Category Archives: Asia
The damage done by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Mahinda Rajapaksa, former President of Sri Lanka (UN file photo)
There is evidence that the UN staff in Colombo repeatedly contacted Ban Ki-moon and asked him to come to Sri Lanka to prevent what was certainly going to be a bloodbath. Ban said that he would come only of he could do something about it.
Dr. Brian Senewiratne for Global News Centre
(BRISBANE) In the 70 year history of the United Nations, there has not been a Secretary General worse than Ban Ki-moon. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services said that the UN Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon was “drifting into irrelevance” He has damaged the standing of the UN so much that Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations believes that Antonio Guterres, who succeeded Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017, “could give the UN the kick up the backside it needs”. Under him, the UN has become a joke, not to be taken seriously, and very different to what the UN was expected to do when it was formed.
Will a Rohingya armed struggle be legitimate?
Rohingya Muslims in Burma are designated by the UN as the most persecuted people in the world.
Mohiuuddin M Yusof
(New York ) - What should the Rohingyas do now as the victims of ethnic cleansing and inhuman atrocities being identified as Bangali foreigners in our own ancestral homeland by our own Government?
Think about the legitimacy of the armed struggle of the Rohingya people.
Lament for humanity: a 50 year reflection
Human activity drives 200 species of life (birds, animals, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, plants) to extinction each day and 80% of the world’s forests and over 90% of the large fish in the ocean are already gone.
Robert J. Burrowes Global News Centre
(TASMANIA) Deeply affected by the death of my two uncles in World War II, on 1 July 1966, the 24th anniversary of the ‘USS Sturgeon’ sinking of the Japanese prisoner-of-war ship ‘Montevideo Maru’ which killed the man after whom I am named, I decided that I would devote my life to working out why human beings are violent and then developing a strategy to end it.
The Islamic State will be annihilated by “Anonymous” on the Internet
It isn’t the first time that “Anonymous” has chased terrorists.
Clemente Ferrer Global News Centre
(MADRID) The Islamic State (ISIS), responsible for attacks that caused at least 130 dead and 350 injured in Paris and more than 27 dead in Mali, owes much of its power to the propaganda creativity in social networks.
CIA torture and the U.S. President
The declared intention of the CIA comes under the protocol of protecting the American homeland, but how? One is morally alarmed when one reads that American troops have, according to an article by Mia De Graaf for Mail on line & Associated Press (8 December 2014) that we could be facing a sharp rise in terrorism and associated violence because of American CIA torture tactics, which many reports and acres of research record that such abhorrent tactics do not generally work, besides being illegal according to international law. It is immoral and unethical.
Clive Hambidge Global News Centre
(LONDON) America is so alarmed by the CIA technique writes Graaf that. “Troops have been deployed at American posts across the world ahead of the release of a report into CIA torture tactics “ This still to be de-classified 6,000 page long report will inform the world about how Al Qaeda suspects are held in covert locations “across Europe and Asia.” And there violated in the most abhorrent manner.
Tamil Nadu, Global Tamils should be organised in addressing US-UN failure: Boyle
Professor Francis Boyle photo courtesy: iranreview.org
Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law, who teaches at University of Illinois, in an interview given to the 3CR radio broadcast in Melbourne Saturday in the “Tamil manifest” program said that he sees the millions of Tamils in Tamil Naadu, its Chief Minister Jayalalitha, a unified Tamil diaspora and the young generation of Tamils as the propelling agents to force the changes necessary to bring justice to the victims of Tamil genocide by taking the Sinhala genocidaires to Court. The horrendous nature of genocide needs an international tribunal to dispense justice, and the United Nations and the U.S have failed in their obligations, Boyle said. Geopolitical compulsions have pulverized U.S. foreign policy to collude with the genocidaires, Boyle told TamilNet.
(TamilNet) Tamils in Tamil Nadu should exert pressure on New Delhi to take the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Professor Boyle said adding that “if the 50 million Tamils living in Tamil Nadu can get Prime Minister Modi to do this, I will be happy to file the charges myself; draft the papers and file the charges. But we will need Prime Minister Modi, and unfortunately he seems to be supporting the process recommended by the Human Rights Council.”
Finding peace in post-war Sri Lanka
Tamil casualties in Sri Lanka, 2009
What’s being done to achieve reconciliation after war?
(AL JAZEERA) Between 1972 and 2009, at least 100,000 people were killed in conflicts between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan military. In 1983, clashes between the two groups escalated into war following a period known as Black July. The Tamil fight for a state independent of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority fueled a war that lasted nearly three decades.
The threats and costs of war
The direct and indirect costs of war
By John Scales Avery
(JUST) The costs of war, both direct and indirect, are so enormous that they are almost beyond comprehension. Globally, the institution of war interferes seriously with the use of tax money for constructive and peaceful purposes.
Today, despite the end of the Cold War, the world spends roughly 1.7 trillion (i.e. 1.7 million million) US dollars each year on armaments. This colossal flood of money could have been used instead for education, famine relief, development of infrastructure, or on urgently needed public health measures.
India: Ensure integrity and security of Soni Sori
Soni Sori
I express my concern over the threats against human rights defender Soni Sori, which it believes to be an attempt to prevent her from carrying out her peaceful and legitimate advocacy in defence of human rights.
William Nicholas Gomes, Global News Centre Human Rights Ambassador
(LONDON) On 1 August 2015, following a press conference which Soni Sori held at the Jagdalpur press club to discuss the unlawful murder of Mr Hemla Podiya, she was threatened by Inspector General Mr Kalluri. Helma Podiya, who lived in Nahadi village in Dantewada, was shot in the back by a police officer on 28 July 2015. While the police maintain that it was an encounter killing, during the press conference Soni Sori publicly stated that the killing was arbitrary. On 30 July 2015 she had visited Nahadi village and talked to witnesses who stated that there was no confrontation between the police and Helma Podiya, and that the killing was therefore unlawful. On the night of 28 July 2015, joint security forces consisting of 500 officers reportedly raided homes and beat villagers in Nahadi village. Hearing the commotion, Helma Podiya left home and, shortly after, was shot dead by one of the officers.
Before saying “Thank you for your service” to the next US combat vet, make sure you are not thanking one of these guys
Photo from: http://www.commondreams.org/author/tom-engelhardt
Things aren’t always how they seem. Many US combat veterans are sadistic murderers without question.
By Gary G. Kohls, MD
(DULUTH) And also try to not thank any of the Viet Nam veterans that testified in 1971 at the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War’s Winter Soldier Investigation in Detroit, Michigan (which the pro-war mainstream media blacked-balled). You will probably get an earful (unless the “thankee” happens to be Secretary of State John Kerry).
Thailand: Stop judicial harassment of Surapan Rujichaiwat
Somyot Pumpanmuang
I express my grave concern at the arrest and incommunicado detention of Muktar Al-Hanaei, Ahmed Al-Blushi, Salih Al-Azri, Ali Al-Muqbali and Talib Al-Saedi and at the use of restrictive laws to target human rights defenders and to curtail their right to freedom of expression and opinion.
William Nicholas Gomes, Global News Centre Human Rights Ambassador
(LONDON) On 7 May 2015, Suraphan Rujichaiwat received a warrant from Mae Sod Provincial Police station informing him of charges brought against him following a criminal complaint by TKLC. The company claimed that his post on the Loei-mining Facebook Page calling for an investigation into the mining activity is misleading and an act of defamation. The company further accused Surapan Rujichaiwat of submitting false information to the UN and other institutions.
