INDOPACOM Cultural Awareness Knowledge Centers

This book tells the story of why the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lost the war that it had always dreamt of winning in Sri Lanka. It is a collection of news stories and commentaries penned by the author from 2003 to 2009 on the ethnic conflict in the country. Each piece is provided with an introduction that places it in the context in which it was written. The unfolding of the drama is brought about through conversations with Sri Lankan leaders, Tamil activists, Indian officials, Norwegian and other diplomats, human rights activists, former LTTE guerrillas, and civilians.

In 2009 the Sri Lankan government forces literally eradicated the Tamil Tiger insurgency after 26 years of civil war. This was the first time that a government had defeated an indigenous insurgency by force of arms.

In "Monsoon," a pivotal examination of the Indian Ocean region and the countries known as "Monsoon Asia," bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan deftly shows how crucial this dynamic area has become to American power in the twenty-first century. Kaplan also offers riveting insights into the economic and naval strategies of China and India and how they will affect U.S. interests, while also providing an on-the-ground perspective on the more volatile countries in the region.

In the closing days of the thirty-year Sri Lankan civil war, tens of thousands of civilians were killed, according to UN estimates, as government forces hemmed in the last remaining Tamil Tiger rebels on a tiny sand spit, dubbed “The Cage.” Gordon Weiss, a journalist and UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka during the final years of the war, pulls back the curtain of government misinformation to tell the full story for the first time.