Friday, October 26, 2018

Sirisena’s assassination saga The ‘plot’ is now interesting

2018-10-25

President Maithripala Sirisena who was moving freely with the citizenry would see his movements being curtailed following the much talked about threat to his life
All of us, unless enlightened or spiritually inclined, fear death. Spiritual guru the late Bhagavan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) once said that death is blissful for those who have lived life to the fullest. But death in the political scene is something quite different to how life ends in the spiritual realms of human life.

When life is snuffed out in the political scene through killings or untimely deaths, we are aghast. Right now there is talk about there being assassination plots to kill the president and the former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The story about the assassination plot gathered momentum as the days rolled by and drew the attention of Indian Premier Narendra Modi because claims had been allegedly made by President Sirisena that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) may be involved in it.

All this begs the question why the Government doesn’t clear the air about the assassination plot
He has also said that there are Cabinet secrets that should not be disclosed to the public
Sirisena is wise enough to know that this country has had a history of heads of state being assassinated

From what we have read in the newspapers we fathom that Sirisena is concerned about the threat to his life. That is natural because there is much for him to achieve as the head of the Yahapalana regime. He is not yet ready to ‘go’ because so little has been done during the tenure of this utility Government. This is largely because of the tug-of-war between the president and the premier; whose henchmen form the majority of the government.

Sirisena is a Buddhist who has lived an exemplarily life as a citizen of this country. But the luxury life that politics offers and the power vested upon him as president probably make him view death as something that should be postponed. We all must go when the time comes to bid adieu to planet earth. But a politician may think differently.

ultimatum

If there is anyone who put the subject of death so early into the mind of President Sirisena it’s whistle blower Namal Kumara. The revelation of an assassination plot not only makes Sirisena intricately plan his future moves, but also highlights that wonderful lesson of Gautama Buddha that ‘all good products come with a shelf life’. Sirisena, a product of Pollonaruwa, rose to stardom in 2015 when the UNP and key members of the opposition united to field him as the presidential candidate under the guidance of the late Ven. Sobitha Thera.

This assassination talk also serves Sirisena an ultimatum that its now or never for him. Getting bumped off or being unseated as President right now might have similar effects on Sirisena’s career. Sirisena must find the strength to wade through the glue he is stuck in. On one side there is an economy that’s crashing and on the other there is a support base (As in the vote base) for him which is fast diminishing. Right now the assassination talk has cost him dearly because India, the accused, is badly hurt. According to media reports a scheduled press conference which was supposed to brief the fourth estate about the Government’s response to the assassination story had been canceled at the eleventh hour.

A prominent Government minister had said that the news that the Indian journalist was fed with, regarding the president’s alleged statement about the plot to kill him, was false. All this begs the question why the Government doesn’t clear the air about the assassination plot by having a press conference, releasing an official statement or by the President himself using the Government media arm and addressing the nation. We have read so much about Government officials working overtime to communicate with New Delhi in its attempts to do damage control now. Should the Sri Lankan citizens be left in the dark during a time of great concern like this?

Gotabaya putting a police entry with regard to the plot to assassinate him is a good enough happening to make Sri Lankan citizens demand to know the truths about this whole episode!

Sirisena sees the bits of information leaked to the press from what transpired at a Cabinet meeting as an attempt to tarnish his image and portray him as an enemy of India. It’s now known that president Sirisena was not in favour of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port to be developed with India’s help. The Indian premier had meanwhile conveyed his displeasure over some of the Indian funded projects in Sri Lanka facing a delay in completion. Uninformed citizens of this country are forced to guess or listen to the speculative stories that are doing the rounds that Modi and Sirisena are drifting apart in their relationship. But the positive news from Colombo is that Sirisena has taken the initiative to strengthen ties with India and Modi.

Uninformed citizens

Minister Amaraweera has said that he would take to task the four ministers who conveyed vital information about the Cabinet meeting to an Indian journalist, who works for The Hindu newspaper. He has also said that there are Cabinet secrets that should not be disclosed to the public. Isn’t the news about the plot to assassinate the president important enough for the people to know? Gotabaya putting a police entry with regard to the plot to assassinate him is a good enough happening to make Sri Lankan citizens demand to know the truths about this whole episode!

Sirisena is wise enough to know that this country has had a history of heads of state being assassinated or there being attempts at taking their lives. The killing of President Ranasinghe Premadasa was master-minded by the LTTE and we all know that a good number of the tiger rebels were trained in India. We also know that over the years the Tamil Nadu Government had a soft corner for the tiger rebels. At one time during the civil war in the north it is said that LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabakaran went into hiding in India. (This is stated in the book ‘Thiyuna Asipathaka Sevana Yata penned by Swaminathan Wimal). India’s interests in creating trouble for Sri Lanka dates back to the time of the island’s kings. Hence the talk about the Indian national named M.Thomas claiming that he knew of the plot to assassinate the president leaves us wondering whether the adversities that the president faces gathered momentum with the aid of political winds that are blowing from India.
President Sirisena’s Government has to do much investigation to get to the bottom of all this. It’s reported in newspapers that Sirisena believes that Modi might not be aware of the alleged assassination plot. He believes that the Indian national could be a RAW agent. But above all the man who walked freely among crowds with the least security during the past two and a half years has now invited the thought of death to his mind.

Independent observers believe that these developments will hamper Sirisena’s election plans for 2020. Even if the story about the assassination plot will take time to be proved, one thing is clear; those opposing the president have begun playing a psychological game to unnerve him. President Sirisena must revise the clock to 2010 and observe how Mahinda Rajapaksa held his nerve till the last minute to defeat Sarath Fonseka at the Presidential Elections.

In that election the person who could handle pressure better won in the end. Even if Sirisena survives the assassin’s bullet he has to negotiate the challenges that are thrown at him by his own’men’ in the Yahapalana Government. The latter seems a tougher task than the first for Sirisena!

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Palestinian women have 'meaningful role to play', says lawyer ahead of UN address

Siniora, who will be first Palestinian woman campaigner to address Security Council, tells MEE Palestinian women 'bear the brunt' of occupation

Randa Siniora is director of Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (MEE/James Reinl)

James Reinl

Wednesday 24 October 2018

UNITED NATIONS – Civil rights lawyer Randa Siniora will make history this week when she becomes the first Palestinian woman campaigner to address the United Nations Security Council.

Siniora, director of the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, a Palestinian rights group, will address the top UN body on Thursday during a debate on rape, trauma and other challenges faced by women in Syria, Congo, Yemen and other conflict zones.

Her address has been lauded as a rare chance for a Palestinian campaigner to speak to a global audience, especially as US President Donald Trump’s peace-making efforts in the Middle East often sideline Palestinian voices.

In an interview with Middle East Eye, Siniora said Palestinian women have not only been shot during demonstrations and stoned to death by Israeli settlers, but they are also the ones who pick up the pieces when families are torn apart.

“We’re talking about the whole range of violations compounded with the traditional roles of women in the household, which creates another layer of oppression that women have to suffer under the occupation,” Siniora told MEE.

Examples of repression

Siniora, a UK-educated lawyer from Jerusalem who has worked on legal rights for the past three decades, said she will use her time at the UN to provide envoys with concrete examples of life under Israeli occupation.

One such case is that of Mirvat, a 35-year-old Palestinian woman from Hebron, in the West Bank, who was attacked by a mob of Israeli settlers while putting out her trash in January.

The gang of young settlers beat her so badly that Mirvat, who was four months pregnant at the time, miscarried, said Siniora. Despite alerting police, Mirvat, who doesn't want her full name revealed, says no one was prosecuted for the violence.

'Women bear the brunt of the hardships of Israeli colonisation and the structured patriarchy of Palestinian society'

-Randa Siniora, lawyer

Others have suffered at demonstrations that have taken place across Gaza since March.

Siniora highlighted the case of Alaa, 15, who was hit in the back by an exploding bullet during a protest at the al-Bureij boundary post with Israel in July. Her injuries have left her unable to walk or sleep properly, Siniora said.

In the lead-up to the UN meeting, Siniora has also pushed for greater UN scrutiny of Israel and Palestine under a mechanism called the Informal Expert Group, but noted that the 15-member council, on which Israel’s ally, the United States, has veto powers, was unwilling to take that step.

Siniora’s criticism will be aimed not only at Israeli officials, but at the male-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), as well.

She said the PA barely includes women in the day-to-day running of the territory and it doesn't allow women near the negotiating table with foreign envoys. “Women bear the brunt of the hardships of Israeli colonisation and the structured patriarchy of Palestinian society,” she said.

Need for woman voices

Anna Tonelli, a conflict expert at global charity Oxfam International, called for greater inclusion of women in discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“It’s critical that women like Randa are included in this dialogue because Palestinian women continue to endure the worst impact of the Israeli occupation,” Tonelli told MEE.

“Despite their higher educational levels, they fare worse than men in the labour market, in political participation and leadership.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has turned to the UN and other international institutions after Trump moved US embassy to Jerusalem (Reuters/File photo)

Siniora’s address comes at a time when Palestinian officials struggle to get their message across in the face of a White House that appears to totally favour Israel.

Since taking power in January 2017, Trump has halted funding for Palestinian refugees, shuttered the Palestinian diplomatic outpost in Washington and recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US embassy there.

That move reversed longstanding US policy, sparked global outrage, and finally, led PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his officials to boycott peace efforts led by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law.

Turning to UN

Palestinian officials have tried to get around the deadlocked negotiations by taking their case to the UN, with Abbas delivering impassioned speeches to the Security Council in February and the 193-nation General Assembly in September.

Abbas also announced plans to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN to full membership and, in May, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki asked International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors to launch a full probe into alleged Israeli abuses on Palestinian soil.

The Palestinian push for international recognition received a boost earlier this month when Palestine was elected at the UN General Assembly as chair of a group 77 developing states, known as G77.

The resolution granting Palestine the right to be the G77 chair for 2019 was backed by 146 UN member states. Only the US, Israel and Australia voted against the measure.

READ MORE ►

Supporting Palestine can now get you denied entry to the US

Jonathan Cristol, a scholar at Adelphi University, said he was not surprised that the PA was attempting an “end run” around Washington, but that the chances of success were slim.

“The US remains the key outside player in this conflict. Maybe the other permanent Security Council members can assume a more prominent role, but ultimately the multilateral institution route will not end the occupation nor lead to full UN membership,” Cristol told MEE.

Despite these challenges, Siniora intends to take the stage at the Security Council to bring attention to critical and too-often overlooked topics: the suffering of women in war and the ways in which they can be at the forefront of positive change.

“Women have to be part of mediation, reconciliation and peace-building in our region," she said. "Across the Middle East, women have a meaningful role to play, they have to be engaged, and they can perhaps change the rules of the game.”

Palestinian Authority and Hamas run parallel police states — Human Rights Watch

Palestinians anti-riot police deploy in Ramallah against Palestinian protesters. A new Huma Rights Watch report accuses the Palestinian Authority and Hamas of running “parallel police states” in the West Bank and Gaza.Issam RimawiAPA images

Annelies Verbeek-23 October 2018

A new report by Human Rights Watch finds both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza guilty of making widespread use of arbitrary arrests and torture to quell criticism and political opposition.

The report, titled “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent,” is the result of two years of investigation. It draws on 86 case studies and 147 interviews, mostly with ex-detainees.

“Twenty five years after Oslo, Palestinian authorities have gained only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet, where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states,” said Tom Porteous, a Human Rights Watch representative.

“Calls by Palestinian officials to safeguard Palestinian rights ring hollow as they crush dissent.”

The arbitrary arrests are mainly aimed at those who criticize the authorities or express support for political opposition on social media, in journalism and on university campuses. According to Human Rights Watch, the authorities often justify the arrests on the basis of vague laws that criminalize activities as “causing sectarian strife” or “insulting higher authorities.”

The report gives many examples of individual cases of abuse. One man, previously jailed by Israel, was subsequently detained 15 times by the PA’s security forces for belonging to the Hamas bloc when in prison.

Another example is the 15-day detention of a journalist in Gaza who wrote on Facebook, “I wonder if the children of our leaders sleep on the floor like ours do.” He was charged with the “misuse of technology” and called “a source of sedition.”

Torture “habitual, deliberate and widely used”

The report states that torture and abuse in detention is “habitual, deliberate and widely used.” Both authorities frequently use a torture tactic called shabeh, in which detainees are confined in stress positions.

Human Rights Watch describes the methods used as “paralleling years of Israeli practice against Palestinians.”

Other documented abuses include use of electric shocks and beating with cables.

Human Rights Watch calls on the US and the European Union, which financially support the Palestinian Authority, as well as Qatar, Iran and Turkey, which support Hamas, to suspend assistance to security forces involved with widespread arbitrary arrests and torture. It also recommends that arbitrary arrests and abuse by the PA and Hamas be included in any future International Criminal Court investigation on Palestine.

Both Hamas and the PA deny that any abuse is systematic or amounts to more than limited and exceptional cases. Both authorities also maintain that such cases are investigated when brought to the attention of the authorities.

Human Rights Watch staff were unable to travel to Gaza to speak to Hamas authorities there about the accusations since Israel barred researchers from entry.

Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have internal mechanisms in place to file complaints against abuse by authorities. Hundreds of complaints have been filed by citizens and human rights organizations, but according to the Human Rights Watch report, only a “small minority” resulted in disciplinary action.

Rights groups in the West Bank put the Palestinian Authority – which is led by Mahmoud Abbas – under special scrutiny because of its security coordination with Israel. The PA passes intelligence and interrogation records to Israel and there have been documented cases in which Israeli interrogators told Palestinian prisoners that they received their interrogation records from the Palestinian Authority.

“There is a feeling that there can be no criticism of the Palestinian leadership because it will take the focus away from the Israeli occupation,” said Yara Hawari from the Palestinian think tank al-Shabaka.

“But we have to talk about the abuses in a way that gives the whole picture. The PA and Hamas do not exist in a vacuum. Many of the human rights abuses they commit happen under the watch of Israel, and with Israeli facilitation.”

“This abuse of power goes to show that the Palestinian leaderships are quite weak and incapable of leading their people,” Hawari told The Electronic Intifada.

“It is sad. But I think this kind of report is important because it gives the Palestinians the opportunity to think about what kind of leadership they actually want, and what comes next after Abbas, rather than who comes next.”

Annelies Verbeek is a Belgian journalist based in Ramallah.

Homemade bombs sent to Obama, Clinton, CNN offices and Holder, officials say

Authorities are investigating suspicious packages sent to former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and other political figures. (Joyce Koh /The Washington Post)

By Devlin Barrett ,Mark Berman andCleve R. Wootson Jr.-October 24 at 5:08 PM

The discovery of five pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats, CNN and a liberal billionaire put the country on edge Wednesday and sent law enforcement officials scrambling to prevent any more packages from reaching their targets.

The hunt for a serial mail bomber began late Tuesday night when Secret Service personnel conducting standard mail screenings found a pipe bomb inside a plain manila envelope with a bubble-wrapped interior addressed to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. A similarly packaged bomb was found hours later in mail addressed to former president Barack Obama.

Neither bomb got close to its intended target, and neither contained a written message, according to law enforcement officials, but the twin discoveries led to other undetonated devices being found elsewhere, including in the mailroom at CNN’s New York headquarters and a district office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

James P. O’Neill, commissioner of the New York Police Department, said police found what “appeared to be a live explosive device” at CNN addressed to former Obama administration CIA director John Brennan, though officials did not immediately say how effective that or the other devices might have been at causing damage.

As more devices were discovered, a disturbing pattern emerged — the bomber or bombers appeared to be targeting prominent figures on the political left.

The first such package was discovered Monday at the New York home of George Soros, a billionaire activist known to fund pro-democracy and liberal political groups.

[Amid a poisonous political campaign, GOP leaders rush to condemn explosives]

Officials described the devices as attempted acts of terrorism and cautioned that the number of bombs — and intended victims — could grow. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray issued an appeal for the public’s help to catch the bomber and warned people not to touch suspicious packages.

“This investigation is of the highest priority for the FBI,” Wray said in a statement. “We ask anyone who may have information to contact the FBI. Do not hesitate to call; no piece of information is too small to help us in this investigation.”

Officials said the packages used as a return address the office of Wasserman Schultz, who chaired the Democratic National Committee during part of the 2016 campaign. One such package used an incorrect address for former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr., and it was “returned” to her office in Sunrise, Fla., where it was intercepted, according to officials. Authorities do not believe she had anything to do with the packages and think she was a potential victim. A spokesman for Holder declined to comment.

The pipe bomb addressed to Brennan was found in the mail at CNN’s headquarters in New York. Since leaving the government, Brennan has been an outspoken critic of President Trump; he is an on-air analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, rather than CNN.

[Austin bombings renew debate: What crimes do we label as terrorism?]

At a congressional mail-sorting facility, investigators intercepted a similar-looking package addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), but FBI officials did not list that package among those it was examining.

In a statement, Waters said she had been told by police that her office “was the target of a suspicious package that has been referred to the FBI. I am appreciative of the law enforcement entities who intercepted the package and are investigating this matter. I unequivocally condemn any and all acts of violence and terror.”

ATF officials said a package similar to the five devices cited by the FBI had been found by postal inspectors in Los Angeles.

The packages came with computer-printed address labels, six Forever stamps and return addresses with Wasserman Schultz’s name misspelled, officials said.

Law enforcement officials described the devices as pipes stuffed with explosive material and wrapped in electrical wire and tape, but they provided no detail on how they would have been detonated. The FBI, the Secret Service, the NYPD and other agencies kicked into high gear Wednesday morning trying to determine who was behind the bombs — and how many more may be en route to intended victims. At least two of the devices appeared to have been hand-delivered, according to law enforcement officials.

“We will not rest until we stop these hazardous devices from being mailed and bring the individual or individuals to justice,” said C. Bryan Paarmann, an FBI counterterrorism official. The devices have been sent to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Va., for further analysis.

Malcolm Brady, a former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives official who spent decades investigating bomb suspects, said federal agents are carefully poring over the packages for any clues they may hold as to the identity or location of the sender.

“You have to be extremely careful when you examine this stuff, because a piece of tape could have a fingerprint on it,” said Brady.

Most mail-bombing suspects are “loner types,” said Brady, who added he doubts this bomber made a mistake when he used a bad address for Holder.

“That looks like an intentional manipulation of the system, to try to get it to go to the congresswoman. I strongly suspect he wanted that package to go to her. That suggests he’s really focused on her,” said Brady.

Wasserman Schultz issued a defiant statement.

“We will not be intimidated by this attempted act of violence. This appalling attack on our democracy must be vigorously prosecuted, and I am deeply disturbed by the way my name was used,” she said. “Today, my staff and I will hug each other and our loved ones tightly, and tomorrow get back to work serving the people I was elected to represent.”

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) spoke about the suspicious package found at CNN offices in New York on Oct. 23. (Reuters)

Amid the frenetic pace of the investigation, some alarms turned out to be false. A suspicious package sent to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) was in fact a thumb drive, according to the NYPD.

Authorities also searched an office building in San Diego that houses a newspaper before concluding there was nothing dangerous there.

The known recipients of the bombs are all frequent targets of conservative politicians, including Trump. Speaking at the White House, the president decried the bombs and pledged that the federal government would bring those responsible to justice.

“In these times, we have to unify,” he said. “We have to come together and send one very clear, strong and unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”

Those words did not satisfy CNN President Jeff Zucker, who issued a statement sharply critical of the administration’s posture toward the news media.

“There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,” Zucker said. “The president, and especially the White House press secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”

An Obama representative referred questions to the Secret Service. Speaking in Florida on Wednesday, Clinton said her family was “fine, thanks to the men and women of the Secret Service who intercepted the package addressed to us long before it made its way to our home.”

She also spoke to the anger pulsing through American politics: “It is a troubling time, isn’t it? It is a time of deep divisions, and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together.”

[When anthrax-laced letters terrorized Washington and New York]

Politicians of both parties condemned the mail bombs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called them “attempted acts of domestic terrorism.” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) used similar language.

“This clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence,” de Blasio said.

As news of the homemade bombs spread, authorities vowed to ramp up security measures. The NYPD increased patrols in areas linked to public figures and at media offices.

The Senate sergeant at arms sent a message to senators and their staffers advising them to be cautious when handling mail and reminding people not to bring unopened mail or packages from outside into their Senate offices.

About 30 offices associated with the political work of Tom Steyer, a major Democratic donor, have stepped up security significantly in the past 48 hours in light of the threats to Soros and others, said Erik Olvera, spokesman for Steyer’s group Need to Impeach. They have also increased security measures for Steyer, the biggest donor to super PACs supporting liberal causes and candidates this election cycle.

This image obtained by CNN shows a suspected explosive device received at the CNN bureau in New York City on Oct. 24, 2018. (Courtesy of CNN/AFP/Getty Images) (-/AFP/Getty Images)

Top Republicans, including Trump and McConnell, have sought for weeks now to cast the rising tide of public anger as actual acts of violence and a phenomenon to be laid at the feet of Democrats.

“I think we know who the culprits are here when it comes to the quality of discourse in the country, and it’s not coming from the Republican side of the aisle,” McConnell said in an Associated Press interview this month.

The contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh prompted fierce and occasionally personal protests targeting Republican on Capitol Hill. GOP leaders chided Democratic leaders, including Clinton and Holder, for delivering remarks that they claimed encourage incivility and potential acts of violence.

[Anxiety, painful memories after bomb found in CNN building]

But law enforcement has made arrests in recent incidents targeting members of both parties. A New York man was arrested in August for threatening two House Republican leaders; another New York man was arrested last week for threatening GOP senators over Kavanaugh’s nomination. In April, a California man pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Waters. And a Florida man was arrested this month for posting threats on Facebook against Democrats and Republicans who opposed Kavanaugh. Earlier this month, a far-right group called the Proud Boys attacked left-wing protesters outside an Oct. 12 Republican Party event in Manhattan. New York police have since arrested several members of the group.

The devices sent to Clinton, Obama and Soros this week were all pipe bombs placed inside plain manila brown envelopes with the addresses typed on stickers, according to a law enforcement official. The official said those three devices appeared to be capable of exploding and causing injuries.

Authorities urge anyone who receives a suspicious package to contact law enforcement, the official said.

The devices were sent out just months after a 23-year-old in the Austin, Tex., suburbs set off a string of package explosives in that region, killing two people and wounding several others. That bomber delivered some in person and sent others through the FedEx system, which enabled authorities to track him down.

New York Police stand outside the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018 in New York. A police bomb squad was sent to CNN's offices at the center, and the newsroom was evacuated because of a suspicious package. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

Unlike the packages intercepted before reaching Obama and Clinton, the device sent to CNN was found while its building was teeming with employees. CNN’s headquarters at the Time Warner Center in New York evacuated suddenly Wednesday morning after the suspicious package was discovered there.

The network broadcast footage of its staffers and others from the building flooding the Manhattan streets below, where anchor Jim Sciutto could be seen on a cellphone calling in on the air. Zucker wrote in a letter to employees that the center was “evacuated out of an abundance of caution” after the package was found in the mailroom. He also told employees that CNN had checked on its other bureaus but found no other devices.

Chi Li, 28, who works at a technology company near CNN’s building, left to run an errand and came back to find the area closed off.

“I always think it’s so cool to be so close to CNN," she said. “Maybe now everyone will stop calling them enemy of the people. ‘Fake news.’ ”

[The instant, inevitable cries of ‘false flag’ after bomb threats targeting the Clintons, Obamas and CNN]

As investigators continued to explore the devices and their origins, White House officials and others in Washington decried the string of packages.

“We condemn the attempted violent attacks recently made against President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public figures," Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement Wednesday morning. “These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Vice President Pence posted a similar statement, calling the devices “despicable” and saying that anyone “responsible will be brought to justice.” Trump chimed in after, writing: “I agree wholeheartedly!”

Donald J. Trump

✔ @realDonaldTrump

I agree wholeheartedly!

Vice President Mike Pence

✔ @VP

We condemn the attempted attacks against fmr Pres Obama, the Clintons, @CNN & others. These cowardly actions are despicable & have no place in this Country. Grateful for swift response of @SecretService, @FBI & local law enforcement. Those responsible will be brought to justice.

12:04 PM - Oct 24, 2018

75.9K

48K people are talking about this

Suspicious letters and packages have been sent to numerous public figures, including President Trump’s children. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, tweeted: “As someone whose family has directly been the victim of these mail threats I condemn whoever did this regardless of party or ideology. This crap has to stop and I hope they end up in jail for a long time.”

A letter was sent to Trump Jr.'s home earlier this year that resulted in his wife going to the hospital. A man later pleaded guilty to sending threatening letters with white powder to Trump’s sons and other public figures.

Mike DeBonis, Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker, John Wagner, Souad Mekhennet and Michelle Ye Hee Lee in Washington and Renae Merle in New York contributed to this story, which will be updated.

Savage chopping to death alive of Jamal Khasoggi

Christian west demands justice while Muslims worldwide, display their hypocrisy, with their silence and indifference

by Latheef Farook-Oct 23, 2018

( October 23, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the entire Christian West-governments, civil societies and the media-continue to highlight the gruesome chopping to death of highly connected Saudi dissident-in-exile Jamal Khashoggi, Muslims worldwide remain silent and indifferent displaying their hypocrisy.

As we know on 2 October 2018 a 15 member killer squad dispatched to kill Khasoggi dragged him from the Saudi Consul General’s office in Istanbul where they threw him onto a desk , cut his fingers and tortured before chopping and dismembering alive during a seven-minute execution in the presence of Saudi Consul Mohammad al-Otaibi.

The audio recording this savage killing said to have captured the missing journalist’s dying screams, before he was ‘injected with an unknown drug’ and fell silent. There was no attempt to interrogate, but to kill him.

This unprecedented barbarity was committed on the instruction of Saudi Prince of death Mohamed Bin Salman who, has graduated from the family tradition of chopping hands and heads in public plazas to dismembering bodies in overseas consulates.

This is sheer barbarity and has nothing to do with the peaceful message of Islam. However the irony is that killer Salman is the de facto Custodian of the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madina. Yet there was no condemnation in general from Muslims worldwide including Sri Lankan Muslims.

On the other hand it is not possible for people in most Muslim countries to speak out, leave alone coming out on street protests to condemn this heinous crime, as they remain brutally oppressed by regimes , installed by Europe and US, who deny even basic freedom to people.

However, due to electronic media, , despite suspected US and Turkey moves to cover up the killing, it has become difficult to hide Salman’s barbarity as the unfolding events disclose details of the pre meditated and pre medieval style barbarity which brought unprecedented shame to Islam, Muslims and humanity as a whole.

While Muslims remain silent, calls started to emerge in the Christian west to free the holy cities of Makkah and Medina from Sadi tyrants to be administered by a Vatican style administration.

In fact this was the call made by Ottoman Governor in Makkah Sheriff Hussein almost a century ago in the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the World War 1 in the early 1920s. He suggested the establishment of Caliphate in Makkah to manage Makkah and Madina by a council of representatives of Muslims from all over the world including Sri Lanka.

Britain and France, busy partitioning the Middle East to suit their evil agenda against slam and Muslims, were alarmed. They were joined by Zionist Jews .They screened and picked up Saudi tribal Bedouins in Riyadh, gave them five million sterling pounds and supplied with weapons to attack Sheriff Hussein and bring Makkah and Madina under Al Saud control to suit UK-European masters’ agenda.

Since then Saud family, hand in glove with their European masters, implemented all their evil designs against Islam and Muslims. They spent billions in all US-European wars against Muslims. Genocide in Yemen being the latest.

They promoted subversive version of Islam, sect of Wahhabism, which became the founding cult of the Saudi regime. This treachery continued until Salman discreetly supported President Trump’s illegal move to shift US Embassy to Jerusalem to please Trump and his Zionist Jewish son in law Jared Kushner. They gave the country’s highest award to Trump, sworn enemy of Muslims. They signed 315 billion dollar weapons contract to US- perhaps to kill Muslims. Trump who refuse to condemn the Khashoggi killing said Saudis are purchasing 110-billion-dollar worth of weapons providing jobs to 500,000 Americans. As days pass by he is getting exposed of his greedy for money.

Over years today Israel and Saudis have become two sides of same US-UK-European coin implementing their agendas against the Muslim Middle East. Salman, as de facto ruler, as unleashed waves of terror against Islamic scholars and started arresting, torturing and killing them in the cruelest manner.

Unable to put up with these atrocities and for killing Khasoggi which “goes against Islam, human ethics and standards”. a group of Saudi scholars have called for the removal of bin Salman from power. Going a step further Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia said in an Al Jazeera program that not only Salman but the entire Saudi family should be removed from power and the country need to be freed from US-European backed tyranny.

Under such circumstance isn’t it the responsibility of Muslims worldwide, including Sri Lankan Muslims, to condemn this barbarity and call for liberating Makkah and Medina from the shameful grip of this family.

What is happening in Makkah and Medina should be the concern of Sri Lankan Muslims too. Muslims in the island do not have an effective media .Under such circumstance isn’t it the responsibility of All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema,ACJU,Tableeg Movement and others who control mosques to use Friday sermons to speak about what is going on in the land of Islam and educate Muslims .The community’s failure to do so and silence display its overall political, religious and moral bankruptcy of even the civil society .

On the other hand, removing this regime is not an easy task as it is backed by US and Europe.

In spite of Saudi Arabia’s long history of human rights abuses, its support of Wahhabi terrorism, and its ongoing genocidal war in Yemen, the kingdom has always gotten a free pass (and lots of weapons) from Washington and its allies including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other European countries. Even when a U.S. supplied bomb was used to strike a school bus in Yemen killing 40 children this past August, no one batted an eye. Up to this point the relationship with the Saudis was considered too important to risk. Now for some reason the Khashoggi murder is being treated as a line crossed?

This summer, Saudi Arabia promised the Trump administration $100 million and that money landed in American accounts on the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Riyadh, for discussions with the kingdom’s leaders about the fate of a missing Saudi dissident.

Under such circumstance nothing much is going to happen as US. UK, France, Russia and Israel will never allow a regime change as Saudi money is more important than so called values such as democracy, human rights, freedom and the like. It is still worse Muslim world remain in chaos due to US European manipulations.

Ends

Learning from Sisyphus?

Featured image courtesy TRT World/Time

“The painful secret of gods and kings is that men are free.”
Sartre (The Flies)

The ‘journalist who fell foul of his country’s ruling dynasty’ – that was the title of The Guardianobituary of Jamal Khashoggi. In his last column for The Washington Post, Mr. Khashoggi said that freedom of expression was what the Arab World needs most. His barbaric murder – according to Turkish sources, his killers started sawing him up while he was still alive – proves conclusively what life, and death, can become in a world where most humans have no human rights.
Mr. Khashoggi’s murder holds up a mirror, giving us a clear view of the emerging times. Had anyone other than Donald Trump occupied the Oval Office, the Saudis might not have murdered Mr. Khashoggi the way they did, where they did (Turkey is not a Saudi ally). But with Mr. Trump in the White House, insane minds could prevail in Riyadh. After all, Mr. Trump has made no secret of his hatred of free expression and independent media. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Saudi crown prince called Jared Kushner and wanted to know what the fuss was about.[i]

The murder of Mr. Khashoggi, like the triumph of Mr. Trump, is not an isolated event. It is a mark of the times we are living in, a period in history when battles considered won must be refought, and issues considered settled must be reengaged with.

When Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, took a stance in clear opposition to Pope Francis, and publicly questioned the need for human rights, he was doing what many politicians, thinkers and clerics are doing all over the world. As the new wave of national-populism sweeps across the globe, influential voices are arguing that people and countries need to make a choice between freedom and security, between basic rights and economic prosperity. Fear is being used to push voters into voluntarily abandon basic rights, and transform themselves from free citizens to obedient subjects.
Democracy’s boast is that it is government for the people. But when economics, instead of delivering a liveable life causes in-your-face inequalities, democracy acquires the image of government not for people but against people. That is the hour of the strong leader, the one who promises to shake the foundations, drain the swamp and make countries great, always pointing to a utopian past as lodestar.

The world’s safest countries, countries which have succeeded in ensuring for their people the best possible lives are not autocracies, run by strong leaders or families.[ii] They are democracies where basic rights are accepted, basic freedoms flourish and the rule of law prevails. But a blasé disregard for facts is another hallmark of the new wave of national populism.

This month, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a landmark report, putting the world on notice. If global warming can be limited 1.5 Celsius above preindustrial levels, the world has a future. If not, especially if the rate exceeds 2 Celsius, a natural Armageddon awaits us. Asked about the report, President Trump said that he has seen reports with antithetical conclusions and that he believes a ‘glorious future’ awaits the world (he also boasted about his natural instinct for science).

According to the report, the world can save itself with drastic remedial measures. Not if Donald Trump continues to occupy White House and fellow climate-science denier, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro (who defends the country’s past military dictatorships) wins the presidency and implements his promise to super-exploit the Brazilian Amazon in the name of development. What Italy’s Five Star Movement has achieved with its anti-vaccination campaign – a sharp spike in measles as vaccination rates drop – is a warning of what awaits not just individual countries but the entire world, if the current wave of national-populism, with its practice of making a false equivalence between proven facts and personal beliefs, continues its global sweep.

Democracy’s Failure of Memory

When Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith made his retrogressive remarks about individual rights, the only politician who bothered to counter him was Mangala Samaraweera. The Joint Opposition then came swinging in the Cardinal defence (just as it did when a senior Buddhist monk asked Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to ‘become even a Hitler to develop the country’). Mahinda Rajapaksa lamented ‘the attacks on religions’. In his weekly Lankadeepa column, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa railed against modernity’s disregard for religious traditions.

Mr. Samaraweera is a political liberal; but like most political liberals of today, he doesn’t seem to understand the nexus between democracy and social justice. Mr. Samaraweera speaks out against religious and cultural extremism while showing a lamentable inability to remember that historically there has been a clear interdependence between economic fairness and political tolerance. Had Mr. Samaraweera not been the minister of finance, this inability might not have been of consequence. Since he is, his position, his failure to comprehend the political consequences of austerity is turning to be a key factor in the imminent Rajapaksa resurgence.

The last time a national-populist wave swept across the world was in the 1920’s and 1930’s. That first wave of national-populism was born of the First World War and gave birth to the Second World War. A key characteristic of the interwar years was economic dysfunction, the Great Depression of 1929 and the not quite so famous depression of 1921-23. Economic pain and hopelessness drove individuals and nations to the edge of insanity and, often, beyond. Those countries with strong institutions averted disaster, and used the crisis as an opportunity to prune the system of some of its more egregious aspects – the American New Deal being the most outstanding case in point. Other countries, lacking in strong institutions, tried to fill the vacuum with strong leaders, opening the gates to the likes of Adolf Hitler.

The socialist challenge and the enormous popularity of the Soviet example were what made the victors of 1945 behave in a radically different way from the way they did in 1918. Capitalism was fortunate to have a set of leaders who understood that survival meant change, including borrowing liberally from the socio-economic arsenal of socialism. The statement, that “there is no choice between being a communist on 1500 calories a day and a believer in democracy on a thousand,” attributed to such as ace Cold Warrior and anti-communist as General Lucius Clay, is indicative of Western leaders’ willingness to think outside the box, even to break the mould where necessary. It was this attitudinal transformation which made possible the game-changing Marshall Plan. Marshall Plan’s “effectiveness was rooted in the freedom that it gave post-war European governments, torn between structural rebuilding and investing directly in their citizens, to avoid austerity measures and cutbacks that would have increased political instability and lowered the quality of daily life.”[iii]
So the welfare state became the capitalist norm in the first world. Political leaders used economic measures to transform ordinary people from outsiders into stakeholders of the system, with something to lose. Western European welfare states succeeded in ensuring higher living and working conditions to their own working classes than what prevailed in the Eastern Bloc. As Eric Hobsbawm pointed out, “It is one of the ironies of this strange century that the most lasting result of the October revolution, whose object was the global overthrow of capitalism, was to save its antagonist both in war and in peace – that is to say by providing it with the incentive, fear, to reform itself after the Second World War…”[iv]

That history is now forgotten. And democracy’s failure of memory has resulted in an attitude to economics which is so dogmatic it seems almost religious. The post-war nexus between individual freedom and social justice lies sundered. In 2009, a second great depression was avoided, but the means used to save entire economies from collapsing had a disastrous impact on millions of individual lives. Livelihoods and homes were lost; the fact that those who contributed most to the crisis, banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and other outposts of financial capital, got away scot-free provided kindling to the fire of popular discontent.

Brazil’s transition from democratic success story to deadly failure holds important lessons to other embattled democracies, including right here at home. Had the Workers Party not gained a reputation for rampant corruption, had it focused on improving the lives of ordinary people instead of wasting enormous resources on showy projects (such as the Rio Olympics), Brazil’s trajectory might not have taken the turn it has. When democratic leaders renege on their core promises and turn their backs on their indispensable constituencies, they sow the seeds of authoritarianism.

The Baby and the Bathwater – An Old Adage for New Times

Soon after Hitler came to power, a group European cultural leaders held a conference under the guidance of Andre Gide to analyse what went wrong and how best to resist Nazism. Klaus Mann in his remarks suggested that leftist intellectuals – like himself – were partly to blame for the disaster. Their critique of the Weimer Republic had been too absolute, because they had seen nothing worth defending in the corrupt, decadent and unjust democratic order, until Nazis took power and taught them the value of basic rights. “We have defamed the original, indestructible, and noble desire of European peoples for freedom because in many cases liberalism has been degraded to a worthless phrase and an alibi for high profits.”[v]

If refighting old battles is to be our fate, it must be done without repeating old mistakes. As a second wave of national-populism gains traction across the world, that lesson from the first wave needs to be remembered. Contempt for representative democracy was a European staple during the interwar years; democratic politicians were often venal and ineffective then, as they are now. Another issue common to both times was corruption. As the gulf between the promises of democracy and the reality (especially Weimer Germany) grew, democracy’s defenders sunk into disillusionment and apathy. The value of the freedoms that still remained under the corrupt, idiotically inept and repressive governments was understood only after they were totally lost under Nazi rule.

Most of human history, humans lived without basic rights and freedoms; and their lives were poor, short and brutish. Sans of a voice and rights, they received subhuman treatment at the hands of kings, generals, magnates or religious leaders. The rights we take for granted today, and are so willing to barter for illusions of security and prosperity, are the results of centuries of hard fought battles. A cursory look at history, for instance, would show how and with what tenacity vested interests resisted the idea of universal franchise.

Historically, democracy was not a rich man’s whim but a poor man’s necessity. The absence of basic rights helps not the ordinary law abiding citizen, but power-wielders (political, religious and economic). Such an environment is not conducive even to combat crime. In the absence of due process and free expression, when a crime happens, the police don’t have to spend time and effort conducting a proper investigation. All they have to do is to catch a ‘likely suspect’ who will either commit suicide or be killed while trying to escape.

In Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa opposition and their supports (which could include up to 45% of the voting electorate) regard extra-judicial killings and involuntary disappearances as a public good. The banishment of the exhibition Unframed (organised by Vikalpa) from the Peradeniya University proves the danger of societal intolerance and authoritarians. The decision by the organisers of a recent film festival in Jaffna not to show the documentary, ‘Demons in Paradise’ demonstrates that the habit of self-censorship is alive and well, even in the absence of official censorship. Add to this toxic brew the growing economic pain of the masses – and there can be little doubt that the necessary ingredients for the re-triumph of autocracy are present in Sri Lanka.

There is nothing glorious about starting from zero again and again, in fighting battles which had been won. But if that is to be our fate, then there cannot be a better model for the coming times than Sisyphus, of Albert Camus. Camus reminds all those whose task is to labour in seeming futile conditions that to despair is to cede victory to the rock. “The struggle towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart,”[vi] he says in conclusion. Perhaps we are about to find out.