UNP’s ‘Radical tide’ rises above P.M. and towards president ..

-Gazette notification on 23 rd regarding stripping Dealdasa of both portfolios !

(Lanka-e-News - 23.Aug.2017, 5.40PM)  The ‘UNP Radical Tide ’ just within two weeks of its launch has forged ahead in its campaign against the actually  corrupt and the true conspirators .

Following the voluntary  resignation of Ravi Karunanayake from his ministerial portfolio even before he was found guilty by the presidential commission , simply  based on some evidence given before the commission against him ,it is now learnt the ‘Radical Tide’ has gone past the prime minister and reached the president after expelling  the crooked, corrupt, double dealing ,double crossing scoundrel Wijedasa Rajapakse the notorious Trojan horse within the government,  from his double ministerial posts  , based on reports reaching Lanka e news. 

The ‘UNP Radical Tide ’ team of MPs is to  meet with the president today (23)  

Though Maithripala is the leader of another political  party , he was in fact steered to victory by the Radical Tide team  that made  supreme sacrifices towards that. The request of the Radical Tide  to the president  is therefore most  simple: Their  justifiable and reasonable request is, ‘ we have cleaned up our side of the good governance government. It is now your turn to clean up your side.’ Theirs  is of course a most reasonable and sensible request in the best interests of the country made to a president, who is  the highest in the hierarchy of much hyped good governance government.

In the final round of discussions ,the decision to expel Wijedasa from both portfolios was taken not because he delayed the filing of cases against the corrupt and criminal Rajapakses but for not abiding by the collective decisions taken by the  government while  disregarding such decisions and unconscionably instigating and inciting the public to disrupt the activities of the government to  latter’s  detriment and the country as a whole. 

When the Radical Tide  expressed  its opposition  last Friday against the delay in hearing cases , it was announced Wijedasa alias Dealdasa will be stripped of his justice ministry portfolio. But what most despised double crossing imbecile Wijedasa did  when that was proposed was,  getting the empty headed baldy hairless buddies  around him after bribing them and criticizing  the policies of the government during the last weekend. It was only thereafter the final decision was taken to give him the sack from both ministries. 

It has also  been decided to request the president not to suppress the charges against the corrupt and the crooks within the Maithri group , and to conduct investigations duly. It is best if  Radical Tide group reminds the president that the  good governance began with remanding a UNP M.P. Thevaraperuma .

This is why the Radical Tide  is making its latest request to president Maithripala . It is an indisputable fact that  a majority of villains and wolves in human clothing who don’t follow the government policies and irresponsibly criticize are  within the fond fold of Maithripala . The Radical Tide  is therefore to make its request to the president on the 23 rd to take action against Dilans and Susils of the SLFP and teach them a lesson taking the cue from the UNP which has by now proved beyond doubt  it is acting in the best interests of the country putting country before party by purging the party of the corrupt. 

The ‘Radical Tide ’ has decided that when they meet Maithripala on the 23 rd  who was made the president of the country through their commitment and sacrifices,  to urge him to do everything to inspire the pro good governance masses and buoy their spirits by taking such bold measures like how UNP took against corrupt double faced Wijedasa alias Dealdasa .

No matter what  the rising  Radical tide within  the UNP is going to be a force to be reckoned with ,and  intensifying its pressures   on  the president. It is perhaps owing to  that , even at the time of writing this article , the president is having discussions with the SLFP parliamentary group .

Meanwhile it is learnt the president has yesterday signed the special gazette notification which declares that Wijedasa Rajapakse has been removed from his ministerial portfolios . The gazette notification will be released on the 23 rd. 

The UNP has decided that the vacancies created by the expulsion of Wijedasa are to be filled by two individuals.  So far , it is not officially known who are the aspirants for the two ministries. However Lanka e news learns the justice ministry is to be allocated to Talatha Atukorale and Buddha sasana ministry to Ravi Samaraweera. Though Dr. Jayampathy Wickremeratne is considered as more suitable , he is not a member of the UNP, and it  is  the view that a member of the UNP shall be appointed .

In any event the ministry Thalatha is in charge of currently was earlier held by Dilan Perera , an ace confirmed rogue of the Rajapakse Blue brigand. Sadly Thalatha did nothing to probe into the frauds and rackets which raged under her predecessor . She did not even take the trouble in the national interest  to conduct an investigation at Establishment  level and punish them. 

However that lapse  does not characterize Thalatha alone. Being a consensual government that lapse exists  among many of the other ministries  too. For instance after Mangala Samaraweera became the foreign minister , no probe was conducted into the import of two luxury buses  for the jolly rides and wasteful  jaunts of Rajapakse’s sons and their cronies at public expense despite that fraud being caught red handed .Those officers who were responsible for those rackets were not even punished  at Establishment level.Today,  nobody knows what happened to those super luxury buses .

In the circumstances ,we cannot presume that Thalatha after becoming the justice minister would expedite the legal processes to punish the crooks. But  of course we can say for sure  , before Thalatha gives  priority to punishing the crooks , the rising unstoppable  Radical Tide is certainly going to forge ahead  and achieve its  cherished goals exceeding expectations for the benefit of the entire country. 

By a special reporter

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by     (2017-08-23 12:16:40)

HC commences trial against State Minister Palitha Range Bandara

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The Colombo High Court today commenced recording evidence in a case filed against Skills Development and Vocational Training State Minister Palitha Range Bandara and another person for allegedly aiding and abetting to present a vehicle registration permit for an illegally assembled vehicle.

When the case came up before High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga, the first witness Dinesh Ratnayake gave evidence and further trial was fixed for August 25.

Meanwhile, defense counsel appearing on behalf of State Minister informed Court that the complainant party had tendered an affidavit to the Attorney General citing that the complainant has no intention to proceed with the case.

Defense counsel Savithri Fernando appearing under the instructions of U.R. de Silva PC moved Court that the case be fixed for another date since his client wants to attend Parliament sessions.

However, High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga decided to commence trial in the early hours as parliament sessions to be started at 1 pm.

The prosecution informed Court that the Attorney General is expecting to make his opinion regarding the defense claims that the case cannot be maintained. "The Attorney General is perusing the facts presented by both defense and complainant regarding the maintainability of the case," Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Ratnayake said.

Signs of local government elections in January and Early provincial elections

Aug 22, 2017

The Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources had informed the Media that following the Gazette Notice that will be published between the period of October and November, related to the Local Government Act, the Local Government  Elections could be held in December or January 2018 with  the Government hoping to have the Act passed in Parliament in September.

Local Government Elections have not held within the due period and delayed by two years. The reason preventing Elections was the proposal to replace the current system of proportional representation with a new and alternate system of representation. A new delimitation process of Wards for Local Councils was proposed. Accordingly Jayalath Ravi Committee was set up and whilst the process was under way, in view of complaints from the public and various parties that the delimitation process was not properly done, the present Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government by a Gazette notification stating that there was a need to establish a Sub Committee to examine the complaints did appoint a Committee under Asoka Peiris in end November 2015. The Committee completed the task entrusted in January 2017 Gazatted in  February 2017.

On inquiry the Elections Commissioner has stated, that on passing of the Amendments to the Local Government Act by the Parliament, addressing  deficiencies ,Elections could be held. He has further stated that if the 20th Amendment to the Constitution relevant to Provincial Councils is not passed in Parliament he will take action to duly hold  Provincial Council Elections at the   proper time on the expiry of its’ 5 year term. At the same time the Commissioner has gone on to say that the Parliament which has the power to change the Constitution and the Judiciary which has the power to interpret it, together if they state that Elections should be held, that he would do so.

The term of three Provincial Councils namely North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern ends on 2nd October this year. When the 5 year term of a Provincial Council ends the Council is considered dissolved and the Election Commissioner should call for new Election. But the Government has presented a Cabinet Paper as the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, to empower Parliament with the right to prevent the calling of Elections for a Provincial Council by the Election Commissioner thereby extending the term of a Provincial Council. If the proposed amendment is passed in Parliament the term of all three Provincial Councils could be extended beyond 2nd October. The Government displays the motive of the 20th Amendment is to enable holding of all Provincial Council Elections on the same day for greater democracy. The Combined Opposition however accuses the Government that the actual motive of the amendment is to postpone the Provincial Council Elections. The provinces centered around Anuradhapura and Ratnapura Districts are considered a strong vote base for Mahinda Rajapakse as such Combined Opposition accuses the Government that it planning to avoid elections till 2019 for fear of defeat.

False claims about glyphosate – Debunked

Wednesday, 23 August 2017 

This is my response to the unscientific blabbering of an article by an archaic old man called Chandre Dharmawardana, published in Daily FT on 10 August.

According to his Wikipedia page, Chandre lives in Canada and is a Canadian citizen. As for the tone of my writing here, please do not expect any respect for a man who humiliates a fellow scientist who he dismisses as “a lady with psychic powers”, a blatant misrepresentation of the facts.

Chandre seems to be suddenly interested in the glyphosate ban in Sri Lanka. He conveniently forgets to mention that glyphosate is legally banned not only in Sri Lanka but also in Malta, El Salvador, Netherlands, France and Peru. If he reads news, he should know that an EU-wide glyphosate ban was marginally halted due to Germany’s political interests, and is very likely to happen soon nevertheless.


Perhaps Chandre’s memory is also too feeble to remember that over 30 countries including Russia do not import or use glyphosate anyway because they do not grow or import Genetically Engineered (GE, a.k.a. Genetically Modified or GM) crops.

For a person who claims to be a scientist, it is ridiculous how he mentions the WHO (World Health Organisation) so loosely but fails to mention that glyphosate is in fact categorised as “Probably Carcinogenic” to humans (Group 2A) by that very WHO! Here is a scientist who says that he sees no “health risk” when the WHO’s Cancer Research arm itself says that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen.

Chandre then uses an old school tactic called “false equivalence” by saying that peanuts kill more people than glyphosate in the USA. Firstly, the two are factually incomparable because there is no scientific study on the deaths caused by glyphosate in the USA. Your darling Monsanto will assure such study is never done! Secondly, it’s like saying negligent driving kills more people than tobacco smoking or vice versa. One doesn’t qualify or disqualify the other. Is this the best argument you have for glyphosate?

Another one of Chandre’s meandering arguments is that countries like New Zealand use 35 times more glyphosate than Sri Lanka, but New Zealanders don’t have chronic diseases as much as Lankans. (I will not even write about the New Zealand’s unprecedented soil and water pollution due to excessive use of harmful chemicals in their farming.)

He then connects “high standard of living” and blames that our farmers are dying because of “low standards of living”. It’s not clear if he’s referring to all chronic diseases or just CKD. It’s also not clear which “standards” of living he’s referring to. His article is so incoherent and inconsistent, one must read it ever so patiently to make any sense of it.

He’s probably talking about lack of access to clean and safe drinking water in Sri Lanka. But he himself contradicts here. From one side, he’s saying that glyphosate is not a killer because if it is, then New Zealanders should die more. In the same paragraph, he says that New Zealanders are not dying as much because they have safer drinking water. So then one can argue that no matter how much glyphosate a country uses in agriculture, as long as it purifies and cleans the drinking water, the citizens would not be affected. Therefore, it doesn’t prove that glyphosate doesn’t kill people because you remove it from the water before drinking anyway. This is child’s play.

In his article Chandre then attributes the Chronic Kidney Disease which kills over five Lankans every day and disables many more farmers, to the “hardness” in water. It’s appalling how a so-called chemist explains water hardness.

First, he concludes by his God-given right, that fluoride, then magnesium in water (magnesium is a metal) causes CKD. What he is purging to say is that calcium and magnesium “carbonates” that cause hardness in water is the reason for CKD.

People who give up their Sri Lankan citizenship in hopes of “high standards of living” hate to remember that we had a thriving civilisation for thousands of years in ‘Raja Rata,’ cultivating vast fields of land by farmers who did not die of a mysterious kidney disease. In fact, the first CKDu patient is reported only in the early 1990s soon after the introduction of GE crops, weedicides, pesticides and imported fertiliser.

The funniest part about Chandre’s article which has a number of grammar mistakes too is that it is too easy to disprove his arguments using his own points. He explains that glyphosate was first tested as a chelating agent which binds to heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and lead. That’s true. In fact, it strongly and readily binds to calcium and magnesium as well. What is also true is that such glyphosate-metal complexes also dissolve in water and increase the hardness and toxicity of groundwater, which makes it much easier to enter into the human body. If hardness is a devil, then glyphosate is the mother of all devils.

For a scientist who claims to really care about the Lankans dying of CKD, Chandre should be spending his last days trying to find a solution to the problem instead of whitewashing Monsanto. Have you no shame as an academic to write silly articles in support of Monsanto? How low can you get to actually recommend that farmers use a chemical… any chemical… without goggles or gloves?

A chemical which has been categorised as a possible carcinogen by the WHO? How dare you endanger the Lankan lives with your unsubstantiated claims? The Lankan Government and the public should actually take legal action against this man for putting human lives in danger.

Chandre is violating the human rights of Sri Lankan farmers by recommending unsafe practices which can cause harm to their lives. His current employers according to his Wikipedia page, namely University of Montreal and the National Research Council of Canada, must immediately investigate this matter and ask Chandre to withdraw these unscrupulous and unsubstantiated statements in full.

Let me conclude this by saying that the public should understand that the problem is not merely about glyphosate. Glyphosate (sold under the brand of Roundup by Monsanto) is a chemical that kills plants. The only plants it doesn’t kill are the Genetically Engineered (GE) plants which are sold to us by Monsanto... It’s easy to make the connection. It’s how Monsanto maintains its monopoly in farming. That’s why Monsanto spend billions of dollars lobbying and buying politicians and academics. But intelligent farmers and intelligent consumers around the world are increasingly saying no to Genetically Modified crops.

I have a degree in genetics, microbiology and biochemistry. Unlike some paid puppets, I urge the intelligent readers to search for the pros and cons of genetic re-engineering and the effects of Monsanto monopoly not only in health and nutrition, but also in economy and politics.

We are talking about the future of our country, its resources and its people. It may be a casual affair for Chandre, but Lankan lives cannot be so easily discounted. This is a much bigger problem than glyphosate. I challenge Chandre Dharmawardana to come to any public debate on this matter.

Palestinian 'assassinated by Mossad' in Sweden, says Fatah

Mohammed Tahsin al-Bazam died from his injuries after being shot at home following dispute with Jewish neighbour

Exterior of the Palestinian Mission in Sweden (Screengrab)

Tuesday 22 August 2017

Irael's intelligence agency Mossad assassinated a Palestinian man in southern Sweden on Saturday, according to Fatah sources in Gaza. 

Mohammed Tahsin al-Bazam, a former resident of the Gaza Strip, was murdered by an unknown assailant, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.  

He was shot dead in his apartment at close range and left to die in the small town of Limmared.

His father, Tahsin al-Bazam, claimed that he was murdered as a result of a domestic dispute with a Jewish neighbour.

Swedish police released a statement on Sunday about the incident and said: "Reports said several people wearing masks entered the apartment through a balcony and shot the man inside. They disappeared after the shooting as quickly as they arrived."

The Fatah movement's arm in Gaza released a statement where it accused Mossad of assassinating Bazam. 

A number of Palestinian websites picked up Fatah's statement and claimed that Bazam was a former prisoner held by the Israelis. 

But the Palestinian Prisoners' Club told Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz that they had no record of Bazam's name, and said that the claim needed to be confirmed. 

The Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Authority head Issa Qaraqe said that Bazam was not a released prisoner. 

In an interview with a Palestinian news agency, Bazam's father said his son worked in marketing and was not involved in any political activities.

Bazam died from his injuries in a medical centre in Gothenburg after he was flown there from a local hospital where he was initially taken. 

The Palestinian foreign ministry sources said its embassy in Sweden is following the police investigation and awaiting further news.

Bazam's father, who is an imam in Sweden, claimed that two men had murdered his son. He said that Bazam had complained about his Jewish neighbour who held parties that involved drugs and alcohol. He believed that this was why his son was murdered. 

“It could be that an argument developed that ended in murder, or that it was a murder in a racist context because they identified him as a Palestinian Arab and a Muslim,” alleged the father.

Bazam joins a long list of Palestinians whose deaths have been attributed to assassinations by Mossad. 

Other notable assassinations of Palestinians associated with Mossad include senior Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh, who was blown up in Damascus in 2008, and Hassan al-Laqqis, head of Hezbollah’s technological apparatus, who was killed in Beirut in 2013.

Israel neither confirms nor denies any of its alleged overseas assassinations. 

North Korea: Soldiers ‘in no fit state to fight’ as sanctions, drought threaten famine

23rd August 2017

Kim inspects the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an unknown location in North Korea on Aug 15, 2017. Source: KCNA via Reuters

WHILE the country’s leadership continues to plough scarce resources into internationally condemned missile and nuclear programmes, North Koreans face incredible hardship as sanctions and the worst drought for almost two decades threaten to leave the already impoverished nation unable to feed its people.

Japanese documentary maker Jiro Ishimaru told The Guardian of the daily struggle normal North Koreans have in securing food, saying the majority of food goes to the million-strong army.

“For one thing, there are too many soldiers to feed,” Ishimaru said. “And corruption is rife, so that by the time senior military officers have taken their share of food provisions to sell for profit on the private market, there is next to nothing left for ordinary soldiers.”

SEE ALSO:  North Korea’s hidden famine

Ishimaru runs a network of citizen journalists inside North Korea who make contact with him through the use of contraband mobile phones. He explains while living standards have improved for some North Koreans under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, since a drought that ravaged crops earlier this summer, many of the country’s 25 million people are living in dire conditions with little food while others fear losing their jobs due to sanctions.

This looks set to worsen as state-media announced on Wednesday Kim has ordered increased production of key missile parts.

Kim during a visit to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science in this undated photo released by KCNA in Pyongyang, on Aug 23, 2017. Source: KCNA via Reuters

Following a visit to a chemical institute, Kim is reported to have “instructed the institute to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips by further expanding engine production process and the production capacity of rocket warhead tips and engine jets by carbon/carbon compound material,” reported KCNA.

North Korea has ramped up its missile programme in recent months amid an escalation of bombastic rhetoric between Kim and United States President Donald Trump.

The most recent display was the launch of a Hwasong-14 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) late last month. The test prompted new United Nations sanctions aimed at slashing North Korea’s US$3 billion annual export revenue by a third.

Under increasing pressure, some residents of the hermit kingdom are beginning to question the wisdom of furthering a weapons programme that inevitably invites international reprisals.

SEE ALSO:  North Korea: Worst drought in 16 years threatens food supplies – UN

The Daily NK website quoted a source in North Korea as saying some residents felt “disillusioned by the Kim Jong-Un regime, which spends more money on developing missiles than improving their livelihoods”.

“Everyone is aware whenever the regime launches a missile, economic sanctions will follow. There’s nothing to celebrate for ordinary citizens.”

Amid the heightened tensions, stories of war with the US have abounded state-controlled North Korean news. Ishimaru’s contacts, however, fear the army would not be capable should such a war come to fruition.

“One of them told me there was talk of war with the US,” Ishimaru told The Guardian, “but that many North Korean soldiers are in poor physical condition and in no fit state to fight.”

The UN has committed $6.3m in aid to help North Korea cope with shortages of corn, rice, maize, potatoes and other essential crops. Source: Shutterstock

With weapons programmes and bilateral tensions dominating the ruling party’s focus, Ishimaru fears the ordinary citizen is being forgotten.

“This is exactly what Kim Jong-un wants – to project an image of strength, that he and the people are one and the same,” he said. “In an ordinary country, there would be riots over the food shortages, but not in North Korea.”

A UN report released in March, found 41 percent of the population are undernourished while 70 percent are reliant on food rations to stay alive. The report warned of a “protracted, entrenched humanitarian situation” if it continues to go overlooked by the rest of the world.

In an effort to stem to spread of malnutrition, the UN committed US$6.3 million in aid to help North Korea cope with shortages of corn, rice, maize, potatoes and other essential crops.

SEE ALSO:  2 in 5 people undernourished in North Korea – UN report

But this is unlikely to be enough in a country that continues to place power above populace.

“The drought, combined with sanctions, will take the North Korean economy in a dangerous direction by next spring,” Ishimaru said. “This is a time of real hardship for ordinary people.”

The shine of promised glory against the US is starting to wear thin as people face the realities of life under increasingly stringent sanctions.

“In the beginning, the residents were proud of the regime openly opposing the US with nuclear development and missiles,” an anonymous source from inside the regime told Daily NK. “But these days, anti-US sentiment has weakened, while respect for the regime has plummeted.”

Danish police confirm headless torso is missing journalist Kim Wall

Police find DNA match to Swedish reporter who is believed to have been killed on a homemade submarine

Danish police have identified a headless female torso found in the Copenhagen waterside as that of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who police believe was killed on a homemade submarine.

Philip Oltermann and agencies-Wednesday 23 August 2017 

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Copenhagen police’s vice-president, Jens Møller, also said that DNA taken from a hairbrush and toothbrush belonging to Wall had matched that of blood found on the submarine.

He said metal weights had been attached to the body to prevent it from floating.

“Damage seems to have been done to the torso in an attempt to ensure that air and gases escape and the body won’t drift to the surface,” Møller said at the press conference.

Peter Madsen, a Danish inventor, was charged with manslaughter last week. He told a court hearing this week that Wall had died in an accident and that he had “buried” her at sea.

This marked a change to a previous statement in which he claimed to have dropped Wall, 30, off alive on the tip of an island off Copenhagen late on 10 August before the vessel sank. He had previously denied playing any role in her disappearance. Madsen denies manslaughter.

On Monday, a cyclist passing the water’s edge south-west of the island of Amager discovered a torso missing the head, arms and legs.

On Wednesday morning, police confirmed a “DNA match between torso and Kim Wall”.

Wall’s mother reacted to Wednesday’s announcement with a message posted on Facebook. “We cannot see the end of the disaster yet, and a lot of questions are still to be answered,” Ingrid Wall wrote.

“The tragedy has hit not only us and other families, but friends and colleagues all over the world. During the horrendous days since Kim disappeared, we have received countless evidence of how loved and appreciated she has been, as a human and friend as well as a professional journalist. From all corners of the world comes evidence of Kim’s ability to be a person who makes a difference.”


 Peter Madsen’s private submarine sits on a pier in Copenhagen harbour. Photograph: Jens Dresling/AP

On Wednesday, local media reported that Danish police said they would look into whether unresolved past cases could be connected with Wall’s case. In 1987, the torso of a Japanese tourist was found in the waters of Copenhagen harbour.

Danish authorities had been searching for the reporter, who had been writing a feature story about Madsen, since she failed to return from an interview with him onboard the 18-metre (60ft) Nautilus.

Wall was last seen on Madsen’s vessel by several people in waters off Copenhagen on the evening of 10 August. Her boyfriend reported her missing in the early hours of Friday.

The submarine was later also reported missing, but rescue crews located it shortly after 10am on 11 August in Køge Bay, about 30 miles (50km) south of the Danish capital.

At about 11am, Madsen jumped into the water after the submarine started to sink, telling personnel on the boat that rescued him that there had been a problem with the ballast tank and something had gone wrong when he tried to repair it.

Danish and Swedish maritime authorities used divers, sonar and helicopters in the search for the body in Køge Bay, south of the city, and in the Øresund Strait between the two countries.

Police refloated the Nautilus and towed it into harbour for investigation, later suggesting that Madsen may have sunk the boat on purpose to hide evidence.

Madsen, an entrepreneur, artist, submarine builder and aerospace engineer, appeared before a judge on 12 August for preliminary questioning. The case is not open to the public to protect further investigations, police said.

Originally from Sweden, Wall held degrees from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, and had written on issues ranging from social justice to foreign policy for publications including the Guardian, the New York Times, Foreign Policy and Time.

A guilty verdict for Thailand's Yingluck may stoke anger but military firmly in charge

FILE PHOTO: Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, July 21, 2017.

Panarat Thepgumpanat and Aukkarapon Niyomyat-AUGUST 22, 2017

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A long-awaited verdict in the trial of former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra this week could inflame tension and would likely have far-reaching implications in the politically divided kingdom.

The ruling military said more than 3,000 of Yingluck's supporters could show up at the court on Friday in what would be one of the biggest political gatherings since Yingluck's government was ousted in a 2014 coup.

Thousands of policemen will be on hand in a bid to head off the sort of trouble that has become a hallmark of antagonistic Thai politics over the past decade or more.

Yingluck has been accused of negligence in her handling of a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme, under which the government bought rice from farmers at inflated prices.

That led to stockpiles of rotting grain, distorted world prices and lost Thailand its crown as the world's top exporter. Losses amounted to $8 billion, this government says.

Critics said the scheme was engineered by Yingluck's brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to shore up support among rural voters who have handed electoral victory to a Shinawatra party in every election since 2001.

Yingluck has denied wrongdoing and has said she is the victim of political persecution. She faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of negligence.

A military-backed legislature found her guilty in a separate impeachment case in 2015, and banned her from politics for five years, for failing to exercise sufficient oversight of the subsidy scheme.

Despite that, Yingluck remains the unofficial face of the Shinawatra political machine, which, supporters say, the royalist-military establishment is determined to sideline once and for all.

Opposition activists said a guilty verdict would fuel anti-government anger and could spark a smattering of small protests in defiance of a government ban, particularly in the north and northeast where support for the Shinawatras appears unwavering.

"If she is found guilty there will surely be some action by underground resistance forces," said a leader of the pro-Shinawatra "red shirt" movement in the northeastern city of Khon Kaen who declined to be identified.

"There are plans to burn tyres at up to 10 locations in Khon Kaen."

A spokeswoman said Yingluck did not agree with the threat by the activist leader to use force, and her party said any support for her should be peaceful.

Yingluck was at her Bangkok home on Wednesday, where she donated alms to Buddhist monks, and was preparing for the court's decision, her lawyer said.

"The defence team and former prime minister Yingluck are ready to hear the verdict," her lawyer, Norrawit Larlaeng, Yingluck's lawyer, told Reuters.

Police were setting up a barricades and a checkpoint outside the Supreme Court, where the verdict will be delivered, while Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, said the government wanted to avoid trouble.

"The government is worried about the people. We don't want to use force," Prayuth, a former army chief who ousted Yingluck's government in the 2014 coup, told reporters.

POLITICAL IMPACT

Former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, overthrown in a 2006 coup and living quietly in self-exile to avoid a 2008 conviction for graft he said was politically motivated, has made no public comment on his sister's case.

Trakool Meechai, a former political science professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said widespread sustained protests in response to a conviction of Yingluck were unlikely, given the firm grip the military has imposed.

But in the long-term, a conviction could deter future governments from intervening to support markets.

"No matter how this case turns out it will have an impact on Thai politics," Trakool told Reuters. "This case will be a litmus test for how future politicians will manage the country."

A verdict of innocent would invigorate the rank and file of the Shinawatras' embattled Puea Thai Party and boost its prospects in a general election the junta has promised to hold in 2018.

"If the case is thrown out it will increase the strength of Yingluck and her Puea Thai Party and this will show in the next election," Trakool said.

Two potential leaders have emerged to lead the party in the election, one of them from within the Shinawatra family.

But a guilty verdict would spell the end of Yingluck's political career, deal a heavy blow to the Shinawatras and their loyalists, and deepen the political divisions that the military has vowed to heal.

Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Robert Birsel

Does Washington Post journalist think anti-fascists are bigger danger than neo-Nazis?

Ruth Eglash (unaoc)

Michael F. Brown-23 August 2017

Ruth Eglash, a Jerusalem-based Washington Post journalist, last week liked a Facebook post by Yair Netanyahu suggesting that anti-fascists and activists with Black Lives Matter are a bigger threat to Israel – and perhaps to Jews throughout the world – than the neo-Nazis whose recent rampage in Charlottesville left one person dead.

Yair Netanyahu, 26, is the eldest son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“To put things in perspective. I’m a Jew, I’m an Israeli, the neo nazis scums in Virginia hate me and my country. But they belong to the past. Their breed is dying out,” Netanyahu wrote. “However the thugs of Antifa and BLM who hate my country (and America too in my view) just as much are getting stronger and stronger and becoming super dominant in American universities and public life.”
This is not the first time Yair Netanyahu’s social media postings and obnoxious behavior have caused controversy.

While US President Donald Trump was widely denounced for equating violent white supremacists with those who oppose them, the younger Netanyahu is going a step further: he is saying that Nazis are bad, but those who advance equal rights for all people are the greater danger.

By liking the post, Eglash – who is on the board of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem – gives the impression that she agrees with Netanyahu’s position downplaying the dangers of white supremacists. The incident calls into question the judgment of the newspaper’s staff in Jerusalem and Washington.

She and Washington Post foreign editor Douglas Jehl did not respond to inquiries from The Electronic Intifada.

Under the newspaper’s social media guidelines, Post journalists “must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything … that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism.”

The guidelines urge journalists to consider whether a social media posting would “make a reader question my ability to do my job objectively and professionally … If so, don’t post it.”

When Eglash was hired in 2013, The Electronic Intifada reported a potential conflict of interest: Her husband heads a company that has for years been deeply involved in efforts to promote Israel and Israeli government policy.

In 2014, the year Israel launched its most recent massive attack on Gaza, Michael Eglash’s public relations firm Upstart Ideas listed as clients Israel’s foreign ministry, tourism ministry and several pro-Israel groups. The company no longer publishes its client list.

Presidential obliviousness – and worse

With hundreds of armed white supremacists and Nazis marching through Charlottesville earlier this month shouting racist and anti-Semitic slurs, Yair Netanyahu’s judgment that such people are “dying out” is misplaced and complacent.

The racist extreme right has used social media and a bigoted American president – embraced by Netanyahu – to promote itself and a violent supremacist intimidation rarely seen at such an organized level in recent decades.

Trump, who has been quick to condemn Islamic State, Muslims fleeing Islamic State and Muslims more generally, has been roundly condemned for his apologetic response toward the violence promoted by armed white supremacists marching through an American city. There is significant concern his thoughtless “both sides” approach makes future violence more likely.

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Trump’s moral equivalency whitewashes the white supremacist violence that killed, enslaved and displaced millions of Black people and Native Americans, and which continues to damage and destroy lives through both direct and myriad forms of institutionalized racist violence that Michelle Alexander has characterized as the New Jim Crow.

According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, about one in 10 Americans now regards neo-Nazi and white supremacist views as acceptable, and a similar number hold no opinion. Trump is helping to mainstream such dangerous attitudes while leaving others in doubt.

Reporting while morally equating?

Eglash did co-write an article noting that Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders had taken a strikingly long time to express concern about what transpired in Charlottesville.

It also notes that Yair Netanyahu expressed views echoing those of Trump. But by no means does this excuse her ill-considered Facebook like.

The elder Netanyahu appears not to have separated himself from his son’s remarks. Nor has the foreign desk of The Washington Post distanced itself from Eglash’s Facebook like or even attempted to clarify what led her to give a thumb’s up to such a hateful post in the first place.

Donald Trump and America’s Moral Crises. Life and Death Decisions for the Planet

By Dr. Gary G. Kohls-August 16, 2017

Q: If Donald Trump, the Commander in Chief of the US Military, is Historically, Theologically and Morally Blind and Also Scientifically Illiterate, Should He be Making Life and Death Decisions for the Planet?

“We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we do about peace – more about killing than we do about living.” — WWII General Omar Bradley

Donald Trump and America’s Moral Crises. Life and Death Decisions for the Planet.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Trump’s Presidential Afghanistan Speech

BY PAUL D. MILLER-AUGUST 22, 2017

Last night was one of Donald Trump’s finest moments as president. The Trump who showed up was the Trump who spoke about the heritage of freedom in Warsaw, not the Trump from the past week’s worth of press conferences. He stuck to his script, powerfully argued for the enduring importance of the war in Afghanistan, and paid fitting homage to 16 years of sacrifice by the American military. He provided scant details, but at least provided hope that he is giving free rein for his subordinates to fill them in.

What did Trump get right? The first right decision was not actually in the speech. It was widely reported beforehand that Trump has decided on a modest supplement of 4,000 U.S. troops to reinforce the 8,500 still serving in Afghanistan. This is a step in the right direction but, as I argued a few months ago, probably insufficient to break the Taliban’s momentum and put the Afghans on the road to lasting stability. Trump was right not to get into troops numbers in his speech. Too often, U.S. strategy has been reduced to a numbers game.

Trump paid fitting homage to the American soldier and properly framed the importance of the war in Afghanistan. “Our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives.” Economists will wail about the folly of chasing “sunk costs,” but it was Abraham Lincoln who insisted that the nation rededicate itself to its purpose so that “these dead shall not have died in vain.” The meaning of soldiers’ deaths depends on whether we continue their fight. As Trump said, “we must secure the cause for which they gave their lives.”

And that led to one of the best parts of Trump’s speech. “The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory,” he said, using the word “victory” four times in the speech, “Our troops will fight to win. We will fight to win. From now on, victory will have a clear definition.”

Trump said “win” and “victory” more times in 15 minutes than President Barack Obama did in eight years.

Trump said “win” and “victory” more times in 15 minutes than President Barack Obama did in eight years.

Trump’s nationalism, which I otherwise find objectionable, has led him to a keener and better appreciation of how to speak about war than Obama. I expect other foreign policy professionals will criticize him for saying “victory,” because in 21st-century wars we will never get a formal surrender ceremony by the enemy. That is true, but irrelevant to how the American people think and talk about the moral imperatives of war and its aims.

Trump deserves credit for making an unpopular and hard decision. After campaigning against military interventions and democracy promotion and in favor of an “America First” foreign policy, Trump could have easily found an excuse to withdrawal from Afghanistan entirely. He even confessed in his speech, “My original instinct was to pull out.”

Trump could have declared defeat, blaming Obama and George W. Bush for mishandling the war and leaving him an impossible situation. Trump might have claimed that the failure of the war in Afghanistan validated his critique of the “globalist” foreign policy establishment and proved the wisdom of his call for stronger borders and a more realistic, tough-minded outlook on the world.

Instead, Trump echoed Obama and Bush in arguing for the importance of the war, and even portrayed himself as learning from their mistakes. He correctly noted that, “the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable.” He said, again correctly, “A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11. And as we know, in 2011, America hastily and mistakenly withdrew from Iraq.” Trump framed the war in Afghanistan exactly right.

Finally, on the positive side, Trump rejected all talk of withdrawal or timetables. “A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions,” he said, “Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on.” When Obama announced his surge and withdrawal simultaneously in 2009, he was met with an avalanche of criticism for undermining his own strategy and telling the enemy how long they had to wait us out. Trump’s speech changes the dynamics of the war: it will help reassure our Afghan allies and undermine the Taliban’s resolve. But the president should have gone further and explicitly endorsed the 2012 U.S.-Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement and 2013 Bilateral Security Agreement.

Nonetheless, there are real problems with Trump’s Afghanistan strategy. For example, while he tried to place the war in Afghanistan in a regional context, he was entirely unclear about what that meant for U.S. strategy. He rightly pointed out that Pakistan is a problem and India is an opportunity and made a vague commitment to get them to do better — but offered no specifics.

A bigger problem is that it is unclear if Trump understands the political and diplomatic aspects of the war. He claimed that another new element of his approach was the “integration of all instruments of American power, diplomatic, economic, and military, toward a successful outcome.” (There is nothing new about this, rhetorically at least, as it’s been a staple of campaign plans for a decade.)

It is unclear what Trump really means, or if he understands what “all instruments of national power” entails.

It is unclear what Trump really means, or if he understands what “all instruments of national power” entails. He repeatedly railed against democracy promotion and nation building. He said, “We are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists.” Again, “We will no longer use American military might to construct democracies in faraway lands or try to rebuild other countries in our own image.… We are not asking others to change their way of life.”

So, in Trump’s strategy, will the United States use all instruments of national power, or will it avoid civilian tools of power, like economic assistance and political support, to avoid the dreaded “nation building”? In what sense is the United States using all instruments of national power if it is not using economic assistance to help the Afghan economy, or technical help to support the Afghan electoral process, or providing police training or support to political parties or the rule of law — or any of the other activities that get unfairly tarnished with the boogeyman of “nation building”?

Too often, critics who dislike long and messy interventions fabricate a myth that the United States has been trying to coercively Americanize other nations against their will, and that we will pay a sore price for our imperial hubris. To hear them tell it, we would never know that the Afghans wrote their own constitution in 2003, ratified it in 2004, and held national elections five times since then. You would not know that in round after round of polling, Afghans strongly support the ideas of democracy — they just want it to work better.

Trump is right that we should use all instruments of national power — including the instruments of foreign aid, technical assistance, diplomacy, development, and democracy promotion.

The other problem in Trump’s strategy is his promise to loosen the military’s rules of engagement. “We will also expand authority for American armed forces to target the terrorists and criminal networks that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan,” he promised. Here Trump is showing his true Jacksonian colors: war is about killing people and blowing things up, in his view. Unfortunately, Trump may be fighting the wrong kind of war.

In 2009 and 2010, the United States started to tighten the rules of engagement to bring them closer in line with best counterinsurgency practices. Unfortunately, Trump seems more interested in a body count than in strengthening the writ and authority of the Afghan government. This will end up being counterproductive. The U.S. military doesn’t have difficulty killing people. It has difficulty helping a foreign host-nation engage in competitive state-building. More bombs and more dead bodies are not the right answer.

Despite these flaws, there was on balance more good than bad in Trump’s speech, partly because what he got right were the large, big picture questions — the why of the Afghan war. The how was vague, and some details he did provide were troubling. But the how is also where Trump’s subordinates — Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster — will step in. Trump has given Afghanistan a new lease on life; he has given the U.S. and Afghan militaries another chance at finding the “honorable and enduring outcome” he spoke of.

It is also notable that Trump’s Afghanistan policy is one of the few times — and one of the most significant times — that the president has clearly gone against his base, and that says something important. Judging from what I saw on Twitter last night, his base is unhappy with his speech. Trump made this decision in spite of, not because, of the political constituency most important to him, which is all the more reason to celebrate it. It is hard for me to admit that Trump got something right. I heartily identify with the NeverTrump crowd, signed one of the anti-Trump open letters last year, and have had almost nothing good to say about his performance in office to date. But he deserves credit when it is due.

Photo credit: JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images