Lessons from Boston
Posted on April 23rd, 2013
Ratanapala
23 Apr 2013
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Two immigrant boys , apparently from Chechnya, detonated two home made bombs at the Boston Marathon last Monday. Today just a week later one is dead and the other arrested by the deployment of no less than 27000 law enforcement officers in heavy body armor and armed to their teeth ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” and at a cost of over one Billion Dollars! The whole world saw for a moment what America really is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” A Police State!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The media in US ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” CNN, Fox News and in the UKƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the BBC the Biased Broadcasting Corporation were keeping a round the clock vigil uttering incomprehensibles filling up media time mostly ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ trying ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to out do others in their idiocy. Regardless of what was being said, what can be seen was the fear in their eyes.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There was a man lying on the floor, dead for all purposes and intents – but the fear in the demeanor of those who tried to approach him, with guns drawn showed not their bravery but closeness to breaking wind and passing water! Whole of Boston area was closed down advising the brave Bostonians not to display their fears openly on the sidewalks and to stay indoors. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Up above, the air space was closed for flying ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” all this just trying to apprehend a wounded teenager.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This we have to contrast with a 30 year period when Sri Lanka was under constant threat of suicide bombs, during which time over 370 suicide bombings -much more horrendous than the Boston kitchen ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ bombs – were carried out on the innocent Sri Lankans while the so called civilized world and free media condoned such attacks with an oft repeated one liner in their media coverage ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sri Lankan Buddhists are discriminating against Hindu TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka was looked down for even having road blocks and road side checking of vehicles. So called Human Rights organizations and INGOs and allied local NGOs were breathing down our law enforcement officers citing freedom of movement, freedom of assembly etc. Sri Lanka had to fight the terrorists literally with one hand tied behind their backs due to the various conditions and limitations imposed on this tiny nation by the leaders of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Free WorldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and our Friendly Big Brother from across the Palk Straits. Brave Sri Lankans took all what the Terrorist war brought with humility and fortitude. Even after it all ended for the Christian WestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Freedom Fighters, the LTTE and Sri Lankan Armed Forces rescued nearly 300,000 hostages ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the largest hostage rescue operation in history ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the only credits Sri Lanka received were accusations of human rights violations and calls of genocide.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ President Obama came over TV and asked two difficult questions. He said that they wanted to find out a) who carried out the attack and b) why. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As for who carried out the attack – it is fairly obvious now ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” two young men are radicalized by militant Wahhabi Islam.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As for the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-whyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, it is more than obvious that Americans are calling for trouble every time they go and meddle in other countries. They are not making friends anywhere and in fact they are making more enemies than friends!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ President Obama took pains not to refer to the two on rampage as terrorists. It must be hurting on their conscience to refer to their one time Freedom Fighters as terrorists! When terrorism strikes other nations who are outside the circle of the Western Christian countries headed by the US, they are euphemistically called Freedom Fighters. Even as recent as a few months ago, Hillary Clinton was categorizing terrorists as either good or bad. For her Tamil Tigers who famously invented the suicide vestƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ – one of which Tamarian Tsarnaev was wearing at the time of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Boston Bombing -ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ were ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- Good TerroristsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To this day the remnants of this terrorist outfit are given safe haven in these countries. Adele Balasingham who was instrumental in raising and grooming cyanide wearing child suicide bombers has been given safe haven and live happily in the UK! The Chechen Terrorists were called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Freedom FightersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ just because they terrorized only Russia – the same as they did to Tamil Racist LTTE terrorists because they are largely a Christian Terrorist movement funded by the Christian Western nations around the world.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Unfortunately the pattern that is emerging is as more and more terrorists come to roost in America, American Presidents are getting more and more proficient in making funeral orations leaving more and more Americans to grieve!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At the Boston Bombings 3 persons including a child were killed and many injured.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Our sincere thoughts and condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones and for those who are left with scars both physical and mental. The physical scars may heal, but the mental scars will still be lingering for many years to come. As always it is the innocent who pay for the crimes of omission and commission of their leaders.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Then this is what happens at in the Middle East and South Asia on a daily basis. Violence magnified a thousand times happen in these areas for all of which America has a hand either directly or indirectly. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The agony that goes through the hearts of every parent, every sibling, every relative and every friend of such victims is universal. The pain the eyes of those who loose a loved one is just not exclusive to Americans. It is time that America too feel the pain of those, whom they radicalize and terrorize around the world.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In many areas in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan drones fly freely carrying lethal bombs that can devastate whole neighborhoods, awaiting instructions from operators sitting thousands of kilometers away, half way round the world in the US.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ordinary people living in these areas live in constant fear for they know not when the next drone bomb from the sky will fall. The whole world has seen how they kill innocent civilians including women and children on the excuse of hunting down terrorists and just categorize their deaths ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” Collateral Damage.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Americans must see this is not damage as if people in these countries are just ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”thingsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” it is Collateral Murder ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” simply killing human beings ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” for greed and plunder!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What happened in Boston is not an attack against America, but an attack against all civilized society. It is time to take a step back and share the sorrow and identify with all those who are affected by terrorism wherever they are in the world. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Like global weather and environmental pollution, International Terrorism respects no borders, whether one is a developing country or a developed country. It is a cancer, that can strike at will anywhere any country, any people. Those who accept terrorists as freedom fighters, provide safe havens, sustain and fund them too are terrorists. Global terrorism should be condemned wherever it is spawned and destroyed wherever it is found.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the years ahead it is crystal clear that the price of eradicating terrorism is increased security and a corresponding loss of personal freedoms. If civilized society is to survive the scourge of terrorism then it is unavoidable that quality of human rights and democracy will suffer collateral damage. Visions of Universal Human Rights and Democracy are only mirages we have created for ourselves in an imperfect world driven by hatred and greed. While they are good ideals, their realization in the present day world is simply wishful thinking. Not facing up to realities can only lead to more chaos and the end of what is left of civilized society as we know it. Then we will all be back in the jungle ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” this time in the concrete jungles we have created for ourselves – where we can have perfect freedom but absolutely no security or in the alternative, self incarceration within closed walls with security but no freedom!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is what happened in Boston last week and the lesson thereof!
April 23rd, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Jokes galore in Boston.
USA has declared PRESSURE COOKERS are weapons of mass destruction (WMD)!!!
The remaining suspect will be charged for the possession of a WMD!!
What a joke. Real fun begins after December 2014. We should bring a UNHRC resolution against USA for GROSS human rights violations, killing capitives (war crimes), etc.
USA ALWAYS supported anti-Russian Chechnyan terrorists UNTIL Boston. Now?
April 23rd, 2013 at 6:12 pm
A very good write up.
But Ratnapala, you did not understand why they are doing this this:
“In many areas in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan drones fly freely carrying lethal bombs that can devastate whole neighborhoods, awaiting instructions from operators sitting thousands of kilometers away, half way round the world in the US. Ordinary people living in these areas live in constant fear for they know not when the next drone bomb from the sky will fall. The whole world has seen how they kill innocent civilians including women and children on the excuse of hunting down terrorists and just categorize their deaths as – Collateral Damage. The Americans must see this is not damage as if people in these countries are just ‘things’ – it is Collateral Murder – simply killing human beings – for greed and plunder!”
There is nothing to plunder in these hilly and rocky areas. They do it because that is the fertile grounds that breed terrorism. I remeber once listening to late Ayub Khan, the former president, live on radio, saying ” soldiers of Pakistan are the soldies of islam” True, Bin Laden was living next door. We need to understand their ultimate goal. Ofcourse we need not hate anybody living peacefully, but resist expansion violently and forcefully.
April 23rd, 2013 at 10:32 pm
Hi Aloy,
American don’t go to war anywhere unless there is money in it. Only exception is Vietnam where it went to contain communism and to prevent the so called Domino Effect Theory that was popular at the time when cold war was at its majestic heights. Elsewhere whether it is Banana or oil they always went to war, killed, maimed, terrorised and radicalised countries and peoples for money and geopolitical power. Even the First Gulf War fought in Iraq brought them immense profits in terms of armaments sales. Today they are in Afghanistan not because they are going after the terrorists, but to get hold of their natural wealth and the strategic importance of Afghanistan separating Russia from having a warm water harbour. Russians came to get access and today Americans are there to prevent Russians having that access. Moreover this country has vast mineral wealth including rare earths, Lithium – called the fuel of the future, vast array of conventional minerals and to top it all gas and oil.
Afghanistan is a severely radicalised country first by the British then by the Russians and now by Nato and US. These people are behaving as they do now is due to this fact. They have been fighting for their independence for centuries and now they are behaving like rabid dogs. Radicalised Islam and the Koran provides the text manual for the way they behave.
The following is an excerpt from a Google search. Whatever the angle the writer is trying to convey one can surmise without ambiguity that Afghanistan is a country worth fighting for – if one is wearing American shoes!
“The 2001 bombing and invasion of Afghanistan has been presented to World public opinion as a “Just War”, a war directed against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, a war to eliminate “Islamic terrorism” and instate Western style democracy.
The economic dimensions of the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) are rarely mentioned. The post 9/11 “counter-terrorism campaign” has served to obfuscate the real objectives of the US-NATO war.
The war on Afghanistan is part of a profit driven agenda: a war of economic conquest and plunder, ”a resource war”.
While Afghanistan is acknowledged as a strategic hub in Central Asia, bordering on the former Soviet Union, China and Iran, at the crossroads of pipeline routes and major oil and gas reserves, its huge mineral wealth as well as its untapped natural gas reserves have remained, until June 2010, totally unknown to the American public.
According to a joint report by the Pentagon, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and USAID, Afghanistan is now said to possess “previously unknown” and untapped mineral reserves, estimated authoritatively to be of the order of one trillion dollars (New York Times, U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010, See also BBC, 14 June 2010).
“The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said… “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.
“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines. (New York Times, op. cit.)
Afghanistan could become, according to The New York Times “the Saudi Arabia of lithium”. “Lithium is an increasingly vital resource, used in batteries for everything from mobile phones to laptops and key to the future of the electric car.” At present Chile, Australia, China and Argentina are the main suppliers of lithium to the world market. Bolivia and Chile are the countries with the largest known reserves of lithium. “The Pentagon has been conducting ground surveys in western Afghanistan. “Pentagon officials said that their initial analysis at one location in Ghazni province showed the potential for lithium deposits as large as those of Bolivia” (U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010, see also Lithium – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
“Previously Unknown Deposits” of Minerals in Afghanistan
The Pentagon’s near one trillion dollar “estimate” of previously “unknown deposits” is a useful smokescreen. The Pentagon one trillion dollar figure is more a trumped up number rather than an estimate: “We took a look at what we knew to be there, and asked what would it be worth now in terms of today’s dollars. The trillion dollar figure seemed to be newsworthy.” (The Sunday Times, London, June 15 2010, emphasis added)
Moreover, the results of a US Geological Survey study (quoted in the Pentagon memo) on Afghanistan’s mineral wealth were revealed three years back, at a 2007 Conference organized by the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce. The matter of Afghanistan’s mineral riches, however, was not considered newsworthy at the time.
The US Administration’s acknowledgment that it first took cognizance of Afghanistan’s vast mineral wealth following the release of the USGS 2007 report is an obvious red herring. Afghanistan’s mineral wealth and energy resources (including natural gas) were known to both America’s business elites and the US government prior to the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-1988).
Geological surveys conducted by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and early 1980s confirm the existence of vast reserves of copper (among the largest in Eurasia), iron, high grade chrome ore, uranium, beryl, barite, lead, zinc, fluorspar, bauxite, lithium, tantalum, emeralds, gold and silver.(Afghanistan, Mining Annual Review, The Mining Journal, June, 1984). These surveys suggest that the actual value of these reserves could indeed be substantially larger than the one trillion dollars “estimate” intimated by the Pentagon-USCG-USAID study.
More recently, in a 2002 report, the Kremlin confirmed what was already known: “It’s no secret that Afghanistan possesses rich reserves, in particular of copper at the Aynak deposit, iron ore in Khojagek, uranium, polymetalic ore, oil and gas,” (RIA Novosti, January 6, 2002):
“Afghanistan has never been anyone’s colony – no foreigner had ever “dug” here before the 1950s. The Hindu Kush mountains, stretching, together with their foothills, over a vast area in Afghanistan, are where the minerals lie. Over the past 40 years, several dozen deposits have been discovered in Afghanistan, and most of these discoveries were sensational. They were kept secret, however, but even so certain facts have recently become known.
It turns out that Afghanistan possesses reserves of nonferrous and ferrous metals and precious stones, and, if exploited, they would possibly be able to cover even the earnings from the drug industry. The copper deposit in Aynak in the southern Afghan Helmand Province is said to be the largest in the Eurasian continent, and its location (40 km from Kabul) makes it cheap to develop. The iron ore deposit at Hajigak in the central Bamian Province yields ore of an extraordinarily high quality, the reserves of which are estimated to be 500m tonnes. A coal deposit has also been discovered not far from there.
Afghanistan is spoken of as a transit country for oil and gas. However, only a very few people know that Soviet specialists discovered huge gas reserves there in the 1960s and built the first gas pipeline in the country to supply gas to Uzbekistan. At that time, the Soviet Union used to receive 2.5 bn cubic metres of Afghan gas annually. During the same period, large deposits of gold, fluorite, barytes and marble onyxes that have a very rare pattern were found.
However, the pegmatite fields discovered to the east of Kabul are a real sensation. Rubies, beryllium, emeralds and kunzites and hiddenites that cannot be found anywhere else – the deposits of these precious stones stretch for hundreds of kilometres. Also, the rocks containing the rare metals beryllium, thorium, lithium and tantalum are of strategic importance (they are used in air and spacecraft construction).
The war is worth waging. … (Olga Borisova, “Afghanistan – the Emerald Country”, Karavan, Almaty, original Russian, translated by BBC News Services, Apr 26, 2002. p. 10, emphasis added.)
While public opinion was fed images of a war torn resourceless developing country, the realities are otherwise: Afghanstan is a rich country as confirmed by Soviet era geological surveys.
The issue of “previously unknown deposits” sustains a falsehood. It excludes Afghanstan’s vast mineral wealth as a justifiable casus belli. It says that the Pentagon only recently became aware that Afghanistan was among the World’s most wealthy mineral economies, comparable to The Democratic Republic of the Congo or former Zaire of the Mobutu era. The Soviet geopolitical reports were known. During the Cold War, all this information was known in minute detail:
… Extensive Soviet exploration produced superb geological maps and reports that listed more than 1,400 mineral outcroppings, along with about 70 commercially viable deposits … The Soviet Union subsequently committed more than $650 million for resource exploration and development in Afghanistan, with proposed projects including an oil refinery capable of producing a half-million tons per annum, as well as a smelting complex for the Ainak deposit that was to have produced 1.5 million tons of copper per year. In the wake of the Soviet withdrawal a subsequent World Bank analysis projected that the Ainak copper production alone could eventually capture as much as 2 percent of the annual world market. The country is also blessed with massive coal deposits, one of which, the Hajigak iron deposit, in the Hindu Kush mountain range west of Kabul, is assessed as one of the largest high-grade deposits in the world. (John C. K. Daly, Analysis: Afghanistan’s untapped energy, UPI Energy, October 24, 2008, emphasis added)”
April 23rd, 2013 at 11:56 pm
Thanks Ratnapala,
To my mind these are all propaganda wars and not real facts. I remember reading these warm water harbour dreams of Soviet Union at the time that war was going on. I also remember Vietnam war days when we walked from Kandy to Getambe shouting uncle sam go home ( although I did not shout many of those who shouted are to this day are Her Majesty’s servants.
We all know US went to Afganistan war due to 9/11 attack; variuos people may try to give different interpretaions, there was no alternative for them. I have no reason to write for them here, but I think they do not have imperial ambitions other than commercial ones for which they have various strategies.
Anyway what is important for us is to survive as a nation for the next 2500 years. For that I think our leaders have to have foresight, not for personal gains but to stay clear of troubles. Wahabism is one and 13A is another leading us to disaster.
April 24th, 2013 at 1:55 am
Why such a big fuss in 3 American personal deaths by bombs. Hiroshima –Nagasaki bomb there were more than 300,000 civilians massacred by American. As a percentage of Hiroshima- Nagasaki, Boston bomb is 0.00001%. Is American media think that the Boston bomb is the only bomb exploded in this world so far? If not 3 American’s lives are more important than 300,000 Japanese.
These are the lessons American military dictatorship and media should learn. Any human life is equally important no matter it is African, Asian, European or American. Every human has a dignity and entitle to a respectful death. Americans at this moment cry for Boston bomb and bombing at Afghanistan and Pakistan.
How many millions of civilians killed by American bombs in Dresden, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Granada, Libya and Afghanistan. Why don’t Yankee media talk on those victims? Aren’t they humans? When are they going to stop those crimes?
In Sri Lanka more than 30 years we suffered from tamil terrorist’s bombs. Pettah Bomb, Maradana Bomb, Telecom bomb, Weliveriya Marathon bomb, Air Lanka bomb, Central Bank bombs are some examples. When Sri Lanka suffered from terrorist’s bombs, cheer-leaders of western media awarded gold medals to megalomaniac terrorist Prabakaran as a freedom fighter. Now tamil terrorist Rudrakumaran is a V.I.P in U.S.A and Nirweli Bank robbery case suspect Emmanuel Pillai Priest is a V.I.P in U.K and LTTE female suicide bomb unit leader, Adela Balasingham is a V.I.P in U.K.
Can we honestly say sorry to U.S.A on this scenario? But to American state dictators, war planners and media we have to say “Taste what we have tasted for more than three decades.”
April 24th, 2013 at 4:51 am
Ratnapala
The essence of all your articls including this is,
“West led by the US is evil”
Inreresting to know, where do you live ?
Cuba? China? USA? or hidden in a western country with all the freedom to write what you want?
April 24th, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Somapala,
Does it matter where one resides to express one’s opinion? This of course matters if you are another lily livered gutter snipe afraid and living in a permanent state of fear. In Sri Lanka or elsewhere still it is possible to air dissenting views freely as long as one does so within the accepted norms of society.
The fact of the matter is that the entire Christian West – meaning the governments in power are evil. They know they are militarily superior but lacking in resources. They want to stay superior and for the rest of the world to fall in line. They have only their selfish interests at heart and are leading this world to Armageddon – to add a word that must make sense to you! It is their meddling in other people’s affairs that have brought the scourge of Terrorism around the world.
You know who created the Al Qaeda in the first place. You know who is currently funding insurrections around the world either directly or indirectly. You know who funded the LTTE and in the last instance came to save them from their fate at Nanthi Kadal Lagoon. They have no friends around the world and are despised for what they do. Ordinary people in the Christian West are ignorant of the role their governments are playing the world stage. But as in Boston Bombings it they who have to bear the fall out!
You seem to suggest that it is not possible to write what I write while living in Sri Lanka. There are many Colombians who want to project that image. I am sorry for you.