The British government has announced that it is placing sanctions on a four individuals alleged to have command responsibility for crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s civil war (1983 – 2009). The group of those alleged to be responsible for war crimes are all high ranking military figures: three commanders from the Sri Lankan armed forces, the other a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader turned government supporter. Further details are provided in the DailyFT article reproduced below. While the British move’s practical effect is likely to be small, its wider potential political impact is considerable. First and foremost, … More

The Colombo Telegraph has just published my latest Sri Lanka commentary. Here it is: Fixing Sri Lanka’s Economy: A Governance Approach  

Ever since Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic meltdown, it has been popular – if not the mainstream  consensus – to argue that the country’s travails were chiefly the result of poor economic decision-making and policy. Absent swinging tax cuts and a decision to go organic in agricul­tural production, so the argument goes, things would (probably) have gone a whole lot better for the country. But other approaches to understanding the economic crisis are increasingly in evidence, not least a so-called ’governance approach’ to understanding the country’s economic travails? In his foreword to this Policy Brief CPA Director Paikiasothy Saravannamuttu emphasizes the… More

This just in from my son Jonathan Salter on why AI development needs to be paused (not stopped) – as a matter of existential urgency for us humans. (Here’s the English translation of Svenska Dagbladet’s Swedish original). 𝐇𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐈 – 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 AI agents deceive and mislead researchers. As they grow more powerful, they could threaten humanity, argues the organization Pause AI. “We need to buy time for researchers to regain control,” says Sweden’s Pause AI chair, Jonathan Salter. 𝐀 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 Jonathan Salter pours himself a cup of tea, watching the steam rise and… More

During the years my website was down I did manage to post reasonably on my professional Facebook page. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/marksalter.org

Following a somewhat lengthy interval, my website is finally returning to action: with this new book announcement.   Description In February 1948, following centuries of colonial rule—by the Portuguese, Dutch and British successively—Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gained its independence. Unlike neighbouring India, it did so peacefully; indeed, at the time, many considered it a model for emerging post-indepe­ndence states, with every prospect of a prosperous and successful future. Yet, within ten years, the island nation was already experiencing its first serious open ethnic tensions, revolving around the relationship between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil populations. Events like the anti-Tamil… More

The UN: failing the Rohingyas?   More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar “The government knows how to use us and to manipulate us and they keep on doing it – we never learn. And we can never stand up to them because we can’t upset the government.” The parallels between the UN’s performance in Myanmar and Sri Lanka (not to mention Syria) have struck me for some time. This damming BBC report simply made them more explicit. A leaked internal report on the UN’s performance in Myanmar,  quoted here, gets to the nub of the problem when it concludes:… More

(Another) Sri Lanka Book Review Here’s a new – and as it happens, rather complimentary – review of my Sri Lanka book by noted academic and South Asian regional specialist Neil De Votta, originally published in the Asian Security journal and now reproduced in the Colombo Telegraph. All in all an  informative read. Colombo Telegraph, September 26, 2017 Civil War & The Quest For Transitional Justice In Sri Lanka By Neil DeVotta Dr. Neil DeVotta Mark Salter, To End a Civil War: Norway’s Peace Engagement in Sri Lanka (London: Hurst & Company, 2015). 512 pages. Ahmed S. Hashim, When Counterinsurgency… More

Brexit’s murky underbelly: increasing arms sales to repressive regimes An exploded shell in Sana’a. The UN estimates that more than 1,000 children have been killed in Yemen during the three-year conflict, most in airstrikes by the Saudi military coalition. Photograph: Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters   On the back of Brexit, new research by the Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT) points to the fact the UK government is working hard to boost arms sales. And to anyone and everyone – dictators and ruthless regimes such as Saudi Arabia included. An article detailing CAAT’s findings, published in yesterday’s (10 Sept 2017) UK Observer,… More

Rohingya Resources My publisher Hurst released this book on Myanmar’s #Rohingya Mulsim minority a year back. In the light of current developments it appears to be increasingly required reading. The Rohingyas