Sri Lanka government about to defeat decades-long insurgency

Reports from Sri Lanka say the government is in control of the entire coastline and has cornered the Tamil Tigers in what could be the end of the 25-year insurgency. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Saturday that his military had "finally defeated" the insurgents after a generation-long war that killed thousands of civilians, saw the first use of suicide bombings and of women and children in terrorist attacks, and included assassinations of many Sri Lankan political leaders and, allegedly, of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi. According to the Associated Press, the Tamil Tigers rebel group, which had been fighting for the establishment of an independent state for the minority Tamils in the island nation, was calling for peace and for negotiations with the government in Colombo. It was a far cry from the 1980s when the Tamil Tigers operated a virtual state in the country's north, commanded a navy and controlled a smuggling network, the AP said. The vast majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, mostly Buddhist and speak the Sinhala language; the Tamils come from India, are primarily Hindu and speak Tamil, according to the nonprofit Council on Foreign Relations. But the government has rejected entreaties for a truce, even from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and pressed on with a massive bombing campaign against the remaining rebels. Tigers spokesman Selvarasa Pathmanathan told the AP that U.S. President Barak Obama call on Wednesday for a peaceful resolution of the conflict was welcome, but did not agree to Obama's request for lay down their weapons.

They're back! Obama to revive military commissions to try terror suspects

Maybe the most important thing to remember is that the Obama administration is still a work in progress, even if it is filled with very smart, capable people and led by an apparently very smart and capable president. Otherwise, it's hard to see Barak Obama's expected decision today to resume military trials for high-profile terror suspects as anything but a betrayal of a promise he made to millions of voters in the 2008 presidential campaign. If media reports are true, Obama plans to announce today that the Bush-era military commission system will be reinstituted, albeit with changes to better-protect detainees' rights, according to Cable News Network (CNN). CNN cited three unamed administration officials who said the commission trials would resume with expanded due process rights for suspects. Among the changes will be outlawing the use of evidence obtained using controversial invasive interrogation techniques, new restrictions on the use of unsubstantiated allegations, guaranteeing the right to remain silent and allowing suspects more say in choosing their lawyers, according to a statement released by the White House. "These reforms will begin to restore the Commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law," Obama said in the statement. "This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values." Administration critics and some allies jumped on the statement, calling it a retreat. The administration denied that, but that's exactly what it was. Obama apparently decided that it was not worth all the problems that completely doing away with the commissions would create, even though he strongly objected to them in Congress and during the campaign. But some commentators speculated that Obama's decision merely reflected the difference between campaigning and governing.

The last American car

Chrysler's bankruptcy filing may have bought the beleaguered carmaker a little more time in the short term, but signals the end of the U.S. automobile industry as any of us have ever known it. When the third-largest domestic car company emerges from court protection in August, the entire industry will not look anything like it does now. If the U.S. government gets its way, and there doesn't seem to be much reason to think it won't, Chrysler will be majority-owned by the United Auto Workers healthcare trust fund and merged with Fiat, which will be tasked with introducing the innovative, gas-efficient new models that stumped its previous owners for 40 years. If it is successful running Chrysler, Fiat -- an Italian company -- will end up the majority owner, according to the Reuters international news service. General Motors, once the symbol of American capitalism, is laying off tens of thousands of workers, shutting down subsidiaries and will wind up majority-owned by the U.S. government. Bondholders and previous shareholders will end up with very little. Only Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, has not mortgaged its present and future to borrow billions from the feds. U.S. President Barak Obama endorsed the Chrysler bankruptcy filing, saying it would save jobs at the automaker, and at auto parts companies and other firms that supply it. But Obama criticized some of Chrysler's bondholders and creditors that refused to agree to a proposal to reduce the automaker's debt by nearly $5 billion. "I stand with Chrysler's employees and their families and communities," he said. "I don't stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices. That's why I'm supporting Chrysler's plans to use our bankruptcy laws to clear away its remaining obligations." The bankruptcy filing evoked memories of 1980, when the United States provided more than $1 billion in loan guarantees to keep Chrysler afloat.