Tiger Down

It looks like the Sri Lankan government has managed to completely crush the Tamil Tiger insurgency. It did so with a ruthlessness and disdain for civilian casualties that makes Cast Lead look like a training exercise, but such is the world we live in. For all the talk about how we step so lightly around Israel, there is almost no doubt that the global community keeps it on a shorter leash than any other nation engaging in counter-insurgency operations. Whether we should loosen our standards on Israel, or tighten them everywhere else, is an open question. Sri Lanka does seem to be a point in favor of Give War a Chance, but, much like with torture or the suicide bombings of the Tamils and Hamas, "it works" isn't always a good enough reason to let things fly.

But what's done is done. Robert Farley gives his military perspective -- he really seems to think this could be the end for the LTTE in its current form (though he doesn't rule out a reorganization stemming from the Tamil diaspora). At the very least though, it may give the Sri Lankan government the breathing space it needs to negotiate a settlement. Hopefully, it will take the chance, rather than re-entrenching the grievances that led the Tamils to revolt in the first place.