The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. government surveillance program that collects the telephone records of millions of Americans from U.S. telecommunications companies.
It is the first substantive lawsuit following reports in The Washington Post and the Guardian last week that detailed two vast surveillance programs run by […]

Former GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul insisted on Tuesday that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not a traitor, but he fears the U.S.
government may send drones or a cruise missile to kill the 29-year-old, who has fled the United States.
“I don’t think for a minute that he’s a traitor,” Paul told Fox Business’ Melissa Francis.
“Everybody’s […]

As the Sinhalese and Tamils, or more precisely the Sinhala and Tamil nationalists, will eventually learn, there were rather good reasons that the Temple at Delphi bore the inscription ‘Nothing in Excess’, while the Buddha urged a Middle Path and Aristotle, the Golden Mean.
Pincer move
Less than six months before the Commonwealth summit, the Government is […]

“Nemesis, the goddess of measure and not of revenge, keeps watch. All those who overstep the limits are pitilessly punished by her”.
Albert Camus (Helen’s Exile)
One of the most incisive analyses about Rajapaksa modus operandi was made not by a Sri Lankan but by an American – Ambassador Robert Blake.
Mr. Blake’s observations about how the Siblings […]

“No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground.” ~ Madeleine Albright
Finally the UNP addresses […]

Dear Sirs/Madams,
 
Forgive me for sending out an impersonal email. I wish to draw your attention to the following.
Last night (28.05.2013), a young trainee nurse from Nawalapitiya was tossed out of a moving bus unto the bustling street in Kirulapone and
fell right in front of my moving car. While a Police Officer from the Wellawatte Station […]

“The significance of the US draft is the establishment of an international mechanism to monitor an internal process.”
— Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri Lanka’s representative at the UN Geneva, 2011-2012, in an interview on 17 March 2013
The resolution gives monitoring powers to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – OHCHR. An external mechanism is mandated […]

“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
The intentions, methodologies and strategies of the Bodhu Bala Sena (Army of Buddhist Power) have so far been most unBuddhistic and
bordering on the pagan and archaic.
The crude and […]

Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama has said the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda’s refusal to let the
country host records of trial proceedings constitute a betrayal.
Karugarama, who said the trial records are an integral part of Rwanda’s history, told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that ICTR has failed to serve its cause.
The ICTR was established […]

I detest that man, who hides one thing in the depth of his heart and speaks forth another – Homer Illiad (Deceit)
Sison and next steps
It was reported in recent media reports that US Ambassador Michele J. Sison in an address to the Foreign Correspondents Association in
Colombo spoke “about the next steps for US engagement with Sri […]