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The Europeans who are now championing the cause of human rights ought to remember that in their original conception in the West they were not meant to apply to all human beings. By and large they covered only the human beings of European extraction. Even James Mill, the English philosopher (1806-73) who is often quoted as the great thinker in …

by BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds. Paul Reynolds, BBC world affairs correspondent, says (Introduction): “President Obama’s speech is divided into a number of sections. He starts by urging greater mutual understanding between the United States and Islam. He then considers seven issues that have to be, in his view, confronted. “These are violent extremism, the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, nuclear weapons …

Another standard pretext for torture is the context: the “war on terror” that Bush declared after 9/11. A crime that rendered traditional international law “quaint” and “obsolete” — so George W. Bush was advised by his legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, later appointed Attorney General. The doctrine has been widely reiterated in one form or another in commentary and analysis. The …

Atricle Continuation from New Dream for Tear Drop Island. Regrouping Under the circumstances, it is impossible for the LTTE   to regroup.  Numerous factors that favoured the LTTE in their early stages  had turned against them  today. The changing regional and international political scenarios virtually crippled the LTTE with India, Pakistan China and Russia standing behind Sri Lankan government while   …

Now that the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, which was all out to set up a separate Tamil state in the predominantly Tamil speaking North and East of Sri Lanka, is crushed the nation is celebrating the victory while northern Tamils remain disillusioned. There have been numerous sessions of peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the …

Alas! It is a great and terrible world. – the Lama in Kipling’s Kim. My purpose in this article is to argue that the West has done incalculable harm to Sri Lanka, though without any malevolent intent, through its over-indulgent attitude towards the LTTE. That attitude bred in the LTTE what might be called a victim syndrome which became a …