I read today about how the 25 years of civil war is now at its bloodiest. Watching CNN now concerning the government shellling a hospital, using cluster bombs, killing dozens of civilians, and excluding foreign journalists. Very sad. 
Iâve followed this one for quite some time. An aunty of mine met the Tamil leaders when they were hatching their plot for independence almost fifty years ago. It sucks, but itâs almost decided, and from there will hopefully come peace.
HG
A friend of mine worked in Sri Lanka for a couple of years. He was planning on going back a few years ago, but the fighting was too intense and the company he was consulting for decided not to risk it.
There will never be peace. The Sinhalese Buddhists have no intention of giving up any of their land, and certainly not to a large Hindu minority who would invite Indian soldiers in the moment independence is gained. The LTTE makes no secret of recruiting child soldiers as suicide bombers and cannon fodder, and the Sinhalese arenât squeamish about cluster bombing Tamil villages full of women and children. This civil war is now intergenerational, so itâs hardly suprising that theyâre slaughtering children.
At least the US managed to stay out of this one.
The Tigers are almost toast.
[quote]Surrender or die, Tamil Tigers told
Posted 6 hours 29 minutes ago
Sri Lankaâs Government has rejected international calls to negotiate an end to heavy fighting with Tamil Tigers rebels.
The Government says amnesty will be granted to low-ranking rebels who lay down their weapons, but it has vowed to eliminate those who try to fight on.
It says nothing short of unconditional surrender by the Tamil Tigers will bring an end to the fighting, and it has rejected calls by the United States, European Union, Norway and Japan to hold talks with the rebels.
Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapakse says any suggestion of a ceasefire is ridiculous.
Government troops are closing in on the rebels, who are holding a narrow strip of territory in the north-east of the country.
The United Nations and the Red Cross say thousands of civilians remain stranded by the fighting.[/quote]
HG
It doesnât matter. If the LTTE is crushed, another insurgency will rise up to take its place. As long as the Tamils have a significant demographic presence, they will always resist Sinhalese rule.
In that regard, is it any different from the Israeli/Palestinian situation?
(Sure, Israelâs trying to avoid responsibility for direct rule of the Palestinians, but itâs most definitely the party in charge.)
No. Itâs same old story. But historically, these conflicts generally end with the weaker group annihilated, displaced, or assimilated by the dominant group. But now the âworldâ would not âtolerateâ outright destruction of a culture, so weâre left with restrained, perpetual warfare.
[quote=âGao Bohanâ]
At least the US managed to stay out of this one.[/quote]
Good on that. It took until this year to even begin to attempt to get Canadians to stop sending the Tamil Tigers money. 
thenational.ae/article/20090 ⌠0/1014/ART
Tamils found a haven in Canada, but so did Tigers
Blake Lambert, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: January 13. 2009 9:30AM UAE / January 13. 2009 5:30AM GMT TORONTO // Amid the strip malls and industrial areas of this cityâs east end stands the former office of the World Tamil Movement, a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Its mirrored-glass exterior betrays none of its past as a fundraiser for the Tamil Tigers or a social agency for Tamils living in the Toronto area.
The only sign of past occupancy is a real-estate lockbox clamped to the mailbox, crammed with copies of Viduthalai, a nationalist Tamil daily newspaper.
But the abandoned building indicates how the relationship between Canada, its Tamil community and the Tamil Tigers is changing.
Since the anti-Tamil riots in Colombo and southern Sri Lanka in 1983, tens of thousands of Tamils have migrated to Canada. Of the estimated 300,000 Tamils in the country, the largest community in the diaspora, more than two-thirds live in the Toronto area.
âCanada has done good for Tamils,â said David Poopalapillai, a national spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress. âTook them in and gave them new hope and new life.â
The Tamil Tigers arguably received a greater boost.
Its network purchased properties, including a temple, and relatives of the leadership settled in Torontoâs east end.
Martin Collacott, who served as Canadaâs ambassador to Sri Lanka from 1982 to 1986 and is currently a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute, a conservative think tank, said his country was exceptionally generous to Tamil refugees.
The Immigration and Refugee Board granted almost automatic approval to Tamil males aged 10 to 45 years and unmarried Tamil females aged 13 to 30 years old from the areas of Sri Lanka controlled by the Tamil Tigers, he said.
Mr Collacott said the age and gender profiles happen to be identical to those of the guerrillas. The immigrant profile gave the Tigers cause to believe they are the sole representatives of the Tamil community in Canada.
Tiger enforcers in the Toronto area have burnt the car of one man, attacked a Tamil-Canadian journalist and intimidated the editor of a Tamil newspaper into ceasing publication.
And the suppression of dissent has spread into practices of extortion.
According to a 2006 report by Human Rights Watch,
Canada is a major source of fund-raising for the Tamil Tigersâ military budget, having provided millions of dollars per year since the 1990s.
Contributions came from non-profit organisations and companies operating as fronts, and donations were solicited from individuals by going door to door, Human Rights Watch said in its reports, citing companies and Canadian authorities.
Many Tamil-Canadians willingly support the rebels, but a significant minority feel they have little choice but to give money.
Mr Ponnambalam said the groupâs knowledge of an individualâs family in Sri Lanka and Canada can instil fear in the ambivalent. As one Tiger supporter warned him: âWeâll look after you when you come home.â
According to Human Rights Watch, some Tamil-Canadians were told that if they did not give money, then they could not return to Tiger-held areas in Sri Lanka to see their families.
Its 2006 report identified a tax imposed upon Tamil-Canadians visiting Sri Lanka of $1 Canadian (Dh3) per day for the length of time they have lived in Canada.
To this day, the Canadian Tamil Congress remains critical of Human Rights Watchâs findings.
âIt gives us enough support to say how bad the situation is in Toronto,â he said.
Coincidence or not, three weeks after the publication of the Human Rights Watch report, Ottawa listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group.
Mr Collacott called it a watershed because Canadaâs intelligence agency had recommended the move to the governing Liberal Party more than once but was rebuffed. He pointed out that Liberal members of parliament attended events promoting the Tamil Tigers.
Err, the article says that an ethnic Tamil in Canada raised money for the LTTE, which under Canadian law is funding terrorism. The article also says that the Canadian intelligence services are tracking other Tamil groups in Canada sympathetic to the LTTE. Itâs not as if ordinary Canadians have been routinely funding the Tigers.
How true. A very good friend of mine is Sinhalese and obviously, he and his wife are strong govât supporters. I hear from them stories of dead relatives killed by bus bombs. They say that the rebels must be pacified. No negotiated settlement is acceptable. I also used to worked with another Sri Lankan fellow whoâs Tamil. He was not shy about revealing his allegiance. He sends money to the LTTE and quite a bit of it. He recounts stories of barbaric actions by the govât and stories of bombed villagers that died literally in his arms. He asserts that no matter what, the struggle will go on.
Err, the article says that an ethnic Tamil in Canada raised money for the LTTE, which under Canadian law is funding terrorism. The article also says that the Canadian intelligence services are tracking other Tamil groups in Canada sympathetic to the LTTE. Itâs not as if ordinary Canadians have been routinely funding the Tigers.[/quote]
I had a logout problem happen when I was posting my link and the same thing happened just now when I tried to reply. Donât know if itâs forumosa or the school computer.
Anyway, lots of money has been given to the Tigers from more than one person in canada and it has been allowed to go on for far too long. Yes, they finally prosecuted someone THIS YEAR, but millions have been passed to the Tigers from Canadian hands and it has gone on for far too long. :aiyo:
According to a 2006 report by Human Rights Watch, Canada is a major source of fund-raising for the Tamil Tigersâ military budget, having provided millions of dollars per year since the 1990s.
Yes it is. The LTTE, aside from routinely threatening families of Tamils overseas with dire consequences for those at home unless the rels contribute, have also been funded for years by the Tamil diaspora both knowingly, unwillingly and some blindly through donations of âaid.â These people are very much among your âordinary Canadians,â Australians (big community), English, etc.
HG
Iâm aware that the Tamil diaspora financially supports the LTTE. Trebuchetâs post made it sound like it was an ordinary affair amongst Canadians to send money to the Tigers. But I appreciate the point, and I now plan to throw this back in your faces when you get on the US for supporting Israel.
How so? Just curious how youâlll play this one. But of course ordinary Americans have financially supported terrorists of many ilks, including the Israelis, and not least of which the IRA. The UK really should have drawn a leaf from the US book and preemptively wiped out Boston.
HG
Shouldnât be too difficult. According to you, ethnic Tamil in Canada, Australia, and the UK who donate to the LTTE are simply âordinary citizens.â So in other words, youâre saying that ordinary Canadians, Australians, and Britons support the Tamil Tigers press ganging children into suicide missions. 
Mate, I âdonatedâ to the LTTE, first unknowingly, but after a time the Sinhalese Tamil chappy who ran one of the best stalls Iâve ever eaten at admitted a sizable chunk of his take went straight to the LTTE. You know, I tried, but come a Sunday and with a hangover, it was like, suicidal kid soldiers, or scratch this damned itch for one of the best stuffed parathas Iâve ever had?
HG
Why would they not be ordinary citizens?
Why would you expect other ordinary citizens to be as (if at all) supportive?
I spent a month in Sri lanka back in late 1983. That was the year the war started, and tourism was down (80-90%?). People were
desperate
for you to stay at their guest houses, and it made traveling around the country difficult. Itâs such a beautiful country with fantastic history, culture, scenery and people.
I canât believe this war is still going on.
Iâd love to go back (this time with the wife and kids), even if I couldnât go to the far north.
Go for it. The majority of Canadians have been too busy collecting Bush-bashing soundbites to use when they get up on their soapboxes that theyâll never have heard of it before.
Yes, I am pissed. If Canadians took a good look at what happens inside Canada instead of obsessing about our neighbors southward this whole mess could have been stopped years ago. You know that old line about good men doing nothing? It applies to what goes on within oneâs own borders as well.
Go for it. The majority of Canadians have been too busy collecting Bush-bashing soundbites to use when they get up on their soapboxes that theyâll never have heard of it before.
Yes, I am pissed. If Canadians took a good look at what happens inside Canada instead of obsessing about our neighbors southward this whole mess could have been stopped years ago. You know that old line about good men doing nothing? It applies to what goes on within oneâs own borders as well.[/quote]
A recent theme of yours? Pissed off at yourself? Read more, question more, listen more⌠also steps in the right direction.