Sri Lanka’s Scars Trace Lines of War Without End
June 15, 2007 7:16 AM   Subscribe

Sri Lanka's Scars Trace Lines of War Without End. This article in the New York Times does a pretty good job of covering the state of the conflict in Sri Lanka up till today.
posted by chunking express (9 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sorry, I thought people might be aware that there has been fighting in Sri Lanka for the past 20 odd years, and it has recently flared up again.

People, there has been fighting in Sri Lanka for the past 20 odd years.

Now you can all read the article at the NYT and not be confused. It talks about the displaced people, white van abductions, and violence by the LTTE and the government.
posted by chunking express at 7:26 AM on June 15, 2007








The Economist recently covered this conflict and concluded that, given the current leaders of the Sri Lankan government and the rebel movement, peace was unlikely to ensue any time soon.

The Tamil Tigers are not to be taken lightly. There was a vague allusion that they had captured six government tanks. And they carry out naval operations. And of course, they have their own air force of Czech-built propeller planes they smuggled in piece by piece.
posted by Midnight Creeper at 8:48 AM on June 15, 2007


And, of course, the war nerd!
posted by bonecrusher at 9:45 AM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]


Midnight Creeper writes "And of course, they have their own air force of Czech-built propeller planes they smuggled in piece by piece."

There was a great bit in that Economist article about the LTTE airforce:

"The Czech-made planes are believed to have a top speed of 260kph. To shoot them down, the government is negotiating to buy five Russian MIG-29s, capable of a speed of 2,400kph. A top official suggested it would do better to buy a couple of second-world-war British Spitfires."
posted by mr_roboto at 10:49 AM on June 15, 2007


An emergency assessment by the United Nations found signs of an increase in child malnutrition in Jaffna. The government has blocked the study’s release.

How does the Sri Lankan government block the release of a UN study? I guess the writer meant, its release was blocked in Sri Lanka?

Thanks for this; I'm ashamed to say I didn't know anything about it.
posted by switchsonic at 3:34 PM on June 15, 2007


The Spit's a good bird, but you don't need something even that fast or manuverable against a Zlin Z-143. I wonder if they could get old "Able Dogs" and make 'em flyable? They'd have the right mix of slow speed, firepower and loiter time, plus they'd be doubly useful for air-to-ground.
posted by pax digita at 10:07 AM on June 16, 2007


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