Gota's Speech at “Galle dialogue”-maritime symposium

Text of Defence and Urban Development secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s address at the inaugural session of the “Galle dialogue”-maritime symposium at the Light house Hotel in Galle on November 14th 2011


Minister of External Affairs, Excellencies, Secretary to the President, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Highways, Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Chief of Defence Staff, Commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Distinguished delegates and invitees Ladies and Gentlemen.
I consider it a pleasure and a privilege to address you at the opening session of the “Galle Dialogue” Maritime Conference organised by the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka.

The Galle Dialogue was initiated in 2010 to facilitate increased cooperation between the nations interested in the security of the Indian Ocean region. During the first Galle Dialogue, the participants held fruitful discussions on the topic “Charting the Course for Sustainable Maritime Cooperation”. Building on that theme, this year’s Conference deliberates on “Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns”.

The Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world, and borders over thirty nations. It is a resource rich ocean, with enormous reserves of oil, natural gas, minerals and a wealth of biological resources. It is estimated that approximately 60,000 ships cross the Indian Ocean each year, including nearly half of the world’s containerised cargo. Only twenty per cent of the cargo transported through the Indian Ocean is traded within the region; the remaining eighty per cent is extra regional.

Libyan Exploitation began....

Libyan oil investment

Some of the world's leading oil companies have a large presence in Libya. The list includes Spain's Repsol, Italy's Eni ADR (NYSE: E), Total (NYSE:TOT) and U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY),ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Marathon (NYSE: MRO) and Hess (NYSE:HES).

Of these companies, the largest foreign investor in Libya's oil industry is Eni, which has resumed some of its oil and gas production activities in the country. It stands to gain greatly from a renaissance in Libya's oil industry.

Investors reading the news headlines lately may wonder if there is an investment angle on Libya. There is...and it involves black gold, oil, and an oil company poised to profit from Libya's rebirth.

Libyan oil

With the death of Libyan dictator, Moammar Gaddafi, markets are euphoric about the future of Libya in general and its oil industry in particular.

But not so fast...full resumption of Libyan oil production could be years away. For example, production in Iraq did not return to pre-war levels until 2008. However, when Libya's oil industry does get back on its feet, it may offer an incredible opportunity for investors to profit.

A quick primer on the Libyan oil industry seems appropriate here since some investors may wonder why Libya is important at all. After all, the country was only the 12th largest global oil exporter , producing about 1.6 million barrels of oil before the conflict began. Global oil output is roughly 87 million barrels a day.

Global Assessment of the LTTE

Global Assessment of the LTTE

The Sri Lanka Governments assessment of the LTTE is widely shared within the intelligence, law enforcement and criminal justice communities across the world. Even as Sri Lanka appears to be gaining the upper hand in its battle against the LTTE on the ground, there are many who continue to fear that the international tentacles and reach of the group does not augur well.

- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its 10 January 2007 special report has described the LTTE as "among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world".

- Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, Chief Scientist at the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College has described the LTTE as "probably the most sophisticated terrorist organization in the world".

- Dr. Gerard Chaliand, Former Director, European Center for the Study of Conflicts reminds us that "no peace seems possible with V. Prabhakaran as we have seen from the peace process of 2002-2005 which was but a tactical truce".

- Most recently, The US Pacific Joint Command (PACOM) Admiral Timothy Keating while commending Sri Lankan military for its recent successes against the LTTE, has told New York correspondents on 6 November 2008, "We are hopeful that the LTTE would be a decreasingly important factor of much less reach than they are and have been in the past".


- Proscription and its limitations

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සත්‍යය සැමවිටම වැලලී සිටීම තරම් අභාග්‍යයක් අද අප ලෝකයේ කිසිම තැනකින් සොයා ගත නොහැක. සත්‍යය මතුවන දින අප සියල්ලම වල පල්ලේය. සත්‍යය සඳහා සටන් කරන්නවුන් ද්‍රෝහියෝය, සත්‍යය සොයාගෙන අන්ධකාරයෙන් එලියට යන්නවුන් පවා දෙන්නන්ය, කියමින් මුර ගාන බටහිර මුදලින් යැපෙමින් භාෂා ගණනාවකින් ලෝකය හමුවේ අප මවු බිම හෑල්ලුවට පත් කරන වෙබ් අඩවි එමටය.

සත්‍යය ඇති සැටියෙන් පවසන පුවත් පතක් ගුවන් විදුලි හෝ රුපවාහිනි නාලිකාවක් අද සොයා ගන්නට නොහැකි තරම්ය.

නමුත් එකිනෙකා කොටවන, එකිනෙක කුළල් කා  ගැන්මට සලස්වන නාලිකා පුවත් පත් හා මිතුරු සමාජනම් එමටය.

අද අප ඇස පෙනෙනමුත් ඇස අර ගැන්මට නොහැකි අන්ධයන් බවට පත් වී තිබේ!

හිටපු MI5 ඒජන්ත ඇනී මැෂොං මහත්මිය RT නම් රුසියන් රූපවාහිනිය සමග කළ සාකච්ඡාවේ දී නැටෝ බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය විසින්, සැලකියයුතු මට්ටමේ ඉහළ ජීවන තත්වයක් තිබූ ලිබියාව අද ගල්යුගය දක්වා ආපසු තල්ලුකර ඇතැයි කීවාය.

ඇගේම වචන කියවමු:

“ඔවුන්ට නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයක් තිබුණි; නිදහස් සොඛෟ සේවාවක් තිබුණි; ඔවුන්ට රජයේ වියදමින් පිටරටවල දී අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබිය හැකි විය. විවාහ වන විට සැලකිය යුතු මුදලක් ඔවුන්ට ලැබුණි; (රජය ඩොලර් 50000 ක් පරිත්‍යාග කරයි) එබැවින් අප්‍රිකාවේ වෙනත් රටවල වැඩි අවධානයට ලිබියාව ලක්විය; දැන් නැටෝ සංවිධානයේ මානවවාදී මැදිහත්වීම නිසා එම රට සැබවින් ම ගල්යුගයට ම දක්කා ඇත. ඔවුන්ට ඉදිරියේ දී එම ආකාරයේ ජීවන මට්ටමක් නො ලැබී යයි. නව පරිවාස ආණ්ඩුව යටතේ ස්ත්‍රියට තිබුණු නිදහස නො ලැබී යාවි. ජාතික ධනය බටහිරට ඇදී යාවි. ලිබියාවේ තිබුණු ජීවන මට්ටම, අවපාතයට මූණදී සිටින අමෙරිකාවේ සහ බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ජීවන මට්ටමට වඩා තරමක් ඉහළ එකක් විය.“

Fishing in the Turbulent water - An Aus view

. Herald Sun

DESPITE what Tony Abbott would have us believe, the striking thing about the build-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth was not division between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. It was the way they worked together.

The two rivals put differences aside to try to ensure that CHOGM is a success. And they will consider it a success if the Commonwealth leaders leave Australia with smiles on their faces.

That's what it's all about. Keeping all of the 53 delegations happy.

Because, folks - behind the talk about strengthening the Commonwealth's commitment to democracy and human rights - the Gillard Government is approaching the summit as a $60 million PR exercise.

And the ultimate aim of that exercise is to help Australia win a place on the United Nations Security Council in 2013. It's all part of drumming up the required 128 UN votes.

As well as wooing Commonwealth members, the strategy is to use this CHOGM to impress non-Commonwealth countries with Australia's ability to represent the concerns of small and developing nations.

In fact, the bid for a Security Council seat is the main reason Australia put up its hand to host the summit in the first place. It was not our turn.Catch senior Foreign Affairs Department officials in a candid mood and they'll admit that the winning of votes takes precedence over the rest of it - including proposals for a Commonwealth Charter and the appointment of a Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights.

The 2011 CHOGM was supposed to be held in Colombo, but when the Commonwealth leaders met in Trinidad two years ago they agreed that the aftermath of the Sri Lanka civil war made this untenable.

Freedom Speaks Documentary Part I – YouTube | My Blog

Freedom Speaks Documentary Part I – YouTube | My Blog:

'via Blog this'

Hypocrisy and the West : When to celebrate a death

Hypocrisy and the West

When to celebrate a death

• The Economist website
  

AFTER days of shelling during which untold numbers of diehard loyalists and unfortunate civilians were traumatised, maimed and killed, the despised dictator was cornered like an exhausted fox at the end of the hunt. How he took the bullet that killed him was disputed—in crossfire, the confusion of battle, or in what amounted to an execution. But so what? It was kinder than the lingering, agonising death he deserved and he was better dead than alive. Whoever pulled the trigger should be counted a hero, not investigated as a war-criminal. This was a time for rejoicing: a war over at last, and one of the great villains of the past half-century rendered incapable of causing further cruelty.

The death of Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 2009 marked the definitive victory of the Sri Lankan army in a war that had dragged on for 26 years and entailed the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. He ran his fief of “liberated” Sri Lanka with an iron fist, systematically wiping out his ethnic-Tamil opponents, as he commandeered a monopoly on Tamil resentment at rule by a Sri Lankan government dominated by ethnic Sinhalese. Prabhakaran’s Tamil Tigers were pioneers of suicide-bombing, and notorious for the cyanide pills they wore as an alternative to capture and torture. He waged terror overseas, notably in India, where his agents assassinated a former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991. And Tamil expatriates around the world were bullied and frightened into providing him with finance.

Yet the end of the war in Sri Lanka was marked by little of the celebratory tone that has marked some of the reporting of the death of Muammar Qaddafi this month. A few days before the Sri Lankan army’s final victory, President Barack Obama had called on it to stop using heavy weaponry in civilian areas. And when victory came, there was almost immediate condemnation of the tactics the Sri Lankan army had used in the final months of the war; calls for war-crimes inquiries predated the last battle, and persist to this day. Over Libya, there was no such call for restraint in the battle for Sirte, and on Qaddafi’s death, Mr Obama was quick to hail “the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya”.

So it is not surprising that some commentators in Sri Lanka have been offended by the triumphalist tone of some of the Western coverage of the end of Muammar Qaddafi. Jehan Perera, a brave liberal voice who has constantly called for accountability in Sri Lanka, asked why there has been so little condemnation of the conduct of the last phase of the war in Libya, from either governments or human-rights watchdogs. His gloomy conclusion: “Undoubtedly a big part of the reason is that the very countries in the forefront of the war in Libya are also those that are the proponents of human rights.”