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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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Thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine devastates the country, its people, and even the world. How far will he go? Does it matter? What matters the most is how the US-led NATO responds to Putin. Back in 1994, in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, Grant Hammond, Deputy Director of the Center for Strategy and Technology at the United States…
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From the Eyes of a Tiger: International Dimensions of the Sri Lankan civil war – Part I
I was only 17 years old when I was kidnapped from high school and forcibly deployed as a child soldier by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers. I rose quickly in the ranks to become an intelligence officer collaborating closely with the Tiger leadership. Over more than four…
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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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To What Extent Is Military Force An Effective Response To Terrorism?
The aim of this title is to not only to define the extent of effectiveness of military force against terrorism, but also to understand whether it is an appropriate response, and if so, should it be justified in all cases – legally and or morally. The impact and use of military force has many variables,…
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The “Neo-Cold War” in the Indian Ocean Region
Addressing an event last week at London’s Oxford University, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said some people are seeing “imaginary Chinese Naval bases in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the Hambantota Port (in southern Sri Lanka) is a commercial joint venture between our Ports Authority and China Merchants – a company listed on the Hong Kong…
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Recognizing Outdated Power and Eliminating the Divide: Countering Terrorism through Smart Power
Introduction Countering terrorism through “smart power” is a concept deliberated on creative thinking to combat one’s enemy, especially terrorists. This essay will examine the reconceptualization of traditional approaches toward counterterrorism and discuss how ideologies from a Western liberal democracy can respond to an unconventional terrorist ideology. To begin with, the term “power” will be defined.…
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Responsibility to Protect Syria – A Case Study
Introduction It is widely believed that non-intervention is the norm within an international society since international law restricts the use of force except for purposes of self-defense or by way of collective enforcement as authorized by the United Nations Security Council (Bellamy and Wheeler 2014). This misunderstanding is grounded in the debate on how the…