With Obama reiterating gung-ho visions of the imminent/inevitable defeat of global terrorism – focused on the growing presence of IS in Libya this time round – this is a good moment to take heed of a rather more sober assessment of the actual ground situation. The war on terror: an interim report Paul Rogers, openDemocracy, 7 April 2016 Al-Qaida and ISIS bookmark a fifteen-year era of global conflict marked by western hubris and failure. Chambers Street, New York, 11 September 2001. David Farquhar/Flickr. Some rights reserved In the wake of 9/11 there was widespread support across western governments for strong… More

Here’s my latest effort to rebuff some of the nonsense peddled about the Sri Lankan conflict – in this instance pulling my recent book into the morass. Confusion Reigns: Roberts On The War’s Final Stages Colombo Telegraph, 12 April 2016 From Michael Roberts’ latest essay ‘Attempts To Rescue Pirapāharan Et Al In 2009’ (Colombo Telegraph, 5 April 2016) I see that I have joined the list of authors whose work has been subjected to his less than forensic critical attentions. In this instance his focus is the final stages of the Sri Lankan conflict. Rarely one for modest enterprise in this context,… More

Sri Lanka: in defence of Oslo Another week – and another rebuttal letter published as a full page feature in Sri Lankan newspaper The Island. Wonder how long I can keep this up for . . . Salter adds to war of words on CFA The Island, April 7, 2016 Gamini Gunawardene’s comments on my most recent response to your correspondent Shamindra Ferdinando (The Island, 5 April 2016) have been brought to my attention. I don’t propose to respond on every issue he raises, just those that relate directly to my earlier reply – Gunawardene’s scattershot historical assertions are probably… More

Thousands of Syrian refugees are living in Turkish refugee camps “In their desperation to seal their borders EU leaders have wilfully ignored the simplest of facts: Turkey is not a safe country for Syrian refugees and is getting less safe by the day, The large-scale returns of Syrian refugees we have documented highlight the fatal flaws in the EU-Turkey deal. . . .It is a deal that can only be implemented with the hardest of hearts and a blithe disregard for international law.. . . Far from pressuring Turkey to improve the protection it offers Syrian refugees, the EU is… More

The Island gives a front page slot my latest response to their absurdly slanted (and continuing) coverage of Norway’s peace facilitation role in the Sri Lankan conflict. (Probably not the last of either . . .) A NATO role in failed Norwegian peace bid and costly propaganda projects’ – a response March 29, 2016 Once again I find myself in the position of replying to your columnist Shamindra Ferdinando, this time with respect to his 23 March 2016 column ‘A NATO role in failed Norwegian peace bid and costly propaganda projects’. In a column peppered with grandiose, and in several… More

Anyone who’s ever visited this amazing primeval forest – the last such left in Europe – home to both its native bison and an amazing array of flora and fauna, knows this is a truly catastrophic decision. Along with Polish democracy, high time to save the puszcza Białowieża! Poland approves large-scale logging in Europe’s last primeval forest Greenpeace accuses government of ignoring scientists over fate of Białowieża woodland, home to 20,000 animal species and Europe’s tallest trees. AFP, Mar 26, 2016 Poland has approved large-scale logging in Europe’s last primeval woodland in a bid to combat a beetle infestation despite… More

Former ISIS commander Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who ordered fighters to ‘shoot into crowds’ of civilians  Here’s a revealing BBC Panorama backgrounder on the continuing international intelligence scramble to try and head off the current wave of IS attacks in Europe. IS in Europe: The race to the death By Peter Taylor, John O’Kane and Ceri Isfryn. BBC News, 23 March 2016 Tuesday’s devastating attacks in Brussels, in which more than 30 people died and scores were injured, are the latest phase of the war on Europe declared by the so-called Islamic State. The attacks cast a dark shadow over last week’s… More

Film of The Colombo Book Launch The video quality isn’t exactly pristine, but the audio is actually pretty good – certainly more than enough to catch the main contours of the discussion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf5XfudbUB8

CR Joint Analysis Workshop Report Here’s my report from a recent Conciliation Resources ‘Joint Analysis Workshop’ held in the context of the ‘Peacebuiling and Reconciliation’ Accord Insight publication on the same theme for which they have invited me to act as Specialist Editor. Web page includes some great video interviews with some of the key participants too! http://www.c-r.org/resources/joint-analysis-workshop-peacebuilding-and-reconciliation

Here’s an India-focused report from the recent launch of my Sri Lanka book in New Delhi. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur. (AP File Photo) ‘Killing Rajiv Gandhi Was LTTE’s Biggest Mistake’, Leader Reportedly Said All India | Indo-Asian News Service: March 10, 2016 New Delhi:  Assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was the Tamil Tigers’ biggest mistake, a new book quotes the late LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham as saying. Balasingham told Norway’s former Special Envoy to Sri Lanka Erik Solheim that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his feared intelligence chief… More