Author | Daya Gamage |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |
Publication date | November 9, 2016 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Paperback |
Pages | 654 |
ISBN | 978-1-5370-5348-6 |
Tamil Tigers' Debt to America: US Foreign Policy Adventurism & Sri Lanka's Dilemma is a book written by Daya Gamage, a retired public affairs assistant and political specialist of United States Department of State. [1] The book provides an analysis and interpretation of Washington's covert and overt foreign policy adventurism on Sri Lanka and practices that revived the country’s domestically annihilated military organisation Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the global arena.
The author, Daya Gamage was a public affairs assistant and political specialist from 1970-1994 at the US diplomatic mission in Sri Lanka. He won a Meritorious Honor Award for his superior performance and professionalism in 1988 from the U.S. State Department. [2]
The book describes how Washington created a conducive ambience through its foreign policy to make a respectable global recognition to the Tamil Diaspora, [3] to bring Sri Lanka to the UNHRC in Geneva and possibly for war crimes at ICC in The Hague, [4] after its disappointment in failure to salvage the leadership of Tamil Tigers, [2] the organization which was designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by America itself under US Federal laws, at the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Also it documents about how then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had used her authority to suspend IMF funding to Sri Lanka during the last months of the armed conflict as a way of put pressure on the Rajapaksa regime to halts its military offensive against Tamil Tigers to facilitate Prabhakaran to leave the battle ground. [5] [6]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.
The mixed economy of Sri Lanka was worth $84 billion by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and $296.959 billion by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country had experienced an annual growth of 6.4 percent from 2003 to 2012, well above its regional peers. This growth was driven by the growth of non-tradable sectors, which the World Bank warned to be both unsustainable and unequitable. Growth has slowed since then. In 2019 with an income per capita of 13,620 PPP Dollars or 3,852 (2019) nominal US dollars, Sri Lanka was re-classified as a lower middle income nation with the population around 22 million (2021) by the World Bank from a previous upper middle income status.
The Sri Lankan civil war was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government.
Velupillai Prabhakaran was a Tamil revolutionary. Prabhakaran was a major figure of Tamil nationalism, and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.
Erik Solheim is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme from 2016 to 2018. Solheim is a member of the Green Party. Erik Solheim has 4 children from two marriages.
The flag of Tamil Eelam was designated as the national flag of the proposed state in 1990. The tiger symbol of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was created in 1977, differentiating it from the LTTE's emblem by leaving out the letters inscribing the movement's name. In 2005, the LTTE released a guide providing instructions and explaining the correct usage of the Tamil Eelam Flag. The guide written in Tamil specifies the regulations for flying alone or with national flags of other countries, and for general handling of the flag. The flag has four colours: yellow, red, black, and white. It is banned in Sri Lanka and is often seen at protests and functions concerning Tamil Eelam nationalism around the world.
Alfred Thangarajah Duraiappah was a Sri Lankan lawyer who served as Mayor of Jaffna from 1970 until his assassination. He was also a Member of Parliament for Jaffna from 1960 to 1965. Duraiappah was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Anuradhapura massacre occurred in Sri Lanka in 1985 and was carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This was the largest massacre of Sinhalese civilians by the LTTE to date; it was also the first major operation carried out by the LTTE outside a Tamil majority area. Initially, EROS claimed responsibility for the massacre, but it later retracted the statement, and joined the PLOTE in denouncing the incident. The groups later accused the LTTE for the attack. Since then, no Tamil militant group has admitted to committing the massacre. However, state intelligence discovered that the operation was ordered by the LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. He assigned the massacre to the LTTE Mannar commander Victor and it was executed by Victor's subordinate Anthony Kaththiar. The LTTE claimed the attack was in revenge of the 1985 Valvettiturai massacre, where the Sri Lanka Army killed 70 Tamil civilians in Prabhakaran's hometown. In 1988, the LTTE claimed that the massacre was planned and executed under the guidance of Indian intelligence agency, RAW.
Sri Lanka and the United States established diplomatic relations on 23 October 1948.
Charles Lucas Anthony was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.
Rajakumaran Rajaratnam is a Sri Lankan-American former hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm. He is also the author of his memoir, Uneven Justice: The Plot to Sink Galleon.
The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic.
Divisions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam refers to the military, intelligence and overseas divisions the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Most of these divisions were destroyed during the Eelam War IV, and only parts of the intelligence and financing divisions remain overseas.
Prabhakaran is a 2008 Sri Lankan biographical war film directed by Thushara Peiris and produced by Osmond de Silva. It stars Priyankara Rathnayake, Anuruddhika Padukkage and Dasun Madhusanka in lead roles along with Darshan Dharmaraj and Sarath Dikkumbura. Music composed by Mahesh Denipitiya. It is the 1104th film in Sri Lankan cinema. The film gained notoriety after Peiris was attacked by a mob in Chennai, India during a visit to work on the film's dubbed Tamil version. The attack was a result of an opposition towards the film by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supporters in the midst of ongoing protests against the Sri Lankan Civil War.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka, had various organizations affiliated to it. These include charitable organizations, political parties, state intelligence organizations and even governments of Sri Lanka and other countries. Although the LTTE was militarily defeated in 2009, the Sri Lankan government alleges that a number of foreign-based organizations are still promoting its ideology.
Velayutham Dayanidhi was a leading member and media spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.
Daya Dharmapala Kilittuwa Gamage is a Sri Lankan politician and businessman. He is a member of parliament (MP) and former Minister of Primary Industries. And he also the national organizer for the United National Party (UNP). He elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka at the 2015 Parliamentary Election from Ampara District by obtaining 70,201 preferential votes.
Debt-trap diplomacy is a term to describe an international financial relationship where a creditor country or institution extends debt to a borrowing nation partially, or solely, to increase the lender's political leverage. The creditor country is said to extend excessive credit to a debtor country with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions when the debtor country becomes unable to meet its repayment obligations. The conditions of the loans are often not publicized. The borrowed money commonly pays for contractors and materials sourced from the creditor country.
The Sri Lankan economic crisis is an ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka that started in 2019. It is the country's worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. It has led to unprecedented levels of inflation, near-depletion of foreign exchange reserves, shortages of medical supplies, and an increase in prices of basic commodities. The crisis is said to have begun due to multiple compounding factors like tax cuts, money creation, a nationwide policy to shift to organic or biological farming, the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. The subsequent economic hardships resulted in the 2022 Sri Lankan protests. Sri Lanka received a lifeline in the form of an Indian line of credit amounting to $4 billion. This substantial credit infusion served to cover the costs of importing essential goods and fuel. As a result, the foreign currency reserves of debt-ridden Sri Lanka experienced a notable improvement, reaching $2.69 billion.