SOFA and why SL’s foreign policy is always a victim of domestic paralysis

What drives the foreign policy of a country? Realists, the practitioners of the oldest and still the most influential intellectual tradition of international politics have long viewed external pressure as the primary driver of the state’s reaction to its external environment. This belief gave rise to the influential Prussian doctrine known as the ‘primacy of foreign policy’, ie the strict subordination of domestic policy to external demands. Bism

19th Amendment and a stable Government

On the 23rd the President said “The biggest mistake made by this Government was the 19th Amendment. It created instability”. He added that the President and the Prime Minister were pulling in different directions; the reason was the 19A.

Child malnutrition must be holistically tackled

Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine has a Child Nutrition Unit which is responsible for uplifting the nutrition status of children under the age of 5 years. Among the unit’s broad areas of re

SLFP on course to obliteration, As nation faces constitutional crisis

Our sister paper Sunday Timesreported on its first page that CBK who celebrates her Birthday on June 29, was in London to receive an award presented by ‘Search for Common Ground’ for her “vision, courage and commitment to peace and reconciliation.”

Death Penalty: Licence for Judicial Killings?

Last year, on October 2, Iran executed a 24-year-old woman, Zeinab Sekaanvand, who was a child at the time of her alleged offence. Under international law, she should have been excluded from the death penalty.

ACSA, SOFA, sale of Lanka and US proxy war with China - EDITORIAL

After every hustings, when the administration changes hands from a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led administration to one led by a United National Party (UNP) government, opposition political parties, trade unions and....

Co-existence

The call for co-existence is paradoxical. Is it a call for a return to a past where communities co-existed? Or is it a call for imagining new forms of existing together in the future? And can such co-existence....

Female Quazis allowed in Islam, but not under MMDA

Kholoud al-Faqih who became one of the first female judges to be appointed to the Sharia court (Islamic court) in Palestine is considered to be the first female Sharia judge in the history of the Middle East.

It’s all about a foreign country paying the Speaker’s adviser

Mahajana Eksatha Peramuna (MEP) leader and joint opposition parliamentarian Dinesh Gunawardana last week raised an important question in Parliament over the appointment of former foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam as adviser to the Speaker on international affairs. He was not against the Speaker having an international affairs adviser despite there not being such a rank in the list of officials of Parliament but questioned the propriety of the

Presidential Hopefuls Galore! Will there be more?

Many seem to have thrown their caps into the ring announcing that they are ready to contest the Presidential election. Others get their cohorts to make statements on their behalf. While there’s nothing wrong in independent candidates making these announcements,

SRI LANKA Heading towards becoming a failed state

Sri Lanka is in great danger of becoming a failed state if nothing is done. A failed state is one that has lost both effectiveness and legitimacy. Effectiveness means the capability to carry out state functions such as providing security. Legitimacy means the support of important groups of the population. According to J Goldstone, there are five possible pathways to state failure:

President in a peeve Frustration of a beleaguered President shows up in his messy and contradictory behaviour

The uncertainty and frustration in President Maithripala Sirisena over his political survival and the safety of his family have been clearly visible for the past one year.

Presidential Election for a Sinhala Buddhist Theocratic State with gallows

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a “Theocratic State” as a “government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided.

A country governed by two leaders - EDITORIAL

The clash between the Executive President and the Prime Minister is widening the gap between the country’s goals and achievements.

Defuse US-Iran conflict through diplomacy

The Persian Gulf region is being pushed to a region-wide catastrophe with global implications. This dangerous move’s architect is the United States President Donald Trump....

Blame-shifting will not eliminate threat

Politics is about inflating the useful and deflating, ignoring, wishing away or denying the uncomfortable. Some of these things are deliberate and some just issues from that powerful impetus giver, political and ideological preference.

Blame-shifting will not eliminate threat

Politics is about inflating the useful and deflating, ignoring, wishing away or denying the uncomfortable. Some of these things are deliberate and some just issue from that powerful impetus giver, political and ideological preference. Alright, let this be the frame of this article.

Looking beyond the request for Chinese fags

Many years ago Sri Lankans used to look down upon anything that was Chinese. Now China has established itself as a growing economy and Sri Lanka can’t think of any other nation better than her to rope in when planning and developing its infrastructure.

Don’t derail the commuters, they are not the problem - EDITORIAL

Mercifully, the 48-hour work stoppage by members of the Railway Trade Union Alliance (RTUA) from Thursday midnight was called off on Saturday night with normal train services resuming from Sunday morning.

TNA’s electoral base in east jolted

Easter Sunday’s terrorist attack, killing more than 250 people, effected unforeseen changes in political dynamics of the country. The latest is the rise of anti-incumbency sentiments within the Tamil community.....

PERNICIOUS CONTRADICTIONS

As someone said: “Cry the beloved country – let slipped are the dogs of hate” – indeed the dogs of hate are having a field day!

Next presidential poll… are we missing the point?

Once again, maybe for the umpteenth time in the midst of election euphoria, we are talking about the upcoming presidential poll and its candidates.

When a country screams for change

Political parties in Sri Lanka are playing for time in announcing their candidates for the upcoming Presidential elections at a time....

24 Hours of Terror: What was the Premier doing?

Two months have passed since the deadly Easter Sunday attacks and as life slowly returns to normalcy in Sri Lanka’s attention now turns to what exactly happened on that fateful day.

It is happening - EDITORIAL

The TIME magazine has pulled off a coup of sorts. For its latest cover it has got United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres knee-deep in waters....

Looking down the barrel of Elections: Good governance as sacrificial lamb

Any incident of political significance has a direct bearing to the time in which it takes place. The incidence, incitement as well as the response.....

BREXIT IS TEARING BRITAIN APART

Back in the late 1950s, Britain deliberately rejected European Union membership. Subsequently in the 1960s, Britain sought to join its ranks. However President de Gaulle of France rebuffed Britain’s application and finally Britain formally joined the European Union (EU) only on January 01, 1973. At that time many argued, the British join

Islamophobia is pushing Muslims to the wall

The Easter Sunday attacks compelled local Muslims to engage in self - introspection of the unfolding wave of radicalization and Arabization of their community. That is a welcome development in an otherwise heinous carnage. Especially so since, until the serial monstrosity on the Easter Sunday, a vocal group of Muslims were defending the on-going transformation in the pretext of ‘true Islam’, and even the well- meaning ones were turning a blind ey

Lankan satellite brings back King Ravana to centre stage

The successful launching of the first Sri Lankan-designed satellite ‘Raavana-1’ on June 17, established the capabilities of two young Lankan engineers, Tharindu Dayaratne and Dulani Chamika. Tharindu Dayaratne is an electrical a

Review A book that paints pictures of kings and emissaries

In November 1656 the Dutch chased Rajasinghe II of Kandy away from Colombo, violating a treaty which had promised to cede the capital to the king. On June 24, 1658, with the surrender of Jaffna, the Dutch took over Sri Lanka, and five months later, on November 20, a resolution was passed by their Council praising the Almighty for having helped them to evict the Portuguese; Paul E. Pieris tells us t