planet earth looks blue

There are reports that the Sri Lankan military has killed 15 rebels, although information about the war between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka is filtered through their own networks.  No media are allowed into conflict regions.  The Tamil Eelam homepage hasn’t posted anything new since 2006.  There is fear of a disastrous humanitarian crisis, but Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan Defense Secretary and leader of the offensive, says that the numbers of civilian deaths and people trapped in the battle zones are exaggerated.  According to International agencies, such as the Red Cross, at least hundreds have died, and there are around 250,000 people who need to get out of the conflict areas.  Although the Tamil Tigers have asked for a stop to the fighting, the Sri Lankan military refuses to allow even a cease-fire, which they believe would give the rebels an opportunity to catch their breath.  Right now, Sri Lankan fighters are dominating the Tigers, who have been pushed back into a small area.  Not only are they more equipped militarily and financially, but they have been employing the same guerrilla tactics that the Tigers have been subsisting off for years.  Where do the people stand?  The people seem to disappear with the Tigers when the Sri Lankan forces arrive to take more territory.  Without the presence of the media, it is very difficult to ascertain what they are going through.The Tamil Tigers, or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting since 1976 to secede from Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon.  They want autonomy for the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, a nation called Tamil Eelam, home to the Tamil people, who have a separate history, culture, and language.  Sri Lanka views the Tigers as a terrorist organization that needs to be put down.  We have set such a dangerous precedent by using terrorist as a blanket term to mean ‘enemy’.  Now any country can play the terrorist card, even against people they are oppressing.  And that of course raises the issue - are we oppressing people that we are naming ‘terro

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