Norwegian papers are reporting that the Tamil Tigers are laying down arms (with exceptions) and that Prabhakaran is dead. Haven't found anything in the english language news yet.
:thumbsup:
If true, that's great.
P's body has not been positively identified, although it remains a popssibility that it's him.
Also, if the LTTE are finished as a "field army", there's nothing stopping them from returning to guerilla warfare and suicide bombing as their primary modus operandi.
Defeat as an 'army' doesn't mean that the LTTE is 'finished', it means that they still have the option to act as an underground insurgency, should they choose to do this.
Don't give them any ideas Ank. :yeahright:
Danish TV2 news says that LTTE only has offered to lay down their weapons in return for international sponsored peace negotiations, the goverment rejected this offer...
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on May 17, 2009, 11:11:59 AM
Danish TV2 news says that LTTE only has offered to lay down their weapons in return for internation sponsored peace negotiations, the goverment rejected this offer...
Damnit.. this is what you get when all the journalists get the day off. (17 May is norways 4 July and nobody is at work)
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 17, 2009, 11:04:59 AM
Don't give them any ideas Ank. :yeahright:
Oh, it's nothing they don't already know. I just don't want everybody doing a repeat of the chicken dance
that took place after Saddam's government fell. If anything, we need to understand that there's end to phases
and THE END, and not to confuse them.
Quote from: AnchorClanker on May 17, 2009, 11:21:21 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 17, 2009, 11:04:59 AM
Don't give them any ideas Ank. :yeahright:
Oh, it's nothing they don't already know. I just don't want everybody doing a repeat of the chicken dance
that took place after Saddam's government fell. If anything, we need to understand that there's end to phases
and THE END, and not to confuse them.
They probably just need to find a few more guys like Colonel Karuna/V Muralitharan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Karuna) to run reconstruction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States)
In other news on the counter-insurgency front, Pakistan claims it has killed a thousand militants since beginning it's offensive.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30791770/
EDIT: 1,000th post! :cool:
A BBC article saying LTTE have declared a cease fire.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8054169.stm
Quote from: sbr on May 17, 2009, 12:33:34 PM
A BBC article saying LTTE have declared a cease fire.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8054169.stm
They have been saying that for days. The temps running norwegian news media today said they had surrendered.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 17, 2009, 12:31:11 PM
EDIT: 1,000th post! :cool:
Congratulations on removing the taint. :P
Danish DRTV news says that they are still fighting around a small area of 100x100 meter fortifed with bunkers, the LTTE are useing suicide bombers to attack Army posisions. Sound like the last diedhard LTTE fighter wants to go down "Japanese" style...
edit: wonder if they shout "Banzai"...
Reports of Tamli riots in India, uncomfirmed reports of attempts to steall weapons from an Army convoy...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNWLx8SjRXgg&refer=home (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNWLx8SjRXgg&refer=home)
QuoteVelupillai Prabhakaran, Leader of Tamil Tigers, Killed at 54
By Jay Shankar
May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Velupillai Prabhakaran, the founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose 26-year struggle for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka cost the lives of more than 100,000 people, has been killed. He was 54.
The death of the Tamil rebel chief was announced by the Sri Lankan military in a statement on its Web site.
Prabhakaran helped turn a virtually unknown band of fighters in the 1970s into one of the "most well-knit, most heavily armed and most feared insurgent groups in the world," said M.R. Narayan Swamy, author of the Tamil leader's biography "Inside an Elusive Mind."
The group, included on the U.S. government's list of foreign terrorist organizations, was founded to establish a socialist state for ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east of the country. Tamils make up almost 12 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million, while Sinhalese account for 74 percent, according to the 2001 census.
The Tamil Tigers were the first to use female suicide bombers and develop explosive belts and vests, innovations that have been copied by other terrorist groups, the U.S. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism said in a 2006 report. The LTTE, after losing control of the Eastern Province to the army in July 2007, was driven from its northern strongholds this year into a sliver of territory on the northeastern coast. The government declared victory over the rebels on May 16.
Using his jungle hideouts in the Northern Province, Prabhakaran led the secessionist campaign since 1983. Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, killed by a female suicide bomber in southern India in 1991, Sri Lankan Army Chief Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Navy Chief Clancy Fernando are among the 95 politicians and 35 military officers the group is accused of killing, according to Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry.
"Unceasing allegiance to the cause of carving out a Tamil state and unforgiving ruthlessness can be called the two main traits of Prabhakaran," Swamy said in New Delhi. "These traits are Prabhakaran's and the LTTE's biggest strengths and also its biggest weakness."
The LTTE is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government vowed to eradicate terrorism in the north while seeking a political accord with Tamil groups in the region.
Prabhakaran, in his 2008 annual speech, said the conflict was "gathering momentum" and the government's expectation of a military victory over Tamil Tigers was a "dream from which it would be awoken."
The youngest of four children, Prabhakaran was born in Velvettithurai on the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka's north on Nov. 26, 1954. As a child, he was shy, quiet and unassuming, Swamy said.
Prabhakaran admired Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, Indians who challenged British rule through violent means. Events in Sri Lanka, where Tamils felt they were being marginalized by the dominant Sinhalese, influenced Prabhakaran to take up arms, Swamy said. "Once he quit his home in the early 1970s there was nothing to stop him."
On July 27, 1975, he shot dead the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, marking his first political assassination. "I wanted to achieve something through action rather than waste time in idle fancies," Prabhakaran was cited as saying in Swamy's biography. A year later he formed the LTTE.
The Tamil Tigers' first landmine attack on the army in July 1983 killed 13 soldiers. On May 14, 1985, the LTTE killed 146 Sinhalese civilians at a Buddhist site in Anuradhapura and two years later in April 1987, a bomb blast in Colombo killed more than 100 people.
Political assassinations blamed on the LTTE include the killing of Sri Lankan Defense Minister Ranjan Wijeratne, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake.
Under Prabhakaran's leadership, the LTTE created the Black Tigers, from which suicide bombers are recruited; the Sea Tigers, the naval wing; and the Air Tigers, who bombed oil and gas complexes at Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela near Colombo on April 29, 2007.
"He was something like a tank on the move," Colonel R. Hariharan, former chief of military intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990, said in a telephone interview from the southern Indian city of Chennai on March 12. "It can be shot down by an anti-tank rocket or a mine. But the tank will move on. He is not bothered about the consequences to himself or to the organization and will eliminate any obstacle coming in the way."
Young men and women were compulsorily recruited from Tamil families and "channelized to devote themselves" to his cause. "He is totally a heartless and cruel" person, Hariharan said.
During 2004, Prabhakaran's commander of the Eastern Province, Colonel Karuna, broke away in what was "the biggest internal setback the LTTE has suffered in its history," Swamy said. "The split no doubt weakened the LTTE and ultimately led to the loss of the Eastern Province."
Anton Balasingham, the Tamil Tigers' ideologue and chief negotiator, died of cancer in December 2006. He led peace negotiations between the LTTE and the government that started in 1985 in Thimpu, the capital of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan. He also headed the last round of talks that ended without any progress in Geneva in February 2006, four years after Norway brokered a cease-fire.
The head of the political wing, S.P. Thamilselvan, was killed during an air raid in November 2007 while the LTTE's last weapons-smuggling vessel was destroyed in October and the commander of the Sea Tigers killed in September.
In 2009 the LTTE suffered its worst losses in the 26-year- old conflict. Sri Lankan soldiers captured the LTTE's political headquarters, Kilinochchi, on Jan. 2. Shanmuganathan Ravishankar, the intelligence chief, was killed along with 20 other LTTE members on Jan. 6. Three days later, the army seized a strategic causeway, the Elephant Pass, which links the northern Jaffna Peninsula with the rest of the island, taking control of the area after 23 years.
The LTTE's last garrison in northeastern Puthukkudiyirippu town fell on March 4 and Subarathnam Selvatureiy, the rebel's finance chief, died in fighting on March 10. Daya Master, LTTE spokesman and another senior leader surrendered to the soldiers on April 22 after a military offensive rescued more than 100,000 civilians from the rebel-held territory.
In January 1984, Prabhakaran met Mathivathani Erambu, a college student who participated in a hunger strike in Jaffna. They were married in October the same year in the southern Indian city of Chennai and had a daughter and a son.
Fan of Chandra Bose? Surprise, surprise.
QuoteVelupillai Prabhakaran, Leader of Tamil Tigers, Killed at 54
Disco inferno?
A dark day for the tamil people. Hopefully independence wont be denied to them forever, however..
Wow, without the Tigers to draw attention to it, I fear the rampant murder of civlians by the government under the guise of fighting terrorism will go unnoticed!
The North, eh, will rise again?
You laugh, but Southerners and Tamils are the largest national groups to be denied autonomy. They deserve a country as much as we do.
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 02:54:04 PM
You laugh, but Southerners and Tamils are the largest national groups to be denied autonomy. They deserve a country as much as we do.
Kurds, Tibetans, Uigurs ?
all have signifigantly lower populations than the total amount of Southerners and Tamils, assuming half the population in the U.S South at present could be classified as Southern.
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:03:01 PM
assuming half the population in the U.S South at present could be classified as Southern.
:huh:
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:03:01 PM
all have signifigantly lower populations than the total amount of Southerners and Tamils, assuming half the population in the U.S South at present could be classified as Southern.
Yeah, but they don't even come close to the total ammount of Icelanders and Han Chinese :contract:
Quote from: Caliga on May 18, 2009, 03:04:26 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:03:01 PM
assuming half the population in the U.S South at present could be classified as Southern.
:huh:
White Anglo-Saxons Protestants. Can't have no darkies now in his beloved south, ya hear?
Quote from: Caliga on May 18, 2009, 03:04:26 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:03:01 PM
assuming half the population in the U.S South at present could be classified as Southern.
:huh:
Blacks not welcome.
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 02:54:04 PM
They deserve a country as much as we do.
I agree!
Actually, I don't - I can't say I actually know enough about the Tamil's situation to decide if they "deserve" a country or not. I have a pretty good grasp of the plite of the redkneck southerner though.
Tell you what - you guys can have all of the deep South excepting southern Florida and the Atlanta area, neither of which would want to have any part of the "New South" anyway.
Deal?
Actually caliga, viking, blacks are Southerners.
I was making a very conservative estimate, as it is hard to track the number of yankees and hispanics who have merrily come here and refused to assimilate.
Edit: I see others got the wrong idea re: blacks as Southerners. The tragedy therein is that it is hard to convince blacks and white southerners of the same thing. Oh well, divide and conquer spells misfortune for our nation. We may overcome eventually anyhow.
Berkut: The South I aspire to would in all likelihood only constitute five states, including northern florida if practical. You cant have atlanta, however- it will just be re-rebuilt in the event of independence.
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:08:46 PM
Actually caliga, viking, blacks are Southerners.
I was making a very conservative estimate, as it is hard to track the number of yankees and hispanics who have merrily come here and refused to assimilate.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frenchcreoles.com%2FCivilWarSoldiers.jpg&hash=91d446b93a290b06689712b400108e432ec6fd1b)
Southern Blacks!!!
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:08:46 PM
Oh well, divide and conquer spells misfortune for our nation. We may overcome eventually anyhow.
Yeah, it is a bitch to convince the slaves that you are really on their side, isn't it?
So unfair.
Quote from: Berkut on May 18, 2009, 03:13:24 PM
Yeah, it is a bitch to convince the slaves that you are really on their side, isn't it?
Should've promised them their freedom if they had fought. That is, earlier than we did. :cry:
I actually really knew what you meant, Lettuce, but I wanted you to come out and say it. :contract:
IMO a Southerner is someone who lives in the South, period. I don't like this whole nonsense about "carpetbaggers".... arguably my Southernness is more significant than yours because I chose to live here, whereas simple happenstance rendered you 'Southern'.
OTOH you can (and probably will) make the argument that Kentucky isn't really the south, since it did not join Dixie and revolt wholesale.
Quote from: Viking on May 18, 2009, 02:55:12 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 02:54:04 PM
You laugh, but Southerners and Tamils are the largest national groups to be denied autonomy. They deserve a country as much as we do.
Kurds, Tibetans, Uigurs ?
There are 60 million Tamils if you count those living in India IIRC
Quote from: Habbaku on May 18, 2009, 03:17:01 PM
Quote from: Berkut on May 18, 2009, 03:13:24 PM
Yeah, it is a bitch to convince the slaves that you are really on their side, isn't it?
Should've promised them their freedom if they had fought. That is, earlier than we did. :cry:
Indeed.
Of course, if you had been willing to give them their freedom, there never would have been a fight to begin with.
Quote from: Berkut on May 18, 2009, 03:24:46 PM
Of course, if you had been willing to give them their freedom, there never would have been a fight to begin with.
Of course there would have been, what are you talking about? The war was about STATES RAHTS. :)
Blacks revolted due to class interest. Coincidentally, postwar treatment by other Southerners vindicated their actions. Im sorry about that, but I didint do it. None of this makes them non-Southerners.
The idea that someone who lives in the South is a Southerner makes about as much sense as anyone who lives in England being english. mind, alot of people will accept that notion, so there you go. But there is a national/ethnic/cultural identity, I hope you understand.
Kentucky is in the South, but I no longer think Southerners are the majority there? It is hard to say. Southerners may only be a signifigant minority, with appalachians and yankees outnumbering them.
As far as Kentucky's conduct in the war is concerned, they have little to be concerned with. Like many blacks, economic concerns tied large portions of Kentucky to the north, to the point where commercial interests trumped national identification. Even so, and despite the state being wholly occupied for much of the war, Kentuckians served their nation with distinction. The Orphan brigade leaves very small room for criticism.
So how do you tell if someone in the South is Southern or not? Is it just the way they talk? Or do they need to consume a certain amount of grits per year? Watch NASCAR??
Quote from: Berkut on May 18, 2009, 03:24:46 PM
Quote from: Habbaku on May 18, 2009, 03:17:01 PM
Quote from: Berkut on May 18, 2009, 03:13:24 PM
Yeah, it is a bitch to convince the slaves that you are really on their side, isn't it?
Should've promised them their freedom if they had fought. That is, earlier than we did. :cry:
Indeed.
Of course, if you had been willing to give them their freedom, there never would have been a fight to begin with.
It was about freedom and self determination adn states rights!
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 03:08:46 PM
I was making a very conservative estimate, as it is hard to track the number of yankees and hispanics who have merrily come here and refused to assimilate.
The North won the war. They don't have to assimilate, because they were right.
Quote from: Caliga on May 18, 2009, 03:18:55 PM
IMO a Southerner is someone who lives in the South, period. I don't like this whole nonsense about "carpetbaggers".... arguably my Southernness is more significant than yours because I chose to live here, whereas simple happenstance rendered you 'Southern'.
To Lettuce we have to embrace and create old world ethnic bullshit of collective rights and purity. The South will be free when they have their own country and make everybody who lives there who is not 'Southern' some sort of foreigner. For freedom, of course.
I prefer the individual rights the people who founded this country embraced.
Anyway the idea the Tamils and the many other groups of people in the subcontinent lack 'autonomy' in the Democratic State of India is a dangerous idea that would result in the deaths of tens of millions if psychopathic nutcases like Lettuce have his way.
Quote from: Valmy on May 18, 2009, 04:37:25 PM
I prefer the individual rights the people who founded this country embraced.
Except they didn't.
Quote from: Neil on May 18, 2009, 04:51:12 PM
Except they didn't.
Well they laid the foundation for it at least :P
You know, valmy, I believe in individual liberties and the sanctity of sovereign states over an overbearing central government.
Its not like I would ever encourage any ethnic cleansing or the sort. The South as a free country would just be able to govern itself more in line with it's population's desires than it does now, and its culture would stop receding and start recovering.
Im not a 'psychopathic nutcase' by any means. Y'all have some pretty out there notions of me, and I apologise for that.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 18, 2009, 03:24:26 PM
Quote from: Viking on May 18, 2009, 02:55:12 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 02:54:04 PM
You laugh, but Southerners and Tamils are the largest national groups to be denied autonomy. They deserve a country as much as we do.
Kurds, Tibetans, Uigurs ?
There are 60 million Tamils if you count those living in India IIRC
Which makes them the 4th or 5th largest minority in india?
In case you weren't convinced Prabby is dead: http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/may/19/slide-show-1-prabhakaran-is-dead.htm (http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/may/19/slide-show-1-prabhakaran-is-dead.htm)
(WARNING: graphic.)
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 18, 2009, 07:37:29 PM
You know, valmy, I believe in individual liberties and the sanctity of sovereign states over an overbearing central government.
But there will always be a central government, whether it is in Delhi or Washington or Nashville. The question is to what extent that government protects individual rights.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 18, 2009, 03:24:26 PM
There are 60 million Tamils if you count those living in India IIRC
Would it make sense to include them?
I like ..... Tamiles. Ha ha ha
Quote from: Jaron on May 20, 2009, 11:08:18 AM
I like ..... Tamiles. Ha ha ha
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(pueblo)
QuoteLos tamiles (tamil: தமிழர், tamiḻar) son un grupo étnico nativo del estado de Tamil Nadu
:unsure: