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When All Is Lost, Spin The Media
   Next Article → COUNTER-TERRORISM: The Palatial Prisons Of Iraq
May 15, 2009: Every day, troops and LTTE gunmen fire on each other. But the most effective operation for the LTTE are daily press releases for the world media. A major feature of the fighting, at least according to the LTTE, has been attacks on Tamil civilians in the two square kilometer no-fire zone along a beach in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE blame the army, and the army points out that they have no need to fire on civilians, and have not done so. The army insists that the LTTE is firing on its own civilians, in a desperate attempt to generate support among foreign governments and media, to force the Sri Lankan government to agree to cease fire, that would allow the LTTE to reorganize and rebuild before resuming their campaign to partition the island. The LTTE have been playing the media for years, and know what to say. Baseless accusations will be accepted by journalists if you frame them the right way. The government has learned not trust journalists at all, and banned them from the combat zone. NGOs, like the UN, operate like the media, choosing to back the version of reality that best served their interests. Thus the UN believed most atrocity claims and kept calling for a ceasefire. Naturally, the government saw the UN as LTTE allies, and treated them accordingly.

The army has been maneuvering to provide safe (from LTTE fire) zones so that Tamil civilians could escape from LTTE control. Over 5,000 civilians have escaped like this in the last few days. But the army is also constantly advancing. A few meters here, and a few meters there every day. The army believes that the no-fire zone will be gone in days, not weeks. In response, the LTTE has been launching suicide attacks on land and at sea. But the army and navy is used to this, and ready to foil these attacks.

May 10, 2009: The army fought for several hours to capture an LTTE trench line, along with 35 LTTE bodies. An excavator vehicle (used to help dig trench lines)  was also captured, along with 40 assault rifles and machine-guns.

May 8, 2009: The no-fire zone has shrunk to 2.5 square kilometers, where a few hundred LTTE gunmen hide among 20,000 Tamil civilian prisoners.

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Bob Cortez       5/15/2009 7:40:25 AM
Like I have said many times, the NGOs have to move their product and in this case the LTTE controls that aspect of their work.  The price is compliance with LTTE demands and posture.  Add to that the current ideology and you have something that will set up and work for you. 
 
A good counter would be to show the pedigree of the information the UN retails.
 
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grichens       5/15/2009 8:04:22 AM
"Baseless accusations will be accepted by journalists if you frame them the right way."
It's the phony "Jenin Massacre" all over again.
 
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WarNerd       5/16/2009 4:41:02 AM

Baseless accusations will be accepted by journalists if you frame them the right way. The government has learned not trust journalists at all, and banned them from the combat zone. NGOs, like the UN, operate like the media, choosing to back the version of reality that best served their interests. Thus the UN believed most atrocity claims and kept calling for a ceasefire. Naturally, the government saw the UN as LTTE allies, and treated them accordingly.

People are losing faith in a lot of the institutions that were supposed to make things better because of these behaviors.  This is unfortunate, as most have done, or at least tried to do, much good in the past.  But it is a particularly nasty form of corruption and will destroy these organizations if steps are not taken to correct it.
 
The main stream media news services are approaching bankruptcy.  The real question is whether an alternative media model will develop before the collapse, or evolve afterwords.
 
The UN has become a bad joke, even among those support it, but will continue to totter on like the League of Nations for many years as a forum for talking without any power to act.  Most of the UN's functions, and funding, will shift to various "Coalitions of the Willing".
 
Obama promised in his campaign to prevent much of this.  It will be interesting to see how long he will think he can hold back the ocean with his words.
 
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