Civil War // Current

Sri Lanka Art Camp (In Pictures BBC NEWS)

"Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim children in Sri Lanka have come together for an art camp... more

TaylorAlexandra
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20 days ago
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"A View Framed by Barbed Wire" Economist on Sri Lanka

The Economist has a powerful personal story from a Tamil girl living in a refugee camp... more

afitzgerald
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1 month ago
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Lest We Forget: Freedom Comes at Great Cost

“Lest We Forget” is a 5-min. short film directed by Brandon McCormick. Set in a... more

disembedded
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2 months ago
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Out of Control: How Kenya is sliding into civil war

After the 2007 elections were badly organized and eventually rigged, Kenya went into a... more

salah
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2 months ago
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Guest Commentary – The Rise of Extremism « Stand Up For America

The Rise of Extremism: By Warren Bonesteel Guest Commentator on Stand Up For... more

smkovalinsky
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2 months ago
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GameVisions Review: Darkest of Days

Darkest of Days sets out to carry gamers through the time stream to multiple historic... more

Award
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2 months ago
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The Coming Civil War

NARLO's video about the coming civil war between socialisists and patriots. WATCH OUT... more

GorgonzolaRanger
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2 months ago
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Man-on-Man Rape: The New Weapon in Congo's Civil War

Rape has always been used as a means of intimidation, but now women are not the only... more

JaminDime
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3 months ago
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Civil War Infantry Weekend - Huntersville, NC

August 22 (10am-4pm) - 23, 2009 (1-4pm). Civil War soldiers on the grounds providing... more

amaness
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3 months ago
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Top Ten Famous People Born August 20 | Socyberty

A look at some of the more famous and infamous people born on today’s date in history.

REPuckett
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3 months ago
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In The Name of The People

A documentary filmed during the late 1980's that gives you a look into the daily life... more

eerriikkaa
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4 months ago
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Newton Knight

Newton Knight fully supported secession in America. Fortunately he was in the deep... more

eldamon
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4 months ago
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Honduras: The Crisis is Peaking Again!

Honduras is approaching the brink of a civil war. This article succinctly recaps... more

trinity4
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4 months ago
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Welcome to Hard Power

This is Chuck Baginski, the editor of Hard Power. Our mission is to keep you informed... more

HardPower
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4 months ago
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LTTE defeated at what cost?

Abeysekera: The Sri Lankan government sacrificed civilians and democracy to defeat the... more

Vierotchka
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5 months ago
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The disappearing act in Sri Lanka

Abeysekera: Sri Lankan intelligence has always been extremely good at torture. Part 1... more

Vierotchka
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5 months ago
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Sri Lanka shows rebel chief's body

Sri Lankan television broadcast images Tuesday of what it said was the body of Tamil... more

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6 months ago
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Tamil Tigers lay down their guns

The Tamil Tigers admitted defeat Sunday in their fierce quarter-century war for a separate homeland as government forces raced to clear the last pockets of rebel resistance from the war zone in the north.

Far from the battlefield, thousands of Sri Lankans danced in the streets of Colombo, celebrating the stunning collapse of one of the world's most sophisticated insurgencies. But with rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran still at large, the threat of renewed guerrilla warfare remained.

Several rebel fighters committed suicide when they were surrounded, but it wasn't clear whether Prabhakaran or other leaders were among them.

The Tamil Tigers once controlled a shadow state complete with courts, police and a tax system across a wide swath of the north. By Sunday, troops had surrounded the remaining rebels in a 0.4-square-mile (1-square-kilometer) patch of land and were fighting off suicide bombs and other attacks, the military said.

Huge clouds of black smoke rose over the battlefield as soldiers inspected the charred remains of rebel trucks and heavy artillery pieces, according to footage broadcast on state television. Civilians carrying backpacks and rolling suitcases were escorted from the area.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the civilians who had been trapped in the war zone — 63,000 in all — fled to safety during the past 72 hours. But rebel official Selvarasa Pathmanathan said the bodies of thousands of wounded and slain civilians lay strewn across the war zone.

"This battle has reached its bitter end," Pathmanathan said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "It is our people who are dying now from bombs, shells, illness and hunger. We cannot permit any more harm to befall them. We remain with one last choice — to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns."

Media Minister Anura Yapa dismissed the appeal. "We want to free this country from the terrorist LTTE," he said, referring to the group by its formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The military spokesman denied the rebels had laid down their weapons. "Fighting is still going on in small pockets," Nanayakkara said.

Rights groups have accused the rebels of holding civilians as human shields, and blamed the government for shelling the densely populated area where they sought refuge. Both sides denied the accusations.

With most journalists and aid workers barred from the war zone, it was not possible to verify the accounts of either side. Health officials in the area have said thousands of civilians were killed in shelling since the beginning of the year.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority after years of marginalization at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that after defeating the rebels, his government will begin talks toward power sharing and political reconciliation between the two communities. But many Tamils are skeptical that the victorious government will be willing to make real concessions.The Tamil Tigers admitted defeat Sunday in their fierce quarter-century war for a... more