Category: Uncategorized

By: Rajan Hoole

Colombo’s recent detention of and apparently coerced recantation by several Tamil doctors who had reported high civilian casualties is a potent example of the Colombo government’s determination to rewrite the final days of the war.

The question of the Sri Lankan government’s treatment of the detained ethnic-Tamil doctors, who served in the war zone in the north until almost the very end, has gone far beyond the fact of the doctors themselves, of their individual actions or sympathies. The fact that, while in government custody on 8 July, these men recanted what they had previously told the media while still in the war zone regarding the conditions faced by civilians, and that they went on to make new claims acutely at variance with basic fact, raises some timely questions regarding the recently concluded war.

What are the real casualties that the government is intent on suppressing? One does recognise that getting the people out of the grip of a force totally callous about civilian life was not going to be easy. And the purely military strategy, which did not take adequate account of the interests of the people, was guided by xenophobia and allowed the international community no role in protecting civilians, distorted every issue. Shelling civilians is criminal. But civilians trapped in the war zone later admitted that shelling by the army sometimes helped them – sending the LTTE cadres scurrying into their bunkers, giving civilians an opportunity to escape from them. All the while, though, the cadres’ orders were to shoot escapees.

The government’s unlawful refusal to accept a surrender of LTTE cadres forced them into a desperate plight. Further, the government announced on the afternoon of 17 May that all the civilians had left the area under LTTE control, and that the president would make a victory speech two days later. There were in fact more than 30,000 terrified civilians remaining in the last bit of territory. On the night of the 17th, LTTE cadres, facing their last hours, shelled civilian positions. The next morning the army moved in for the final kill, without making allowances for the civilian presence. Earthmoving equipment was later brought in to dispose of myriad corpses. Yet little is known about the last 11 days of the war, and one is left to judge from the testimonies of the doctors and civilians who fled the zone from 15 May onwards.

The truth circus

During those last days, information provided by three government doctors in particular – Thurairaja Varatharajah (the Vanni regional health director), V Shanmugarajah (a medical superintendent) and T Sathiyamoorthy – were heavily relied upon by the international media and agencies. They reported not only on the dead and injured that came within their purview as the fighting raged, but also on shortages of infant food, drugs and medicines, and their deteriorating ability to treat the casualties. For instance, Dr Shanmugarajah told the media that two overnight artillery barrages on 9 and 10 May had resulted in 430 civilians, including 106 children, either being brought to hospital for burial or dying after admission; at that time, Dr Shanmugarajah’s clinic had an additional 1100 injured with which to deal. Dr Varatharajah likewise reported that a mortar shell had hit the admissions ward of the makeshift hospital on 12 May, killing 49 people.

Even before the war had ended, the Health Ministry had begun accusing the three doctors of lying, ostensibly to bring the government into disrepute. Ministry officials threatened to sack them through means of dubious legality, and blindly rejected reports of the horrendous realities in which the doctors were working. Yet in general, what the doctors said about the conditions faced by civilians has been well corroborated. The doctors came out of the LTTE zone on 15 May, with the first group of civilians to leave the area, when a round of third-party negotiations had purportedly reached an understanding on the LTTE’s surrender. The doctors were promptly arrested, though there appears to be no real evidence of criminal misconduct. After about 54 days of detention, the doctors were produced before the press on 8 July, rehearsed and looking healthy – not in court but rather at the Defence Ministry. They were accompanied not by lawyers but by ministry handlers, one of whom seemed to reprimand one of the doctors for stating that he was a prisoner, pointing out that he was looking quite well.

At the Defence Ministry event, the doctors explained that the LTTE had forced them to lie about casualties, and that only around 750 civilians had actually been killed. This was in stark contrast to the 7,000 or more given unofficially by the UN and the 10,000 estimated by the diplomatic community. Dr Varatharajah also said that only 600 to 650 civilians had been injured from January to 15 April. During that same period, however, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports having transported, by sea, nearly 5000 injured. In fact, there was another piece of sleight-of-hand taking place at the press conference, as well. Altogether there were actually five arrested doctors, though the other two, Sivapalan and Illancheliyan, had hardly spoken to the media from the Vanni. Yet placing the former, who worked for an LTTE-run facility, alongside the government doctors who spoke to the media pre-judged the government doctors as LTTE mouthpieces.

It thus appeared that the government was playing a bizarre game, using the doctors to knock down casualty figures to unbelievably low levels. This game of hiding the truth is also closely tied to the continued detention of 300,000 displaced individuals, who are being held behind barbed wire and as yet are unable to speak with outsiders about their harrowing experiences in the war zone – experiences with both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army. This perpetuation of the state’s denial of accountability reinforces the oppression of minorities, and ensures the destruction of any semblance of the rule of law.

Today, the government has a duty before the world, the people of Sri Lanka and the Tamils in particular to agree to a process of impartial assessment that would make the truth public as to the bombing and shelling in the LTTE held areas during the spring of 2009. The state has never allowed an impartial assessment of truth in violence against minorities in Sri Lanka, ever since the first communal violence in 1956. The truth and corrective measures based on this could do much to heal some of the scars of war.

13,000 dead

Himal for more

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina underscored establishing a common power grid in South Asia to overcome electricity shortage that has emerged as one of the major impediments to rapid development in the region by utilising available prospects.

She pointed out the urgency of regional approach to the common problem at a presentation programme titled ‘Making Zero Load Shedding by 2010 and Future Plan for Increasing Power Generation’ at her office yesterday.

The concept of Saarc power grid came into focus when in 2003 energy officials of the Saarc member-countries, after a two-day meeting of the Saarc technical committee on energy, had reached a consensus on setting up a common power grid in the region.

PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.

Hasina in the presentation meet directed the power authorities to take immediate steps for gas exploration to increase power generation.

She stressed the need for setting up coal-fired power plants, as coal mining is underway in the country’s northern part, to reduce pressure on gas.

The premier further asked the authorities concerned to take measures for modifying and reactivating outworn and abandoned power plants.

“Contact the foreign countries and their experts who helped us in setting up these power plants. We have to increase power generation as we did during our last 1996-2001 tenure,” she said.

PM described the concept of Independent Power Plant (IPP) as an effective way to add up power to the national grid.

Daily Star for more

By Jamal Juma’

Does South American politics move forward in constructing a new continental and global order based on democracy, human rights and mutual solidarity or will it fall pray to Israeli strategies that undermine the emancipation of Latin America and the Global South?

The Israeli minister of foreign affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, has wrapped up a 10-day tour through South America, the first of its kind for over two decades. His trip was aimed at launching a new direction for Israeli foreign policy, which is to turn more and more to the subcontinent. The people of Brazil and Argentina have met him with loud street protest, denouncing him as an emblem of Israeli racism, fascism and colonialism. People have refused to play the quiet host to members of a regime that for over sixty years has kept Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes, oppressing the remaining population and developing ever more extreme forms of repression and apartheid. The brutal massacre and siege in Gaza at the beginning of this year, and the ongoing construction of the Wall and settlements are but two of the issues which are adding to the gradual perception of Israel as a pariah state by ordinary people across the world. However, the conflicting interests between South America and Israel go beyond solidarity with Palestine. Israel’s new South America policy forces the continent to make fundamental choices regarding its own aspirations and geopolitical alignments.

Israel’s recently strengthened interest in the region is partially motivated by the tightening avenues in Europe and North America, its traditional allies. Politically, even a conservative prime minister such as the French Sarkozy has advised the Israeli government to dismiss Lieberman in favor of a more presentable figure. At an economic level, 21 % of Israeli exporters have announced losses due to European boycotts. To offset this, Israel has recently developed much more vital and strategic interests in South America as well as Africa than in the past.

Palestine Chronicle for more

Although drone technology exists in Pakistan, there are no efforts underway to produce weaponised drones that could rival the US Predator.

By Shahzeb Shaikha

It would come as a surprise to most Pakistanis that the country has an indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [UAV] industry. In fact, there are three private entities – East West Infiniti [EWI], Integrated Dynamics [ID] and Surveillance and Target Unmanned Aircraft [Satuma] – involved in the manufacturing of UAVs in Pakistan. In addition, three government enterprises, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex [PAC], the Air Weapons Complex [AWC], and the National Development Complex [NDC] also produce UAVs.

The Pakistan government has repeatedly requested the US to send them drone technology, a request which, according to defense analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, has been persistently denied because “we always leak technology.” But what if Pakistan develops its own drones with a missile delivery system matching the American Predator?

At this point, the question of ‘what if’ doesn’t exist because Pakistan already possesses the capability to develop its own unmanned vehicles. But there is a big difference between producing unarmed UAVs, which Pakistan currently does, and the armed Predator drones which the US has been using in FATA.

Can Pakistan come up with a UAV carrying weapons?

Dr Hammad Bin Khaleeq, Satuma’s director in charge of mechanical design and manufacturing, Dr Haroon Javed Qureshi of EWI, and Raja Sabri Khan, CEO of Integrated Dynamics, all concur.

“It is possible,” Khaleeq tells Newsline. “It is not something beyond our capability. We only need to have support – financial support as well as time. These things don’t develop overnight.” He maintains that there have been huge amounts of investment from the government for the purpose of developing drones but state entities have failed to deliver the desired product. “Acquiring and integrating a weapon in drones is advanced and difficult. But it’s not out of our reach. If the government wants, the efforts can be put in.”

Newsline for more

By Stephen Soldz ZNET

In an important development in the American Psychological Association saga, Jeffrey Kaye has reported that psychologist Michael Gelles, a member of the association’s 2005 PENS [Psychological Ethics and National Security] task force, was himself accused of ethics violations during the interrogation of Navy Petty Officer Daniel King. This occurred well before Gelles’ appointment to the PENS Task Force.

Kaye bases his account of Gelles’ involvement largely on the statements to the Senate Intelligence Committee [SIC] of King’s three attorneys, highly respected George Washington University Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley and Navy Jags Robert Bailey and Matthew Freedus. [See the Federation of American Scientists page on the case for these and other documents.] The attorneys’ accounts are, in turn, based on an actual videotape of Gelles’ interrogation of King.

According to the statement given to SIC, in late September 1999 King was accused of spying after an ambiguous result on his routine polygraph test. As a result, King was interrogated by the Navy Criminal Investigative Service [NCIS], for whom Gelles worked, for 17 to 19 hours at a time for 30 days straight.

As Turley relates:

“King was given at least five polygraphs in a single day during his interrogations by the NCIS. He was not only lied to about his results but lied to about the meaning of these results. NCIS agents told King that these results indicate that something did happen. In this sense, the polygraph examinations were used in combination with the NCIS insistence that King write down his fantasies. NCIS agents convinced King that these results indicated that his fantasies were simply suppressed memories.”

The King interrogation reportedly was rife with abuse. King allegedly was illegally denied an attorney when he requested one. Agents repeatedly lied to him about the results and the meaning of ambiguous or incorrectly administered polygraph tests. He was repeatedly threatened with further abuse if he did not cooperate. He was encouraged to report his fantasies, after which agents told him that these fantasies meant they must have a basis in fact. During his extended interrogation, accompanied by sleep deprivation, King made a confession, only to recant it the next day and thereafter. After at least 520 days of detention, he was released, and the case was dropped without charges. The case was later the subject of hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Turley describes Gelles’ interview with King:

“At times, King is shouting “I don’t know what I’m supposed to give you” over and over at the agents as they press him for a signed confession. Moreover, it is noteworthy that King seeks the assistance of a psychologist for hypnosis on the videotaped interview with NCIS psychologist Dr. Michael Gelles. After his return to the United States, King was clearly trying to find a way to distinguish fantasy from reality. He told Gelles that he had no memory of the espionage facts but says that the polygraph examinations prove that he must have done something – a clear misconception that neither Gelles nor the agents correct. King asked for hypnosis and truth serum to determine if this is merely a dream. Gelles told him that he might give King hypnosis if King goes back and gives the agents “corroborating” evidence. Gelles told King that he could trust the agents and says that the agents are clearly his friends, he had a “special relationship” with the agents and the agents “will be with you forever.” Gelles virtually ignored the statement of King that he had suicidal thoughts when he left Guam – two days before the interview. Instead, Gelles told King to give corroborating evidence as a precondition for the hypnosis that King sought to clear his doubts as to any espionage. These tapes show a sailor who is struggling with his total inability to remember any act of espionage while clearly accepting the false representation that, if a polygraph examination shows deception, he must have committed such an act. It is difficult to watch and listen to these tapes because they show a total disregard by the NCIS for any effort at determining the truth of these allegations as opposed to making a case at any costs.”

Understandably appalled the attorneys determined to take action against Gelles. Turley says,

“Dr. Gelles has already been notified of our intention to file formal charges against him with the American Psychological Association. Dr. Gelles has refused to give licensing information to the defense or to respond to allegations of violation of basic canons of professional conduct as a licensed psychologist. Dr. Gelles is on the videotape telling an individual with stated suicidal thoughts to return to interrogation and that the agents are not only his close friends but that they would stand with him “forever.” Dr. Gelles specifically tells King that, if he offers `corroborating’ evidence to the NCIS, he might be able to give King the hypnosis that he seeks [to help determine what is real and what is not real].”

American Psychological Association
According to Kaye, Turley confirmed to him that he, indeed, filed an ethics complaint with the APA regarding Gelles’ behavior in this case, but the complaint was never investigated:

“In a private communication, Mr. Turley subsequently indicated the ethics charges were filed, and dismissed without any investigation by APA.” [Emphasis added.]

Z Mag for more

Courtesy Cell Press and World Science staff

Researchers seem to have identified a new way to fix a broken heart, a report says.

The scientists have devised a method to coax heart muscle cells into reentering the cell cycle, allowing the mature adult cells to divide and regenerate healthy heart tissue after a heart attack, according to mouse and rat studies described in the July 24 issue of the journal Cell.

The key ingredient is a growth factor known as neuregulin 1. The researchers suggest that the factor might one day be used to treat failing human hearts.

“To my knowledge, this is the first regenerative therapy that may be applicable in a systemic way,” said Bernhard Kühn of Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. For instance, he added, people might one day go to the clinic for daily infusions of the substance over a period of weeks.

“In principle, there is nothing to preclude this going into the clinic. Based on the all the information we have, this is a promising candidate.” He emphasized, however, that further studies would be required to demonstrate safety before such treatment could be tested in human patients.

The heart had long been considered an organ largely incapable of repairing itself. Heart muscle cells, also known as cardiomyocytes, do proliferate during prenatal development. Soon after birth, however, the cells become binucleate, meaning that they have two nuclei, and withdraw from the cell cycle, giving rise to the notion that adult cardiomyocytes are incapable of further proliferation.

World Science for more

By B. R. Gowani

fragrant news bulletin, men!
following the latest and greatest breakthrough
for male homo sapiens, that is,
the V news of the rousing pill

Dial has a body wash for men now
laden with synthesized pheromones
the full good name is:
Dial for men –
pheromone-infused
magnetic attraction enhancing body wash

just take a shower with it
and the first female you come across
will be attracted to you
you can select her –
provided you like her —
otherwise, you can get the next one

your face, physique, or finances
do not matter, because
advertising has mentally damaged us all
and now this Dial for Men Magnetic
will visually impair women
and they will go with any man
who has been magnetized by the Dial

Crap, you say?

studies show women and men decide to meet
by looking at each other first
now, do they smell first and then meet?

visual attraction comes first
pheromone factor comes later,
unless it is vice versa,
but when you are in action
the natural smell from the arm pit
can activate us more
though not all …
as we humans are different …

B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com

THE TEST As part of an experiment, nine women at a lounge in Manhattan were blindfolded and asked to select a date by sniffing scent strips.

By CAMILLE SWEENEY

ON a recent evening, an unusual experiment took place at a lounge in downtown Manhattan. Nine blindfolded women were asked to determine, by smell alone, whether any among a group of nine men was worth pursuing.

Three men had just showered using a body wash with synthesized pheromones, three had used a body wash without pheromones, and the rest had worked up a sweat and not washed at all. They then rubbed their arms on scent strips, and handed them to the women to sniff.

One participant, Michelle Hotaling, 24, chose a man who had used the pheromone body wash. “In appearance and personality he was not someone I would otherwise be convinced to go out with,” she said, once her blindfold came off. “But his scent was a factor that would push my decision to say, ‘Yes.’ ”

Which was just what Dial, the event’s sponsor and maker of the new “pheromone-infused” Dial for Men Magnetic Attraction Enhancing Body Wash, wanted to hear.

“We don’t claim using our product you’re going to hit a home run,” said Ryan Gaspar, a brand manager. “We say, ‘We’ll get you to first base.’ ”

As the science — or, as some believe, pseudo-science — of pheromones advances toward commercial applications, more manufacturers of personal-care products are dropping tinctures of synthesized pheromones into their formulas, with claims that they will boost sex appeal and confidence.

The pheromone of choice for men is a family of steroids, related to testosterone, found near the axillary glands in the underarm area. For women, a commonly used compound is estratetraenol, a derivative of the sex hormone estradiol. (The patents of these synthesized hormones are proprietary, and when asked, the makers would not reveal their ingredients.)

But does adding synthetic pheromones truly evoke that elusive Love Potion No. 9?

“There has been a lot of misconception about what human pheromones do,” said Dr. Charles Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and an author of “Human Pheromones: What’s Purported, What’s Supported,” a recently published report commissioned by the Sense of Smell Institute, a branch of the Fragrance Foundation. “We want to raise a flag and say, where’s the evidence? How human pheromones work is still totally questionable.”

Identified by American scientists in 1959, pheromones are believed to be part of a chemical communication system that signals reproductive readiness and affects other animal behaviors.

“For humans, though, it’s usually love at first sight, not love at first smell,” said Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist. “There are many factors to sex appeal, and romance and scent is among them. But from studying the brain, I would argue that our brains are largely built for visual stimuli.”

While Dr. Fisher believes pheromones may not initially be an aphrodisiac, someone’s scent can certainly be a turnoff, or a turn-on, once courtship has been established, she said.

New York Times for more

Viewpoint

A series of actions, exemplified by the speech in Cairo, shows that the Obama Administration wants to improve US-MidEast relations. But will he be able to go the whole hog?

By Mahir Ali

Hopes that Barack Obama’s presidency would lead to significant changes in the way the United States conducts itself in the Middle East were tempered by the realisation that numerous domestic and international considerations would prevent him from making a clean break with the past, even if he were so inclined. When he spoke about extending a friendly hand and inviting the Muslim world to unclench its fist, it was just a gesture – albeit not a gesture one could imagine Obama’s predecessor making with even a modicum of sincerity.

But then, the incumbent is simply incapable of sounding like George W. Bush. Obama’s eloquence and intelligence are, however, no guarantee that he does not speak with a forked tongue. In the wake of his Cairo oration early last month, which was intended as a significant exercise in reaching out to the Muslim and Arab worlds, one of the commonest critiques revolved around the pertinent but rather obvious point that words are not enough and, no matter how pleasant their texture, they are bound to ring hollow until matched by actions.

At the same time, regardless of the quality of Obama’s intentions and the extent of his capabilities, no one can sensibly contend that his major goals ought to have been achieved within six months of entering the White House. He is neither a messiah nor a miracleworker – which, mind you, are not qualities claimed by his supporters but, rather, attributes ridiculed by his detractors. The latter include the neoconservatives who helped to make such a mess of the Bush presidency, as well as the Al-Qaeda types who facilitated some of that administration’s darkest deeds.

It is, therefore, hardly surprising that both these elements were keen to undermine Obama’s overture to the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden (or someone pretending to be him) and Ayman Al Zawahiri attempted a pre-emptive strike via audio recordings in which they warned against heeding the new American message. Their evident desperation was clearly a reaction to Obama’s potential appeal, and thereby a bonus for him. It would have been thoroughly embarrassing for the US if, instead, bin Laden and Zawahiri had given an indication of softness towards the president.

And it might have been equally unnerving if the neocons had decided to back Obama’s initiative. True to form, they accused him of selling out and of bending over backwards to please Muslims in general and Arabs in particular. And even though Obama made no concessions in the context of his nation’s special relationship with Israel, many Zionists, too, were upset with the balance he sought to strike by conceding that the plight of the Palestinians was unacceptable, and unequivocally criticising the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory.

Newsline for more