Ending Sri Lanka’s civil war
The Sri Lankan government defeats the 25-year-old Tamil Tiger insurgency, but can it win the peace?
Sri Lanka’s 25-year-old civil war ended Sunday, said Britain’s The Independent in an editorial, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed to “silence our guns.” They had little choice, as the Sri Lankan army had them surrounded on a 1.2-mile spit of land. But “the Tigers should not be mourned,” as their bloody fight for an ethnic Tamil homeland killed many civilians and used others as “human shields.”
The end of the “once-fercious” Tamil Tigers army was “as bitter and bloody as everyone had feared,” said Britain’s The Guardian in an editorial, but the civil war will continue unless the government can make peace with the Tamil minority, instead of acting “vengeful in its triumphalism.” The international community “put pressure on Colombo too late to stop a bloodbath,” but it must insist on accountability now.
Sri Lanka’s leaders don’t care what the West has to say, said Richard Fernandez in Pajamas Media, because they have China. As the West and India ceased arming Colombo in the 1990s, China's “money and political clout” became key to the Tamil Tigers' defeat. In return, China gets a strategic naval base. Perhaps the Western diplomatic model has "gone down in defeat together with the Tigers.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published