மீளாத்துயரில் மீரியப் பெத்த!

இறுதிப் போர்ப் பெருந் திட்டம் எவ்வாறு தீட்டப்பட்டது?

ஏதிரிகள் எவ்வாறு எம்மைத் தோற்கடித்தனர்!
How did Sri Lanka succeed against what many considered the most innovative and dangerous insurgency force in the world,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)?  

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How Sri Lanka Won the War
Lessons in strategy from an overlooked victory

By Peter Layton April 09, 2015

How to win a civil war in a globalized world where insurgents skillfully exploit offshore resources? With most conflicts now being such wars, this is a question many governments are trying to answer. Few succeed, with one major exception being Sri Lanka where, after 25 years of civil war the government decisively defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and created a peace that appears lasting. This victory stands in stark contrast to the conflicts fought by well-funded Western forces in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. How did Sri Lanka succeed against what many considered the most innovative and dangerous insurgency force in the world? 

Three main areas stand out.

First, the strategic objective needs to be appropriate to the enemy being fought. For the first 22 years of the civil war the government’s strategy was to bring the LTTE to the negotiating table using military means. Indeed, this was the advice foreign experts gave as the best and only option. In 2006, just before the start of the conflict’s final phase, retired Indian Lieutenant General AS Kalkat in 2006 declared, 

“There is no armed resolution to the conflict. The Sri Lanka Army cannot win the war against the Lankan Tamil insurgents.”

Indeed, the LTTE entered negotiations five times, but talks always collapsed, leaving a seemingly stronger LTTE even better placed to defeat government forces. In mid-2006, sensing victory was in its grasp, the LTTE deliberately ended the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire and initiated the so-called Eelam War IV. In response, the Sri Lankan government finally decided to change its strategic objective, from negotiating with the LTTE to annihilating it.

To succeed, a strategy needs to take into account the adversary. In this case it needed to be relevant to the nature of the LTTE insurgency. Over the first 22 years of the civil war, the strategies of successive Sri Lankan governments did not fulfill this criterion. Eventually, in late 2005 a new government was elected that choose a different strategic objective that matched the LTTE’s principal weaknesses while negating their strengths.

The LTTE’s principal problem was its finite manpower base. Only 12 percent of Sri Lanka’s population were Lankan Tamils and of these it was believed that only some 300,000 actively supported the LTTE. Moreover, the LTTE’s legitimacy as an organization was declining. By 2006, the LTTE relied on conscription – not volunteers – to fill its ranks and many of these were children. At the operational level some seeming strengths could also be turned against the LTTE, including its rigid command structure, a preference for fighting conventional land battles, and a deep reliance on international support.

Grand Strategy

Second, success requires a grand strategy. A grand strategy defines the peace sought, intelligently combines diplomacy, economics, military actions, and information operations, and considers the development of the capabilities the nation needs to succeed. The new government decided not to continue with the narrowly focused military strategies that had failed its predecessors, but rather adopt a comprehensive whole-of-nation grand strategy to guide lower-level activities.

In the economic sphere, the new government decided to allocate some 4 percent of GDP to defense and increase the armed forces budget some 40 percent. This would significantly strain the nation’s limited fiscal resources so annual grants and loans of some $1 billion were sought from China to ease the burden. Other forms of financial assistance, including lines of credit for oil and arms purchases, were provided by Iran, Libya, Russia and Pakistan.

Diplomatically, the government took steps to isolate the LTTE, which received some 60 percent of its funding and most of its military equipment from offshore. This succeeded and over time the group was banned in some 32 countries. Importantly, a close working relationship was formed with India, the only country able to meaningfully interfere with the new government’s grand strategy. The U.S. in the post-9/11 counter terrorism era also proved receptive to the government’s intentions of destroying the world’s premier suicide bomber force. America assisted by disrupting LTTE offshore military equipment procurement, sharing intelligence, providing a Coast Guard vessel, and supplying an important national naval command and control system. Canada and the European Union also came on board by outlawing the LTTE’s funding networks in their countries, severely impacting the group’s funding base.

Internally, the government set out to gain the active support of the public. By 2006 many Sri Lankans were war weary and doubted the new government’s abilities to achieve a victory no one else could. To win popular support the government realized that development activities had to be continued, not stopped while the war was fought. Moreover, various national schemes addressing poverty needed to be sustained, a prominent example being the poor farmer fertilizer subsidy scheme. These measures made financing the war very difficult and foreign financial support important, but were essential to convincing the people that there was a peace worth fighting for. The measures worked. Before 2005, the Army had difficulty recruiting 3,000 soldiers annually; by late 2008, the Army was recruiting 3,000 soldiers a month.

The increased budgets and popular support allowed the Sri Lankan armed forces to grow significantly. The Army in particular was expanded, growing from some 120,000 personnel in 2005 to more than 200,000 by 2009.

Astute Tactics

Third, to meet the ends that the grand strategy seeks, the focus of the lower-level, subordinate military strategy needed to be exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses while countering its strengths. 

The LTTE had limited numbers of soldiers, fielding only some 20,000-30,000, and with astute tactics could be overwhelmed. In this regard, the government forces had already won a major success before Eelam War IV started in mid-2006.

In late 2004, a senior LTTE military commander, Colonel Karuna, defected, bringing with him some 6,000 LTTE cadres and seriously damaging the LTTE’s support base in Eastern Sri Lankan. The mass defection provided crucial intelligence that offered deep insights into the LTTE as a fighting organization. Crucially, for the first time, the government intelligence agencies now had Lankan Tamils willing to return to LTTE-held areas, collect information, and report back. The scale of the defection also clearly showed that the legitimacy of the LTTE was waning.

At the start of Eelam War IV, the LTTE were able to operate throughout the country. There were no safe rear areas as high-profile suicide attacks on the foreign minister, defense secretary, the Pakistani high commissioner and the army chief underlined. 

This capability was countered by using the enlarged armed forces and police on internal security tasks, and by developing a Civil Defence Force of armed villagers. Operations were also conducted to find and destroy LTTE terrorist cells operating within the capital and some large towns. This defense-in-depth neutralized the LTTE’s well-proven ability to undertake both leadership decapitation strikes and terrorist attacks on vulnerable civilian targets.

These defensive measures in the south and the west of the country allowed the Sri Lankan military strategy in the north and east to be enemy-focused rather than population-centric. The primary aim there was to attack the LTTE and force them onto the defensive rather than try to protect the population from the LTTE – the conventional Western doctrine. The areas under LTTE control were accordingly attacked in multiple simultaneous operations to confuse, overload, tie down and thin out the defenders. Tactical advantage was taken of the Army’s new much greater numbers.

In these operations, small, well-trained, highly-mobile groups proved key. These groups infiltrated behind the LTTE’s front lines attacking high-value targets, providing real-time intelligence and disrupting LTTE lines of resupply and communication. 

Groups down to section level were trained and authorized to call in precision air, artillery and mortar attacks on defending LTTE units. The combination of frontal and in-depth assaults meant that the LTTE forces lost their freedom of maneuver, were pinned down, and could be defeated in detail.

The small groups included Special Forces operating deep and a distinct Sri Lankan innovation: large numbers of well-trained Special Infantry Operations Teams (SIOT) operating closer. The considerably expanded 10,000 strong Special Forces proved highly capable in attacking LTTE military leadership targets, removing very experienced commanders when they were most needed and causing considerable disruption to the inflexible hierarchical command system. Of the SIOTs, Army Chief General Fonseka, who introduced the concept, notes that: 

“we also fought with four-man teams… trained to operate deep in the jungle…. be self-reliant and operate independently. So a battalion had large numbers of four-man groups that allowed us to operate from wider fronts.”

 When Eelam War IV started there were 1500 SIOT trained troops; by 2008 there were more than 30,000.

Learning Organization

With enhanced training in complex jungle fighting operations, Sri Lankan soldiers generally became more capable, more professional, and more confident. The Army could now undertake increasingly difficult tasks day or night while maintaining a high 
tempo. The Army had became a ‘learning organization’ that embraced tactical level initiatives and innovations.

The LTTE was unique amongst global insurgency groups in also having a capable navy that conducted two main tasks: interdiction of government coastal shipping and logistic sea transport.

For interdiction operations the LTTE developed two classes of small, fast boats: fiberglass-hulled, attack craft armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, and low-profile, armored suicide boats fitted with contact-fused, large explosive charges. In 
Eelam War IV, sizeable clusters of some 30 attack craft and 8-10 suicide craft operated as swarms, mingling with local trawler fleets to make defense difficult. These were eventually defeated by even larger counter-swarms of 60-70 government fast attack craft that used targeting information from some 20 shore-based coastal radars coordinated through the command and control system the U.S. had provided.

For sea transport operations the LTTE used eleven large cargo ships that would pick up military equipment purchased from around the globe, station themselves beyond the Navy’s reach some 2,000 kms from Sri Lanka and then dash in close to the coast and quickly offload to waiting LTTE trawlers. In Eelam War IV though, the Navy used three recently acquired, second-hand offshore patrol vessels (including the donated ex-U.S. Coast Guard Cutter) combined with innovative tactics and  intelligence support from India and the U.S. to strike at the LTTE’s transport ships. The last ship was sunk in late 2007 more than 3,000 km from Sri Lanka and close to Australia’s Cocos Islands.

The combination of the three factors of adopting a strategic objective matched to the adversary, using a grand strategy that focused the whole-of-the-nation on this objective, and adopting an optimized, subordinate military strategy proved devastating. 

The LTTE was completely destroyed. The government proved able to change its strategies in response to continuing failure and win, whereas the LTTE doggedly stuck to its previously successful formula and lost.

Some have criticized the Sri Lankan victory as only being possible because the government disregarded civilian casualties and used military force bluntly and brutally. This view correctly emphasizes that wars are by their nature cruel and violent and should not be entered into or continued lightly. However, it unhelpfully neglects critical factors and explains little. As this article has discussed, victory came to the side with the most successful strategies – even if it took the government more than 22 years to find them.

In this regard, a comparison with the two other Western-led counter insurgency wars of the period comparing soldiers and civilians killed is instructive:

Breakdown of Overall Deaths in the Conflict

These were three different civil wars that each featured counterinsurgency strategies that progressively evolved. All involved significant civilian casualties with Iraq markedly the worse with 61 percent of those killed being civilians and Afghanistan the best at 25 percent. The Sri Lankan war with 34 percent of those killed overall being civilians, and thus broadly comparable to Afghanistan, then seems somewhat unremarkable except that the Sri Lankan war was decisively won. In Iraq and Afghanistan there was no victory, there remains no peace and people continue to die.

In Sri Lanka the guns fell silent in 2009, there is 7 percent GDP growth, low unemployment, and steadily rising per capita incomes. Even an economically poor country it seems can win the peace in a civil war. The key is to focus on getting the strategy right.


Peter Layton has considerable defense experience and a doctorate in grand strategy.

Peter Layton

Peter Layton

Peter Layton is a doctoral candidate at the UNSW researching conceptual frameworks to assist policymakers when formulating grand strategies.  As part of this he recently completed a Fellowship at the European University Institute in Italy. A retired RAAFGroup Captain, Peter has extensive experience in force structure development and taught national security strategy at the US National Defense University.  He has written extensively on defence and security matters, and was awarded the US Exceptional Public Service medal for force structure planning work. In 2006, he won the RUSI Trench Gascoigne Essay prize for original writing on contemporary issues of defense and international security.

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பிற்குறிப்பு: இக்கட்டுரை தோல்வியில் இருந்தும், எதிரிகளிடமிருந்தும் படிப்பினை பெறும் நோக்கில் பிரசுரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.ENB Admin
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எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் பதவி தமிழரசுக்கட்சிக்கே வழங்கப்பட வேண்டும்
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எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் பதவி இலங்கை தமிழரசுக் கட்சிக்கு வழங்கப்பட வேண்டுமெனத் தெரிவித்து, சபாநாயகரிடம் கடிதமொன்று இன்று கையளிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இலங்கை தமிழரசுக் கட்சியின் பொதுச் செயலாளர் கே. துரைராஜசிங்கம் மற்றும் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் நாடாளுமன்றக் குழுத்தலைவர் இரா. சம்பந்தன் ஆகியோரது கையொப்பத்துடன் இந்தக் கடிதம் கையளிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக் கூட்டமைப்பு மற்றும் ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சிக்கு அடுத்தபடியாக நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் அதிக ஆசனங்களைக் கொண்ட இலங்கைத் தமிழரசுக் கட்சிக்கே எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் பதவி வழங்கப்பட வேண்டுமென இந்தக் கடிதத்தின் ஊடாக வலியுறுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

AJ EMPIRE: US - CUBA Relations

``குடும்பம் பலமானால் அமெரிக்கா பலமாகும்`..ஹில்லரியின் பதவி முழக்கம்!

Clinton's 2016 White House launch contrasts with her 2008 bid

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON | BY JONATHAN ALLEN AND JOHN WHITESIDES

(Reuters) - Hillary Clinton cast herself as a champion for everyday Americans on Sunday, kicking off her long-awaited second run for the White House with a vow to fight for a level playing field for those recovering from tough economic times.

Clinton, who begins the 2016 presidential race as the commanding Democratic front runner, entered the fray with a flurry of video, email and social media announcements that indicated she had absorbed some of the lessons of her painful 2008 loss and would not take anything for granted this time.

When she lost the Democratic nominating battle to Barack Obama, her campaign was heavily criticized for conveying a sense of arrogance and entitlement, and for being out of touch with the party's progressive wing.

This time, the video launching her campaign portrayed her as a warmer, more empathetic figure and laid the groundwork for a more populist economic agenda.

Eight years ago, her launch message was "I'm in it TO WIN." On Sunday, she shifted the attention to voters, declaring on her new website, "Everyday Americans need a champion. I want to be that champion."

Her roll-out included a sophisticated use of social media, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - a contrast to her last campaign which was seen as less adept than Obama's at using technology to convey messages.

But showing a more down-to-earth side while connecting with ordinary voters will be a challenge for Clinton, one of the most famous figures in the United States after decades as the wife of former President Bill Clinton, a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Indeed, her launch drew praise from French and German government ministers.

While Clinton enters the race as prohibitive favorite to be her party's presidential nominee, a crowd of potential candidates are vying for the Republican nomination.

Clinton's campaign will be based around her plans to address economic inequality and will tout the historic nature of her effort to become the first woman U.S. president, aides said.

In announcing her presidential bid in 2007, Clinton spoke to the camera alone while sitting on a couch and asked voters to join her later for a series of Web CHATS.

This time, her video featured a mix of Americans talking about their futures and their economic troubles, along with images of Clinton in listening mode and only a small snippet of her speaking.

Her announcements featured strong words but no specific policy proposals about the struggles of working Americans and the need for economic equality. That included a shot at executive salaries that reflected populist rhetoric to a degree that could raise alarm among her Wall Street backers.

"Families have fought their way back from tough economic times. But it's not enough - not when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes," Clinton said in an email to supporters.

One analyst noted the picture of Clinton on her launch website, holding a paper coffee cup and talking to a gray-haired man and woman, showed her appreciation for one set of voters.

"Having your maiden voyage launched with senior citizens may not look like the future but it’s a core constituency," said Linda Fowler, a political scientist at Dartmouth University.

Aides have said Clinton's campaign schedule will feature plenty of smaller events where she can listen to voters. She will visit Iowa, which holds the kickoff contest in the nominating process early in 2016, this week on a "listening tour." It will include a roundtable discussion with students and educators on Tuesday and SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS on Wednesday.

"I'm going to work my heart out to earn every single vote, because I know it's your time," Clinton said in her email to supporters. She mentioned her father's small business, her mother's "tough childhood" and her baby granddaughter.

Opinion polls show Clinton has a huge lead over potential Democratic rivals, and few are expected to enter the race. A Reuters-Ipsos tracking poll shows Clinton backed by more than 60 percent of Democrats.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of the party's liberal wing who says she is not running, is a distant second at 18 percent. So far, only former Senator Jim Webb of Virginia and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who both languish in single digits in polls, are the only Democrats to make moves toward a candidacy.

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKES

Even before Clinton entered the race, potential Republican opponents took swings at her.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush criticized her guidance of U.S. foreign policy as secretary of state.

"We must do better than the Obama-Clinton foreign policy that has damaged relationships with our allies and emboldened our enemies," Bush said in a video released by the political action committee Right to Rise.

Many Democrats have been waiting for Clinton to get back into the White House fight since the day in June 2008 when she pulled out of her primary battle against Obama with an expression of regret that she could not crack "that highest and hardest glass ceiling this time."

But Clinton still has to convince some liberals that she is the best candidate to tackle issues like income inequality and the power of Wall Street banks. Some liberal groups are pushing Warren, who has vocally criticized some Wall Street practices, to challenge Clinton.

The Clinton campaign's FINANCE chair, Dennis Cheng, emailed donors and bundlers on Sunday telling them to expect an email message from Clinton herself explaining her vision for the campaign and the presidency.

(Additional reporting by Emily Flitter, Lisa Lambert, Amanda Becker, Elizabeth Dilts and Howard Schneider; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Ross Colvin and Frances Kerry)

விக்கி விக்கி அழும் விக்கி!

ஆலயத்திற்கு சென்ற அனந்தியை திருப்பி அநுப்பிய ``புதிய அரசுப்`` படையினர்!

பலாலி கிழக்கு இராஜேஸ்வரி அம்மன் ஆலயத்திற்கு சென்ற அனந்தி சசிதரன் படையினரால் திருப்பி அனுப்பப்பட்டார்

06 ஏப்ரல் 2015
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குளோபல் தமிழ்ச் செய்தியாளர் யாழ்ப்பாணம்:-

பலாலி கிழக்கு இராஜேஸ்வரி அம்மன் ஆலயத்திற்கு சென்ற அனந்தி சசிதரன் படையினரால் திருப்பி அனுப்பப்பட்டார்

பலாலி உயர்பாதுகாப்பு வலயத்தினுள் அமைந்திருக்கும் பலாலி கிழக்கு இராஜேஸ்வரி அம்மன் ஆலயத்திற்கு பங்குனி திங்கள் நிகழ்வினை முன்னிட்டு வழிபடச் சென்றிருந்த வடமாகாணசபை உறுப்பினர் அனந்தி சசிதரன் திருப்பி அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ளார்.

படையினரது ஆக்கிரமிப்பில் இருக்கும் உட்பகுதிகளது செழிப்பு தொடர்பான தகவல்கள் மற்றும் புகைப்படங்கள் வெளிவருவதை தடுக்கவே தடை விதிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கலாம் என நம்பப்படுகின்றது.

முன்னதாக இன்றைய தினம் பங்குனி திங்கள் நிகழ்வினை முன்னிட்டு பக்தர்களை உள்ளே செல்ல அனுமதிப்பதாக படைத்தரப்பு அறிவித்திருந்தது. இதற்கு முன்னரும் பக்தர்களில் ஒரு பகுதியினரை அமைச்சர் விஜயகலா மகேஸ்வரன் அழைத்து சென்றிருந்த நிலையில் அங்கு அமைந்திருந்த மாட்டுப் பண்ணைகள் போன்றவை தொடர்பில் தகவல்கள் வெளிவந்திருந்தது.

இந்நிலையில் தான் பிறந்த பலாலி கிழக்கில் அமைந்துள்ள இராஜேஸ்வரி அம்மன் ஆலயத்திற்கு பங்குனி திங்கள் நிகழ்வினை முன்னிட்டு வழிபடச் சென்றிருந்த வடமாகாணசபை உறுப்பினர் அனந்தி சசிதரனை படையினர் இன்று திருப்பி அனுப்பியுள்ளனர்.

முதலில் அவரது கைத்தொலைபேசி மற்றும் புகைப்படக் கருவிகளை கையளித்துவிட்டு உள்ளே செல்லுமாறு படையினர் அறிவுறுத்தி உள்ளனர். எனினும் தான் ஒரு மாகாணசபை உறுப்பினரெனவும் தனது கைத் தொலைபேசியினையாவது கொண்டு செல்ல அனுமதிக்குமாறும் அனந்தி கோரியுள்ளார்.

இதனையடுத்து எழுந்த முரண்பாட்டை அடுத்து அவரை உள்ளே செல்ல படையினர் அனுமதித்திருக்கவில்லை. இதனிடையே அவர் பயணித்த ஒட்டோ வாகனத்தை படையினர் சுற்றிவளைத்துக் கொண்டதாகவும் எனினும் இராணுவப் பொலிஸார் தலையிட்டு அவரை வெளியேற அனுமதித்ததாகவும் தெரியவருகின்றது.

பா.ஜ.க நில அபகரிப்பை எதிர்த்த கழகச் சுவரொட்டி

WAR CRIME:US to wait until September

“Sometimes it is better to walk steady, than  run quickly and stumble,”

< US Assistant Secretary on Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Tom Malinowski


UN ‘War Crimes’ probe:
US to wait until September
by Dilrukshi Handunnetti

The United States will not prejudge but wait until September when the differed human rights report on Sri Lanka is placed before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to adopt a stance of supporting a UNHRC-driven initiative or a bilateral mechanism, visiting US Assistant Secretary on Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Tom Malinowski, said yesterday.

Malinowski said: “ What happens in September and beyond is still to be determined. The Sir Lankan Government has promised a credible domestic process to inquire into the rights abuses that took place during the final phase of the war, which is supported by the Sri Lankan people.”

The US welcomed the positive steps taken by the governed but more important work remains to be done. The Untied States looks forward to partnering Sri Lanka’s government and people to support that work,” he added. When questioned whether the US identified anything tangible beyond the change of a government, Malinowski said: “It is not just a change of government. It is a change in commitment and direction.

Problems are being acknowledged and positive partnerships are being formed. Some of the conversations we had during this visit would not have been possible a year ago with high levels
of self censorship.”

He added that Sri Lanka’s was an unfinished process but it had been just three months for the new government in office. “Sometimes it is better to walk steady than than run quickly and stumble,” he said.

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ஆக மூன்றே மாதத்தில் ஆட்சிக்கவிழ்ப்பு நடத்திய அமெரிக்காவே, காலம் தாழ்த்தி இனப்படுகொலையை மூடி மறைக்காதே! 

தேசங்களை அபகரிப்பவனுக்கு இவ்வளவு அவசரம் என்றால், தேசத்தை இழந்தவருக்கு எவ்வளவு அவசரம் இருக்கும்!

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Acknowleding that some of the issues faced by the population in the North in particular, remained unresolved, he said: “The twin issues of missing persons and political prisoners are extremely important for the people there. The government appears to be on the right path but understanding
that families need closure, these twin issues must be addressed urgently. They need not wait anymore,” he said.

Malinowski said: “ What happens in September and beyond is still to be determined. The Sir Lankan Government has promised a credible domestic process to inquire into the rights abuses that took place during the final phase of the war, which is supported by the Sri Lankan people.”

The US welcomed the positive steps taken by the governed but more important work remains to be done. The Untied States looks forward to partnering Sri Lanka’s government and people to support that work,” he added.

When questioned whether the US identified anything tangible beyond the change of a government, Malinowski said: “It is not just a change of government. It is a change in commitment and direction. Problems are being acknowledged and positive partnerships are being formed. Some of the conversations we had during this visit would not have been possible a year ago with high levels of self censorship.”

He added that Sri Lanka’s was an unfinished process but it had been just three months for the new government in office. “Sometimes it is better to walk steady than than run quickly and stumble,” he said.

Acknowleding that some of the issues faced by the population in the North in particular, remained unresolved, he said: “The twin issues of missing persons and political prisoners are extremely important for the people there.

The government appears to be on the right path but understanding that families need closure, these twin issues must be addressed urgently. They need not wait anymore,” he said.

Malinowski also said it was important to consider that ‘something’ had begun.

“Its heartening. This is what the people of Sri Lanka wanted. Its not the international community’s will but the people’s will that brought in democratic transformations to the island.”

The visiting envoy noted that Sri Lanka was at a pivotal moment in its history where there is a genuine opportunity for reconciliation, justice and true peace.

This will also require, looking backward to acknowledge the suffering of the innocent and ACCOUNT for the wrongdoing of the guilty on every side, he said, adding that confidence
building measures such as the returning of land to civilians in the North and justice for families of the disappeared add value to a process.

“What I realise is that impunity is not a concern for a particular community but for all communities.

These issues have come to matter for all the communities here and that is unifying,” he said.

Malinowski added: “I was struck by how all Sri Lankans, not just particular communities or groups, seek answers to various issues.

It is clearly not the interest of one group or a community but all are interested in resolving issues and moving on.

They feel they would benefit from having a government that is more ACCOUNTABLE and transparent, with less impunity and corruption, together with more opportunity and inclusion.”

Referring to his visit to Aluthgama where communal clashes took place in 2014, the US Under Secretary said, the local people expressed “cautious OPTIMISM” that things would improve, adding: “Nothing can be bad as politicians exploiting religion to serve their interests.”

Source: Sunday Obsever LK , சுவரொட்டி ENB

Hadron collider restarted after two-year upgrade

SCIENCE
Hadron collider restarted after two-year upgrade

World's largest particle smasher set in motion as scientists seek answers as to how universe came into existence.

05 Apr 2015 18:39 GMT | Science, Science & Technology, Europe

The UPGRADE saw the Large Hadron Collider shut down for two years [AP]

The world's largest particle smasher has been restarted after a two-year upgrade that will allow physicists to explore uncharted corners of the matter that makes up the universe.

"After two years of intense maintenance and several months of preparation for restart, the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, is back in operation," the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said.

Experiments at the collider have been seeking to unlock clues as to how the universe came into existence by studying fundamental particles, the building blocks of all matter, and the forces that control them.

The upgrade - which saw the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) shut down in February 2013 - was intended to nearly double the collider's maximum collision capacity.

Its previous highest power was eight teraelectronvolts (TeV) reached in 2012, but after the two-year overhaul, it will first reach 13 TeV and can potentially be cranked up to a maximum 14 TeV.
CERN said earlier that if all went well with the start-up particle collisions "at an energy of 13 TeV" could start as early as June.

Dark matter

During the next phase of the LHC programme, researchers will probe a conceptual frontier called new physics, including antimatter and dark matter.

Dark matter is thought to make up some 96 percent of the stuff of the universe while being totally invisible, and super-symmetry, or SUSY, is under which all visible particles have unseen counterparts.

"If I had to BET on what we will find, I would go for SUSY," said Oliver Buchmueller, a scientist on one of the four machines around the ring that records each collision. "But we could also find something very, very unexpected," he added.

"This is what makes life on the energy frontier so exciting."

The latter is a theoretical type of matter that cannot be seen with telescopes but is thought to make up most of the universe.

Ordinary, visible matter comprises only about four percent of the known universe.

In 2012, the LHC was used to prove the existence of Higgs Boson, the particle that confers mass, EARNING the 2013 Nobel prize for two of the scientists who, back in 1964, had theorised the existence of the "God particle".

Source: Agencies