Guardian,  Fri Feb  9 21:11:03 EST 2007

    The roadblock was unexpected. Driving to Colombo along Sri Lanka's south-west coast, we were forced on to a sidestreet by police in Hikkaduwa, one of the island's main tourist centres. There must have been a multiple crash, we assumed, as the detour along narrow village lanes took us past rice paddies shimmering in the afternoon sun. Back on the coast road, fleets of ambulances racing south seemed to confirm our suspicions.
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- The Academic

I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele.


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If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.- Abraham Maslow

Taraki wrote,
"I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele."
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You said it!

Quote:

Above all, India is refusing to sell arms that can be used for counter-insurgency. That is the best signal.

This is not a big deal Jonathan.  If India doesnot sell, SL can buy arms from some where else.  If India is giving these hard wear free that is some thing else

Thank you Jonathan, Rajapakse Clan thinks that all 100% Sinhalese must support him to do this war. In fact only Army knows how many of us died in the past 25 years in the North and East and even in the South. I hope these people will learn from your advise.  Now we should know WHO are the Terrorists.


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Only Good will/can overcome Evil.

Taraki wrote:

I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele.

JS writes as he sees it, Taraki. Maybe you can explain what is mindless about JS?
I think it's a well written piece, unlike the pro-GOSL bias we are accustomed to coming from the Colombo based media.


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"The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts - the less you know the hotter you get." -- Bertrand Russell

Quote:

Rajapakse's picture bedecks hoardings around Sri Lanka in an unprecedented cult of personality. He has taken to visiting Buddhist shrines on state occasions in a chauvinistic sop to the most dominant of Sri Lanka's four religious communities.

Mr. Jonathan Steele is mindless since he did not mention about the Prez. Dutugamunu hoardings.
By the way why MR should care about a foriegn press, he was not elected by them.

The title looks absurd.

eeky wrote:

Taraki wrote:

I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele.

JS writes as he sees it, Taraki. Maybe you can explain what is mindless about JS?
I think it's a well written piece, unlike the pro-GOSL bias we are accustomed to coming from the Colombo based media.

eeky, is it a "well-written piece" simply because it is so patently an anti-GOSL, anti-Sinhala one ? I agree with Taraki -  the piece is rather mindless, has no background and written by isomeone who apparently has no idea of what South Asian politics are like at all.

Pity cos' JS has good Sov and post-Sov experience., perhaps that's the problem.. or maybe it's his prediliction for being anti-establishment ..

Quote:

Taraki wrote:

I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele.

An unexpected one-liner from the usually thorough and thoughtful Taraki. A one-liner that borders on the ad hominem.  One can speculate that, along with Proximus, Taraki believes the piece is one-sided. Maybe.  But JS begins with a description of an LTTE attack on civilians. However, he is also a liberal and he believes that

Quote:

elected governments have a duty to show they are not adopting the crimes and brutalities of their opponents.

This what a lot of people in this forum have trouble accepting.  The idea of continuing this war indefinitely, on an eye-for-eye basis, IS mindless.

Steele's problem is that he has only read what the critics of the GOSL and its most avid supporters say. The suggestion of putting Karuna as a puppet dictator is pure Dayan Jayetillake fantasy. He has ignored the fact that the LTTE decided they wanted war after the 2004 election. He has also ignored the common sense of taking away the Eastern troop base from the LTTE.

He was also wildly optimistic in a previous post about the peace process (Mahinda's not Ranil's). Much of the tone of the post can be put down to discarded illusions.

Steele is quite wrong when he says this is the most chauvinistic government since 1948. That dubious quality belonged to JRJ's time, and to Anura's father's gang before that (and let's not forget that it was Mahinda and CBK that restored  citizenship to the Indian Tamils that Senayake Sr. took away in 1948, with GCT's beneplacit). However he is right to criticize a President who can so quickly destroy Lanka's international reputation (and then fires his Foreign Minister for pointing it out).

And as Mr. Steele in a private email agrees with my description of the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala diaspora as ´toxic´and treating the mayhem like a cricket match to cheer on from the stands, then he can´t be all that bad.

eeky wrote:

Taraki wrote:

I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele.

JS writes as he sees it, Taraki. Maybe you can explain what is mindless about JS?
I think it's a well written piece, unlike the pro-GOSL bias we are accustomed to coming from the Colombo based media.

what's your opinion on this article, taraki?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17069273/site/newsweek/


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"The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts - the less you know the hotter you get." -- Bertrand Russell

eeky wrote:

what's your opinion on this article, taraki?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17069273/site/newsweek/

Much better than the JS piece (of garbage), focuses more on the suffering of Tamils than ranting and raving.  Ms. Krieger goofed with the "aid-sharing agreement," presumably P-TOMS.  As SJ pointed out a number of times, it was not derailed by "Sinhala hardliners," but rather by the LTTE who could not stomach the constitutional version.  

If Arjunan Ethiriveerasingham is crying about no aid to LTTE areas, perhaps he should take the issue up with his Leader.


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If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.- Abraham Maslow

Stephen Jones wrote:

And as Mr. Steele in a private email agrees with my description of the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala diaspora as ´toxic´and treating the mayhem like a cricket match to cheer on from the stands, then he can´t be all that bad.

Except when he writes "diarrhea."  You can quote me on that.


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If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.- Abraham Maslow

Danny

Danny wrote:

This what a lot of people in this forum have trouble accepting.  The idea of continuing this war indefinitely, on an eye-for-eye basis, IS mindless.

On top of it,  

The article merely suggests that Terrorism is mindless, doesn't matter who perpetrate it, Either Forced by gun Or via Ballot box.

It was a thought provoking article  (But is bit sad that  publicity / foreign relations /marketing is at very low ebb from the Government,  who haven’t got  any relationships  with the high calibre reporters. Surely, If Hon Late Foreign Minister Kadikamar is alive this wouldn’t have happen.) ,  

No wonder why this article caught seasoned writers to this forum on the cold. Given time, Not just "I think the most mindless of all is Mr. Jonathan Steele." but lots of history would be provided to justify why  Mr. Jonathan Steele wrong, or further,  [b]Jonathan Steele is White Tiger[\b].

just wait danny!