile, bomber and cyber-attacks designed to neutralize what the US-led coalition’s intelligence believes to be the targets most important to hit first. Most likely, both North Korean nuclear weapons testing and medium-long range missile sites would be targeted, simultaneously with other North Korean conventional military assets.

Before such a conflict de-confliction lines with China and Russia would have to be opened.

The Fight
North Korea has to know that if it moves any weapons systems into the open, the heat or electronic emissions will get them killed. US intelligence services have tried hard to anticipate how quickly the North Koreans can load and reload artillery and the extent of their ammunition supplies. Then there are the diesel submarines North Korea has in operation. US military antisubmarine warfare aircraft and detection is the best in the world and the Navy would be quick to begin the search for North Korean submarines. US attack class submarines would have to eliminate the DPRK’s undersea threat very quickly, just as US air forces would be called upon to clear the airspace above North Korea as rapidly as possible. North Korean surface vessels would not do well against US anti-ship weaponry with its advanced guidance systems.

On the ground and from the sea, the situation is less clear. North Korea is vulnerable to amphibious landings on both its coastlines on the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. The US Navy and Marine Corps would not attempt such landings until many days into a conflict though. North Korea is said to have sleeper cells in South Korea that would be activated to destroy key communications nodes and other critical infrastructure. North Korean Special Forces are said to be a dangerous threat as in any conflict they would be tasked with infiltrating South Korea to engage in sabotage.
It is not known how the North Korean civilian population would respond to an attack. The nation is home to 25 million people who have mostly known nothing but privation and austerity. Of course, that’s the view from the outside. There are tantalizing hints that the civilians there might stay away from the fighting to a limited degree. Books smuggled out of North Korea like The Accusation give a hint of some of the thinking of the well-educated and economically better positioned denizens. But the US experience with insurgencies from Vietnam until the present have not been pleasant, successful affairs. At any rate, the “will” of the North Korean population would play a significant role in a protracted conflict.

Some argue that the US should learn from its 20th Century Korean War experience. But comparisons are invalid. The conflict took place as the US was drawing down from World War II and cold political winds were blowing. Since that time the North Koreans have spent a lot of time training to fight but have not been engaged in protracted conflicts for the last two decades as the US has been. There is no substitute for training but when military forces have experience in combat operations and maintain a training regime there is going to be a mismatch at some point favoring the US.

Yet another consideration is the Joint Force capabilities of the North Korean military versus the US-coalition interoperability and joint force training. There is no evidence to suggest that North Korea has “networked” its fighting forces to wage war in the cross domains of sea, undersea, land, air, space and cyber. Nor has North Korea conducted extensive training exercises with partner or allies equivalent to Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

No One Knows and that Unfinished Business Thing
A long term conflict in which the US-led coalition fails to bring North Korea to its knees would allow other nations to make risky moves. Would Russia invade Eastern Ukraine and move up to the Dnieper River? Would China move on Taiwan? Would Turkey move further into Syria? Would Iran move further into Syria and Iraq? Would Russia get more aggressive in Libya? Would Europe further splinter as some members of the European Union back the US while others do not (the UK would fight with the US)?
Would the American public support a longer term war effort?

Unfortunately, the US, North and South Korea issue is unfinished business. Not too many people on the planet want to see a video of the Kim Jong-Un of the future sitting at his portable desk smoking a cigarette while watching the North Korean “Death to America” ICBM successfully launched and carrying a nuke toward the United States.

If that ICBM made in through US missile defenses, the United States nuclear retaliatory response would turn North Korea into a radiological waste-land for decades. No one in the world wants to see that happen either.

John Stanton can be reached at jstantonarchangel@gmail.com

U.S. starts ‘swiftly’ installing controversial antimissile battery in South Korea

The U.S. military began moving parts of its controversial THAAD anti-missile system to a deployment site in South Korea amid tension over the North's nuclear program. (Reuters)

By Anna Fifield April 26 at 3:30 PM

SEOUL — The U.S. military started installing a controversial antimissile defense system in South Korea overnight Tuesday, triggering protests and sparking criticism that it was rushing to get the battery in place before the likely election of a president who opposes it. 

The sudden and unannounced move came only six days after the U.S. military command in South Korea secured the land to deploy the system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.  

Moon Jae-in, a liberal candidate who has a strong lead in polls ahead of a May 9 presidential election, has promised to review South Korea’s decision to host the antimissile battery. 

“There’s a sense in Seoul that THAAD deployment has been rushed based on the timetable of South Korea’s presidential election rather than North Korea’s threats,” said John Delury, a professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul.

“To some extent, the acceleration of THAAD deployment has ‘worked,’ limiting the next South Korean leader’s room for maneuver,” Delury said. “But there’s the danger of a backlash among the South Korean public feeling like a pawn in the game of ‘America First.’ ”

 In response to continued testing of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons by North Korea, the United States is in the process of deploying an advanced missile defense system called THAAD in South Korea. But China is not happy with the plan, saying the system could undermine its own defense systems. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

In response to continued testing of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons by North Korea, the United States is in the process of deploying an advanced missile defense system called THAAD in South Korea. But China is not happy with the plan, saying the system could undermine its own defense systems. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

In Washington, Adm. Harry Harris, head of the Pacific Command, acknowledged Wednesday that China has attempted to pressure the government in Seoul not to deploy THAAD, and he criticized that effort.

“I find it preposterous that China would try to influence South Korea to not get a weapons system that’s completely defensive against the very country that’s allied with China,” Harris said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

[ Trump summoned all 100 senators to the White House to discuss North Korea. Why? ]

The U.S. military command here in Seoul said the moves were in line with its announcement in July that THAAD would be deployed as soon as possible.

“Last night’s action was necessary to swiftly deliver an additional layer of defense to South Korea against the growing North Korean missile threat,” said Elise Van Pool, a spokeswoman for the command.

The timing was due to public safety, she said. “The movement of the equipment entailed large convoys,” she said. “In the interest of public safety and to ensure minimal impact on the local community, this movement was conducted at night.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the two countries have been working “to secure the swift operational capability of the THAAD system against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat.”

Protesters hold letters reading "NO THAAD" during a rally near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, April 26. (Lee Jin-Man/AP)

“South Korea’s military plans to secure full capability of the THAAD system operation within the year,” the ministry said in a statement. 

A spokesman for Moon, the Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate for president, criticized the sudden moves overnight. 

“Moon Jae-in has been consistent in his position on the THAAD deployment: that it must be decided by the next administration after enough public discussion and by national consensus,” Park Kwang-on said in a statement. 

“Any deployment that completely ignores appropriate processes must be suspended now, and the final decision should be made after consultation between South Korea and the U.S.,” he said.

Moon has a 10-point lead over his closest rival in the most recent polls, and political scientists expect him to be South Korea’s next president, barring any dramatic developments. 

After equivocating for years, the South Korean government — led by then-President Park Geun-hye — decided in July to allow the deployment of the system to guard against the North Korean threat.  

Each THAAD battery includes at least six truck-mounted launchers that carry up to eight missiles each. They are designed to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles like the ones that North Korea has been launching at a steady clip. 

North Korea has bolstered the case for the system by test-firing dozens of missiles over the past year, all of them capable of hitting South Korea. 

[Here are the missiles North Korea just showed off, one by one]

Wednesday’s moves to install the battery come at a particularly tense time on the Korean Peninsula. The United States is moving warships to the region while North Korea is vowing to counter any American strike. 

Beijing has vehemently protested the deployment, apparently concerned that the system’s powerful radar could be used to keep tabs on China, and it has imposed painful economic boycotts on South Korean companies in response. 

“The deployment of THAAD in South Korea will destroy the strategic balance in the region and bring about a further increase in tensions,” Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters Wednesday in Beijing. “The Chinese side strongly urges the U.S. and South Korea to cancel the deployment and withdraw the equipment.”

Residents in the Seongju area, where the battery will be deployed, have also been protesting, worried that the system’s presence will make them a target for North Korea’s missiles. 

According to local reports, six trailers carrying the X-band radar, mobile launchers and other parts of the system were seen entering the site about midnight. 

A group of residents protested the move and tried to stop the equipment from being taken onto the site, clashing with police, the Yonhap News Agency reported from Seongju, in the southeast of South Korea.

They waved placards saying “No THAAD, No War” and “Hey, U.S.! Are you friends or occupying troops?”

“Police let THAAD equipment pass through [protesters] by repressing them,” Kang Hyun-wook, a religious leader who was leading the protest, told Yonhap. “The THAAD deployment is illegal and should be nullified.”

Dan Lamothe in Washington and Yoonjung Seo in Seoul contributed to this report.

Sukma attacks in retaliation to sexual violence on tribal women, say Maoists

Injured CRPF jawans being airlifted to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur by an IAF chopper for treatment on April 24, 2017 following a Maoist attack in the State’s Sukma district .   | Photo Credit: PTI

The also deny mutilating jawans’ bodies.

Pavan Dahat
-APRIL 27, 2017

The Dand Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on Thursday claimed that the Sukma attacks were in retaliation to the alleged sexual violence by security forces against tribal women in the conflict zone. The outlawed outfit owned up the two back-to-back attacks on the security forces in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh in the last 50 days which resulted in the death of 37 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

“The PLGA (CPI (Maoist)’s military wing People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army) launched the Chintagufa-Burkapal attack (on the security forces on April 24, 2017) to give an answer to (the government’s) mission 2017 and the fake (Maoist) surrender campaign. We congratulate the PLGA, its leadership, commanders and the people of Dand Karanya for their active support. This attack (Burkapal attack) was just an extension of the Bhejji attack (on the CRPF in March 2017). These attacks are retaliatory, defensive, to defeat anti-people policies and to take forward the pro people struggle,” said the DKSZC spokesperson ‘Vikalp’ in an audio clip.

“These attacks should be seen as retaliation against the sexual atrocities that are being committed by the security forces against the tribal women and girls in the conflict zone. It should also be seen as an answer to the countless incidents of sexual violence which is a blot on any civilized society. Bhejji and Chintagufa-Burkapal attacks should be seen as (retaliatory) attacks for the dignity and respect of tribal women. These attacks are being carried out to liberate the tribal people in conflict areas from the inhuman atrocities they facing from the security forces,” Vikalp said.

The DKSZC spokesperson also reiterated his party’s opposition to the road construction in conflict areas.

“The roads, railway lines and mobile towers are being constructed for the protection of paramilitary forces and the police in these areas in the garb of providing relief to the common public, but it is being done to loot natural resources, to exploit common masses and to make sure easy transport of security forces. To oppose this open loot and to make sure these resources are used for the welfare of the common public, these retaliatory attacks are being carried out,” he stated.

The Maoist spokesperson denied that the dead bodies of CRPF jawans were mutilated by the PLGA.

 

“We don’t treat the dead bodies of the jawans killed in the PLGA attacks with disrespect. It is the corporate media which is falsely propagating that private parts of some jawans were mutilated by the PLGA (in the Burkapal attack). In fact, it is the police and the paramilitary forces who give such treatment to the dead bodies of PLGA members killed in encounters. Many dead bodies of the Maoists have been mutilated (by the security forces) and they also delayed in giving the dead bodies to their family members. The security forces also clicked objectionable pictures of our women PLGA members killed in fighting and spread them on social media,” the Maoist leader alleged.

Citing the crackdown by some groups on human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition parties in Chhattisgarh, the DKSZC spokesperson accused the State and the central government of “undemocratic practices”.

“Bhejji and Chintgufa-Burkpal attacks should be seen as retaliation against this attempt to create an undemocratic and fascist atmosphere. These attacks are in opposition to the exploitation of the Dalits, the Tribals and the minorities and the attacks on their culture and economic lifestyle by the Brahmanic,
Hindutva, Fascist, Sanghi, and the BJP governments and the direct involvement and active protection of the police and security forces. We appeal to the journalists, the patriotic and pro-people forces in Chhattisgarh and the country, the human rights activists and the artists to look at these attacks in proper perspective and understand it. We are not violent people but we are bound to use violence in retaliation and in support of the exploited masses against the feudal forces, the national and international corporate houses and the governments supporting it,” claimed Vikalp.

The Maoist leader also appealed the jawans of security forces and lower level police constabulary to give up government jobs and participate in the “people’s struggle”.

“The jawans are not our enemies, least of all our class enemies. But they are coming in the way of public welfare by being a part of the government’s exploitative and anti-people machinery. We appeal to the lower level officers of the paramilitary forces and the jawans to stop fighting for the exploitative politicians, big contractors, national and international corporate, mafias, goons and Brahminic,
Hindutva fascist people who are by nature against the Dalits, the tribals, religious minorities, and women. Don’t lose your life protecting such people and their property. Give up the government jobs and participate in the people’s struggle,” he added.

Reacting to the Maoists’ statement, Chhattisgarh’s Special Director-General of Police D.M. Awasthi said that he will look into it and check its authenticity.

“The security forces do not commit any kind of atrocities and there have been no such instances. The human rights commission is dealing with some cases which were reported,” the DGP said.

Sexism, racism and bullying are driving people out of tech, US study finds

A first-of-its-kind report analyzed the reasons why tech workers leave their jobs, and found a common thread of sexual harassment, bullying and stereotyping

One in 10 women in tech experience unwanted sexual attention, while nearly one in four people of color face stereotyping, the study found. Photograph: Mike Ngo Photography/wwwintechchat.com

 Ellen Pao, who sued her former employer for gender discrimination, has been outspoken on the subject: ‘Now we have the data so people can understand the scale.’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sam Levin in San Francisco-Thursday 27 April 2017

Sexual harassment, bullying and racist stereotyping are common in the technology industry, creating a culture that drives underrepresented employees out of their jobs, new research has found.

One in 10 women in tech experience unwanted sexual attention, and nearly one in four people of color face stereotyping, according to the Kapor Center for Social Impact and Harris Poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 people who left tech jobs in the last three years.

The findings – which suggest that sexual harassment and complaints about unfairness are disproportionately high in the tech sector compared to other industries – come at a time of heightened debates around diversity and discrimination in Silicon Valley.

“For each person who experiences unfairness, it’s very personal and it’s very painful,” said Ellen Pao, Kapor’s chief diversity and inclusion officer and former Reddit CEO, who has been outspoken about discrimination. “As someone who has been working in the tech industry since 1998, I know it’s prevalent, and now we have the data so people can understand the scale.”

A former Uber engineer’s recent account of facing rampant sexism and sexual misconduct has shined a harsh light on a startup culture that is dominated by white men and condones mistreatment of marginalized employees. Critics have increasingly argued that tech firms dedicated to “disruption” are rejecting labor standards while male executives ignore complaints about discrimination and do little to fix systemic pay disparities.

The Tech Leavers Study released on Thursday is the first report of its kind to analyze the reasons why tech workers voluntarily leave their jobs and paints a picture of turnover driven by hostile work environments.

Tech workers most frequently cited “unfairness or mistreatment” as the reason for leaving, a factor that was mentioned twice as much as recruitment for better opportunities. Underrepresented men of color were the group most likely to leave due to unfairness, with 40% citing that reason. A total of 78% of employees said they experienced some form of “unfair behavior or treatment”.

Women of color in particular reported high rates of facing discrimination. Thirty percent of underrepresented women said they were passed over for a promotion, a rate significantly higher than white and Asian women. Additionally, unwanted sexual attention was reported at rates almost twice as high among employees in the tech sector compared to tech employees in other industries, the survey found. Of those who said they faced sexual harassment, 57% said those experiences contributed to their departures.

LGBT tech workers were the most likely to experience bullying and hostility, with 25% citing “rude and condescending behavior” and 24% saying they were publicly humiliated or embarrassed. A majority of queer employees (64%) said bullying contributed to their decision to leave.

The authors of the report argued that the cost of this kind of unnecessary turnover due to workplace issues was immense. Based on estimates of average costs for replacing employees in tech jobs, the annual cost to tech companies for turnover due to unfairness could be $16bn, the report said. A large tech firm that pays 10,000 engineers an average of $100,000 could lose $27m due to their workplace culture pushing employees out, the survey said.

The report suggested that strong diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as explicit diversity goals, unconscious bias trainings, employee resource groups and bonuses for referrals of diverse candidates, can significantly improve retention.

Previous studies have suggested that women make up only 25% of the tech workforce, and that at the largest companies, such as Apple, Google and Facebook, black and Latino employees combined represent only 3-5% of employees.