India should not support resolution-Subramanian Swamy

Janata Party leader today said India should not join human rights groups at a UN meeting tomorrow in passing a “one sided” resolution condemning Sri Lanka for alleged human rights violations during its war against LTTE.

India’s participation in the resolution would make it vulnerable to similar resolutions over Kashmir or Manipur, Swamy said and suggested that it should urge Sri Lanka to devolve power so as to meet the legitimate aspirations of Lankan Tamils.

“Indian Government (should) not succumb to the machinations of human rights groups in the UN Human Rights Commission’s meeting tomorrow in Geneva by supporting an ill advised resolution condemning Sri Lanka for alleged human rights excesses in its war against the LTTE terrorists,” Swamy said in a statement. He also said the proposed resolution completely ignored the excesses committed by the LTTE.

“The resolution is one sided and appears to have deliberately suppressed the horrendous human rights excesses committed by the LTTE over the last 20 years,” the Janata Party chief said. “Support for such adventurist resolution will make India vulnerable to future resolutions on Kashmir and Manipur for which extremist forces are already active in seeking to discredit the Indian government,” he added.

Swamy suggested that Indian Government with the help of US and China should urge Sri Lanka to decentralise power to meet the legitimate aspirations of Tamils.

“India may seek to bring a compromise resolution after consultation with the US and China to urge the Sri Lankan President Rajapakse to devolve power by constitutional amendment to meet the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka,” Swamy said. courtesy: PTI

The Dhammapada and the study of classical texts

Part 2
The concept of salvation, of ultimate freedom of Nirvana that is advocated by Buddhism, too, needs to be clarified in the light of our discussion. The conventional wisdom is that Nirvana is a transcendental reality divorced from worldly concerns and that it is a form of blissful nothingness signaling the end of the cycle of births and deaths. However, certain Buddhist scholars, on the basis of imaginative interpretations of early Buddhist texts, advance the notion that Nirvana signifies a radical moral and spiritual transformation of the human being consequent upon adoption of the right vision in matters of human existence, and that those who have attained this status of (non) being can still exercise an influence on social life.


Vision
When one adopts this non-absolutist vision on Nirvana, one can make greater sense of the admonitions contained in the Dhammapada, and their bearing on the social and moral life of even if one does not totally subscribe to this interpretation, It is clear, on the basis of closer inspections of the scriptures, the path to Nirvana and the path to harmonious social living are one and the same.


Hence, it is scarcely surprising that this text can function as a guide to action for both monks and laity, in their respective efforts at personal salvation as well as harmonious social living. This approach to the concept of nirvana enables us to read the verses contained in the Dhammapada in a more informed manner. The idea of virtue presupposes the ability of men and women to live as social beings interacting in diverse ways with one another in their day to day life. There is a fairly widespread, although ill-founded belief that the path of virtue mapped out by the Buddha is of relevance only to Bhikkhus and recluses. A superficial reading of the Dhammapada might leave one with this misguided impression. Nothing could be further from the truth. A careful study of Buddhist texts will show that the Buddha, in his many discourses, addressed not only Bhikkgus but householders as well. And the issues addressed to householders have much to do with the business of worldly living. The duties and obligations incumbent upon householders have been delineated very carefully and methodically as they relate to interactions between husband wife, teacher and pupil, employer and employee and friend and friend.


For example, in discussing the mutual obligations of the employer and employee, it is said that the former should assign work to his employees according to their capabilities, provide them with suitable wages, look after them in time of need, grant them leave when appropriate and so on. On the other hand, it is advised that the employee should rise up before his master, perform his duties, and earn a good reputation from the master. These articulations of duties have to be understood against the prevalent social structures and norms and social conditions of the sixth century B.C.


Buddhism lays down ethics of conduct bearing not only on interpersonal relations but also on the mutualities between individual and state. The function of rules, their relationship to the state and the people, and the concept of power as it relates to statecraft have been explained in various Buddhist texts.


For example, it is evident that on the basis of textual analysis, that the notion of Buddhist kingship is one of mutual consent and not one of divine origin; it seeks to demonstrate its importance as a human institution premised in social contract.


Similarly, in the Kutadanta Sutta of the Digha Nikaya it is stated that in order to wipe out crime, the economic and social conditions of the people need to be improved – farmers should be provided with adequate facilities to pursue their profession justly, traders need to be provided with capital, employees should be paid reasonable wages, and those encountering financial hardships should be exempt from taxation.


The Dhammapada is a manual of guidance related to proper conduct, holding up an image of moral excellence; its true meaning can be fathomed only when it is located within the larger Buddhist intellectual discourse. When seen against the backdrop of this wider context, it becomes clear hat the message of the Dhammapada has a vital bearing on the conduct of ordinary people as they go about their daily lives trying to make sense of them.


Moral conduct
Earlier I said that behind all texts that seek to influence our moral conduct, we can discern an image of a highly esteemed ideal person who inspires emulation. In the case of the Dhammapad, this venerable figure that is configured through the verses is one who is thoughtful, mentally serene, disciplined, and free from excessive sensual desire. One who is engaged in a quest for real freedom through their strategies of non-attachment, self-control, and the cultivation of wisdom and insight.


He is one who does not depend upon any supernatural powers and seeks by dint of his own effort to overcome the suffering that in 'heres' in the world. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the ideal person textualised in the Dhammapada with images of ideal persons projected by other equally significant texts representing different religious and intellectual traditions. For purposes of quick comparison I have selected the Bhagavad Gita, Analects and the Deliverance from Error from the Hindu, Confucian and Islam traditions respectively. The important point, though, is that all four texts, through the power of the ideal persons they have projected before us, illuminate the path of virtue that inevitably leads to happiness and human flourishing.


When examining the importance of the Dhammapada as a classical text worthy of study, we have to bear in mind the fact that it is a foundational text among ordinary Buddhists living in countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and that it continues to shape and direct the thought-patterns and influences the conduct of both educated and uneducated people in complex ways. It is a text that represents in concise form the essence of Buddhist teachings that relate to the good life. Hence people living outside Buddhist countries that wish to enter into the thought-worlds and preferred path of virtue of Buddhists, and thereby enlarge their thought-world and extend their cultural horizons, would be well advised to read and ponder texts like the Dhammapada.


The point here, though, is not to put this text on a pedestal and encourage paying homage to it; rather, the intent is to urge the text to be read, challenged, interrogated and reflected upon. To make it a part of one’s own site of contestation of meaning. Such an exercise would enable those living outside the cultural world represented in this text to see how that world has been put together.


As I stated earlier, the Dhammapada is a book that derives its power from the teachings of the Buddha, and hence such gaps as it may have can be purposefully filled by relating it to other canonical texts. As the eminent French literary critic Pierre Machery once observed, ‘A book never arrives unaccompanied.’ What this suggests us that the meaning of a given text can be understood only in relation to other texts with which it is intimately associates.


Thus in seeking to get at the meaning of the Dhammapada, we need to relate it to other texts that might expand, enlarge upon, and illuminate this or that passage in it which might not be clear enough or which is in need of further clarification. This is, of course, not to suggest that one who reads only the Dhammapada will not be able to derive any significance of meaning from it. This is indeed not the case. However, if one is to enter the thought- worlds reconfigured in this book, and engage it fully, then, it is important that the reader proceed from the Dhammapada to other texts and back.


Imagination
Such an effort serves to stretch one’s religious and philosophical imagination and locate the text in a wider field of interactive meanings. To be sure, this move serves to promote thinking in the real sense of the term. Thinking, I take it, involves the capacity to question and challenge, to see things from diverse vantage points, to move freely among diverse cultural worlds with their own distinctive topographies.


Physically, we often think alone wrapped in solitude’ mentally, we almost always think in the company of others. In this way, the Dhammapada can open pathways of inquiry that might bring unsuspected rewards of self-enlargement. A classical text like the Dhammapada, then, will yield exhilarations of reading and reflection when we adopt strategies of this nature.


The Dhammapda, like all texts, is a product of a specific historical moment, a cultural geography, an intellectual tradition and a moral climate. Indeed, it is both a product and producer of that culture. Most texts that have attained canonical status have succeeded in transcending the limits of its time and place, addressing issues that are increasingly topical; however, it needs to be kept in mind that they emerge out of distinctive historical conjunctures and bear the imprint of their origins. Hence when participating in the discourse of moral edification inscribed in texts, we need to be mindful of this fact.


To treat texts like the Dhammapda as if they were free-floating entities, unmoored from their historicality, is to ignore a vital segment of their meaning and informing logics. Texts such as the Dhammapada, are not, to use a phrase employed by the distinguished literary scholar Gerard Graff in a more literary context, ‘monuments of eternal verities.’ However, this should not be extended to imply that they cannot generate profitable dialogue that rises above their historical and cultural origins.


Such an attitude only serves to imprison these texts in cultural solipsism. These texts enable us to participate in a wider dialogue, a conversation, related to questions of human values, human virtues, human flourishing. Their very historical and cultural specificities should have the effect of promoting a more wide-ranging conversation among people from different cultural locations and traditions. This allows us to see how many different ways there are of being alive and virtuous in human society.


Moral path
The Dhammapada as a text, as I have pointed out earlier has cleared a moral path of virtue through the dark and forbidding jungle of human interaction and desire. Consequently, the question of virtue and its bearing on the problem of how one should lead one’s life are central to the intent of the book. Human values, to my mind, are not trans-historical or trans-contextual; that grow out of specific social, historical, cultural locations and moments.


However, the way these values strain to speak to certain universal themes and concerns make them relevant to those outside the immediate contexts which give rise to them. The well-known literary theorist Stanley Fish has pointed out, in a different context, that values are historical products fashioned and re-fashioned in the crucible of discussion and debate. Hence the values inscribed in the Dhammapada can best be understood in relation to the fact that it proposes a path of virtue, an agenda for moral edification, that stands in opposition to a text like the Bhagavad Gita, important as the latter text is.


The fact that values are products shaped by the hands of history and culture does not necessarily mean they lack the reach to influence, and enter into conversations with, other historical periods and places. The strength of a text like the Dhammapada is that it serves to promote a productive discussion about human values, human goals, in relation to (and possibly from unexpected angles) one’s own lived cultural experience.


As we probe into the nexus of ethical and moral conceptions woven around the Dhammapada, we begin to develop a sharper and more focused appreciation of the relevance (or irrelevance) of the human virtues that underpin the text and organize its discourse.


Textual system
In this regard, it is very important to value a book like the Dhammapada as constituting a textual system if we are to get at its understanding of human beings and their lived world. The human values inscribed in the text can be more clearly and usefully understood in relation to the generality of Buddhist literature.


A hasty, and an unconnected reading with the textual system of which it is a part, can leave readers with a misleading impression of the intent of the book. Arthur Danto, who has written so perceptively about important Buddhist and Hindu texts says,’ To be sure, Buddhism as a religion is concerned with salvation. But we can see that the demands of salvation and the demands of morality are not automatically and simultaneously fulfilled, and they may even be antithetical.’


I think Danto is mistaken in his view. Texts such as the Chakkavatti Sihanada Sutta, Kalama Sutta, Agganna Sutta, Kutadanta Sutta inducate very clearly the deep and sustained engagement with ethical issues that Prof, Danto regards as those that address ‘How we should treat one another, not merely with how we treat ourselves alone.’


Moreover, he seems to conceptualize nirvana solely in terms of a transcendental reality, ignoring the fact that it could also, suitably interpreted, could provide one with a paradigm of human excellence, a blueprint for wholesome social living, as indeed some Buddhist scholars, in my judgement, have cogently argued. The important point is that texts like the Dhammapada, the Bhagavad Gita, Analects can instigate profitable discussion and engender significant issues as Danto’s stimulating observations indicate.


In this regard, it is interesting to note that the British literary scholar frank Kermode, while commenting on the Bible remarked that it constitutes ‘a complete guide to conduct, private and public, as well as to salvation.’


The Dhammapada is an honoured text that has come down from the past with the endorsements of tradition. It is, in other words, a canonical text. An argument advanced by those who oppose the canonisation of texts is that it generates an elitism, and serves to legitimise the thought-worlds of a privileged few, ignoring other voices, alternate visions, and most notably of those who are marginalized by society. In the case of the Dhammapada, this is clearly not the case. it has influenced, and continue to influence, the ordinary people, even those illiterate, in countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar, even as it engages the interest of scholarly elites.


The folk-poetry, chants, fables, of these countries contain numerous tropes and topoi taken from the Dhammapada, while religious sermons (bana) addressed to ordinary laypersons often take as their point of departure a statement or proposition from this book. Hence the popularly advanced argument by oppositional scholars that canonical texts serve to perpetuate a kind of elitism does not hold in the case of the Dhammapada. It continues to put into circulation a discourse which inspires the participation of vast numbers of people mostly from the lower rungs of the social ladder.


Path of virtue
The Dhammapada is, admittedly, a compilation of verses that lays out a path of virtue leading to the total emancipation of the human being. It seeks to answer the question; how should we lead a morally purposeful life? But it is also a poem, and like all good poems strain to enact their meanings. The form and structure of the poem carry a significant freight of its meaning. Let me explain this in greater detail.


What is interesting about the Dhammapada is that it has been examined largely from doctrinal and traditional textual analytical viewpoints. It has very seldom been studied as a work of conscious literary art.


This is hardly surprising in view of the fact that the Dhammapada does not contain the kind of exploration of rich and complex human experiences that one finds in, say, the Therigatha and Theragatha. Or the kind of graphic imagery and psychological probing one comes across in the Jataka stories. Rhys Davids says that the Dhammapada verses are fairly often anything but poetry.


It is indeed true that a large number of the verses do not dazzle with poetic intensity. However, in order to grasp the real literary merit of this book one has to look elsewhere than just poeticality of language. Its literary merit resides, I am persuaded, in the complex verbal organisation that underwrites the work. Indeed this is an aspect that Rhys Davids does not pay much attention to. A work of creative literature, it seems to me, needs to be seen as a complex and multi-layered text preoccupied with a specific discourse. Consequently, it is imperative that we pay close attention to the verbal structure. It is my contention that literary significance of the Dhammapada, which is one of the most popular Buddhist poems, can be understood only by dissecting its complex verbal structure.


Discourse
Rhys Davids says that in the Dhammapada we have no enframing matter, nor have we any continuous discourse; every verse, or here and there, any two or three verses, are so many detached poems. This, in my judgment, is to misread the complex verbal art, the undeniable organizational power that animates the poem. I wish to argue that not only does the Dhammapada embody a complex verbal art but that it also, in its sophisticated verbal structure, enacts the core meaning of Buddhism. In other words, there is a sophisticated literary sensibility behind the organization of the verses in this book.


The Dhammapada underscores the virtues of mental restraint, moral effort, concentration of mind, piety, leading to the highest bliss – total tranquility. It encourages readers to undertake the journey from darkness to light, ignorance to knowledge, carnal pleasure to mental purity.


It can be argued that the central discourse of the Dhammapada consists of two important sub-discourses. The first deals with the ideas of motion, travel, movement, reminding the readers the significance and the imperative of moving away from darkness towards light, from ignorance to knowledge. The second delineates the importance of calmness, tranquility, and peace. and the firstly sub-discourse leads logically to the second, reinforcing the central discourse of the poem, the attainment of total tranquility.


At this pint, it might be useful to investigate into the concept of discourse. The main point, it seems to me, to remember about discourse is that the language, the various verbal devices, employed, are constitutive of the meaning of discourse. In other words, it is not helpful to discuss discourse in isolation from the particular linguistic style and the verbal organisation of the given discourse as Paul Ricoueur has observed, ‘to mean is both what the speaker mean, that is, what he intends to say, and what the sentence means, that is, what the conjunction between the identification function and the productive function yields.


As Hayden White remarked, troping is the soul of discourse and without which discourse cannot do its work and realize its objectives. Gerard Genette, in exploring the idea of discourse from the perspective of the art of narration says that narrative discourse is a study of a threefold relationship –that between narrative and history, between narrative and narrating, between narrating and story.


In the case of The Dhammapada, there is no discernible story. However, we can press into service Genette’s approach to comprehend the predominant discourse of the poem. To do so, it is important that we pay sustained attention to the poetic narration and the way of narrating – one cannot get at the meaning of the poem without adequate attention to this conjunction.


Trope
The word trope is increasingly used in contemporary literary theory as a way of signifying a turn in language. The word tropic is derived from the Greek word tropikos, related to tropos, meaning turn, way, and manner. It enters the stream of modern Indo-European languages through the Latin word tropica meaning figure of speech. The concept of trope figures prominently in modern literary analysis and it is in this sense – as a figure of speech – that I wish to employ the term trope in my analysis of The Dhammapada.


In examining the natures and contours of the poetic discourse inscribed in The Dhammapada, I wish to invoke the idea of root image; this is clearly connected to the notion of trope that I alluded to in the earlier paragraph. The similes, metaphors, symbols, nouns, adjectives and adverbs, in a given weave of prose or verse tend to coalesce around a dominant image which in term the root image.


It seems to me that through an analysis of that root image we will be able to decode the complex verbal organisation of the given piece of writing. We can, for example, select some plays of Shakespeare and attempt to get at the organisation of the text and deepen our understanding of that organisation by examining their root images.


As Ralph Berry has said, the root image would enable us to comprehend the dominant impulse in bringing together numerous perceptions of associations to organise and articulate a dramatic situation. To cite a few instances, in Richard III the root image is that of play and audience; in king john it is that of authority and legitimacy; in tempest it is that of power and possession while King Lear has as its root image blindness and vision. In Joseph Conrad’s powerful novel Heart of Darkness, darkness functions as the root image.


In The Dhammapada, as I pointed out earlier, there are two sub-discourses that feed the central discourse. And each of these sub-discourses is constructed around a dominant root image. The two sub-discourses are those of motion and tranquility. In the Dhammapada, by my count, of the 423 verses nearly 120 contribute to the strengthening of the root image of motion. For example, the entirety of chapter 20 which is titled ‘Maggavaggo’, (The Path) tends to highlight this root image. These are a few representative examples.


Eightfold path
Of paths the eightfold is the best; of truths the four sayings are the best; of virtues freedom from attachment is the best; of people those who have vision are the best


This is the path; there is no other that leads to purity of insight. Traverse this path. and you will surely confound the Mara.


Traversing this path, you will eliminate your suffering. This path was shown by e when in comprehended the removal of the thorns


You yourself must strive. The Buddhas are only teachers. Those who enter the path and practice meditation are freed from the bondage of death.


All created things are ephemeral. When through the wisdom one realizes this, he becomes dis-enamored of sorrow. His is the oath to purity.’


In all 17 verses contained in this chapter, the image that recurs is that of the path and motion towards purity. In many of the verses the image of the path acquires an allegorical significance.


Images
Throughout The Dhammapada we find a dense tissue of images that deal with such activities as walking, running, navigating, journeying, meandering, departing and arriving. These go to form the root image of motion that I discussed earlier. These are some examples that serve to illustrate this point.


Earnest among the unenergetic, awake among the sleepy, the wise man advances like a river, leaving behind the pack.


A mendicant who delights in vigilance who looks with fear on thoughtlessness rushes like a fire destroying every bond, small or great


Even as a fish taken out of water home and thrown on the dry ground, our thoughts quiver all over in order to escape the dominion of death.


Death carries off a man who gathering flowers, whose mind is distracted just as a flood carries off a sleeping village.’


In all these verses, then, what we come across are images of movement in varying guises and they serve to intensify the domineering effect of the root image of motion.


In some of the stanzas gathered in The Dhammapada, the reader is admonished directly regarding the requirements that he or she needs to fulfill in the journey of life/.


Long is the night to him who is awake; long is the league to him who is weary’ long is the cycle of rebirth to the foolish who do not know the law. ‘


If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better or equal let him firmly pursue his journey by himself; there is no companionship with a fool.


One is the road that leads to wealth; another is the road that leads to nirvana; let the mendicant, the disciple, of the Buddha, having learnt this, not long for honor, bur strive after wisdom.


The journey, the path, and the act of departing, are replete with symbolic meaning. In these examples what we see is the complex ways in which the root image of motion feeds into the central message of the poem, the need to achieve permanent tranquility. I shall point out, in subsequent columns, how this root image of motion contrasts with that of the other root image in the poem- tranquility..

Once more, marching into an unwinnable war? ‘SURGICAL STRIKE’ ON IRAN WILL COST ISRAEL & U.S. DEARLY . . .

by Selvam Canagaratna

"Every war is its own excuse. That’s why they’re all surrounded with ideals. That’s why they’re all crusades."

- Karl Shapiro, The Bourgeois Poet (1964)

Welcome to 21st Century neocolonialist gunboat diplomacy at its naked worst.

Britain’s senior politician [and, for now, its Foreign Secretary] William Hague seems to have woken up, Rip Van Winkle-like, after an apparent three-decade-long slumber to warn the world of the dangers it faces of another Cold War should Iran succeed in acquiring nuclear weapons. [Peace-loving Briton that he is, Hague insisted that his country did not currently support military action against Iran, but added ominously "all options must remain on the table."]

Of course, when it comes to scaremongering Hague was left at the post by CNN’s TV Presenter Erin Burnett. Her ranting was best characterised by journalist Glenn Greenwald: "It’s the sort of thing you would produce if you set out to create a mean-spirited parody of mindless, war-hungry, fear-mongering media stars, but you wouldn’t dare go this far because you’d want the parody to have a feel of realism to it, and this would be way too extreme to be believable. She really hauled it all out: WMDs! Terrorist sleeper cells in the US controlled by Tehran! Iran’s long-range nuclear missiles reaching our homeland!!!! She almost made the anti-Muslim war-mongering fanatic she brought on to interview, Rep. Peter King, appear sober and reasonable by comparison."

Writing on his blog, author Matt Taibbi commented: "Virtually all of the Iran stories of late have contained some version of rhetorical sophistry. There’s a weird set of internalized assumptions that the media brings to these stories. In fact there’s an elaborate belief system we adhere to: our newspapers and TV stations may blather on a thousand times a day about attacking Iran and bombing its people, but if even one Iranian talks about fighting back, he is being ‘aggressive’ and ‘threatening’. We can impose sanctions on anyone, but if the sanctioned country embargoes oil shipments to Europe in response, it’s being ‘belligerent.’ The news ‘hook’ in most all of these stories is that intelligence reports reveal Iran is ‘willing’ to attack us or go to war – but then there’s usually an asterisk next to the headline, and when you follow the asterisk, it reads something like, ‘In the event that we attack Iran first’."

As for Mr. Hague, he seems blissfully ignorant of some major developments in the Middle East; either that, or he is guilty of deliberate deceit.

CIA photographs in the late 1950s showed what looked almost certainly to be a nuclear reactor being built at Dimona in the Negev desert. The images were rushed to the White House, but there was absolute, stunning silence. As investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote later, the CIA analysts who sent the information to the Oval Office "had no doubts that Israel was going for the bomb. They also had no doubts that President Eisenhower and his advisers were determined to look the other way."

It is a measure of Israel’s duplicity that while it consistently denies possessing nuclear weapons, it has equally consistently refused to be a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), and has never allowed inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) into the country.

Iran, on the other hand, has all along been a signatory to the NNPT and has also allowed IAEA inspectors into the country.

Deepak Tripathi, author of Breeding Ground: Afghanistan and the Origins of Islamist Terrorism and Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, writing on February 21, noted: "The Israeli government’s hasty and aggressive posture following the Delhi bombing [of an Israeli embassy car] has caused offense in the Indian capital. Officials in Delhi have made plain that India will not be recruited into the anti-Iran alliance under Israeli–US pressure. India ‘will not allow Washington, the Jewish lobby and much of Europe to push the country into a corner’ over Iran. How India conducts its ties with that country dating back to ancient times is its business. Furthermore, police investigations into the bombing cannot be rushed to suit external interests. The law of the land must take its course."

What particularly irked Indian officials, in Tripathi’s view, was that immediately after the Delhi bomb Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu sought to upstage India’s police investigations, describing the Iranian government as the world’s "largest terror exporter" and Hezbollah in Lebanon as Iran’s "protégé." Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman went further saying, "We know exactly who is responsible for the attack and who planned it, and we’re not going to take it lying down."

Israel’s Energy and Water Resources Minister Uri Landau jumped in with his own two-cents worth, calling India’s support for the Palestinians at the UN ‘a mistake’, and said he intended to "persuade" the Indians to change their stand.

Wrote Tripathi: "A full-scale Israeli offensive to force a complete overhaul of Indian foreign policy was under way. Police investigations were only beginning in Delhi when Israeli ministers spoke with such shocking certainly – the worst kind of megaphone diplomacy. For those sitting in the Indian capital, certain inferences were difficult to avoid. India had recently announced that it would abide by the UN sanctions against Iran, but would not obey additional sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. India would continue to buy oil from Iran, and an Indian trade delegation would visit Tehran in coming weeks."

Alex Kane, a staffer on the internet publication Mondoweiss, interviewed Mark Perry, a journalist and historian after his recent bombshell piece in Foreign Policy magazine exposing how Israeli intelligence attempted to recruit known Pakistani terrorists to wage covert war on Iran by disguising themselves as CIA agents. The interview occurred just after Israel had accused Iran and/or Hezbollah of being behind the recent attacks in New Delhi, India and Georgia on Israeli diplomats and embassies. Excerpts:

Mark Perry: Policy makers here are convinced that Israel and Iran are conducting a very low-level, asymmetric war. So they concluded that if Israel uses proxies to kill Iranians, then it’s likely the Iranians will respond.

Alex Kane: Do you think that this is moving very fast to a full-out war in the region?

Perry: Anytime you escalate on something like this, you run the danger of starting a conflict you don’t want. And I’m a military historian, and everyone says, well, what is the historical metaphor?

It’s August 1941. In August of 1941 the Japanese high command determined that they would bomb Pearl Harbor because the United States would not respond or would enter into negotiations and that they could get away with it. Four years later, 80 percent of their cities were destroyed, millions of Japanese were dead and Japan was absolutely on its knees.

No matter what you think is going to happen in this conflict, it’s not going to happen. You multiply your assessments of losses by three, four or five. War is a serious business and you’re not going to get away with a surgical strike. Iran is not going anywhere – it’s going to be there forever. And if you hit Iran and you’re Israel, I think you’re asking for much bigger trouble than, "well we can do it today, and tomorrow they’ll sit back and say, ‘gee, we shouldn’t develop nuclear weapons.’ That’s not going to happen. If there’s a war, we don’t know where it’s going to end, but one thing’s for sure: it will be a lot worse than we think."

Kahawatta killings - A dire signal to The nation of the demonic scourge of illicit drugs

by Chandra Wicremasinghe

The horrendous Kahawatta killings.

It is reliably reported that the brutal murders of a mother and daughter in Kahawatta are linked to a drug mafia that has been terrorizing that area for quite some time.The immediate cause of these inhuman killings has been attributed to the mother upbraiding the drug dealers concerned for trying to inveigle her school going daughter to become one of the distributors, by getting her to take a lunch packet with sachets of heroin inside, to be handed over to a drug trafficker waiting at the bus stand. Apparently, the leaders of the gang had been able to carry on their invidious trade because of the protection given by a politician in the area. Following the mindless killings, the people of the area, who were aware of what exactly was happening, had been increasingly getting impatient and incensed at the inaction of the authorities to nab the criminals who were well known and who had acquired notoriety for their nefarious activities in that entire Kahawatta area. Finally, driven to the end of their tether, the people had in sheer desperation, taken the law into their hands ,running amok,creating mayhem and burning down the houses of the suspects. It will be recalled that even the Hon Prime minister, in one of his public speeches, had referred in no uncertain terms to certain leading politicians in the governing party, who were well known for their dealings in illicit drugs! One would find this tacit acknowledgement of a state of anomie in the country by no less a person than the Prime minister, tragic and most depressing indeed!

The distribution of ‘BULBUL’
among school children.

These fears are further re-inforced by frequent reports of a sweetmeat (BULBUL laced with a hallucinogenic substance) being distributed to school children by three wheeler drivers and other school children who have got `hooked’ on the drug, through the wiles of unscrupulous drug agents organizing and supervising these clandestine networks. From ‘BULBUL’ these school children graduate in no time, to hard drugs like heroin and Ecstasy. Just a couple of days ago newspapers carried reports of a three wheel driver being nabbed by the Police with forty five small packets of heroin in his possession. On interrogation,he had confessed that the packets of heroin were to be distributed free to school children who would hopefully get ‘hooked’ on the drug to become in no time, compulsive addicts who would in turn, become distributors of the drug among their school friends, in order to make the money they need, to feed the pernicious habit.

If these unscrupulous drug dealers with their country wide networks, succeed in enticing school children to become addicts in this manner, one could only imagine the horrifying scenario that would unfold in the future, affecting and undermining with devastating short and long term effects, the entire educational system, leading to a steady breakdown in law and order and the destabilization of the entire social structure, with the country lapsing in good time, into anarchic conditions! It is therefore imperative that the Govt. takes immediate cognizance of the immense danger the entire nation faces frontally, by drawing up an urgent action plan to root out this demonic menace, before it assumes epidemic proportions, enervating irreparably, the vital energies of the population.

Rewards for services rendered and the resultant deterioration of law and order.

It is common knowledge that there has been a lot of pussyfooting on the part of the powers that be, due often to certain top politicos being obliged to underworld racketeers and drug dealers for numerous favours granted and services rendered to them at various stages of their political careers. As it is wryly said, there is nothing called a free lunch! To wheeler dealers, thugs and racketeers, giving material assistance to politicians to accelerate their upward levitation to Parliament and high ministerial position, is indeed a promising investment with prospects of future rewards in ample measure! Our present day political culture has become so warped that thuggery and ill-gotten money seem to be necessary prerequisites for political advancement! This is indeed a depressing reflection of the current societal mores that seem to pervade society, across the board. When politicians protect and harbour criminals from the operation of the laws of the land, what is the example they hold out to the law enforcement authorities themselves? One might therefore righteously ask,where the discipline is coming from, which is so crucially fundamental to the maintenance of law and order.

We have seen a steep increase in violent crime country- wide in recent years, which includes gruesome murders, rapes armed robbery et al. This escalation in violent crimes appears to have a direct co-relation to the deterioration of law and order stemming from the inability of the law enforcement authorities to carry out their duties with the expected dedication and efficiency. This again could be attributed to the general indiscipline pervading the country resulting in a depressing sense of ennui amongst the people.

Laws delays and the need to modernize investigative techniques.

Many statutes in Sri Lanka need to be revised to bring them in line with social developments and to keep abreast of the new trends in criminal behaviour. The law enforcement authorities have similarly, to update their investigative techniques to combat the rising wave of sophisticated crime. Laws delays constitute a major stumbling block to the expeditious dispensation of justice which latter is the mainstay of the confidence reposed by people in the judicial process and the criminal justice system. Modern social problems have to contend with an antiquated system of court procedures. The in- built inefficiencies of the criminal justice system are indeed starkly reflected in the tragically low rate of convictions recorded.

The statistical probability of conviction of criminals, is a shocking 4% !

In Sri Lanka, stemming from certain religious sensitivities, the death penalty, although pronounced by court on criminals at times, is never carried out. However, with the rapid deterioration of law and order in the country, even eminent and highly respected religious dignitaries who are appalled by the heinous crimes perpetrated, seem now to be in favour of the restitution and the implementation of the death penalty, which they probably have realized is the only effective deterrence to halt the alarmingly rising trend of grave crime. It is indeed not surprising that criminals have scant regard for the law in the knowledge that even if they are caught and indicted, the chances of conviction are minimal. The statistical probability of a criminal getting convicted, even if charged in court, is a shocking 4% !This is, if anything, only a sad reflection of an effete, inefficacious criminal justice system that obtains in the country today. It is common knowledge that the prisons in the country, far from being reformatory institutions of delinquents and criminals, are now little more than the breeding grounds of hardened criminals! It is only too well known that criminal activities including drug trafficking, contract killings, heists etc. are hatched and orchestrated by Mafia bosses from within the confines of prison walls, using the handy cell-phone!

What can one expect when thugs, racketeers and people of criminal persuasion have a field day in the knowledge that the chances of their being incarcerated are somewhat remote. It is, as a cynic put it, a matter of law and disorder! There have been Presidential Commissions appointed to examine and report on the current state of law and order in the country. The recommendations made in these Commission reports do not seem to have found favour in certain quarters which would be materially affected by their implementation. This is most unfortunate as the criminal justice system of the country which should take a good share of the blame for the parlous state of affairs in this regard and which needs to go through a complete revamping, continues to plod along the same tortuous ways and by-ways, much to the exasperation of the public.

I have dealt with the deterioration of the law and order situation in the country and the resultant steep rise in grave crime, by way of a protasis to the drug problem, as the latter is only symptomatic of the larger moral and socio-economic malaise that seems to afflict the entire polity of this island. What appears to be necessary is a searching appraisal of the overall current situation with a view to assessing the magnitude of the drug menace in all its dimensions. Once this is ascertained, the next step would be to map out strategies to combat the problem.

The need to formulate effective Preventive Strategies and Rehabilitative Programmes.

There should be carefully formulated comprehensive preventive strategies and the necessary rehabilitative programmes put in place at the outset. The former should be reinforced by tough legislative measures which would effectively circumscribe and stymie the illegal activities of the drug lords who fund and organize the mafia networks. Educational programmes to build up awareness, particularly in the minds of the youth, should be organized sensitively and incorporated in the school curricula and disseminated via the electronic media. One cannot underscore the key role strategic planning plays in the formulation of policies and their implementation in meeting challenges and successfully overcoming them. In this regard, it has to be remarked that the failure to react decisively and the resultant paralyzing inaction in many areas of national policy, could only be attributed to the lack of or oftentimes the absence of, properly formulated strategies to meet exigent situations. We seem to be fast becoming a nation of crisis riders, looking on askance while things deteriorate and then suddenly blow up in one’s face! We then ride the resultant anarchic chaos the best we could and once the panic abates and a sense of normalcy returns, sit back and await the visitation of the next crisis! We do take things for granted far too much in this respect, often exulting in the minor skirmishes we overcome, while losing the bigger battles disastrously! It cannot be overstressed that strategic planning is a sine qua non for the success of any major undertaking. What is necessary is the political resolve to formulate such strategies and the courage and the determination to put them into operation brushing aside the political fallout that is likely to follow. Certain inherited legacies and attendant commitments may at times restrict the room for strategic manouvre.

But these should be thought through afresh and incorporated in revised forward plans. The stormy passage of the law against money laundering in Parliament some time ago, is a clear pointer to the desperation shown by the interest groups adversely affected by the enactment of such laws.

Drug Trafficking and the need to enact tough legislation viz confiscation of assets (both moveable and immoveable)of convicted drug traffickers. .

Drug trafficking is a self-reinforcing activity which expands the illicit trade and uses it’s profits in turn to increase capital. One way of breaking the vicious circle is by depriving those engaged in the trade of their motivation. Drug seizures can be compensated by traffickers by hiking the price of the drug as an interim measure and simultaneously increasing shipments. It is observed that a very effective way of de-motivating those engaged in illicit trafficking is by the confiscation of their assets and property which would seriously undermine their capacity to finance, organize and maintain their clandestine networks.

The basis of the power of the drug barons is the ability to corrupt both the high and the low with remarkable facility. Once their power bases are effectively weakened, the options open to them would correspondingly diminish. Legislation is already in place in certain countries to use monies confiscated from drug traffickers to combat the illicit trade. Such monies can be productively used for the improvement of the capacity of law enforcement agencies and for the setting up of drug abuse prevention projects. Sri Lanka should in like manner, resolutely pursue the enactment of tough new anti-drug legislation which would act as a positive deterrent to the big time drug dealers engaged in the illicit drug trade.

The rapid spread of drug addiction among the youth of the island should be viewed with the gravest concern as it would progressively undermine social and economic stability and even pose a threat to national security. In the war against illicit drugs it is necessary to carry the battle into the camp of the big time dealers thereby eroding effectively and destroying their power bases. No quarter should be given in this frontal assault on one of the most pernicious scourges this country has had to battle against aside from the LTTE!.

It is indeed a tragic irony that countries like the US who are the biggest consumers, are often those enthusiastically funding alternative development programmes to curb production on the supply side. Paradoxically, there do not seem to be tangible, determined efforts by such conspicuous consumers to stem an insatiable domestic demand! Human rights issues are often trotted out as excuses for non-interference in the liberties of individuals and the flourishing illicit trade is often winked at by law enforcement authorities in these countries.This presents a classic example of the tyranny of the demand curve which enslaves the hapless producer in most poor developing countries. Countries like Guatamala and Columbia have been ripped apart by the indiscriminate killings carried out daily by drug lords, who have established their own fiefdoms which produce and distribute cocaine, with huge consignments finding their way to the US via the Mexican border. The newly elected President of Guatamala has identified the villain of the piece as the US, which country exercises a magnetic pull for the drug, with the insatiable demand of its huge population of addicts.In a desperate bid to bring to an end the horrendous cycle of violence plaguing the country, he has declared, much to the consternation of the US , that he is going to legitimize drugs in Guatamala! These are of course extreme measures taken by countries reduced to dire straits by powerful drug cartels, in order to meet and counter uniquely intractable domestic situations which rarely find parallels outside South America!

The unsettling effect the Drug problem has on the Criminal Justice System of Sri Lanka..

One noticeable problem in Sri Lanka is the unsettling impact the widespread drug menace has on the criminal justice system of the country by the increasing numbers of persons arrested for drug related offences. A very high proportion of offenders consigned to remand prison are those taken in for drug related offences. It is therefore natural to expect widespread drug abuse inside prisons here. In fact, the estimated percentage of drug abuse in prisons in Sri Lanka viz.45%, is the highest in the Asia/Pacific region! This is indeed a graphic illustration of the enormous dangers to society that lie ahead unless drastic policy measures are not immediately put in place to curb the menace.

Demand/Supply reduction strategies.

In the formulation of counter strategies to combat the drug menace, it is essential also to take cognizance of certain global trends which are being facilitated by the electronic media and the use of sophisticated techniques of transportation combined with the enormous power and wealth behind the cartels that operate these international networks. Any counter measures, to be effective ,will have to match the sophistication and subtlety and deviously innovative methods of these traffickers.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, there is no getting behind the fact that in a developing country like ours, it is only well formulated preventive strategies and implementational programmes, combined with the harshest punitive measures for convicted drug dealers(which should include the confiscation of both moveable and immoveable properties belonging to them, in addition to incarcerating them in prison for their entire lifetime), that would compel those involved in the illicit drug trade, to move away and abandon it’s production and consumption. True enough, the country is going through a period of heavy weather on the economic front and equally irksomely, on the international front, having to face the venomous wrath of a vengeful West .But all this should not detract the government from focusing on the critical problem posed by the ‘seemingly intractable menace of illicit drugs’, which can be challenged and overcome, if the govt. only shows the same unflinching determination and firm political resolve displayed by it, in crushing the LTTE.

(The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the President and Ambassador to France)

China Feb commodity imports stronger than expected

China's imports of main commodities posted a surprise rise in February versus January, despite a shorter month, with crude oil hitting a daily record, soothing market worries that a slowing economy has yet to cut into use of commodities. 
Imports of copper, of which China is the 



world's largest buyer, climbed to 484,569 tonnes, 17% more than January and double the year-earlier level, according to data the General Administration of Customs posted on its website (www.customs.gov.cn) on Saturday.
"That's a surprise. We may have underestimated investors' appetites," said Fu Bin, analyst at Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of top copper producer Jiangxi Copper.


Fu was referring to investors who import copper and resell the metal domestically to obtain cash for financing other investments, while China maintains a tight credit policy.


Some analysts had expected copper imports to be capped as domestic prices were below the cost of imports, though others have argued China may need to build up stocks ahead of the expected seasonal demand rise from March to May.


Imports of crude oil, of which China is the world's No 2 buyer, hit a daily record of about 5.95 million barrels, an 18.5% rally over a year earlier. The previous daily high was set in September 2010 at 5.67 million bpd.


The peak imports contrast with the earlier market view that maintenance work at oil plants, and top oil refiner Sinopec Corp's reductions in Iranian oil imports in the first few months this year, could cut into purchases.


"In view of potential supply disruptions surrounding the Iran nuclear issue, oil firms may have raised imports beyond the requirement by refineries to bolster the stocks and provide a cushion for future uncertainty," said a Beijing-based oil analyst.


Iron ore imports also rose 9.5% last month to nearly 65 million tonnes versus January, one-third higher than February 2011.


The surge in shipments over February was mostly a result of a faster than predicted recovery in steel output over the month. Daily crude steel runs rose to 1.93 million tonnes, up from 1.83 million tonnes in January and 1.68 million tonnes in December.


The higher ore imports may have bolstered domestic stocks as local ore miners also lifted production sharply in February, by a quarter versus last year at 81.57 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.


Economic data released on Friday -- a 20-month low CPI, plus factory output and retail sales cooling more than forecast -- reinforced expectations that Beijing will focus on growth rather than inflation this year, and steer the economy away from a sharp slowdown.


Soybeans were among the few items that posted a month-on-month fall in imports, with shipments down 17% versus January at 3.83 million tonnes. Still, compared to a year earlier, imports rose 65%.


The cutback from January was much anticipated due to negative margins for importers as high domestic inventories kept local prices below import costs.

B’desh to use Hambantota port

Bangladesh has said that it would use services of Sri Lanka’s newly built Hambantota harbor, The Financial Express stated.

Speaking to the media Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith said “Sri Lanka offered Bangladesh to use its newly built deep seaport at Hambantota 'which will be helpful for us'.

“Let's explore the benefit since Hambantota port users wouldn't need to go inside the Colombo. That will help save time,” Muhith said.

The fourth Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) sessions in Dhaka, Bangladesh successfully concluded on 08 March. The SL-B’desh JEC sessions, revived after almost two decades, resulted in effective renewal of bilateral trade cooperation, according to Minister Rishad Bathiudeen who led Sri Lanka’s national delegation to Dhaka.

Action by HRC Can Help Promote Reconciliation and Lasting Peace in Sri Lanka

by Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe

| March 8, 2012

Yesterday, after consultation with partners including those who will join us as co-sponsors, we tabled a draft resolution on Sri Lanka for consideration by the Human Rights Council (HRC) at its 19th Session.

Three years since the end of the conflict, it is our belief that the government of Sri Lanka must take concerted actions on the ground to foster national reconciliation and accountability. The U.S. Government has provided humanitarian and development assistance to facilitate post-war reconciliation, and we believe that HRC action can further assist in this aim.

After consulting broadly with delegations from all regions and incorporating many helpful suggestions to the initial draft, we have introduced a moderate, reasonable, and balanced resolution text as a basis for further discussion and collaboration with our many partners in the Human Rights Council. In this regard, we reiterate our long-expressed willingness to work in partnership with the government of Sri Lanka on this resolution, and on the broader issues of reconciliation and accountability.

This resolution is not intended to condemn; indeed, it acknowledges the contributions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which has made many constructive recommendations to the Sri Lankan government. However, many international and domestic observers share our conclusion that the government has not yet promulgated a credible action plan for implementation of those recommendations, nor has it taken the additional needed steps since the war to foster national reconciliation.

Our intention is clear: we want the countries of the world to join in encouraging the government of Sri Lanka to take the steps needed to ensure meaningful and lasting national reconciliation after a long conflict, to reach out sincerely to the Tamil population and bring them back in to the national life of Sri Lanka, and to ensure accountability for actions taken during the war.

Time is slipping by for the people of Sri Lanka. Together with the international community we want to work with Sri Lanka in order to bring lasting peace to the island. We firmly believe that action now in this Council reflects the international community’s ongoing interest in and support for action on the ground in Sri Lanka. Numerous international and domestic observers have echoed our concern that the government of Sri Lanka must now establish domestic processes that will sow the seeds of lasting peace on the ground. With this resolution, the countries of the world can extend their hand of cooperation to help all the people of Sri Lanka achieve that goal. [Opening Remarks by Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe at Informal Consultations on a Draft Resolution on Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council]