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The 2019 Easter Sunday Bombings – A Recurrence Of The Reichstag Fire Like Ruse
The bombing that occurred on Easter Sunday in April 2019 in Sri Lanka, initially attributed to ISIS as retribution for the New Zealand Mosque attacks, killing at least 290 people and injuring hundreds, has now been called into question as a potential hoax. This author, Kagusthan Ariaratnam, challenges the official narrative within the context of Sri Lankan foreign policy.…
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Book Review: Disappointing Dissection of Tragedy
This is an outside-the-box analysis of the Easter Sunday Bombings on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. The official story of the Easter Sunday Massacre in Sri Lanka perfectly fits as fake news as the Sri Lankan government is trying to cover up the Easter Sunday attacks, which is evident in a recent book by…
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The Role of Timely and Actionable Military Intelligence in Winning Wars
Military intelligence is crucial for success on the battlefield. Recent global events highlight the importance of swift and accurate intelligence. For example, the meticulously planned attack by Hamas on Israel revealed a shocking intelligence failure as Israel was caught by surprise (Harding). In his insightful analysis, Ted Singer, a senior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official…
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The US-Led NATO And Its Allies Need Dominance In Afghanistan Over Global Powers, Not Over Their Proxy Taliban
By Siddhant Hira and Kagusthan Ariaratnam As US-led NATO forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan, General Scott Miller — the United States’ longest-serving military commander in the area — told the BBC that the priority of NATO troops is “the risks to our forces” and “the risks to the future of Afghanistan.” General Miller’s comments…
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Spy Tigers: The LTTE Intelligence Wing (Part II)
By Adrien Fontanellaz & Kagusthan Ariaratnam One key contributor to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) effectiveness was the organization’s initial focus on gathering, analyzing, and exploiting intelligence. This dedication led to the development of an intelligence apparatus rivaling established state services. The LTTE formally established its intelligence wing in 1986, known as the…
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Special Report: Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Bombings – An Intelligence Failure? Or an Intelligence Operation?
This article was originally published by “The NATO Association of Canada” on May 25, 2020. Since the Easter Sunday bombings that rocked Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 21, 2019, killing more than 250 people and injuring another 500, questions remain unanswered surrounding the role of the Sri Lankan military and intelligence services before and after…
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The Role of Arts in Countering Violent Extremism
This article was originally published by “NATO Association of Canada” on March 25, 2019. Reporting on the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the BBC wrote that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sponsored by numerous global powers surrounded ISIS within a small patch of land near Syria’s border with Iraq. This…
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Opinion: Returning ISIS foreign fighters, what needs to be done?
This article was originally published by “NATO Association of Canada” on March 4, 2019. An American citizen and former college student, Hoda Muthana, left the US four years ago to join ISIS. She is currently being held in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria. President Donald Trump has tweeted that he had directed Mike Pompeo…
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The Impending Threat of Islamic Radicalization: A Look at Assimilation
By Kagusthan Ariaratnam & Ammna Nasser This article was originally published by “The NATO Association of Canada” on January 22, 2018. Youth radicalization has acquired renewed momentum in the current age of ISIS (Daesh). Repeated victories reported by the Iraqi and Syrian security forces are pushing Daesh to rethink survival strategies to live and fight…
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Unintended Intelligence Consequences: How Yesterday’s Proxy Insurgents turned into Today’s Terrorists
Introduction During the Cold War, nations were increasingly sponsoring and/or supporting insurgencies. For instance, the United States of America supported Afghan-Mujahedin, Nicaraguan Contras, and Tibetan Buddhist fighters. The Soviet Union supported communist guerrillas in Angola, Greece, and South Africa. China supported insurgents in Vietnam. India supported Sri Lankan Tamil rebels. In fact, Trends in Outside…