The Sunday Times Columns | Sunday May 25, 2008

	Political Column
	The huff, puff and the bluff
	By Our Political Editor
	The intriguing political drama that unfolded behind-the-scenes over the appointment of a Chief Minister for Eastern Province still remains a lesser known factor. It came after President Mahinda Rajapaksa swore in Sivanesathurai Chanthirakanthan, better known by his nom de guerre Pillayan, as Chief Minister (CM) of the Eastern Province. That was at the auspicious hour of 6.05 p.m. on Friday May 16.
	5th Column
	His world is in pieces from sworn enemies to sworn friends!
	By Rypvanwinkle
	My Dear Minister Hisbullah,
	Situation Report
	War on media takes ugly turn
	By Iqbal Athas
	Just two weeks ago, more than 130 journalists from 60 countries, from Afghanistan to Venezuela, gathered in the Indonesian island resort of Bali to examine dilemmas confronting them. I was invited to make a presentation on reporting conflict in Sri Lanka. Little did I realise that some of the observations I made would become relevant within days. Some excerpts, I believe, would be appropriate.
	Thoughts from London
	Shooting ourselves in both feet
	By Neville de Silva
	Is it a sense of masochism that leads this administration to inflict pain upon itself? Or is it a misplaced feeling of bravado, a David versus Goliath mentality that impels it forward in the belief that it could slay the international giants that perceive as standing against Sri Lanka? The way we have undermined our relationships with other nations, multilateral organisations and non-state parties in the last couple of years speaks volumes either for Sri Lanka’s naivety or its misguided belief that whatever it does will be forgiven and forgotten by the world at large.
	The Economic Analysis
	H D I sluggish despite growth
	By the Economist
	Sri Lanka’s human development ranking among 177 nations of the world has been declining in recent years. In 2000 Sri Lanka’s position with respect to the Human Development Index (HDI) was the 77th. This was in fact an improvement from earlier years as it was in the 84th position in 1998. Since then the country ranking has fallen. Sri Lanka has lapsed to the 99th position in the latest HDI ranking of 2004. In fact the reversal is seen clearly in that we were in the 77th position in 2000..

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