Lawmakers Want Classified Documents on Trump’s Meeting with Putin

Top Democrats still worry the president is hiding commitments he gave the Russian leader.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for their meeting in Helsinki on July 16. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

BY ROBBIE GRAMER-

 AUGUST 24, 2018, 2:03 PM

Two top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are asking to see all notes and documents relating to U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia last month, including classified cables and notes from Trump’s interpreter, citing concerns the president may be hiding certain commitments he gave Putin.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) made the request in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying their questions on the private two-hour meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki had so far gone unanswered.

“We make this request only as a direct result of the extraordinary and, to our knowledge,
unprecedented circumstances of President Trump’s … one-on-one meeting with a leader identified as a threat to the United States by President Trump’s own National Security Strategy,” they wrote.

“In view of the … inability of senior officials to provide a clear and complete description of any commitments that President Trump may have made during this two-hour conversation, we respectfully request that you provide the Senate Foreign Relations Committee members relevant materials.”

The senators said in the letter that Russia had taken advantage of the White House’s silence on the meeting to circulate its own version of commitments Trump may have made, including on U.S. policy in Syria and Ukraine.

The letter included some sharp language, but the lawmakers requested—rather than compelled—the White House to hand over the documents.

The State Department did not immediately respond to questions on whether it would honor the senators’ requests.

In the immediate wake of the July summit, some politicians explored the option of forcingTrump’s State Department interpreter—the only other American in the room during the meeting—to testify before Congress.

Former senior diplomats pushed back, saying it would set a bad precedent regarding the role played by interpreters and undermine the sanctity of private presidential conversations. The drive to get Trump’s interpreter to testify ultimately failed.

“There’s a certain presumption that discussions that are held on a confidential basis will be protected by both sides,” said Alexander Vershbow, a former career diplomat and U.S. ambassador to Russia. “Otherwise, countries are very reluctant to engage in the kind of give and take you need to solve problems.”

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain frustrated at how little they’ve learned about the Trump-Putin meeting.

“To date, we have received no real readout—even in a classified setting—of this meeting,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saidduring a congressional hearing Tuesday.

A. Wess Mitchell, the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia,  testified at the same hearing, emphasizing that the Trump administration was cracking down on Russia for its interference in U.S. elections and its attempts to sow divisions in the United States and European countries. As evidence, he cited the administration’s decision to boost U.S. defense spending in Europe and impose major sanctions on Russia.

Mitchell warned against partisan spats in the United States that would only serve Putin’s agenda.
“Putin wants to break apart the American republic, not by influencing an election or two, but by systematically inflaming the fault lines within our society,” he said. “The most dangerous thing in the world we could do is to politicize the challenge, which in itself would be a gift to Putin.”

But when pressed on whether he was fully briefed on last month’s summit, Mitchell demurred. “I have been briefed on the appropriate information I need to carry out my job with relation to Russia,” he said.

Alina Polyakova, a Russia scholar at the Brookings Institution, said there was still a huge “information hole” about what was said at the Helsinki summit.

“I do see it as in the purview of Congress to ask the administration to be much more clear about what took place,” she said.

South Korea’s ex-President gets prison time extended to 25 years

South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, Aug 7, 2017. Source: Reuters

24th August 2018

South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, Aug 7, 2017. Source: Reuters

A SOUTH KOREAN appeals court on Friday increased the sentence of former President Park Geun-hye by one year to 25 years for the over the corruption that led to her impeachment last year

Park is South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office. Her ouster followed months of political paralysis and turmoil over a corruption scandal that also landed the head of the Samsung conglomerate in jail.

According to national news agency Yonhap, the Seoul High Court also increased her fine by KRW2 billion (US$1.78 million) to KRW20 billion (US$10.78 million).

The prosecution had earlier appealed a lower court’s decision to sentence the 66-year-old to 24 years jail with a KRW18 billion (US$16.1 million) in April.

SEE ALSO: S. Korea: Court removes Park Geun-hye from office, 2 dead in ensuing protests 

The Seoul High Court found that Park colluded with her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help Choi’s family and fund non-profit foundations owned by her, according to the court documents cited by Reuters.

“Such unethical dealings between political power and financial power harms the essence of democracy and distorts order in the market economy, giving the people a grave sense of loss and deep distrust of our society,” presiding judge Kim Mun-suk said in the ruling.

(File) Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye sits for her trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ahn Young-joon/Poo

“A strict penalty is unavoidable,” Kim said.

The scandal came to light in Nov 2016 when local cable TV network JTBC broke a story revealing evidence that Choi had received confidential documents and influenced government matters.

The scandal took on a strange twist when rumors swirled of Choi’s links to a religious cult, depicting her as a “shaman” who has been manipulating Park through supernatural means and even comparing her to Russian mystic Rasputin.

SEE ALSO: South Korea: Park Geun-hye apologises, promises cooperation in graft probe 

In July, another South Korean court sentenced Park to eight more years in prison in a separate case arising from the same scandal. She was found guilty on charges of causing the loss of government funds and interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election.

Park, whose former defence team resigned en masse last year in protest against a court’s handling of her case, has been defended by state attorneys.

The former president has been in jail since March 31, 2017, but has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court.

Park’s removal from office last year paved way for an election win by liberal Moon Jae-in, who has soften ties with North Korea in recent months.

Afghanistan’s bloody mystery: Little progress in war or peace talks

2018-08-24 

That the United States has still not been able to defeat an enemy much weaker in terms of military resources in a war that is continuing for 17 long years in Afghanistan does not bode well for its image as the world’s mightiest military power.  

Armed with nuclear weapons, mother-of-all bombs, precision-guided missiles and the advanced satellite technology, it can surely eliminate the Taliban and the ISIS in a matter of days or weeks even without the use of a single nuclear weapon. Then why has the US failed to defeat the Taliban?  It is not that the US has no will power to end the war. The answer is rather linked to its strategy. 

Landlocked Afghanistan provides the US a strategic base to keep watch on a host of hostile or not-so-friendly nations. In the west of Afghanistan is Iran, a US enemy. Sharing a 2,430km-long border with Afghanistan in the south and the east is Pakistan which now gives more importance to close defence ties with China than to ties with the often unreliable and ‘ungrateful’ US. Unreliable, because history shows the US uses Pakistan only to ditch it once its objectives are achieved. Ungrateful, because the Pakistanis feel the US has not appreciated the heavy price their country has been forced to pay for joining the US war on terror.  In the north, Afghanistan shares a 76km border with China, with which the US is locked in a trade war and military competition befitting a fully-fledged cold war. Afghanistan also shares a 2,300km-long border with Central Asia, where the US has no military presence now after Kyrgyzstan closed down the US airbase in 2014 following pressure from Russia.

The US is not naïve to withdraw from Afghanistan and thereby squander the strategic advantage it enjoys.  Its presence in Afghanistan is legalised and legitimised through a controversial Strategic Partnership Agreement the two nations signed in 2012.  The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, after the Taliban rulers refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda which carried out the 9/11 attacks, although some analysts believed the invasion had more to do with a pipeline project to enable US oil companies to exploit Central Asia’s oil and gas. 

President Donald Trump, surrounded by hardline advisors, is for an indefinite prolonged war in Afghanistan.   Trump has said he has become convinced that the only thing worse than staying in Afghanistan is pulling out. In the context of this large picture, Afghanistan finds it difficult to extricate itself from the superpower power games. Afghanistan is being bled to a slow death, with none of the peace efforts undertaken by various interested parties moving beyond the preliminary stages.  In 2013, Qatar facilitated a Pakistan brokered peace initiative between the Afghan government and the Taliban, only to see its early collapse after Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in a US operation. Recently, Qatar launched fresh attempts, facilitating secret contacts between the warring parties, including the US. However, it appears that after every step taken in the direction of peace, there comes a blow pushing the process two steps backwards.  

There were also China-brokered peace initiatives. China sees Afghanistan peace as a crucial factor for the success of its Belt-and-Road project. Even these talks could not make much progress, because the US was left out.

In the aftermath of intense clashes for the control of the city of Ghazni last week, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani made a ceasefire offer to the Taliban, but it was met with Taliban rocket attacks on Kabul’s high security zone housing the presidential palace and the US embassy. 

Russia, a country badly hit by narcotics drugs produced in Afghanistan, is also working out a multilateral peace initiative, but this is also likely to end as a non-event. On Wednesday, adding to the bloody mystery, the Kabul government indicated it would not attend the Moscow conference, although the Taliban said it would. 

Not only peace talks, even war appears to be going nowhere. The Taliban control large chunks of the country’s territory. In addition, since last year, following the crushing defeats in Iraq and Syria, the ISIS has also been making its presence felt in Afghanistan. Probably carrying out a foreign power’s agenda, the ISIS largely targets the Shiite population. Two weeks ago, the ISIS carried out a massacre at an Afghan school, killing some 34 Shiite students. As if this bloodshed was not enough, the US-based war mercenary company Blackwater, notorious for massacres and human rights violations in Iraq, wants the Trump administration to privatise the Afghan war. In a recent interview with MSNBC, Blackwater founder Erik Prince said the privatisation of the war would be a big saving for the US government. He said his plan would see US troops replaced with private military contractors who would report to the President through a special envoy. Although the Pentagon is opposed to the Blackwater proposal, Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton is receptive.

The proposal takes us to the warning the then US President Dwight Eisenhower issued 57 years ago about private defence contractors. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist,” he warned.

Adding to the conundrum is Pakistan’s new government headed by cricket hero-turned politician Imran Khan, who has said his foreign policy priority will be peace with India and Afghanistan.  However, he is scoffed as ‘Taliban Khan’ for his comments which critics interpret as supportive of the Pakistan Taliban. A virulent opponent of US drone attacks that have killed many civilians, Khan has lambasted Trump, calling him “ignorant and ungrateful” after Trump had commented that the US got nothing from Pakistan in the fight against terrorists, though US had given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid.  After his election victory last month, Khan, striking a conciliatory note, said, “With the US, we want to have a mutually beneficial relationship ... up until now, that has been one way, the US thinks it gives us aid to fight its war ... we want both countries to benefit, we want a balanced relationship.”

It is too early to say whether it is the military or the elected government which will decide Pakistan’s Afghan policy. However, for the US military to remain in Afghanistan, the support of Pakistan is crucial, because it is the only nation, through which the US could send supplies to its 15,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan.  Occasionally, Pakistan has shut down the supply route to soothe public anger after US drone attacks killed civilians.

Even democracy has not provided an answer to Afghanistan’s conflict. Next year, there will be a presidential election, but as usual, the Taliban would not only take part, but also violently disrupt the process, thus offering the US a justification to continue its military presence in the country.  When war becomes a daily routine, for Afghans, peace is, probably, anathema and suffering fait accompli. For the rest of the world, after 17 long years, Afghanistan is now the least spoken about war.

Thousands flee Venezuela for Peru before tougher travel restrictions take force

Guillermo Galdos-25 Aug 2018Latin America Correspondent

It’s been described as the worst refugee crisis in recent Latin American history – the majority of those fleeing Venezuela have crossed into neighbouring Colombia, and then on to Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Others have gone south to Brazil.

Concerned by the influx, these countries are imposing tighter border restrictions. Channel 4 News’ Guilllermo Galdos went to Peru where migrants will require a passport to enter – a luxury few in Venezuela can afford.

Anniversary of Rohingya crisis marked in Bangladesh camps, Myanmar

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Refugees in Bangladesh held demonstrations and prayers on Saturday to mark the passing of a year since the outbreak of a conflict in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from their homes.

AUGUST 25, 2018 

Across the border in Myanmar, the government said security patrols had been increased in the conflict area ahead of the anniversary for fear of further violence. Members of the mostly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group and Hindus from Rakhine state said they would hold events to remember those killed by Rohingya militants in attacks that triggered the crisis.

Thousands of refugees, from children to the elderly, marched prayed and chanted slogans in events across the sprawling camps in southern Bangladesh. Many wore black ribbons to commemorate what they said was the start of the “Rohingya genocide”.

“We prayed the morning prayers inside our house over the sound of bullets. We were so scared,” said Aisha, 47, one of dozens of women at a gathering in the Kutupalong camp, recalling the outbreak of the conflict.

“Today marks 365 days since that day. So I want to say, we want justice.”

After the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base in the early hours of Aug. 25, 2017, Myanmar troops swept through villages. Around 700,000 Rohingya have since fled, according to United Nations agencies.

Rohingya who crossed the border reported killings, rapes and arson carried out by security forces, in what the U.N.’s top human rights official said seemed to be a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

The government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has denied allegations of atrocities made by the refugees, saying that security forces lawfully suppressed Muslim militants in Rakhine.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay told Reuters on Friday that Myanmar did not tolerate human rights abuses, and had set up a commission of inquiry that included two veteran international diplomats to look into the Rakhine crisis.

Banners are seen as Rohingya refugee women take part in a protest at the Kutupalong refugee camp to mark the one year anniversary of their exodus in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, August 25, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

International pressure on Myanmar has been growing, however. U.N.-mandated investigators are set to publish a report on the crisis on Monday and the United Nations Security Council will hold a briefing on Myanmar on Tuesday.

In a statement ahead of the anniversary, 132 sitting parliamentarians from five other countries in Southeast Asia issued a statement calling for Myanmar officials to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC is currently considering whether it has jurisdiction in the crisis. Bangladesh is a member of the court, but Myanmar is not.

FEARS OF MORE VIOLENCE

Myanmar had stepped up police patrols in northern Rakhine state fearing fresh attacks by militants around the anniversary, government spokesman Zaw Htay said.

“We are very, very concerned about the possibility of terrorist attacks and we’ve already picked up security enforcement,” said Zaw Htay.

ARSA said on Saturday it would “continue our struggle for our right to exist”.

The group had “come to existence only to defend, salvage and protect Rohingya people” from the Myanmar government and military, it said in a statement attributed to its chief, Ata Ullah, and posted on a Twitter account previously used by it.

GRAPHIC: One year on, no end in sight here

In the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, the state’s biggest political party, the Arakan National Party, held a ceremony to commemorate security personnel and Rakhine and Hindu people they say were killed by Rohingya insurgents in the attacks.

Slideshow (4 Images)

In Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, another group said it was holding a prayer ceremony at a Hindu temple later on Saturday.

Myanmar’s government said ARSA was responsible for the deaths of non-Muslim villagers as well as security personnel last year. The group denies targeting civilians.

Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in COX'S BAZAR; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis and Shoon Naing in YANGON; Editing by Alex Richardson

Use honey first for a cough, new guidelines say

Image copyright

23 August 2018

Honey and over-the-counter medicines should be the first line of treatment for most people with coughs, new guidelines recommend.

Antibiotics should rarely be prescribed by doctors for coughs because in most cases they do little to improve symptoms, health officials say.

Most of the time a cough will improve on its own within two to three weeks.

The new recommendations for doctors are intended to help tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance.

Overusing antibiotics is making infections harder to treat, by creating drug-resistant superbugs.

'Huge problem'

A hot drink with honey - and often with lemon and ginger as well - is a well-known home remedy for coughs and a sore throat.

Now new proposed guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Public Health England (PHE) say there is some limited evidence that it can help improve cough symptoms.

Cough medicines containing pelargonium, guaifenesin or dextromethorphan might also be beneficial, they say.

Patients are being advised to use these treatments and wait for symptoms to improve on their own, before going to a GP.

Image copyrightI

Most coughs are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated by antibiotics and will clear up on their own.

Yet despite this, research has previously found that 48% of UK GP practices have prescribed antibiotics for a cough or bronchitis.

Dr Susan Hopkins, a deputy director at PHE, said: "Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem, and we need to take action now to reduce antibiotic use...

"These new guidelines will support GPs to reduce antibiotic prescriptions and we encourage patients to take their GP's advice about self-care."

Check symptoms

However, the guidelines recommend that antibiotics may be necessary for a cough when it is part of a more serious underlying illness, or when a person is at risk of further complications, such as those with chronic health conditions or weakened immune systems.

Honey is not recommended for children under the age of one because it occasionally contains bacteria that can cause infant botulism.

Dr Tessa Lewis, GP and chair of the antimicrobial prescribing guideline group, said: "People can check their symptoms on NHS Choices or NHS Direct Wales or ask their pharmacist for advice.

"If the cough is getting worse rather than better, or the person feels very unwell or breathless, then they would need to contact their GP."

• End sore throat antibiotic use, GPs told
• Patients 'need rest, not antibiotics'
• What to do if you have a cold or flu
• Analysis: Antibiotic apocalypse

The draft recommendations are part of a raft of new antibiotic prescribing guidelines being developed jointly by PHE and NICE.

England's chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, has previously warned of a "post-antibiotic apocalypse".

If the drugs fail, infections will become harder to treat and common medical procedures such as cancer treatments and transplants would be too risky, she said.

The consultation on the new guidelines closes on 20 September.

Follow Alex on Twitter.

Navy Chiefs Karannagoda and Wijegunawardena distort ‘Navy Sampath’s’ name to disentangle themselves from mass murder -president protects them !

-LeN inside information report

(Lanka e News -24.Aug.2018, 5'45AM) The incumbent president Pallewatte Gamarala is exerting pressures on the law enforcing Institutions precluding them from interrogating or arresting the present chief of security council Raveendra Wijegunaratne (former Navy Commander ) , and ex Navy commander Vasantha Karannagoda who aided and abetted the criminals in the gruesome murder of 11 innocent students after committing extortion. These two Navy chiefs were responsible for hiding the murderers and helping them to flee the country .It is a pity , the president Sirisena alias Sillysena by this unlawful action is rendering himself liable to violation of the constitution, according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Among the duties of the president under article 31 of the constitution , the president is not only bound to safeguard the constitution but also duly facilitate the activities of the Institutions afore-stated . Moreover, if president Gamarala is to hamper the activities of those law enforcing bodies , Gamarala will have to be behind bars the day his presidential immunity ends, for even if nobody takes that bold action , Lanka e News will be taking legal action against him in the best interests of the nation.

Saving Navy Sampath via dubious and devious methods…

Vasantha Karannagoda and Raveendra Wijegunaratne the two scoundrels have misled Gamarala into believing that Hettiarachi Mudiyansalage Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi alias ‘Navy Sampath’ who was directly involved and arrested earlier on is Munasinghe Arachige Don Nilantha Sampath Munasinghe to deliberately create a confusion .

Karannagoda and Wijegunaratne are not only misleading the president but are holding media briefings enlisting their media coolies to portray a wrong picture that Navy Sampath is Sampath Munasinghe . Obviously , this is to disentangle themselves from these brutal murders and extortions , as they know too well of their own guilt and involvements in those crimes.

Lanka e News hitherto identified the culprit Sampath Munasinghe by the name of “Navy Sampath’ , and that is unerring . Details are as follows ….

During the time when Karannagoda was the Navy commander , Sampath Munasinghe was his ‘buddy’ and in Naval parlance ‘Flag officer’ . In case the Navy commander suddenly starts purging it is this flag officer who uses his both hands to fondle and fondly collect the stools.

In other words Sampath Munasinghe and Karannagoda were extremely close like the buttocks and the loin cloth . However the relationship turned sour after Karannagoda came to know Sampath had an illicit affair with his wife. From that point of time , Karannagoda was conspiring to kill Sampath on the sly. It is then for the first time the evidence in regard to the abduction of the innocent children came to light. Sampath who feared that he will be murdered sought security through Sarath Fonseka the Army commander then .

Sampath who met Fonseka made a long confession about the two teams and their crimes as well as other crimes which were committed with the knowledge and consent of Karannagoda .One team calling themselves as the special intelligence division was a murder squad operated under the then navy media spokesman D K.P. Dassanayake . Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi who committed murders and extortions, and was arrested earlier on was in the special murder squad of Dassanayake.

In any event Fonseka entrusted the confession and the investigation to the CID at that time. Meanwhile Kaarannagoda lodged a complaint with the CCD which was then under Anura Senanayake . Later on both complaints were entrusted to the CID. The gruesome murder of innocent students is being investigated by the CID since that time .

During the investigations it has come to light , Navy Sampath has identified himself as Hettiarachi Mudiyansalage Prasad Chandana Hettiiarachi . The name of Sampath Munasinghe having ‘Sampath’ in it is another story . It was Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi recently arrested who had chosen the name Navy Sampath in order to conceal his criminal involvements.

It was thereafter via an official notification of the police seeking public assistance to apprehend Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi , Navy Sampath was identified definitely as Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi alias Navy Sampath .

Though Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi alias Navy Sampath escaped in the Raviraj murder , it was he and his group that committed the murder of Raviraj. An extremely racist Sinhala jury saved the murderers after hearing a strange case until after midnight in a most weird manner Any way , Raviraj and his security police officer who were murdered in cold blood in broad daylight were not given back their lives.

Surely these are victims who were murdered by these scoundrels , and not by beings from another planet . This brutal criminal Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi alias Navy Sampath is not only involved in the murder of Raviraj and 11 students but also in the murder of members of the Red Cross who were abducted from near the Railway station by the white Van, as well as several other crimes.

Vasantha Karannagoda and Raveendra Wijegunaratne are criminals ! How?

Now , Karannagoda and Raveendra Wijegunaratne have strong motive to confuse the identity of Navy Sampath for the obvious reason to save Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi the true Navy Sampath, because if and when the latter is found guilty , Karannagoda who used him to commit murders ,and Raveendra who gave him protection will automatically become wrongdoers. The other reason why Karannagoda is seeking to confirm Navy Sampath is Sampath Munasinghe , because Navy Sampath was having an illicit affair with Karannagoda’s wife , and therefore to avenge it.

To prove Karannagoda is directly involved in the ghastly murder of the 11 individuals including innocent children , the letter issued by former minister Felix Perera alone is adequate. When Felix Perera phoned Karannagoda and inquired about these victims at that time , Karannagoda had said ,’I shall release them tomorrow’. His tomorrow that is, on the day following, all those abducted were killed and the bodies were drowned in mid ocean . This is clear and cogent evidence that Karannagoda must hold himself mainly and directly responsible for this mass murder .Felix Perera had openly exposed this , and the written evidence had been forwarded to court through the CID .

There is also evidence that Raveendra Wijegunaratne provided security to Prasad Chandana Hettiarachi and gave him Rs. 500.000.00 to his hand before smuggling him out of the country . All these reports are with the courts. Therefore everything is crystal clear from the beginning to the end. The stories concocted to camouflage the scenario and take president Pallewatte Gamarala down the garden path in order to escape arrest cannot serve any useful purpose for there is cogent, concrete and copious evidence testifying to the true picture.

All those have been reported to courts . President Gamarala who has currently made the executive powers impotent has to do only one thing now- allow room to enforce the law, and for justice to take its course without trying to protect the criminals .If the president despite this urgent and vital necessity to permit justice to be meted out in this mass ruthless murder , takes steps instead to the contrary to save the criminals , woe betide ! action can be taken against him under article 126 of the constitution because ,lest the president has forgotten , his presidential immunity has been limited by the 19 th amendment .

The inequity Gamarala is presently engaging in outstrips the crimes even what notorious Gotabaya committed….

One more salient point must be made known in this regard. Goatbaya Rajapakse the then defense secretary stated, even he cannot save Vasantha Karannagoda the Navy commander in this heinous crime. It is a well and widely known fact that Gota is tainted with so many charges , yet in this instance he steered clear of these brutal murders , and instructed the DIG in charge of the CID to continue with the investigations duly without interruption.

In the circumstances, the attempts made by president Gamarala to save Karannagoda and Wijegunaratne are crimes worse than what even most murderous ruthless Gota had been indulging in .

It is well worth recalling , this is the president who sprang to the presidential seat after making most loud solemn promises that he would punish even the wrongdoers of the past , who is now outrageously and unlawfully shielding and safeguarding the criminals . Hence , the people must now decide what punishment must be meted out to this villainous president . It is very unfortunate this action of president Gamarala is going to earn wrath and disgrace for his entire seven generations of Gamaralas .

Expect a comprehensive report of the 11 ghastly murders committed by the Navy murderers soon.

By a special reporter of Lanka e News inside information division

---------------------------
by     (2018-08-24 00:20:10)

Northern Occupation: Foreign Ministry’s Sleight Of Hand & Lies To The World

Kasurina Boat Service by Navy

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –AUGUST 25, 2018

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

The Navy at Casuarina Beach

We in the North fear troops. It is just not Tamils. We have seen viral videos of the IGP assaulting a staff member and the Navy Commander a reporter. In a democracy, troops must be kept out of civilians lives. However, not in our democracy. In 1970, I was assaulted for no reason by a group of policemen. In the early 1980s troops on their way to buy cigarettes in three trucks swung a bicycle chain at me and other passers-by. Soon, our guardian troops were murdering us.

Last Saturday, I went to my favorite beach, Casuarina Beach, in Karainagar. During vacations, we used to bicycle the 13 miles from town regularly to go to there. The beach was there just for us. This time it was crowded with many people. It was under the care of the Navy. There were several mangy stray dogs that seemed to be looked after by the Navy. The Navy spoke to us in Sinhalese. Casuarina Beach has been commercialized with entrance fees for our car and for each passenger. Thank God there was no fee for my two dogs and cat. 

Boat rides were on offer by “Kasurina Boat Service” spilling oil into the water and spewing carbon monoxide. We were told we could not bathe the dogs because it was unhealthy for other bathers. But their mangy dogs were taking their dips in the sea and dirtying the beach, the same beach where our children played building sand castles and burying our dogs. It was all by the Piratheysiya Sabai. I spoke to the Vice Chairman and asked why use the Navy that should be confined to barracks in a democracy, especially when there are so many unemployed people in the locality. His reply was revealing: “Tamil people will not obey Tamils but will obey Sinhalese.”

Numbers Game: Sinhalese Troops in the North

The Karainagar Piratheysiya Sabai’s position on the preference for Sinhalese troops in the North is rather unique. As the UNHRC reminds Sri Lanka on our obligations under Resolution 30/1, the government is in a dither. The office of Missing Persons was established only recently but the delay that accompanied its establishment is telling on the government’s commitment to recognizing Tamils as people with the same rights as the rest of the citizenry here.

The other shortcoming concerns demilitarizing Tamil areas. Poor progress has been made. However, under Foreign Minister Tilak Marapona the same damning information is being presented and it takes the form of spinning. The intention is to say “We made significant progress. Give us time again to complete the good work we are doing.” Sheer bluff!

Enjoying the Beach after Banning from the Sea

The Real Numbers

Jaffna District today has 93 naval bases occupying 2946 acres (exceeding 12 sq. km), 54 army bases and 1 air force base occupying 1000 acres. These together with the 30 police stations rule us with an iron hand. However what they are doing is not clear except for bullying people at Casuarina Beach and stopping motorists to make money. Our fishermen have to pass the naval bases into the deeper seas for their fishing. 

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