Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam indicted on terrorist charges "Today's charges against Tissainayagam cite a magazine, North Eastern Monthly, which the journalist edited in 2006, according to his lawyer, M.A. Sumanthiran, who spoke with CPJ by telephone this morning. Two charges relate to articles Tissainayagam wrote for the magazine. The journalist's lawyer told CPJ that the government said the articles incited communal disharmony, an offence under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. A third charge says he furthered an act of terrorism by collecting money from NGOs to publish the magazine, he told CPJ..." more

It is Oil and Gas, Stupid!.... the Caspian Oil/Gas Pipeline from Baku through Georgia to the Meditarranean Sea...

2. Template for peace is inclusion -Paul Keating "..In a Western and elitist way, we have viewed China's right to its Olympic Games, to its 'coming out', its moment of glory, with condescension and concessional tolerance.The Western critic feeling the epicentre of the world changing but not at all liking it, seeks to put down these vast societies on the basis that their political and value systems don't match up to theirs... The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty entered by compliant States in 1970 is on the verge of collapse.The Treaty represents perhaps the most egregious example of international double dealing of any international regime...The plain fact is, there can be no non-proliferation without de-proliferation" together with Comment by tamilnation.org "Mr. Keating's speech is essential reading for those concerned with international relations in the age of empire (and all of us are concerned in one way or another - 'Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.'- Pericles, 430 BC). .." more

from Indira to Rajiv to Manmohan...
"..an amoral phenomenon..
"ஓரு வஞ்சகமான பாதகச் செயல்"

" அன்று ஈழ போராளிகளுக்கு ஆயுதம் கொடுத்து ஊக்குவித்து, ஆனால் இன்று தமிழ் இனத்தையே வேருடன் அழித்து ஒழிக்க கங்கணம் கட்டி உள்ள சிங்கள பேரினவாதத்திற்கு, ராஜ தந்திர ஆலோசனை, ஆயுத உதவி வழங்கி, நய வஞ்சகம் செய்யும் நாராயணன்கள் வரை பாரதத்தின் பாதகச் செயல்கள், அண்ணனை சதி செய்து கொன்று, அவன் மனைவியை தம்பிக்கு அபகரித்துக் கொடுத்த ராமனின் ஓர வஞ்சகமான பாதகச் செயலையும் விடக் கொடியது. அன்பு நண்பா! ஆனால் கார் இருளிலும் ஒரு ஒளிக் கீற்று. பின் வரும் செய்தியை கூர்ந்து படித்துப் பார்..." more

Why do we call it freedom
when freedom is not free.
The cost was blood and sweat
and tears that bought our liberty....

For many left their loved ones
their friends, their families
Standing true to oaths once taken
to defend our liberties.

Holding fast they fought for freedom
both at home and then abroad
Spilling blood upon the waters
o'er the ground on which they trod.

Wounded from the many battles
in mire and blood their bodies lay
The dead with mouths wide open
forming words they'd never say.

Seeing eyes no longer seeing
hearing ears no longer hear
Hearts once beating stilled and quiet
loved ones close no longer near.

And though their hopes and dreams were shattered
let their deaths not be in vain
We must keep forever burning
freedom's torch, the victor's flame.

For they died for you, America
your freedom was not free
For t'was their blood and sweat and tears
that bought your liberty.

So when you speak again of freedom
may your hearts be filled with pride
And your gratitude for those
who for your freedom fought and died.

1. M.Thanapalasingham writes from Sydney Australia நவீன இஸ்றேலின் 60 ஆண்டுகாலச் சுதந்திரமும் ஈழத்தமிழரின் 60 ஆண்டுகளான அவலங்களும் சுதந்திரப் போராட்டமும்.

"புலம் பெயர்ந்த தமிழீழ மக்களாகிய நாம் எமது நாட்டின் விடுதலைக்கான இலட்சியத்தில் ஒட்டுமொத்தமாகத் தெளிவாகவும், விழிப்பாகவும், சஞ்சலம் எதுவும் இல்லாமலும் இருக்கிறோமா என்ற மிக முக்கியமான கேள்விக்கு நாம் இதயசுத்தியுடன் பதில் அளிக்க வேண்டிய நேரம் இது!" more

From Professor Bob Rothstein, USA 19 August 2008 "I cannot find two publications that you list: "Envisioning New Trajectories for Peace in Sri Lanka" (2006) and "International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka". Could you tell me how I might find these works? I am a Professor of International Relations in the US but am currently living in London". together with Response by tamilnation.org more

1. Sun Tzu on the Art of War Sun Tzu on Illusion & the Tactical Paradox: When able appear unable "Twenty five centuries have passed since Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War, one of the world's earliest military treatises. He wrote: "A true victory can be won only with a strategy of tactical positioning, so that the moment of triumph is effortless..." Sun Tzu explains such techniques as the use of camouflage, the creation of illusion and the gathering of intelligence. Tactical paradox is the ability to project to the opponent a contradictory view of one's position or plan. Sun Tzu believed that this was fundamental to a clever strategy.

"Thus when able, they appear unable.
When employed they appear useless.
When close, they appear distant.
When distant, they appear close.
They lure through advantages,
And take control through confusion.
When angry, they appear to submit.
When proud, they appear to be humble.
When comfortable, they appear to toil.
When attached they appear separated.
They attack when the opponent is unprepared.
And appear where least expected.
This is the Strategist's way of triumph.
It must not be discussed beforehand."

Superior leaders spend their time and effort beforehand, calculating, estimating, analysing and positioning. Sun Tzu pointed out: "Skilful strategists put themselves beyond attack by becoming invisible, seamless, without error. At the sametime they gather intelligence and analyse it in light of their objectives. They move in the 'same direction as the larger trends in their world, so that they can harness the timeliness of that momentum. Then they wait for their opponent to move, for well positioned Strategists are led to triumph through the actions of their opponents..." more

2. Sachi Srikantha writes from Japan - On 70th Birth Anniversary of Kumar Ponnambalam 1982 Presidential Candidacy of G.G.(Kumar) Ponnambalam Jr. Revisited

��I voiced to him [Stimson, US Secretary of War] my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the [atom] bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of such a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that momement, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'.� Dwight D. Eisenhower:The White House Years: Mandate For Change, 1953 - 1956 Doubleday & Company Inc., New York, 1963, pp. 312-313

"�I particularly wanted Kyoto as a target because, as I have said, it was large enough an area for us to gain complete knowledge of the effects of an atom bomb. Hiroshima was not nearly so satisfactory in this respect." US General Leslie Groves: Now It Can Be Told (Story of the Manhattan Project), Andre Deutsch, London, 1963, p.275

and the lies of US President Harry S. Truman... "..We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.... This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children.(!) Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one..." US President Harry S. Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945 more

2. Revisited Arundhati Roy On Intellectual Engagement "..The facts are there in the world today. .. But what does information mean? What are facts? There is so much information that almost all becomes meaningless and disempowering....To expose things is quite different from being able to effectively resist things... I don�t agree with the term, Intellectual. Anybody with skills and intelligence can be intellectual. A cobbler is an intellectual... People are constantly in search of idols, heroes, villains, sirens � in search of individuals, in search of noise. Anybody in whom they can invest their mediocre aspirations and muddled thinking will do..." more

Awakening -
Painting in Oils by Jayalakshmi Satyendra

Pictures that speak a thousand words...

Some Reflections on 'Sri Lanka: Reign of Anomy' - Nadesan Satyendra "Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan's essay on 'Sri Lanka: Reign of Anomy' which is published in tamilnation.org at his request, affords an opportunity to reflect on some matters of general relevance to the Tamil Eelam struggle for freedom. Anomy or anomie, 'in contemporary English, means a condition or malaise in individuals, characterized by an absence or diminution of standards or values. The word comes from the Greek - the prefix a: 'without', and nomos: 'law'.' Charles Sarvan describes his Essay as a 'personal statement on the ethnic conflict' in Sri Lanka. Therein lies its strength - and perhaps, some of its weakness. Said that, though one may disagree with Sarvan, one will find it difficult to question the authenticity of that which he was moved by 'an inner compulsion' to write..." more

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