Country’s Education plays an important role in the life and the culture of its people. The University of Ceylon was established on July 1, 1942 by the Ceylon University Ordinance No.20 of 1942 which was to be unitary, residential and autonomous. The University was located in Colombo and several years later a second campus was built in Peradeniya.
The University of Ceylon became the University of Sri Lanka following the University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972 resulting in a more centralized administration and more direct government control; this gave way for the creation of separate universities after the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. Even though 15 universities are function, these new universities of independent identities were created and the government maintained its direct control and centralized administration through the University Grants Commission. We maintained a perfect blend of cultures, races, religions through these entities.
Learned extremists
The present pathetic situation created by extremists of this country has an unfavourable atmosphere for the higher education sector. Ministry of Higher Education has the responsibility in formulating policies and strategies and implementing the same to bring the higher education system of the country equivalent to the standards of the rest of the world. However, up-to-date this country has only a national policy framework on higher education and technical and vocational education published by the National Education Commission in June 2009.
Higher education in Sri Lanka has been based on the several prominent Pirivenas (Ancient Buddhist Monks Training Centres) during the local Kingdoms. They have opened up their centres of excellence to all the children in this country without any extremism approach. The University of Kelaniya, University of Sri Jayawardenapura are the best examples of this nature. There is unity in diversity in 15 universities. These universities contribute in numerous ways to improve the net value of the Human Capital in Sri Lanka.
Do we have gratitude towards this nation?
Lalith Athulathmudali as Education Minister developed an initiative to develop the country’s higher education system in the 1980s. The Mahapola Fund established by him provides scholarship and much-needed funding to higher education institutions to this day. In the name of such great personalities and with a great tribute to Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara, our citizens have the opportunity to obtain free education in this country without any discrimination to any religion, race. Such great personalities have implemented the best policies and practices in the name of the future generation of this country. However, a few learned people do not have the gratitude to serve this country. It is a known factor that some learned people were involved in the recent extremist activities in our country.
They have received their higher education with public funds and some are creating extremist opinion which we need to condemn as a nation.
The Constitution of Sri Lanka considers education as a fundamental right. According to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals progress will need to accelerate to reduce growing disparities within and among countries.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future.
However, the question arises to what extent we have reached in sustainable development goals, without a proper policy to cater to everybody equally.
Therefore universities need to be centres of excellence and not centres of extremists. Such initiatives need to be stopped by the Cabinet as it is a danger to the National security and the future of this Nation. Such initiatives have to take under the direct control of the government to provide equity in the dissemination of required knowledge to children as needed by the country’s labour market for the development process, without limiting it to the interest of extremists. Such endeavours may come in future as well, as long as we do not act now on a sustainable policy on education and higher education.
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations once stated that “Narrow the gaps. Bridge the divides. Rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals. Unity is our path. Our future depends on it”.
Innovative practices and good principles are needed to formulate the policy of higher education in Sri Lanka rather than taking ad hoc decisions in the interests of different political and extremists groups to fulfil their hidden agendas in establishing universities to spread different ideologies to destroy this island. At a time where cross border higher education resulting in the increased mobility of students, academic staff, programmes, institutions and professionals has grown considerably globally, we need to protect our universities and institutions to safeguard the Sri Lankan identity. After all, if we do not act now, what we will be losing is our future generation.
Let’s change the extremist tide
Post 9/11 United States, has been able to change the attitude of the Muslim youth. Men and women who were inspired to work across cultures challenged the stereotype and broaden the knowledge of the other. Art, sports and culture could be used to change the attitude of religiously and culturally alienated youth in Sri Lanka. Ali Abbas, Ilhan Omar changed the landscape of extremism. Let all Sri Lankans have “courage of conviction to do what is right”.
Our Parliament does not understand the dire situation that the country is in
why two bullet proof vehicles when the armed forces say the country is safe?
parliament has not allocated a cent for the welfare of the victims’ families
opposition always votes for any bill, no matter how ridiculous that is!
13 May 2019
‘A supplementary budget of 190 million rupees for two bulletproof vehicles for the President and the newly-appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Defence has been passed in parliament! One of my neighbours made it a point to approach me during my morning walk to share this news. I certainly could not believe what I was hearing. But then again, this is Sri Lanka. Rearranging the furniture in a sinking ship has been the approach of the people’s representatives in many crises. But I had to verify the information myself and found out that it was perfectly correct . Our Parliament does not understand the dire situation that the country is in. Or they simply do not care. We have had such a row of terrorist attacks and the people live in fear. The tourism industry has collapsed. Education system has halted. People’s lives and livelihoods are under threat. The survivors are still struggling in hospitals and the families of the victims are trying to come to terms with their losses. And the best that the 225 MPs can do is to present a supplementary budget for Rs.190 million. It is a crying shame! What is even more ludicrous is that, while the Security Forces are telling the public to return to ‘normalcy,’ none of the leaders could demonstrate that he/she had no fear roaming the streets or being in crowded places. There is not a single journalist who can ask the authorities why the need for two bullet proof vehicles, if the country is safe.
No funds for victims, survivors
So far, the parliament has not allocated a cent for the welfare of the victims’ families. Although statements have been made about repairing churches etc., that too already much publicity is in motion where a minister is being featured continuously, we see not the authorities putting money where their mouths are. The public and individuals are collecting dry rations, clothes, medicines for the survivors. People have lost limbs, in the long run, they will need rehabilitation support. But No! Parliament is oblivious to these real issues.
"No other parliament in the world which passes supplementary budgets like churning butter. But in this crazy island of lotus-eaters, the MPs and Ministers can get away with anything, because the leadership has been weak. The leaders are going on the wrong track and the others are also following"
War has not ended for politicians
The war ended in 2009, but the parliamentarians have been behaving like the war is still going on in the country. They have been buying bullet proof vehicles, beefing up their security, increasing their bodyguards as if they are under such threat. In the last 10 years, the public have come to normalcy but the politicians haven’t, the fleet of vehicles in the convoy carrying even ministers is the same as in the past; prior to 2010. So now, thanks to the few suicide bombers, the politicians have gone back to being what they are good at. Wasting public money.
Bullet proof vehicles can’t save you
Does the situation warrant such spending? Our ignorant politicians must be told that a bullet proof vehicle can only protect them when they are inside the vehicle. In their daily routines, they probably spend less than 10% of their time inside this vehicle. The rest of the time they are out of it and an easy target for anyone. So what is then, the MANIA to buy a vehicle that really serves no purpose.
Competent hand for security matters
The President’s constant refusal to appoint someone with competency and experience on security matters is beyond anyone’s comprehension. For once, can they put the country before their own egos? Nothing can be worse than undermining one’s own people. All this is because there is an election coming up and the effort is to win that race, no matter what happens to the country or its people. Everyone, including the media is gearing up for it. Each one is planning on backing certain horses instead of getting the country back on track.
National budget - a farce!
The annual budget for 2019 was passed in Sri Lanka parliament on April 5, due to the high drama in the last quarter of 2018. Why does a country have a budget? To plan and limit ourselves in managing our money. With an approved national budget we try to work within the stipulated limitations. So within a month of the Budget being passed, this seems a mockery that supplementary proposals are brought for some unwanted spending. This is not the first time a supplementary budget was presented, practically every month, so many supplementaries are being presented and passed without a whimper. What does this mean? That the MPs lack clear planning and the whole budget process is a mere farce. In that case, do we need a budget at all for this country? This proposal was not even debated in Parliament. Why do the Ministry Secretaries aid and abet in the preparation of supplementary budgets? Can’t they tell their respective ministers that this is unacceptable? Why can’t the Speaker bring in clear procedures and norms for the presentation of such supplementaries?
"The war ended in 2009, but the parliamentarians have been behaving like the war is still going on in the country. They have been buying bullet proof vehicles, beefing up their security, increasing their bodyguards as if they are under such threat. In the last 10 years, the public have come to normalcy, but the politicians haven’t"
Where is the Opposition?
Has anyone ever noticed that the opposition always votes for any expenditure bill no matter how ridiculous it is? They even vote for it after debating it in parliament. Why do they do that? I feel that they are just marking time till their turn comes to do exactly the same. And no one has the integrity or the presence of mind to say that this is bad. I believe that there is no other parliament in the world which passes supplementary budgets like churning butter. But in this crazy island of lotus-eaters, the MPs and Ministers can get away with anything, because the leadership has been weak. The leaders are going on the wrong track and the others are also following.
No ethics or principles
It has been clear for some time now that the law makers in Sri Lanka have no ethics whatsoever. If they can systematically rob the Central Bank, and do nothing to bring the culprits to book, then they have no fear or shame to do anything. Seasoned politicians are featured having extra marital affairs. And they continue to face the public with no shame whatsoever. They are surrounded by family members holding top positions and are paid by the Public. It is unfortunate that these politicians do not feel an ounce of responsibility or accountability. This country is cursed beyond belief.
Safety of public denied
The fact remains that every Minister knew about the possible attack on Easter Sunday, but the public were kept in the dark. We must also understand the sentiments of the public, that they no longer think MPs are honourable. I myself have heard many people saying that the parliament should vanish into thin air while they are in session. In fact MP Duminda Dissanayake himself stated this in parliament. This shows the public’s displeasure towards the conduct of all politicians. When the leaders have failed to protect the public, should the public fund the protection? This is the question asked by many. I think NOT!
These Palestinians in Gaza make sculptures and art pieces out of Israel’s weapons.
Majdi Abu Taqiyeh, 40, got the idea of making sculptures out of Israeli bullets when his brother was shot during the Great March of Return demonstrations along Gaza’s eastern boundary.
Israeli snipers have killed more than 200 Palestinians since the demonstrations started in March last year.
“I chose the occupation’s bullets as a medium to work with so they become messages to the world,” Abu Taqiyeh told The Electronic Intifada.
“I wanted to make human figures out of bullets to represent the lives of martyrs who died from those bullets and others who were injured.”
Ahmad Abu Ataya, 47, makes prayer beads, flower pots and canes out of tear gas canisters he collects during demonstrations.
“If this life isn’t ours, it’ll be for our children,” says Abu Ataya. “We go to the boundary fence for our rights so we can live.”
Abu Ataya says his art “is proof of life.”
“The Israelis throw death at us, and we make life out of death.”
Trump’s Middle East team appear to have begun implementing the plan over the past 18 months even without its publication
US President Donald Trump holds a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights as he is applauded by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in the White House on 25 March (Reuters)
11 May 2019
A report published this week by the Israel Hayom newspaper apparently leaking details of Donald Trump’s "deal of the century" reads like the kind of peace plan that might be put together by an estate agent or car salesman.
But while the authenticity of the document is unproven and indeed contested, there are serious grounds for believing it paves the direction of any future declaration by the Trump administration.
Greater Israel
Not least, it is a synthesis of most of the Israeli right’s ambitions for the creation of a Greater Israel, with a few sops to the Palestinians – most of them related to partially relieving Israel’s economic strangulation of the Palestinian economy.
This is exactly what Jared Kushner told us the "deal of the century" would look like in his preview last month.
Also significant is the outlet that published the leak: Israel Hayom. The Israeli newspaper is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a US casino billionaire who is one of the Republican party’s chief donors and was a major contributor to Trump’s presidential election campaign funds.
Adelson is also a stalwart ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His newspaper has served as little more than a mouthpiece for Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist governments over the past decade.
Netanyahu behind leak?
Adelson and Israel Hayom have ready access to key figures in both the US and Israeli administrations. And it has been widely reported that little of significance gets into print there unless it has first been approved by Netanyahu or its overseas owner.
The newspaper contested the authenticity and credibility of the document, that spread across social media platforms, even suggesting "it is quite possible the document is fake" and that the Israeli foriegn ministry was looking into it.
The White House had already indicated that, after long delays, it intended to finally unveil the "deal of the century" next month, after the holy Muslim month of Ramadan finishes.
The leaked plan is a synthesis of most of the Israeli right’s ambitions for a Greater Israel
An unnamed White House official told the paper the leak was “speculative” and “inaccurate” – the kind of lacklustre denial that might equally mean the report is, in fact, largely accurate.
If the document is genuine, Netanyahu looks to be the most likely culprit behind the leak. He has overseen the foreign ministry for years and Israel Hayom is widely referred to by Israelis as "Bibiton", or Bibi’s newspaper, employing the prime minister’s nickname.
Testing the waters
The alleged document, as published in Israel Hayom, would be catastrophically bad for the Palestinians. Assuming Netanyahu approved the document’s leaking, his motives might not be too difficult to discern.
On one view, leaking it might be an effective way for Netanyahu and the Trump administration to test the waters, to fly a trial balloon to see whether they dare publish the document as it is, or need to make modifications.
But another possibility is that Netanyahu may have concluded that there could be an unwelcome price in publicly achieving most of what he is already gaining by stealth – a price he may prefer to avoid for the time being.
The Trump administration appears to be ready to give its blessing to a Greater Israel comprising 88 per cent of the land stolen from Palestinians over seven decades
Is the leak designed to foment pre-emptive opposition to the plan, both from within Israel and from the Palestinians and the Arab world, in the hope of stymieing its release?
The hope may be that the leak, and the reaction it elicits, forces Trump’s Middle East team to postpone yet again the plan’s publication, or even foils its release entirely.
Nonetheless, whether or not the “deal of the century” is unveiled soon, the leaked document – if true – offers a plausible glimpse into the Trump administration’s thinking.
Given that Trump’s Middle East team appear to have begun implementing the plan over the past 18 months even without its publication – from moving the US embassy to Jerusalem to the recognition of Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights – the leak helps to shed light on how a US-Israeli "resolution" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is likely to unfold.
Annexing the West Bank
The proposed Palestinian entity would be named "New Palestine” – apparently taking a page out of the playbook of Tony Blair, a Britain’s former prime minister who became the international community’s Middle East envoy from 2007 to 2015.
Back in the 1990s, Blair filleted his own political party, Labour, of its socialist heritage and then rebranded the resulting corporation-friendly party, a pale shadow of its former self, as “New Labour".
The name “New Palestine” helpfully obscures the fact that this demilitarised entity would lack the features and powers normally associated with a state. According to the leak, New Palestine would exist on only a tiny fraction of historic Palestine.
All illegal settlements in the West Bank would be annexed to Israel – satisfying a pledge Netanyahu made shortly before last month’s general election. If the territory annexed includes most of Area C, the 62 per cent of the West Bank Israel was given temporary control over under the Oslo accords, and which the Israeli right urgently wants to annex, that would leave New Palestine nominally in charge of about 12 percent of historic Palestine.
Or put another way, the Trump administration appears to be ready to give its blessing to a Greater Israel comprising 88 per cent of the land stolen from Palestinians over the past seven decades.
'New Palestine'
But it is far worse than that. New Palestine would exist as a series of discrete cantons, or Bantustans, surrounded by a sea of Israeli settlements – now to be declared part of Israel. The entity would be chopped and diced in a way that is true of no other state in the world.
It is hard to imagine how 'New Palestine' would fundamentally change the current, dismal reality for Palestinians
New Palestine would have no army, just a lightly armed police force. It would be able to act only as a series of disconnected municipalities.
In fact, it is hard to imagine how "New Palestine" would fundamentally change the current, dismal reality for Palestinians. They would be able to move between these cantons only using lengthy detours, bypass roads and tunnels. Much like now.
Glorified municipalities
The only silver lining offered in the alleged document is a proposed bribe from the US, Europe, other developed states, though mostly financed by the oil-rich Gulf states, to salve their consciences for defrauding the Palestinians of their land and sovereignty.
A Palestinian youth was arrested by Israeli police in Qabatiya on 4 February, 2016 (AFP)These states will provide $30bn over five years to help New Palestine set up and run its glorified municipalities. If that sounds like a lot of money, remember it is$8bn less than the decade-long aid the US is currently giving Israel to buy arms and fighter jets.
What happens to New Palestine after that five-year period is unclear in the document. But given that the 12 per cent of historic Palestine awarded to the Palestinians is the region’s most resource-poor territory – stripped by Israel of water sources, economic coherence, and key exploitable resources like the West Bank’s quarries – it is hard not to see the entity sinking rather swimming after the initial influx of money dries up.
Even if the international community agrees to stump up more money, New Palestine would be entirely aid dependent in perpetuity.
Drunk with power: How Trump is destroying the Middle East
The US and others would be able to turn on and off the spigot based on the Palestinians’ "good behaviour" – just as occurs now. Palestinians would live permanently in fear of the repercussions for criticising their prison warders.
In keeping with his vow to make Mexico pay for the wall to be built along the southern US border, Trump apparently wants the Palestinian entity to pay Israel to provide it with military security. In other words, much of that $30bn in aid to the Palestinians would probably end up in the Israeli military’s pockets.
Interestingly, the alleged report argues that oil-producing states, not the Palestinians, would be the "main beneficiaries" of the agreement. This hints at how the Trump deal is being sold to the Gulf states: as an opportunity for them to fully embrace Israel, its technology and military prowess, so that the Middle East can follow in the footsteps of Asia’s "tiger economies".
Ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem
Jerusalem is described as a "shared capital", but the small print reads rather differently. Jerusalem would not be divided into a Palestinian east and an Israeli west, as most had envisaged. Instead, the city will be run by a unified Israeli-run municipality. Just as happens now.
The only meaningful concession to the Palestinians would be that Israelis would not be allowed to buy Palestinian homes, preventing – in theory, at least – a further takeover of East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers.
But given that in return Palestinians would not be allowed to buy Israeli homes, and that the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem already suffers massive housing shortages and that an Israeli municipality would have the power to decide where homes are built and for whom, it is easy to imagine that the current situation – of Israel exploiting planning controls to drive Palestinians out of Jerusalem – would simply continue.
A view of the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa mosque compound (AFP)Also, given that Palestinians in Jerusalem would be citizens of New Palestine, not Israel, those unable to find a home in Israeli-ruled Jerusalem would have no choice but to emigrate into the West Bank. That would be exactly the same form of bureaucratic ethnic cleansing that Palestinians in Jerusalem experience now.
Gaza open to Sinai
Echoing recent comments from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, the plan’s benefits for Palestinians all relate to potential economic dividends, not political ones.
Palestinians will be allowed to labour in Israel, as was the norm before Oslo – and presumably, as before, only in the most poorly paid and precarious jobs, on building sites and agricultural land.
A land corridor, doubtlessly overseen by Israeli military contractors the Palestinians must pay for, is supposed to connect Gaza to the West Bank. Confirming earlier reports of the Trump administration’s plans, Gaza would be opened up to the world, and an industrial zone and airport created in the neighbouring territory of Sinai.
The land – its extent to be decided in negotiations – would be leased from Egypt.
Helpfully for Israel, as Middle East Eye has previously pointed out, such a move risks gradually encouraging Palestinians to view Sinai as the centre of their livesrather than Gaza – another way to slowly ethnically cleanse them.
Meanwhile, the West Bank would be connected to Jordan by two border crossings – probably via land corridors through the Jordan Valley, which itself is to be annexed to Israel. Again, with Palestinians squeezed into disconnected cantons surrounded by Israeli territory, the assumption must be that over time many would seek a new life in Jordan.
Palestinian political prisoners would be released from Israeli jails to the authority of New Palestine over three years. But the plan says nothing about a right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees – descended from those who were expelled from their homes in the 1948 and 1967 wars.
Gun to their heads
Don Corleone-style, the Trump administrations appears ready to hold a gun to the head of the Palestinian leaderships to force them to sign up to the deal.
The US, the leaked report states, would cut off all money transfers to the Palestinians if they dissent, in an attempt to batter them into submission.
The alleged plan would demand that Hamas and Islamic Jihad disarm, handing their weapons over to Egypt. Should they reject the deal, the report says the US would authorise Israel to "personally harm" the leadership – through extrajudicial assassinations that have long been a mainstay of Israeli policy towards the two groups.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators march down a street in central London in 2017 (MEE/Areeb UllahRather less credibly, the alleged document suggests that the White House is prepared to get tough with Israel too, cutting off US aid if Israel fails to abide by the terms of the agreement.
Given that Israel has regularly broken the Oslo accords – and international law – without paying any serious penalty for doing so, it is easy to imagine that in practice the US would find work-arounds to ensure Israel was not harmed for any violations of the deal.
US imprimatur
The alleged document has all the hallmarks of being the Trump plan, or at least a recent draft of it, because it sets out in black and white the reality Israel has been crafting for Palestinians over the past two decades.
It simply gives Israel’s mass theft of land and cantonisation of the Palestinians an official US imprimatur.
Cliches, lies and double standards: Jared Kushner's twisted views on Palestine
So, if it offers the Israeli right most of what it wants, what interest would Israel Hayom – Netanyahu’s mouthpiece – have in jeopardising its success by leaking it?
A couple of reasons suggest themselves.
Israel is already achieving all these goals – stealing land, annexing the settlements, cementing its exclusive control over Jerusalem, putting pressure on the Palestinians to move off their land and into neighbouring states – without formally declaring that this is its game plan.
It has been making great progress in all its aims without having to admit publicly that statehood for the Palestinians is an illusion. For Netanyahu, the question must be why go public with Israel’s over-arching vision when it can be achieved by stealth.
Fearful of backlash
But even worse for Israel, once the Palestinians and the watching world understand that the current, catastrophic reality for Palestinians is as good as it is going to get, there is likely to be a backlash.
The Palestinian Authority could collapse, the Palestinian populace launch a new uprising, the so-called "Arab street" may be far less accepting of the plan than their rulers or Trump might hope, and solidarity activists in the West, including the boycott movement, would get a massive shot in the arm for their cause.
Equally, it would be impossible for Israel’s apologists to continue denying that Israel is carrying out what the late Israeli academic Baruch Kimmerling called "politicide" – the destruction of the Palestinians’ future, their right to self-determination and their intergrity as a single people.
If this is Trump’s version of Middle East peace, he is playing a game of Russian roulette – and Netanyahu may be reluctant to let him pull the trigger.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.
Why does Trump let his two horsemen of the apocalypse get away with this?
by Eric S. Margolis-2019-05-11
Is it just a coincidence that TV networks are re-running old ‘Dirty Harry’ films just as a powerful US Naval armada and Air Force B-52 bombers are headed for what could be a clash with Iran? Here we go again with the ‘good guys’ versus the ‘bad guys,’ and ‘make my day.’
Maybe it’s more bluffing? The current US military deployment was scheduled before the latest flare-up with Iran, but the bellicose threats of White House neocon crusaders like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo certainly create the impression that the US wants war.
Adding to the warlike excitement, President Trump just ordered seizure of a large North Korean bulk cargo ship. This was clearly a brazen act of war and violation of international law. More dangerous brinkmanship by administration war-mongers who increasingly appear besotted by power and hubris.
So much for the president who vowed to avoid foreign wars - and so much for the millions of anti-war voters who believed him.
Why does Trump let his two horsemen of the apocalypse get away with this?
I’m following this latest gunboat diplomacy with particular interest because I had the privilege in 1994 of going to sea on the very same aircraft carrier, “CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln” that is now reportedly steaming towards Iran’s coast. With it are a nuclear submarine, a cruiser and a group of destroyers, all equipped with land-attack missiles.
As a former soldier and war correspondent, I was deeply impressed by the ‘Lincoln’ and her youthful crew. They were efficient, motivated and superbly well-organized. In our lifetime, no other navy will ever equal the skills of the US carrier fleet. The only real threat to America’s huge carriers is the growing power and accuracy of Russian, Chinese and Indian heavy anti-ship missiles.
The Navy task force is backed up by B-52 nuclear-capable heavy bombers now stationed in Qatar, and US warplanes from other bases in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, Jordan, and Pakistan that effectively surround Iran. The carriers are just for show and threat.
Israel, which is eager to see the US attack Iran, has helpfully provided ‘intelligence’ allegedly showing that Iran is planning to attack certain US installations in the Mideast. Interestingly, Israel and its American supporters did the same thing in 2001 and 2003, pushing the US to attack its foe Iraq. Washington largely relied on Israeli intelligence about Iraq since its own resources were so weak – and senior Bush administration neocons kept touting the claims from Israel.
President Trump sees himself as an emperor besieged by Washington Lilliputians. There’s nothing like a jolly little war to shut up all his critics and garner media support. Even better, the ‘bad guys’ in this case are ‘Eye-ranian’ Muslims. Trump’s religious base would thrill at the prospect of pounding the Islamic Republic. During the Bush administration years, over 80% of so-called ‘born again’ Christians backed war against Iraq. What happened to ‘turn the other cheek?’
This administration’s neocons have made it their life’s work to destroy Iran, which is considered Israel’s only serious enemy and a champion of the Palestinian cause. The Trump administration has largely fallen under the influence of Israel’s hard right in foreign and military affairs. So Bolton and Pompeo are clearly trying to engineer an incident that would spark war.
Not full-scale war, but an excuse for the US and Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, key military sites and communications infrastructure as was done with Iraq. It won’t be back all the way to the Stone Age, but half way, so that Iran’s development is set back by a decade. Israel will then use its control over the US Congress to keep Iran under a very tight embargo. The Pentagon’s original plan to punish Iran called for some 2,300 air strikes on Day 1 alone.
Washington’s hope, as usual, is that growing misery and hardship in Iran will provoke a revolt to oust the Islamic government, allowing the US to install the exiled Iranian royalists it has waiting in Southern California. This was the pattern in Cuba, Nicaragua, Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Venezuela. It’s not diplomacy, just brute force.
House intelligence chair: ‘We are already bitterly divided’
Suggests $25,000 daily fines to compel officials’ cooperation
Adam Schiff, seen at the Capitol. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Reuters in Washington-
Democrats are reluctant to impeach Donald Trump but he may provoke such a move by continuing to obstruct congressional efforts to oversee his administration, a senior lawmaker said on Sunday.
Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, told ABC’s This Week impeachment by the Democratic-run House would be divisive and unlikely to succeed in the Republican-run Senate.
“But [Trump] may get us there,” Schiff said. “He certainly seems to be trying and maybe this is his perverse way of dividing us more … he thinks that’s to his political advantage, but it’s certainly not to the country’s advantage.“
Trump’s stonewalling of congressional oversight does add weight to calls for impeachment, Schiff said, adding: “But you know, part of our reluctance is we are already a bitterly divided country and an impeachment process will divide us further.”
Democrats have confronted the Republican president and his administration for refusing to cooperate with at least six congressional investigations of his turbulent presidency, his family and his business interests.
A Democratic-led House committee on Wednesday approved a measure to hold the attorney general, William Barr, in contempt for refusing to hand over an un-redacted copy of the Mueller report on Russian election interference. Trump invoked the legal principle of executive privilege to block its disclosure.
Democrats are divided, some calling for impeachment and others backing continued investigations. Republicans have accused Democrats of grandstanding for liberal voters. Some Trump allies believe impeachment could prove unpopular and help the president as he seeks re-election in 2020.
But even the Republican-controlled Senate intelligence committee has subpoenaed the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
On Sunday, Schiff reiterated his suggestion that Congress could levy fines of $25,000 a day on administration officials who refuse to cooperate with demands for witness appearances and documents.
“Look,” he said, “I think if you fine someone $25,000 a day to their person until they comply, it gets their attention.
“I don’t know how many are going to want to take that risk for Donald Trump.”
Will Israel opt for another war on Gaza, or will it finally lift the siege it has imposed on the territory for 12 years, at great cost to its two million Palestinian inhabitants?
That is the choice Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals face as armed factions in Gaza have given Israel until Monday to deliver on its commitments under a ceasefire agreement reached earlier this week.
That ceasefire brought to an end more than 48 hours of violence across the Gaza-Israel boundary that left 27 Palestinians in Gaza dead – 14 of them civilians killed by Israeli fire – as well as four civilian fatalities on the Israeli side.
The agreement reached on Monday is understood to be similar to understandings that brought an end to major Israeli offensives in Gaza in summer 2014 and November 2012.
The immediate steps expected by Palestinian factions include the reopening of the fishing zone, the transfer of funding from Qatar and the reopening of Gaza’s commercial crossings.
But Gaza, along with the West Bank, remained under full closure as Israelis vacationed during national holidays.
Fishers were unable to set sail until Israel partly lifted restrictions on Friday.
“In Gaza, where the economy struggles for survival and residents face adverse humanitarian conditions, every additional day that passes until these further restrictions are lifted by Israel has severe implications,” Gisha, a human rights group that monitors Israel’s siege, stated on Tuesday.
“Traders cannot fulfill their business commitments, patients miss crucial appointments for life-saving treatment, and fishermen cannot feed their families,” Gisha added.
The rights group said that “Israel’s use of its control over the crossings to deliberately harm the civilian population in Gaza has to stop.”
Even when Israeli bombs aren’t being dropped, the status quo in Gaza – under air, sea and land blockade for more than a decade, and military occupation for half a century – is far from normal.
Every two in three Palestinians in Gaza is a refugee from lands now inside Israel, which forbids Palestinian refugees from exercising their right to return because they are not Jewish.
“Critically, since 1948, Israel has maintained brutal effective control over Palestine through the ongoing Nakba, the systematic denial of Palestinian human rights, and the creation of a regime of racial domination and oppression over the Palestinian people, amounting to the crime of apartheid,” the human rights organization Al-Haq stated this week.
Al-Haq slammed the European Union for its “abhorrent” stance of one-sided support for Israel during last week’s escalation.
The group demanded that the EU withdraw its positions that disregard international law and Palestinian lives and “apologize to the Palestinian people and the families of the victims of Israel’s most recent assault on the Gaza Strip.”
Protester killed
More than 200 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during protests against these conditions since the Great March of Return began on 30 March 2018. Dozens more in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces outside the context of protests.
The most recent fatality is Abdallah Jumaa Abd al-Al, 24, slain east of Rafah in southern Gaza during protests on Friday.
Four children and a paramedic were among more than 30 injured during protests on Friday, according toGaza’s health ministry.
A farmer in Gaza was reportedly shot in the foot by Israeli occupation forces earlier in the day.
Meanwhile Israeli gunboats opened fire toward fishers in Gaza’s north.
Fire against Gaza fishers and farmers by Israeli occupation forces is routine; there were at least 30 such incidents along Gaza’s boundaries between 23 April and 6 May alone, causing three injuries.
Meanwhile, some 1,700 Palestinians injured during the Gaza demonstrations may require amputations because specialized treatment for what medical groups have described as war injuries resulting from Israeli army sniper fire is unavailable.
The UN is seeking $20 million for Gaza’s medical facilities which are “under very serious stress,” Jamie McGoldrick, a humanitarian official with the world body, stated this week.
Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been injured during the Great March of Return, 7,000 of them with live ammunition. Some 120 amputations have already taken place, with 20 children among those who have lost a limb.
“We are running against the clock for some of these cases and osteomyelitis – bone infection – will be a crisis, and the need is to treat that, prevent that, otherwise we will have amputations,” McGoldrick said.
These are the conditions of “normal” life during periods of ceasefire in Gaza.
Israelis are readying themselves for the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Tel Aviv next week.
At the same time, Palestinians are prevented from freely accessing their holy sites during Ramadan and are organizing marches along Gaza’s eastern boundary next Wednesday to commemorate the Nakba, the dispossession from their land before, during and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
By overturning an election in Istanbul, he may have triggered a Turkish Spring.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, during a ceremony marking the 96th anniversary of Victory Day, commemorating a decisive battle in the Turkish War of Independence, in Ankara, on Aug. 30, 2018. ADEM ALTAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
BYHENRI J. BARKEY|
On March 31, Turkey’s Supreme Election Council annulled the Istanbul municipal elections in which the opposition had defeated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The decision was not a surprise. For more than a month, AKP stalwarts as well as the Turkish press, which is almost completely dominated by Erdogan, had been laying the groundwork for this reversal by claiming irregularities and alleging all kinds of mischief by ballot handlers. And this is not the first time that the AKP has resorted to chicanery to get the electoral results it wanted. In the 2017 constitutional referendum, which replaced a parliamentary system with the current presidential one, Erdogan managed to reverse a defeat at the polls through last-minute ballot stuffing and other means of cheating.
But there is something different about this intervention. Unlike in 2017, it took more than one month of intense public pressure from Erdogan for the election council to overturn a perfectly legitimate election—it was a process for all to see, AKP supporters and opponents alike.
Another difference is the legitimate winner in Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. The candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Imamoglu is a relative newcomer who ran a nearly perfect race. He focused on local issues and did not engage in public dueling matches with Erdogan and his acolytes, who claimed that these elections were actually about national issues, foreign plots, terrorism, Syria, and a litany of issues that had little to do with such local concerns as water, transportation, and poor services. In fact, in the few weeks after the election that he was allowed to assume the mayoral position, Imamoglu opened up Istanbul municipal legislature discussions to the public and attempted to tackle these very topics.
By canceling the results, Erdogan is compounding the strategic error of inserting himself into the local elections in the first place. He essentially transformed the election into a vote of confidence in his own leadership. The country was inundated with pictures of Erdogan, and nearly all of his speeches—in which he indulged in deliberately polarizing rhetoric pitting “us” against traitors—were aired live on television, even as the opposition was mostly ignored by the national media. The results thus became a personal disaster for Erdogan, as his party lost some of the country’s most important municipalities, including Ankara, Adana, Mersin, and Izmir.
He is now doubling down on that first mistake. Erdogan risks a tremendous backlash from an electorate that will deem the action as unfair and may deliver him another humiliating defeat despite the fact that he and his party will mobilize to cheat and effectively try to guarantee success à la 2017. Even if he wins, it will be a Pyrrhic victory; it will be viewed by a very large segment of the population as an illegitimate and tarnished result. He will also have created a formidable and popular new opponent in Imamoglu, who had already captured the imagination of large numbers of citizens. Imamoglu will likely parlay his victim status to the national leadership of his party.
So why then take such a risk? There are three distinct explanations. First, Istanbul is not only the largest city but is also the country’s economic and cultural capital. As such, it has literally served as the AKP’s cash cow; the municipal budget was reportedly used to fund Erdogan’s pet projects, including his direct family members’ questionable endeavors. Large multibillion-dollar projects have reportedly been funneled, often in no-bid contracts, to Erdogan’s business cronies, and, in the process, he has refashioned and domesticated Turkey’s private sector. Losing Istanbul, therefore, would severely impoverish the AKP.
Second, Istanbul is Erdogan’s home base; he got his start as a national politician when he was first elected as its mayor in 1994. Beyond the symbolism of losing his hometown after having invested so much in keeping it, he understands that a successful opposition mayor, especially one of Imamoglu’s surprising intelligence and skills, could one day come to challenge him.
Third, Erdogan recognizes that after nearly two decades of rule the Turkish public may simply be tiring of him. Although he railed during the campaign against foreigners—that is, the United States and the West—for the deteriorating state of the Turkish economy, for many voters the buck stops with him. Losing Istanbul, he fears, would represent a further chink in his armor and give the perception that his powers are diminishing. Some Turks may interpret the loss as the beginning of the end for him. In 2017, he reportedly said that “if we lose Istanbul, we lose Turkey.”
Underlying all these issues is the fact that Erdogan has transformed Turkey into a one-person authoritarian system in which all institutions are under his control. State institutions respond only to his whims; worse, the independent judiciary and its guarantee of the rule of law have been demolished. There are now two parallel justice systems: one for Erdogan’s cronies and supporters and one for everyone else. Anyone Erdogan dislikes ends up in prison on trumped-up charges; among them are many intellectuals—Turkey has the distinction of being the world’s single largest jailer of journalists. A single tweet, especially if it involves a case of lèse majesté, can land you in jail.
Erdogan used to be surrounded during the first decade of his rule by other founding princes of the party, but he has systematically eliminated them. Instead, he has surrounded himself with sycophants who dare not challenge him. He has, therefore, lost the services of people who could serve as a sounding board. The political acumen he displayed between 2002 and roughly 2010 has all but disappeared. He has become another run-of-the-mill despot—except one who’s in charge of an important, and potentially unstable, member of the Western alliance.
Erdogan will come to bitterly regret his decision to overturn the Istanbul election, primarily because it demonstrates that he is losing power and is running scared. He is terrified of any potential mobilization of civil society. His paranoia leads him to see plots everywhere and to incessantly purge the bureaucracy, military, and society of real but mostly imaginary enemies.
The unintended consequence of the Istanbul elections will be the slow but steady evolution of new forms of opposition to the regime. The Turkish electoral system was always regarded as one of the country’s few untarnished institutions; previous governments—whether partly or fully democratic—never risked such a direct intervention in election results. With good reason: If people lose faith in elections, they will resort to alternative forms of opposition. A regime, especially one still ensconced in Western institutions, that provides no avenues for real dissent amid worsening economic conditions will eventually give rise to an uprising. When the Turkish Spring arrives, Erdogan will only have himself to blame.
Although the military interventions by Russia and USA in Syria and Iraq, have weakened and dismantled the power bases of ISIS in Middle East to a larger extent, the threat of terrorism will remain high and could worsen in the coming decades. World-wide Intelligence reports have confirmed that more and more various extremist groups are now very active in a number of countries, although they have lost vital and strong bases in Syria and Iraq.
Communications technology allows and encourage extremists to inspire and direct attacks often remotely, making use of encrypted means, underlining the complexity and unpredictability of the situations we face in our day-to-day routine activities. New technologies will give the opportunity for these trained terrorists to make advanced biological and chemical warfare agents.
For these sudden and unpredictable attacks the terrorists will prefer to choose and exploit fragile and violence-prone states even in Southeast Asia. Very cunningly they will make use of these “spots” for safe havens and also to build up and enhance their skills for future planned attacks.
Recent terrorists’ violence, in Australia, New Zealand, Southern Philippines, India and in our own motherland highlight the dynamic nature of the growing extremism challenge. Al Qa’ida also still retains the organisational strength to manipulate, coordinate and conduct attacks against vested interests in selected geographical areas.
The ability to launch several attacks all at once suggests a degree of sophistication, planning, funding, and reach. While our law enforcing authorities are still piecing together what happened on the ground level, the blasts in Sri Lanka bear at least some resemblance to the November 2008 attack in Mumbai, which simultaneously targeted two luxury hotels, a busy railway terminal, and a Jewish outreach centre.
According to Indian intelligence surveys the Mumbai attacks were designed not only to cause the highest number of casualties but also to target groups-such as Western tourists –that would lead to the greatest amount of international media coverage. One of the 2008 attackers was apprehended, and the others were successfully identified, leading the authorities in India to declare that the Pakistani based LASHKAR-E-TAIBA MILITANT GROUP is responsible for this attack. However, in analyzing the situations in Mumbai and Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka there are several differences between the two attacks. The Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka spread out across the country, instead of concentrated in a single city, and that unlike in Mumbai, no hostages were taken.
Terrorism threat in South-East Asia
Our own investigations have now revealed that the terrorism threat in South-East Asia is increasing because of close links between local extremists and terrorist groups such as ISIL.
When you study and look at the records of the terrorists, it is a well established fact that the ISIS was started as an Al Qaeda splinter group.
The main aim of the ISIS is not to work for the welfare of the Muslims in the economic and social spheres, but to establish an Islamic State known and popularized as caliphate across Iraq, Syria and beyond. This organised group is implementing Sharia Law, rooted in 18th century Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the regions ancient past.
ISIS is known for killing dozens and dozens of innocent people at a time and carrying our barbaric type public executions, crucifixions and other type of inhuman acts.
Up to now, this group has organised nearly 100 attacks in 23 countries and have killed thousands of people. It has used and manipulated modern tools like social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. ISIS fighters have destroyed holy sites and valuable antiquities.
In the year 2014, ISIS controlled more than 34,000 square miles in Syria and Iraq, from Mediterranean coast to south of Baghdad, the Capital of Iraq. However, their advancement was turned back by the Russian forces stationed in Syria and very bold leadership given by the Russian President Putin, even ignoring Trump’s warnings.
In 2015, ISIS was believed to be holding 4,000 people as slaves, according to confidential reports of the United Nations Organization. Most of the enslaved are women and children of the Yazidi community but some are from other ethnic and religious minority groups.
Their main sources of revenue were generated through tapping oil productions, smuggling, taxes, ransoms from kidnappings, selling stolen artifacts and controlling crops. It is said and believed that some oil-rich countries are also funding insurgencies all over the world.
Our friendly neighbour India, has submitted a comprehensive five-point formula to the world forum, United Nations Organization, sometime back to promote counter terror cooperation among member states.
Addressing a UN High Level conference on Heads of Counter Terrorism in New York Rina Mitra (Special Secretary-Internal Security) disclosed the five-point formula. A) Exchange of timely and actionable intelligence (B) Prevention of misuse of modern communication through collaboration of the private sector (C) Building capacities for improved border controls (D) Sharing of information related to movement of passengers and (E) Designation of counter terror focal points to fight global terror.
In her eminent address, Mitra without naming any country and without blaming or accusing any organisation, noted that India’s counter terror efforts continue to be thwarted due to lack of international cooperation in respect of exchange of information and evidence of extradition of the accused persons, who are hiding out of India’s territory.
Mitra, emphasized that ‘No country can be considered safe from terrorist attacks’.
Intelligence failures
Two distinguished scholars at Indiana University Feisal al-Istrabadi and Sumit Ganguly have written a well researched book in the name and style, The Future of ISIS. It examines how ISIS will affect not only the Middle East but the whole global order. Specific chapters deal with such questions as whether and how ISIS benefited from intelligence failures and what can be done to correct any such failures and also how to confront the alarming broad appeal of Islamic State Ideology and the role of local and regional actors in confronting ISIS; and determining US interests in preventing ISIS from gaining influence and controlling territory.
Today, terrorist entities have links and operate across borders building networks, raising funds in various ways on an international scale, propagating their ideologies of hate, recruiting from foreign lands, sourcing arms and weapons from distant providers and smugglers, and exploiting communication knowledge that dissolve distances.
We, as Sri Lankans have gone through so many trials and tribulations in the past and if we look at the brighter side of this national catastrophe, the opportunity is still there for us to emerge as a united Sri Lanka. The ordinary Muslim community has come forward to pass on vital information to the security establishment. This is a good sign. If we are to realize an undivided Sri Lanka, the four main faiths of this nation should have a collected voice and the leadership must enable a sound framework to cement this unity. We got rid one menace successfully ten years back and we should not create loopholes for another menace to get strengthened. It should be wiped out from grass-root level through the cooperation of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays, Burghers and all others.
We should not allow any breeding grounds of this nature in future!
Janadari Wijesinghe-Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Rearranging the furniture in a sinking ship has been the approach of the people’s representatives in many crises. But I had to verify the information myself and found out that it was perfectly correct . 
US President Donald Trump holds a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights as he is applauded by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in the White House on 25 March (Reuters)
Adam Schiff, seen at the Capitol. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
