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    <title>The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) Editorial</title>
    <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk</link>
    <description>The Sunday Times is the largest selling independent English language weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is widely respected for its fair, balanced and accurate reporting.</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <managingEditor>ramesh@sundaytimes.wnl.lk</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>ramesh@sundaytimes.wnl.lk</webMaster>
    <copyright>sundaytimes</copyright>
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      <title>The humiliation of a hero.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 22, Aug 2010 01:45:08 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100822/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The medals he wore, no doubt, were earned by him; even though they also included those he recommended for himself. There is little debate on the fact that he also wears the scars of battle on his body -- no better proof of his valour in the battlefield. For many, these medals are merely colourfully designed soda bottle tops. The notorious Ugandan despot General Idi Amin awarded himself so many that both sides of his broad chest were covered with them, the extras given to his son to wear even if he was not in the Army.]]></description>
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      <title>The lessons to be learnt.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 15, Aug 2010 01:05:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100815/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The US wanted a wider participatory role for the International Community and the Sri Lankan Government was able to fend that off. But it clearly showed that, like in the much worse case of the Indians forcing the dead-duck Provincial Council system down our throats in 1987 on the pretext of devolution of power, the Americans were able to force this Commission on us on the basis of reconciliation.]]></description>
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      <title>How to win a case.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 08, Aug 2010 03:16:10 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100808/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[It may be said that Sri Lanka recorded its first major success on the international stage last week, since the stonewalling at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in the immediate aftermath of the war victory over the LTTE a year ago. On that occasion, the Non Aligned Movement, and India came together to block a Western putsch to have Sri Lanka condemned for alleged human rights violations in the last few weeks of the military offensive that eventually liquidated the LTTE war machinery.]]></description>
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      <title>Do as they say; not as they do.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 01, Aug 2010 01:45:15 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100801/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[A new media outlet has spilt the beans about the conduct of the US-led war in Afghanistan. Not that it was breaking news as such; for regular news agencies and newspapers have irregularly been carrying news of indiscriminate killings, torture, drone attacks and civilian deaths ever since the US launched its military offensives in Afghanistan, Iraq and later Pakistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.]]></description>
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      <title>Dengue: Cast the safety net now.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 25, Jul 2010 02:32:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100725/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Distracted by impending constitutional reforms, UN panels, skyrocketing cost-of-living issues, 'death fasts' and test matches, a silent killer in the form of the dengue fever lurks in every province in the country. The death toll stands at 164 for this year alone with a sudden surge in recent weeks following the rains. Some 22,000 (and counting) people are known to have been hospitalised throughout the country and a countless number are receiving ayurvedic or other medical attention.]]></description>
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      <title>Need for compromise.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 18, Jul 2010 01:02:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100718/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[There has been a sudden change of approach at the highest levels of Government to the issue of constitutional reforms, something that has been on the backburner for some time and not without its share of controversy. It is a welcome change. The proposed reforms, staggered as they were to be, were causing ripples within the coalition of ruling parties as well as the Opposition and discerning sections of the citizenry.]]></description>
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      <title>Diplomatic farce and hara-kiri.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 11, Jul 2010 01:41:15 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100711/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Within 48 hours of the state media heralding the triumphant return of President Mahinda Rajapaksa after settling a dispute in the neighbouring Maldives, came the news of one of the worst comedowns in the country's recent history as far as its external relations are concerned; the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recalling his envoy in Colombo for 'consultations' - diplomatic speak for telling the host they are not impressed with what has happened.]]></description>
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      <title>The need to meet the challenge.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 04, Jul 2010 01:48:02 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100704/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[An email circulating these days is that of a speech made by former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at a dinner in London for the Sri Lankan cricket team years ago when he was en-route to the UN in New York. An interesting aside he made was about the manner in which skipper Arjuna Ranatunga walked to the boundary line (but did not cross it) and the resultant consequences after spin wiz Muttiah Muralitharan was 'no balled' by an Australian umpire for allegedly 'throwing' the ball illegally rather than bowling it properly.]]></description>
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      <title>Long-term costs of long-term Presidency.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 27, Jun 2010 01:34:15 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100627/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The Government is on the verge of introducing some amendments to the Constitution, having seemingly opted to drop the idea of rooting for an entirely new Constitution. This may be a better option but it also revives the old joke about the Sri Lanka Constitution being available in a British bookstore under the 'periodicals' section due to the frequency of its amendments.]]></description>
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      <title>Concerted effort to counter war crimes charge.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 20, Jun 2010 01:12:08 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100620/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[When one reads this week's debate on Sri Lanka in Britain's House of Commons, one is sent in a virtual time capsule to a bygone era when Andrew Bonar Law was the British Secretary of State for the Colonies informing the Honourable Members of the 'Mother Parliament' of developments in Ceylon, one of its many colonies at the time.]]></description>
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      <title>The debt trap.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 13, Jun 2010 02:11:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100613/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Hot on the heels of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's State visit to India, comes the official visit of China's Vice Prime Minister to Sri Lanka. This might fuel some excitement among the diplomatic community and strategic studies analysts, but whether one need read too much into this co-incidence is best left open.]]></description>
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      <title>"Beware, Mahinda".</title>
      <pubDate>Sun 06, Jun 2010 01:11:25 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100606/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Whether the net result of rushing in to host the IIFA event had a positive or negative impact can be gone into later, but it clearly revealed the intricate connections the LTTE had with the Tamil Nadu film industry which itself is intertwined with the state's political system. Now that we have played good hosts to the visiting Indians at whatever cost, President Mahinda Rajapaksa goes to India next week in this backdrop to discuss serious issues of state and bilateral relations.]]></description>
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      <title>Environment and conflict of interest.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 May 2010 01:21:45 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100530/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[US President Barack Obama, under fire for dragging his feet on the continuing Gulf of Mexico oil spill which is destroying the environment and threatening the life and wellbeing of the people in those coastal states was forced to meet the media, and through them address the people of America.]]></description>
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      <title>Disaster prevention a disaster.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 23 May 2010 01:49:01 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100523/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[It was only the other day that we were told of 'big plans' to reclaim the seafront opposite the popular Colombo promenade, Galle Face Green, to build a 'new city'; and then reclaim a two-kilometre stretch of land from there to Bambalapitiya where only skyscrapers would be built in a mega-city within the city.]]></description>
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      <title>Rescue democracy from corruption.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 May 2010 01:16:42 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100516/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[For 65 years Sri Lankans have been commemorating V-Day, when World War II ended with the capture of Berlin by advancing Russian troops and the death of Adolf Hitler. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) had its moments of anxiety during that war, however distant the actual fighting may have been, but none like the anguish modern-day Sri Lankans felt in a three decade-long separatist insurgency right here at home.]]></description>
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      <title>Rescue democracy from corruption.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 May 2010 01:23:10 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100509/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Among them are several announcements that the Government is going to investigate at least some of the instances of corruption in the recent past. These range from the reported rackets in the petroleum sector; pharmaceutical purchases; and the issue of building permits by the Urban Development Authority on the one hand, to the appointment of a Reconciliation Commission to go into communal integration as well as the relaxation of Emergency Regulations and the pardoning of a journalist whose punishment far exceeded his purported crime.]]></description>
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      <title>Strategic studies in foreign relations.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 02 May 2010 01:01:45 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100502/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[President Mahinda Rajapaksa has just returned from the South Asian regional grouping (SAARC) summit in Bhutan urging member-states to be wary of foreign influences and external solutions to local problems. Despite its otherwise lacklustre performance, SAARC has, however, maintained at least a semblance of regional unity where there was none before. But while the President's remarks targeted the Western nations given his experience with them in recent years, especially their non-support during the 'war years', his other plea, for member-states to introspect and look inward is also relevant in the context of the 'post-war era', at least where Sri Lanka is concerned.]]></description>
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      <title>Lessons from India for new Govt.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 25 Apr 2010 01:15:05 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100425/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The unfolding events across the Palk Straits cannot go unnoticed here. From about ten days ago, a huge gathering storm has all but eclipsed the clouds of volcanic ash from Iceland. It concerns the multi-million dollar mega-extravaganza called the Indian Premier League (IPL) involving the who's who of Indian business and show-biz, said to be the sixth largest sporting event in the world. It has transformed cricket into an entertainment and then a business.]]></description>
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      <title>Turn this curse into a blessing.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:48:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100418/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[For a nation besotted with politics, this is possibly the only time when there is a semblance of a break from the year-round activity on the political front. Politicians themselves either escape to their constituencies or holiday abroad; the luckier ones being those who go abroad on the pretext of official business while the taxpayers foot the bill for their vacation. Not this year though.]]></description>
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      <title>Higher the majority greater the expectations.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:39:58 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100411/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Voter fatigue - and apathy finally took its toll. Since last year, the Government has wanted to plan its strategy by hitching its wagon to the military defeat of the LTTE, but the voter turnout at one of the most important elections - the election that chose the country's next set of lawmakers, on Thursday set a new record. This was for the lowest turnout ever for a general election, even surpassing the elections of 1989 during the reign of terror.]]></description>
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      <title>The so-called people’s mandate.</title>
      <pubDate>Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:38:56 +0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100404/Editorial.html</link>
      <category>Editorial</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The ruling party does not really say why it wants this huge majority; pressed, it says it is to change the Constitution. Vague noises that the UPFA wants a 'strong government to implement rapid economic development' etc., ring hollow and rumblings of reverting to the Westminster style of Government, i.e. abolishing the Executive Presidency and reverting to the supremacy of Parliament seem too good to be true.]]></description>
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