Whats New Archive
- September 2007 -Week Ending: Sunday, 30 September 2007 The Strength of an Idea to include  Mahatma Gandhi's Pledge of Resistance in Transvaal, Africa, 1906 "It is quite possible that.. some or many of those who pledge themselves (to resistance) might weaken at the very first trial. We might have to go to jail, where we might be insulted. We might have to go hungry and suffer extreme heat or cold. Hard labor might be imposed upon us. We might be flogged by rude warders. We might be fined heavily and our property might be attached and held up to auction if there are only a few resisters left. Opulent today, we might be reduced to abject poverty tomorrow. We might be deported. Suffering from starvation and similar hardships in jail, some of us might fall ill and even die. If someone asks me when and how the struggle may end, I may say that, if the entire community manfully stands the test, the end will be near. If many of us fall back under storm and stress, the struggle will be prolonged. But I can boldly declare, and with certainty, that so long as there is even a handful of men true to their pledge, there can only be one end to the struggle, and that is victory... " more |
Tamil National Forum 1. Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan Prelude to the Indo-LTTE War (1987-90) - Part 4: The Deals of Indian Mandarins of Deception
2. Victor Rajakulendran writes from Australia: President Bush’s address at UN General Assembly: Serious Omissions together with Comment by tamilnation.org "Mr.Rajakulendran is right to ask: What is the difference between the Burmese military junta and the “Rajapaksa Junta” that has been ruling the roost in Sri Lanka for the last two years?... (and) Mr.Rajakulendran is right to call upon President Bush to refrain from preaching 'that which he does not practice in the real world'... Asked about Anastasio Somoza, the dictator of Nicaragua, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked with a certain charming openness 'Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.' The question is not whether Burma or Pakistan or Sri Lanka is a 'brutal military junta' - the question is whether it is 'our military junta', brutal or not." more |
International Relations in an Asymmetric Multi Lateral World to include Our Friendly Dictators Reflections | "There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know." Harry S Truman quoted by Stephen Kinzer in All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror |
International Relations in an Asymmetric Multi Lateral World to include | U.S. and EU ready to recognize Kosovo Independence - if Serbia does not agree on role of the province together with Comment by tamilnation.org "...Many years ago, in the early 1980's, a US diplomat in Washington reflecting on India's support for the Tamil militants, remarked that India was not a super power and should not try to behave like one. Today, in relation to Kosova, one message that is being conveyed by the international community is that Russia is not a super power and that the time has come for both Russia and Serbia to recognise the lead role of NATO and US in Europe. That is not to say that there may not be other matters of concern as well..." more |
Talking Point - Heard in US  Q. In what way is the military junta in Myanmar (Burma) different from the military junta in Pakistan?
A. The military junta in Pakistan is 'our' junta, the one in Myanmar is China's.
Q. But then, what about Pakistan and China?
A. Good Question. All the more reason why we need to keep Myanmar in line. We had 'Pro Democracy' in Tiananmen Square, we had 'Pro Democracy' in Nepal and we now have 'Pro Democracy' in Myanmar. Actually, we have 'Pro Democracy' in Iraq, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti as well. "..Myanmar's military government leased the Coco Islands to the Chinese in 1994. China has a maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence station on the Great Coco Island and is building a base on Small Coco Island. The significance of these facilities for China stems from the fact that the Coco Islands are located at a crucial point in traffic routes between the Bay of Bengal and the Malacca Strait.." China in Myanmar
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Tamil National Forum | Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia புலம் பெயர் தமிழர்களின் பலமும், பலவீனமும் "...எங்களுக்குள் என்ன பலம் இருக்கின்றது என்பதைத் தெரிந்து கொள்ளாமல், பலத்தைத் தேடி எங்கெங்கெல்லாமோ ஓடிக் கொண்டிருப்பதுதான் எமது வேலையாக இப்போது உள்ளது. ஆனால் எங்களுக்கு உள்ளேதான் எல்லாப் பலமும் உள்ளது. எங்களுக்கு உள்ளேதான் எல்லா ஆற்றலும் உள்ளது. எங்களால் இந்த உலகத்தைத் திருப்பவும் (திருத்தவும்) முடியும்!.." more |
Reflections Tamil Digital Renaissance | Revisited: 17years ago The Tamil Times and 'a War on the People'- Nadesan Satyendra, 15 September 1990 "... Concerned as it is for the well being of the people of Tamil Eelam, the Tamil Times will, hopefully, come to recognise that at a time when the Tamil nation in Eelam is fighting a battle for survival against the armed forces of a rampant Sinhala chauvinism which seeks to conquer and rule, there is an urgent and imperative need for Tamils everywhere to strengthen the Tamil cause and not to undermine and weaken it...." more |
Week Ending: Sunday, 23 September 2007 Human Rights, Humanitarian Law & The Tamil Nation to include Conflict Resolution: Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka to include Tamil Diaspora: a Trans State Nation to include Week Ending: Sunday, 16 September 2007 Tamil National Forum Reflections  "..As our world has become more complex and inter-connected, the need for nations to be independent with a direct say in regional and global affairs has become more important - not less. In 1945, there were only 51 members of the new United Nations. In our new century, there are nearly 200 independent UN members - and more than 30 of these have emerged since the end of the Cold War. Thus in the modern world, the processes of independence and interdependence are mutually supportive and reinforcing. The political imperative to share the same state for reasons of building a large domestic market, or great power projection, is a fundamentally outdated 19th-and 20th-century concept..."On Scotland and the "English Question" - Alex Salmond, Scottish National Party Leader, 20 March 2007 |
Tamil Nation Library: Eelam Section to include  Intervention in Sri Lanka: The IPKF Experience Retold - Major General Harkirat Singh (Retd.) “On the night of 14/15 September 1987, I received a telephone call from Dixit, directing me to arrest or shoot Pirabakaran when he came for the meeting. Telling Dixit that I would get back to him I placed a call to the OFC. Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh directed me to tell Dixit that we, as an orthodox Army, did not shoot people in the back when they were coming for a meeting under the white flag. I then spoke to Dixit in Colombo and conveyed the message, emphasising that I would not obey his directive. I pointed out that the LTTE supremo had been invited by the IPKF in order to find a solution to the problems in the implementation of the Accord. Dixit replied, ‘He [Rajiv Gandhi] has given those instructions to me and the Army should not drag its feet, and you as the GOC, IPKF will be responsible for it.’ more |
What is Terrorism? - The Trial of Australian Comunity Workers to include | PROTAM calls for Open Support for Australian Tamils charged with so called 'Terror' charges - 'Defence will dispute that Tamil Tigers are a terrorist organisation' - Counsel for Defence, Robert Richter SC. "PROTAM a grass root level Australian Tamil Organisation lead by prominent Tamil Community leaders and professionals including John Eliezer, Adrian Sinnappu, K Sritharan, S Ragavan and Bala Yogachandran, urged all concerned Australian Tamils to provide moral and financial support to Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan who are charged with so called Terror Charges. Robert Stary and Associates, lawyers appearing for Tamil Community Workers Aruran, Yathavan and Rajeevan, in a letter addressed to the Tamil Community, declared that it was completely lawful and legitimate to financially support the legal process which has international significance..." more |
Reflections | "...The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. Not ordinarily do men achieve this balance of opposites. The idealists are not usually realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic... But life at its best is a creative syntheses of opposites in fruitful harmony... We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart...There is little hope for us until we become tough minded... A nation or a civilisation that continues to produce soft minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an instalment plan..." A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. "...When we started there were perhaps 6 or 8 of us. Today there are thousands. Of the original number, 3 or 4 remain. I do not know how long I myself will be alive. But that does not matter. We are building a road. Others will arise to take the road further..." Sathasivam Krishnakumar, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in conversation with Nadesan Satyendra, 1991 |
Tamil Language & Literature Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to include  LTTE’s Online Network and its Implications for Regional Security - Shyam Tekwani "In the light of the expanding online networks of terrorist groups and the immediate and foreseeable threat they represent both to the sovereignty of nations and the security of the critical and informational infrastructures, the case for securitization of the internet is a valid and urgent one. This paper will use the case study of the online network of the LTTE to demonstrate how online networks pose a security threat and how securitization of the internet can offer solutions." more together with Comment by tamilnation.org |
Sinhala Buddhist Ethno Nationalism to include “There is a great conspiracy for Tamils from the North to link with Tamils in the East, with the Indian Tamils in the estates and with the Tamils in Colombo and trap the Sinhalese on the island. Add to this the 50 or is it 70 million Tamils of South India all waiting to swim over” - Champika Ranawake, Cabinet Minister and JHU Member of Parliament in Al-Jazeera television documentary ‘Monks of war’ , 29 August 2007 |
Week Ending: Sunday, 9 September 2007 Reflections  "...In modern times there is no lack of understanding of the fact man is a social being and that 'No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe' (John Dunne, 1571-1631). Hence there is no lack of exhortation that he should love his neighbour - or at least not to be nasty to him - and should treat him with tolerance, compassion and understanding. At the same time, however, the cultivation of self knowledge has fallen into virtually total neglect, except, that is, where it is the object of active suppression... Anyone who goes openly on a journey into the interior, who withdraws from the ceaseless agitation of everyday life and pursues the kind of training - satipatthana, yoga, Jesus Prayer, or something similar - without which genuine self knowledge cannot be obtained, is accused of selfishness and of turning his back on social duties. Meanwhile, world crisis multiply and everybody deplores the shortage, or even total lack, of 'wise' men or women, unselfish leaders, trustworthy counselors etc. It is hardly rational to expect such high qualities from people who have never done any inner work and would not even understand what was meant by the words..." (from E.F.Schumacher, A Guide for the Perplexed - Harper & Row Publishers)
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Tamil Nation Library: Unfolding Consciousness | 1. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Robert Bach, 1970 "...Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight...Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness..." more 2. 'With Love Man is God' by Samuel H. Sandweiss, M.D. "...Over the course of time, I became aware that man's limited consciousness could expand to the level of divinity, that With Love, Man Is God! This book describes a continuation of my search for the meaning of life.." more | 
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Tamil National Forum | Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia on தந்தையர் தினம் " 'தந்தையர் தினம், தாய்மார்கள் தினம் போன்றவை எல்லாம் வெள்ளைக்காரரின் பண்பாடு! தமிழர்களாகிய எங்களுக்கு இவையெல்லாம் தேவையில்லை! எமக்கு ஆண்டின் எல்லா நாட்களும் தந்தையர் தினம்தான்! தாய்மார் தினம்தான்!" - என வாதிடும் எம்மவர்களையும் நாம் காணக் கூடியதாக இருக்கிறது. ஆனால் இவர்களது வாதங்கள் தப்பானவை என்றே எமக்குத் தோன்றுகிறது...." more |
Week Ending: Sunday, 2 September 2007  1. International Relations in an Asymmetric Multi Lateral World 60 Years of Independence: India’s Foreign Policy Challenges - Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to Indian Prime Minister, & Indian Foreign Secretary 2004 - 2006 "...In the current international landscape, there is only one country which has a truly global agenda and also a global reach, which is the United States. However, there is also a cluster of major powers with strong regional profiles but increasingly global impact. These include the E.U., Russia, China, Japan, India, Brazil and South Africa. While U.S. pre-eminence is unlikely to be reversed in the foreseeable future, the relative importance of the other major powers is likely to increase. We are already in a world of what I would call "asymmetric multipolarity" with the asymmetry progressively diminishing over a period of time...." together with Comment by tamilnation.org " Mr.Shayam Saran is right to point out the asymmetric multi lateral world in which we live and India's instinctive preference for multi polarity. Said that, it would have been helpful if Mr.Saran had addressed the enduring political reality of the Fourth World - nations without states - and their relevance in the 'asymmetric multi lateral world' populated by states as well as nations without states..." more
| 2. Tamil National Forum Sachi Sri Kantha writes from Japan Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka: The Begging and Bombast Brigade
| | 3. International Frame & the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom [Revised with additional slides] Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom: Aspects of the International Dimension - A Power Point Presentation | 
| | 4. Tamil National Forum Sanmugam Sabesan writes from Australia - கள நிலையில் மாற்றம் வருகின்றபோது..... "..கள நிலையில் மாற்றம் வருகின்றவரை மேற்குலகம் இவ்வாறு சும்மா பேசிக்கொண்டுதான் இருக்கப் போகின்றது..." more 5. Sri Lanka's Undeclared War on Eelam Tamils - in the Shadow of a Ceasefire A Letter from a Tamil expatriate on life in Colombo and Batticoloa after a visit in July 2007 "....When I landed in Colombo in July 2007, a lot of changes were noticeable..." more |
5. Tamils: a Trans State Nation - Malaysia | அறிமுகம் மலேசியத் தமிழ் எழுத்துலக இணையத்தளம் "தமிழ் மொழியை சுவாசிக்கும் மலேசியப் படைப்பாளர்களே, பன்மொழியும் பல்லின மக்களும் வாழும் மலேசிய நாட்டில், தமிழ் மொழிக்காக தொண்டாற்றிய பேரருளார்களை இளைய தலைமுறையினர் மட்டுமல்லாது உலகமெங்கும் வாழும் தமிழ் மக்கள் அறிந்து கொள்ள இந்த அகப்பக்கம் நீண்ட யாத்திரை மேற்கொண்டுள்ளது." |
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